"Kid, you’re alright. You’re alright."
“I’m sorry…”
I awoke to a see of orange smoke. I was lying a very shallow lake, but I didn’t feel wet. I forced myself to stand up—which felt odd. it was like my whole body was injected with
Novocain. I looked around, wondering if I was still on Titan.
“Mr. Stark!” I called out. “Mr. Stark!” I started running straight ahead. I had no sense of direction, but I just ran anyway. “Mr. Stark!” My voice became strained and I collapsed onto the ground.
“What is your name?” I looked up to find a small green girl standing over me. she had violet and maroon pigtails and was wearing a green dress.
“I’m Peter, Peter Parker.”
“Gamora,” she replied.
“Are we on Titan?”
I looked around, certain that the orange plain was simply that of Titan.
She shook her head.
“We are inside the soul stone.”
My eyes widened. It suddenly felt as though the smoke were filling my lungs, and I couldn’t breathe. Gamora rested a hand on my shoulder.
“It is okay, traveler. You are safe inside the soul stone. You shall not travel beyond here.”
“I don’t understand.” I repeated it several times over. “I was just on Titan. I don’t…”
“Thanos,” her voice became weak, “he banished half the universe to the soul stone. And you were among them.”
My eyes filled with tears. I fell to my knees and cried. Gamora rest her small hand on top of my hand as I did.
I awoke sometime later near an archway. When I opened my eyes, I saw no point in sitting up or moving. If I were to walk in any direction, I would find no one, and I would end up nowhere. I closed my eyes once again.
When I awoke again, I heard voices. One woman spoke, her voice silky and soft. She was speaking with a man. I sat up and found myself yards away from the archway. But just under the archway, a man and woman sat at a kitchen table. The man sat facing away from me. the woman covered her face in her hands. Both were in all black.
“You were supposed to stop this,” she said.
This was followed by a long pause.
“I was willing to die for him. I…”
He turned and faced me. his eyes were dark and penetrating. But it was clear he didn’t see me. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it.
“Mr. Stark,” her voice sounded so familiar. “I honestly pray that you never sleep again. You will lie awake for the rest of your days thinking about what you took away from me—from this world. He was a good soul, and you cost him his life.”
“I know,” he replied.
I took a step closer. Once again, he looked through me. I felt my heart break, though it felt literal, like my heart was made of hardened sand, and it just cracked, releasing dust in my chest. I screamed out in pain.
“I’m sorry!” I screamed out, though I wasn’t sure why. The faces became clear as the woman uncovered her face. “I’m sorry!” And this time I knew why. “I’m right here,” I cried. “Aunt May, I’m right here.”
With a flicker, they were gone. Gamora stood under the archway.
“Did you bring them here?” I asked her.
“The stone did. The stone will show you what you’ve left behind.”
“Gamora? Is it possible to leave the soul stone?”
“You sacrificed yourself to the stone; the stone needs a soul. Unless a soul was given in your place, your soul will remain.”
When I opened my eyes again, I saw a figure in the distance. He was tall and muscular. I sped towards him. when he spun around, I saw the man from the vision.
“Mr. Stark,” the words felt odd coming from my mouth.
“Peter.”
“You can see me?”
“Peter,” he breathed wrapping his arms around me.
“You can’t be here,” I told him. “You’ll be trapped! You’ll be trapped here forever!” He wrapped his arms around me once again.
“Peter, when you died in my arms—”
“I’m not dead.”
“You are dead, Peter. This is not heaven or hell; it’s something else. But you are dead.”
Once again, I felt my heart break. My hands were shaking which felt odd. he steadied my shaking hands.
“When you died, something changed. I knew that I couldn’t live in a world where you didn’t exist. I couldn’t do that to your aunt, and frankly I couldn’t do that to you.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You’re going back.”
“That’s impossible!”
“No, it’s not. The stone needs a soul, but it doesn’t have to be yours.”
“Mr. Stark, I don’t know what you’re saying.”
He pulled me back into his arms. I began to cry. Shaking, I said, “I don’t want you go.”
“I know.”
“Please, Mr. Stark—please, Tony.”
“I love you,” he said, his voice breaking.
“I love you too.”
