Spiderkid oneshots

Soul collector

As soon as Peter saw Tony rise his hand to snap his finger he ran over to him. But it was too late. It was already done. While the fleets of Thanos disintegrated the boy could only stare blankly. Like he was watching a movie on 3d and his mind was only tricking him into thinking he was there. And then Peter ran. Torn out from the confusion. He ran, only one thought in his mind. Reach Tony.  And that he did.

His mentor was sitting on the ground, barely breathing, his eyes not blinking. The boy could feel the man's soul leaving the body. Now he should escort it to the gates. But he wouldn't. Why? He had done it all before. For thousands of thousands of years, for as long as humanity had existed. Peter had escorted the souls of the diciest to the underworld, to his ruler Hades. He had lead strangers and lovers, and friends, and enemies. Why couldn't he just accept that he needed to do the same with this man? Because he was the first parent he had ever had. And the boy wasn't going to give up on him.

Peter whispered something in a language long forgotten to mankind. And a sort of a stare case appeared under his feet. The rest of the avengers did not understand what or how the boy was doing. But frankly, Peter didn't care. The worst that could happen was a few generations finding out about his existence. Soon enough they would forget and name it a myth or a tale. That's what they always do. Right now he needed to get to the lord of the underworld. Explanations could come later. If Tony would enter he would never come out. So the boy stepped on the stairs and climbed a bit down. Heard a familiar click of the portal closing behind him.

On a normal day Peter would have walked down the stairs, but today there wasn't enough time. A soul had 14 hours to reach the gate. If it wouldn't it was left wandering through nothingness for eternity. In his case, this meant he needed to get Hade's approval for saving Tony's life before the time had passed. That's why he stepped on the handrails and jumped. Perks of being immortal – no matter what you break or bruise the universe fixes for you. The fall was about a minute long. When he saw the ground he cowered his head with his hands. At the point of impact, he felt his legs reach the ground and his bones shutter from his upper body weight. Peter let out a scream. He had gone through worse. This still hurt a lot. The boy sat for a few minutes waiting for his legs to slowly resume their correct angle and shape. When the magic was done he stood up.

In the direction he was looking at were endless landslides. The torture stations started further, for the screams not to reach here. But the boy saw the figurines of souls being whipped, cut open, and blown up. Peter turned around towards the enormous castle. Black in every corner. The towers looked like icicles that were dripped in black ink. There were no windows, but balconies on which guards – skeletons were standing.

There was no more time to waste. The boy walked through the paths of the garden. Well, you couldn't really call it a garden. The ground was covered in black spikes that probably would kill anybody who touched them and the occasional dead roses.

He reached the doors of the castle. The guards didn't stop him. They used to, but one day he had had enough and had a little fight and may or may not have scared some of them enough for them to run to the torture fields.

The throne room was as black as the rest of the castle. There were two thrones. The bigger one was made of dark stone and the god of the underworld was sitting in it. The other one was the only not–black thing in the castle. A throne made of thorn, the same withered roses as in the garden were spread really around it.

Peter walked over to the bigger throne, in which the god was sitting, and kneeled on one knee: "My lord," He said in a serious and clear voice, which was multiplied by the big and quiet room.

"Why is that you came here?" asked Hades.

"I came here to ask you for permission to allow a soul not to leave its body, my lord," The boy didn't look up. Usually, he would joke around and annoy the god a bit, but today he was going to do anything for him to agree.

"Why should I grant you it?" He asked.

"I have been a faithful servant for thousands of years, I have never asked for anything in return before," Peter felt his brain work to figure out all of the reasons.

"You have immortality, that's a wage enough," the boy was interrupted by his lord.

Peter laughed in his head. Immortality wasn't a gift for him. Everywhere he went he made friends, and in the end, he always ended up leading their souls to the land of the dead. How many times did he wish for some sort of miracle to happen, for somebody to take his place, for him to be able to follow his friends? He couldn't count. But Peter knew, that arguing wouldn't get him anywhere: "And I am truly grateful for it. But this man deserves to live his life. He sacrificed himself in battle. He deserves to live with his wife and daughter until the time comes. And when it does I'll lead him to the gates myself. I'm begging you, my lord!" The boy's voice sounded truly desperate.

"Well, I don't see how that would disturb anything. I will allow this, but it comes at a price," The man's voice sounded quite cold and uninterested, but if he would be, he would have never allowed it.

"I'll do anything you ask of me, sir," The boy said.

"it's not about you, if he will live, he will live as a soul collector, like you," Peter didn't look up, but he saw Hades's eyes spark with a bit of a smirk.

The boy didn't want this. He didn't want to give a man such a burden. But on the other hand, all he wanted was for Tony to be able to watch his daughter grow up. And also wanted to spend time with Tony a bit. Okay, maybe more than a bit. If the man would be immortal as well, he wouldn't be alone anymore: "Very well, I accept the deal."

"Then hurry, Peter, you know how time is different here," Hades said.

"Thank you, my lord!" Peter rose quickly turned around and ran to the door. The god of the underworld saw how determined Peter was, how he hadn't given one snarky remark today, he remembered only one other time he had jumped from the stairs. That time it was too late. It would be too late now as well.

"Peter, wait!" The boy stopped in his tracks unwillingly and sent a quick look if running would be worth it. He knew it wouldn't.

"I will make you a portal to New York," The god said.

"At what cost?" There was always a price. There was no way the god would care about him.

"Nothing. I will do it for free," Hades said, a smile on his face, "I have never lied have I?"

"No," Peter swallowed, "Thank you, my lord!"

The god's hands sparked black for a second. No that kind of black with what you color in kindergarten. This was an all-consuming black, with no light passing through. Then the black mist was on the wall. Peter stepped in front of it, quickly gave one last bow, and stepped into the darkness. The god closed the portal behind the boy and sighed, he never was the kind to show his feelings, quite the opposite of Peter. The only people he showed any towards were his wife and now apparently Peter. The boy really had been a trustworthy servant. Even though his job was from tiering to torturous, he never complained. At that, the god thought about why he never had said thank you.

Peter fell out of the portal, right where he had opened the stairs. Even though for him it had been only a few minutes, maximums half an hour. On earth that could have been anywhere from 3 seconds to 7 hours. It didn't matter. What did was that Tony was still here. Most of the avengers were gone, but Pepper was over the corps of Tony crying. Moving fastly over, he felt the soul fighting to stay connected to the body.

The boy sat next to his mentor and hugged the body. The woman looked at him like he was an intruder, which he probably was. Didn't matter. He opened his lips next to Tony's ear and ancient sounds that sounded more like leaves crunching came out. In the language, he told the soul and the body something about staying together. And that they did. With a sharp breath, Tony shot up.

"Hi, Pete, Pepper," He said, for a while, they sat there saying nothing, then the man spoke again, "Well, guess I'm gonna live for a little longer," a wide grin appeared on his face.

Both Pepper and Peter jumped to hug him. And the boy smiled widely. Of course, there would be loads of explanations to do to the avengers, to Pepper, telling Tony he's immortal. But right now he was happy. And so was the god sitting on his throne peaking at the scene from a tiny portal close to his eye.