Red

Red.

The color associated with anger.

The color that signals a car to stop, because proceeding forward could mean potential danger.

The color of the blood coursing through the veins of every sentient being.

Red.

The color of the sky on a planet so far from home.

The color of the haze that fills the vision of those stranded on Titan.

The color of the metal suit belonging to the man that had it all.

"Something is happening..."

The words were laced with fear as all eyes darted to the speaker. Pure black eyes locked on Tony's before Mantis became nothing more than dust in the wind. Peter Parker watched in horror as one by one, the individuals he had fought beside mere minutes ago, crumbled into nothingness.

By now, his senses were dialed all the way to twenty. A wave of fear that he had never known consumed him.

"Mister Stark?"

His voice halted in his throat as his eyes were glued to his hands. The hands that were covered by a suit created to protect him. The fifteen year old vigilante from Queens stood still, transfixed on his now trembling hands.

"I-I don't feel so good..."

"You're alright..." spoke the reassuring voice of the man who Peter saw as more than a mentor. The voice of the man who took a chance on a kid, when everyone else thought he was crazy. The two words were obviously spoken as a way to try and reassure both of them that they would both make it off of this god forsaken planet.

"I-I don't know what's happening... I-"

Panic and Terror made itself known as Peter stumbled forward into the arms of his father figure. Peter Parker knew what grief looked like. He knew what it looked like when someone mourned the loss of a loved one. So it was like a punch to the gut when the young hero looked into Tony's eyes and saw moisture and pain. Tony's grip tightened as he was forced to watch death take its hold on his kid. The same kid who put more years on his life than Iron Man; the same kid who manufactured his own web fluid to become a hero and look out for the little guy; the same kid who snuck onto a spaceship that was destined for what was now a one way trip.

The same onesie-clad kid from Queens who melted Tony Stark's heart and brought color to his previously black and white life.

The man who had everything was now losing the one thing in his life that mattered.

Peter could feel his control of his body slipping away, as his legs refused to cooperate with his brain. Here on Titan, there was no semblance to the crime fighting Spider Man that keeps the city of Queens safe. There was only Peter Parker, a scared kid who just wanted to be a hero.

"I just wanted to be like you-"

"And I wanted you to be better."

Now, here on Titan, surrounded by the carnage of war, Peter Parker stared at his idol, the one person he wanted to make proud.

"I don't want to go. I don't want to go..."

"And if you died, I feel like that's on me."

And in this moment, as he was lowered to the ground, there were only two words that came to mind; only two words that could convey the guilt that Peter Parker felt before he ceased to exist.

"I'm sorry."

Ashes slipped through Tony's fingers as he tried desperately to hold onto what was no longer there. And when all was said and done, when the dust settled, he looked up at the sky.

The Red Titan Sky.

His vision blurred, framed by a haze of anger and grief, as he thought of the red blood spilt on Earth, the red sand that painted the horizon on this planet so far from home, the red of the Iron Man suit he had promised to use to keep the world safe, and the red of the Reality Stone that he would give anything to have, just to bring his kid back.

Red.

The color of war.