***
When I opened my eyes, I was on the quin jet. I was curled up under a blanket on one of the benches. Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson were piloting it.
“Bucky?”
“He doesn’t know,” Buck said to Sam.
“No, I think he knows.”
“Wh-what’s happening?” I looked out the window expecting to be in an orange cloud. But I was surrounded by nothing but blue sky and white fluffy clouds. I looked down below and saw a sprawling city.
“We’re almost to Wakanda,” Sam reassured me.
“How did we…? I was on Titan.”
“Just get some rest,” Bucky told me.
Despite my resistance, I drifted off to sleep.
When awoke again, I was in a hospital bed. I was in a room with floor to ceiling windows, and the room itself was naturally lit. I was strapped to half a dozen machines, and I was wearing a cotton night-gown. In the distance, I could hear the Troubleman soundtrack playing. I turned around and looked out at the vast African landscape around me.
“I’m in Wakanda?”
“Yes, you are,” a young woman said. She had thin braids tied up in two space buns.
“Uh, who are you?”
“Relax, my name is Shuri. I’m Princess of Wakanda, and I’m in charge of nursing you back to health.”
“You? But you’re like my age.”
“So. You are not the first broken white boy I fixed.”
I was too tired and confused to argue. Besides, she put something in my IV to make my sleepy, and I was out again.
I awoke sometime later in the same bed, but the sun had gone down. The lights were dimmed and the radio was off. Shuri was gone, but a nurse had taken her place. from the corridor, I could hear Africans speaking in a dialect. But I could’ve sworn I heard a Brooklyn accent among the African voices.
Then, Bucky Barnes came through the door.
“Hey, kiddo,” he said. He had a brand-new metal arm which I had not noticed earlier. It was black and gold, and much less bulky than the old one. He held it up. “Got a new arm.”
“It looks nice.”
“Bucky, where’s Captain Rogers? I know you two were always together, so I figured he must be around here somewhere.”
He looked away, his eyes growing sad.
“Bucky?”
“You need to rest—”
“No, I don’t. I’ve been asleep for—I don’t know how long. What I need is answers. What happened on Titan? And where’s Steve? And where’s Mr. Stark?”
“I shouldn’t tell you this. You’re still adjusting.”
“What about Thanos? Is he dead? Did we kill him? And what about the rest of the population? Are they still trapped?”
“Don’t make me knock you out.”
“Why? What happened?”
“You died, Peter. On Titan. You and Doctor Strange, along with some other aliens and one half-human, died. You turned to dust in Tony Stark’s arms.”
I stiffened. My eyes filled with tears, but I pushed them away.
“Somehow, I already knew that.”
“Thanos snapped his fingers, and you, Sam, and I—along with half the universe—turned to dust.”
“You died too?”
He nodded.
“I don’t know all of the details, but Tony killed Thanos. And when he did, everyone in the world came back as if they never left. But you, myself, Sam, King T’Challa, and Wanda Maximoff remained. No one was sure why. So, when Star Lord recovered the infinity gauntlet, Tony, Cap, and the other Guardians used it to travel to the soul stone to find Gamora. And that is when she told us.”
“Told you what?”
“When Thanos killed half the universe, he tipped the scales a bit. He killed exactly half the universe plus the five of us.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When Thanos snapped his fingers, he made a deal with death in a way. All those lives for his immortality. When he gave that up, their debt was paid and they were returned. But
Thanos did not make a deal for us. Our souls didn’t count in the tally.
“They were told that they needed to make individual sacrifices for our souls.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Steve exchanged his soul for Sam’s and mine. Wanda chose to stay in the soul stone to be with Vision. Okoye gave her soul for T’Challa’s. And…”
“And…?”
“Tony killed himself to save your soul.”
“He can’t do that!”
“It’s done. There is literally nothing you can do. His soul will remain in the soul stone forever, and you have no choice but to live out the rest of your life on earth. That’s what he wanted.”
“I don’t accept it.”
“He already made that choice. Don’t spit in the face of his sacrifice. He was adamant that it end this way.”
“So, he’s just gone?”
“I lost someone too. Don’t forget that. the only thing we can do now is try to live our best lives; otherwise, their sacrifice is meaningless."