moon knight one shots!

dust and rememberance

The snap that erased half the world still had an impact years on.

They still had a two minute silence for the ones that had been snapped away although they had come back.

Normally, chase would be bugging Steven for cuddles or annoying Marc about doing edible food, or even teaching Jake to be more social but, not today.

Today, chase had locked themselves in their flat.

Today, they were mourning their own death.

Chase had always been sensitive to change, to emotions and whatnot. The emotion in the air, in different people..so, it hadn't come as a surprise when they hurt. That they felt tired or scared. That they cried when they saw themselves turn to dust.

They had always been sensitive to emotions.

That particular year…was heightened with grief and fear.

A soft knock came from the other side of their door and chase glanced up, pushed them self up from their window seat and went to unlock the door, opening it up a small crack to see who it was.

It was Marc.

"Hey kid. Mind if I come in?" Chase shut the door, unbolted it, then opened it fully for marc. Marc walked in, chase went back to their window seat.

It was raining.

"You okay? You seem down in the dumps" a quiet nod left chase, shooting a small smile over to Marc and patted a free space next to them, "not talking today?" Chase shook their head.

"No..no not that..I just…wanted to be left alone today…" chase trailed off, finding interest in a piece of string that had come off one of their hoodies.

"I heard. You sure you want to be by yourself today?" Marc was…well, of chase had to describe him, like a brother in-law. Although, they're not married to Steven - the thought of that made them smile though, but, Marc was definitely like an annoying in-law. They liked that.

Wise too.

"I'm…I'm not sure.. there's these remembrance walls, in the park. To mourn the people that were blipped…I want to go and visit them..but.."

"Not alone?" Chase nodded.

"The fear, grief…the denial..those walls caught it and kept it as a time capsule..Marc- would you…come with me?" They hoped Marc would say yes. But he didn't have to. Didn't need to. As far as they knew, both Marc and Layla escaped the snap. They were the lucky ones.

"I'll come with ya. Go get ready" a nod left chase and headed to the bathroom.

____

Chase held onto Marc. Looking at the different people that were by the walls, reading names or looking at the photos that were up from years ago, or the newly fresh ones.

Chase's eyes scanned the hundreds of names on the walls. Going by alphabetical order. Some names had photos, some didn't.

"Found yours yet?" Marc asked, chase shook their head and the pair went to the next wall.

Chase found theirs immediately.

"...Marc, the aftermath of the snap..what was it like? How did it affect everyone?" Marc blew a breath out, staring at chases name on the wall for a good while before replying.

"Chaos. It was chaos. No one knew what happened. No one could get in touch with the avengers. It was a dead zone. I was lucky. Layla was still here. I was still here but, what happened that day, it was horrible for the ones that survived."

"...I would've been 29 this year…y'know that? But…I had five years ripped away from me."

"..what was it like?" Marc probably shouldn't have asked that. But he was curious.

"...it hurt. To some people, they dusted quickly. Others more slowly..I was in the unlucky minority. My dusting took hours..I was in my flat at the time. Just moved in, freshly bought flat, going out to make a name for myself as a fresh art graduate of London arts." Chase shook their head, "when the snap happened, I felt it. The atmosphere in the air changed. Then I felt my leg go numb. And it crept all over my body.

Imagine, pins and needles, but that was everywhere. Tingling body with red hot pokers every now and then to stoke the fire." Chase wiped away a tear. More bubbled over the threshold of their eyes, "I would've preferred a quick dust. It would've been over before I even realised it.

When I came back, it was a light at the end of a grey tunnel.

But when the dusted realised they missed five years of their lives, they started calling for rights. For laws to be legislated.

To stop discrimination of dusted. Because we were.

We were discriminated against. People looked at us with fear. Some…still do. We got compensation. Twenty thousand per person, per family.

The mortgage for my flat was waived under a new law." Chase explained.

"The snap legislation." Marc pointed out

"An emergency legislation. Britain was the first country to put it into action. It's still legislation, I don't think it'll ever be pulled now. Not when the dusted feel safe with it in place." Chase stared at the polished rock, with their name engraved on it.

Chase Rachel Brooke. It made them sick.

"I'm not a big fan of the avengers. Most of us aren't" chase stated, "stark hid. Thor fled. Everyone else? They didn't care anymore.

We hold them accountable for letting Thanos find us. For letting Loki invade new York."

"But they also brought you back. All of you." Marc pointed out, chase nodded.

"They did. But it still doesn't excuse them of what they did In the past. Doesn't excuse them, using our countries as a playground." Chase tucked their hands into their coat pockets. The rain was still pouring down, their hair was stuck to their head.

Marc stayed silent, only moving an arm to pull their friend into a side hug, he was glad that Steven was sleeping today. Very glad.

Chase pulled a photo out from one of their pockets, looked at it and let a small smile settle on their face.

"The day me and Steven went to the cinema together."

"Looked fun" Marc said

"Yeah. Yeah it was." Chase agreed, sticking it to the wall beside their name and let a shaky sigh out, "the old chase. The old me, she died. She died that day. Marc you would've loved me then. So bouncy, loved to get into fights" Marc chuckled at that part.

"You're still you, chase"

"No. No my soul is fractured. I know it is. I can feel it and it'll never get fixed. I'm a new chase, in the dead ones body. This is why I mourn my own death. Because my life was, ripped away before I had the chance to begin it" chase rubbed their eyes with the balls of their hands and Marc pulled them into a hug, his arms enveloping them, to protect them from the onlookers who would look and judge

"I've never known an empath as strong as you, chase. And I won't understand how it works I'll be honest, but it looks like it hurts you"

"More than you'll ever know." Chase sniffed and stepped away slightly from Marc, "thanks for…y'know. Coming here with me.." chase shuffled on their feet slightly.

"Hey. Not about to leave you alone today. So, how about we go get something to eat? Heard there's a new waffle place nearby" chase's eyes lit up at that

"Ooo I could really eat a waffle right now. Better than your waffle pucks that's for sure"

"And they're back" Marc breathed out, knocking chase gently and walked off with them following behind.