Avengers: Aftermath [INFINITY WAR SPOILERS]

Peter

Just a warning: before you read, just remember that this takes place after the events of Avengers: Infinity War, so everything is a spoiler. Don't blame me for spoiling it. You've been warned.

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Dust. Dust is known to humans as mostly composed of dead skin cells. Dust is something that is so easy to sweep away, but is something that eventually always comes back. Oh God, I hope I come back. I hate being dust, I want to be me again. I'm so scared, I don't know what to do. Me as I know him is dead. I'm so scared. Nobody's here and I'm all alone. I don't even know where I am or if I'll ever be the same. I know I'm dead, I watched myself dissolve into nothing.

This has to be a horrible nightmare and I'll wake up in my room with Aunt May making disgusting vegan pancakes that I have to gulp down because she's Aunt May and I love her, and it makes her happy to see that I like what she makes. I want to go to school and see Ned, and help him work on his lates LEGO set. I wanna talk to Mr. Stark, I want to grow up, I want to live. I want Mr. Stark, Strange, Star Lord, Grey Dude, anyone to pull me out of here.

I don't want to be dust.

Being dust, being dead, being nothing at all is so weird. Weird in the scary way, kind of like that old movie Terminator, where you see the dude kind of falling apart with all the machinery and stuff showing and you think "ew that's so weird, there's no way that's a real thing that can happen," but it does anyways. Because the universe; or God, or whatever controls everything; doesn't care what we can understand and what we think is possible.

The thing is, I wasn't going into this fight thinking we'd lose. I always know it's a possibility, but the thing is, I thought that somehow we'd get through it. We were so close to winning, then it went wrong and kept going wrong. We were so close, and so much depended on us.

Now half the universe is dead. Dust, like me. I saw all the others go. Bug Lady, Grey Dude, Star Lord, Doctor Strange. I don't know if the Blue Cyborg Chick died. I don't know if Mr. Stark is dead, too. How many of my friends are gone? Is Aunt May dead, too? What about the rest of the Avengers?

Will there be anyone I know—knew—left, or are they all gone?

If I was still alive, I'd be crying.

I hear the sound of water dripping. I Feel coolness in the air, water, with a gentle breeze. I️ smell something that can't exactly be described, but it reminds me of Aunt May and the apartment in Queens. It also smells just a little bit salty.

I haven't really thought of an afterlife. I didn't think this would be it, though. This doesn't seem right.

I can't tell if I'm standing on solid ground, if I'm laying down, or if I️ am floating aimlessly and can't tell between up and down.

I get the guts to open my eyes. I'm standing upright. I'm both surprised by what I see and not. All I can see for miles is water. Unbelievably shallow water, and tinted orange by the sky. It looks like it's all trapped in the moments before the sun fully sets.

About 50 yards away, I see something that looks like a Japanese gazebo. Beyond there, there are people. I don't recognize any of them, but at least I'm not alone. I will myself to move forward, water lapping around my feet. It barely comes up to my ankles.

As I get closer, I see more people. Some of them seem to be re-materializing, tiny bits and pieces of them very slowly coming back together. Not all of them look human. Most of them don't look like someone that was alive once. They look like a weird sculpture or something, that's missing not only the parts that haven't come together yet, but also something else.

I wonder if anyone I know is here.

At first I awkwardly wander around, careful not to run into anyone. Then I start running, calling any names that come to mind. I call out for the people who I was with and saw disappear. Bug lady. Star Lord. Grey Dude. I keep going, keep shouting. I call for Mr. Stark. Strange. Blue robot lady. I'm starting to cry again. I'm really scared. Even with so many other people around me I'm so lonely. I'm panting in between calls and sobs. I'm not paying attention any more, and end up tripping over someone's partially materialized foot. I go flying, landing face-first in the shallow water. Slowly, I pick myself up, and look over to see a little kid crying. I calmly walk over to them, crouching down once I'm close enough.

"Hey, what's up? Why are you crying?"

The poor kid is shaking, they don't even want to look at me. They're burying their face in their tiny hands. God, this kid can't be older than 7.

After a minute of them not answering, I try again.

"What's your name? Can you tell me where your from? It's ok..."

The kid cries harder. They take away their hands and lean into me, trying to grip me as tight as their tiny hands can manage. Now that I can see them better, I come to realize that this kid is a little girl, and she's also an alien. Her skin is red. Her hair's done up in two tight knots on the top of her head.

I let her cry into me for a while, then she calms down enough to answer my previous questions. She tells me she's from a planet called Xandar, and her name is Iriad. She says that before everyone turned into dust, an evil purple guy with a big gold glove came and killed a lot of people, including her dad. She and her mom hid while the purple guy was rounding everyone up. When they came out, a lot of people were dead. A couple days later, everyone started poofing into dust, including her. She didn't see if her mom did or not.

"Jeez kid, that sounds so scary. You know how brave you are? Crazy brave."

She looks up to me, her eyes filled with tears, and says, "You really think so?"

"Oh yeah, big time. Of course I think so," I say with a smile. I'd tell her she was braver than the Avengers, but she probably doesn't even know who they are.

"Listen," I start, looking around, "I'm trying to find some people too. Want to look together?"

She sniffles then smiles, "Sure!"

We both stand up. She grabs my hand and leads me in the direction she wants to start looking. By now, there are other people looking for people, too. They're shouting, turning in circles and trying to look in every direction at once.

"You haven't told me your name yet," she says accusingly.

"Oh right, my name's..." I️ pause for a second, deciding whether to go by my alias or use my actual name. I quickly touch my face and don't feel my mask.

"I'm Peter," I finally decide.

"Hi Peter."

"Hi, Iriad."

"Thanks for helping me, Peter."

"No problem. Come on, let's keep looking."

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A/N:Hope you enjoyed the first part. I'll post an introduction page type thing if y'all want.

Quick notes: Iriad is supposed to be the daughter of the Nova Corp officer we saw in Guardians of the Galaxy, who warned the Nova Corp of the Aires attack and then presented their new ship in the very end. Also, Peter is in the Iron Spider suit, just not with the mask on. This is based on a theory that all the people in the universe that die after Thanos snaps his fingers end up in the soul stone, and where Thanos was talking to tiny Gamora after he did it was in the soul stone.

Just a heads up, this book will probably jump around a lot.

Thanks for reading :)