stark, peter parker

ix. don't think there's gonna be a next time

the avengers stood, attempting to collect themselves after the hard defeat. dakota leaned on peter for support, taking his hand as she regained her footing. even her black skintight suit that she wore under her iron suit was damaged, covered in blood.

they weren't supposed to lose, she thought as she looked around the group. they'd never lost before, even when it felt like they would. no matter what the odds were, they always managed to make it out alive, they always found a way to defeat the super villain.

now, as kodie looked to her father, she wondered why she hadn't seen this coming. they were finally faced with a threat that was greater, a villain who packed much more than a punch. they'd met their match, and it was too much for even them.

"we're gonna be okay." peter said, one of his arms wrapped protectively around her waist, helping hold her up. "we're just going to have to fight him when we have all the others next time."

dakota shook her head solemnly. "i don't think there's going to be a next time." she said, looking up at him.

if dakota could've gone back in time to do things different, knowing what she knew now, she would've savored that brief moment. she would've stopped thinking about the searing pain in her legs, or the sting that she felt in her side at every move she made. she would've ignored it all just to admire peter's eyes.

she would've taken the moment, the brief moment that it would've taken, to joke with him about how beautiful all that blood made him look, just as she had in new york after he'd taken down toomes. maybe she would've said something sarcastic, something to make him laugh one more time, because his laugh made her whole world brighter.

maybe she would've even told him how much she loved him, how much she always would.

but all dakota did was look up into his eyes for a moment, taking the brief second to scan her eyes along the focused furrow of his brows, the intensity of his eyes. they always got intense when he was worried about her, or when he was focused on a fight. before she could think of anything to say, mantis spoke.

"something's happening." mantis said, slowly disintegrating into ash.

dakota looked at her in confusion, having never seen anything like this before. she looked over just in time to see the same fate envelope drax. on the other side of her, quill also began to fade into ashes.

strange calmly turned to her father. "tony," he said, "there was no other way." he, too, disappeared.

kodie, at this point, had begun to grip tighter to peter's waist, completely shocked and horrified by the scene in front of her. she could feel his breath hitch, which is what made her turn to look at him.

"mr. stark?" peter asked, grasping onto dakota's waist for support. "i don't feel so good.." he said, grasping for any part of his girlfriend he could hold onto.

tony tried his best to be calm, but his voice was shaking as he spoke. "you're all right."

peter stumbled further into his girlfriend's arms. "i don't know what's -- i don't know what's happening. i don't--" tony walked over to the two, catching peter as he fell into his arms, tightly clutching onto him. "i don't wanna go, i don't wanna go-" peter mumbled as tony lay him down.

dakota, who, up to this point, had been frozen in terror, fell down on her knees next to peter. "don't leave me, please.." she managed to let out, feeling hot tears slowly stream down her face. "please, i can't.." he reached out a hand, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"i'm sorry." peter said, looking up at her.

"peter, no, please-" dakota cried out as ashes began to swarm through the air again. "i love you.."

and just like that, peter disintegrated into ashes in her arms. she fell forward from the lack of weight, looking around herself. she began to grasp at the air and at the ground below her, taking fistfulls of the ash, as if she could use them to puzzle-piece peter pack together.

"no, no no no there has to be something we can do, there has to be something-" she began to ramble, feeling tears cascade down her cheeks at an uncontrollable rate now.

her father was speechless, sitting hopelessly next to where peter once was. he turned to her, putting a hand on her back. dakota jumped at the touch, spinning around and calming when she saw it was him.

realization set in, and she threw herself into his arms. "please not you, too. please i can't.. i can't live without you, i need you.." she sobbed, grasping at his back, as if holding him tighter would prevent him from fading away too. "please.."

tony's hand held the back of her head, his other running through her hair in an attempt to calm her down. "i'm not going anywhere." he assured her. "i'm not leaving, i promise."

the two starks sat like that for who knows how long, both cleaning to the other for dear life. neither knew how they'd be able to go on if the other was to disappear. for all of dakota's life, it had just been her with her father. even when they didn't get along, even when it was only happy who seemed to care about her, it was just her and him.

and, no matter how much she had hated to admit it to herself, she had never wanted anything more than to make him proud of her. she had always just wanted her father to love her as much as she loved him.

little did she know, he already did. from the moment he met his daughter, tony stark didn't think he could love her any more. but as every day passed, she proved him wrong time and time again.

now they clung to each other, dakota's hands occasionally moving to get a tighter grip on her father's shoulders. they weren't ever the hugging type, at least with each other, but as the dust settled around them, the father and daughter mourned their loss, broken as broken could be.

END OF INFINITY WAR