Frostbite ❆ Peter Parker

twenty-five

"Stop."

Doctor Strange sat up weakly, Thanos looked over to him slowly. "Spare their lives, and I'll give you the stones." Beth shook her head, "no, don't." Thanos turned the gauntlet away from them, "no tricks." Tony choked out a word, "don't." Strange held his hand up, a green light flashing in between his fingers before the Time Stone appeared. Thanos held up the gauntlet towards Doctor Strange, everyone held their breath as they watched the Time Stone fly over until it was in Thanos' hold.

A loud 'clink' rang out through the tense air as the Time Stone now resided inside of the infinity gauntlet. The Titan's body lighting up as he felt the powers of all 5 infinity stones. Thanos stared at the gauntlet, admiring it, "one to go." A sharp sound from a blaster cut him off as Quill flew at him, yelling angrily. But before Quill could even get close Thanos had opened a portal and disappeared. 

Quill tumbled to the ground where Thanos was once standing, taking off his mask he faced the defeated heroes. "Did we just lose?"

Beth let out a weak groan as she tried to get up before stumbling back to the ground. Her hands holding her up as one tear trickled down her face. Tony was spraying a nano-tech adhesive that he and his daughter made in the lab together, to patch any stab wounds after their Alaska scare. Tony's head lolled over to look at Strange, "why would you do that?"

Doctor Strange let out a heavy breath, "we're in the endgame now."

-❆-

Peter dropped down, his knees hitting the floor as he crouched down by his girlfriend. "Hey, hey. You okay?" Beth shakily placed her hands on his forearms, "he got the stone. He has it." Peter helped her stand, her head leaning on his shoulder as she pushed her weak body up. Strange came around helping Tony to his feet but he couldn't take his eyes off his daughter. Peter's eyes scanned over her battered body, "you're hurt." 

Beth let out a weak laugh, "we all are." Peter shook his head, "I just watched you basically get crushed from the inside out." Beth winced, "I'm fine." Peter gripped onto her hands, "you were losing control again." She held back a groan as her ribs burned, "I kicked his ass didn't I." She looked down, "besides I wasn't going to just let him kill my dad." 

Tony limped over so he stood beside her, "you almost got yourself killed." Beth's wild eyes turned towards him, "but I c-can't." Her head shook rapidly, "I can't." Peter held her hands tighter as he felt them shaking. Tony nodded, "okay. It's okay." Peter let go of her hands as Tony brought her into his arms, her shake hands clasped behind his back as she tried to slow her breathing. 

"We lost." She whispered into his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I tried." Tony nodded, his chin resting against her head. "Don't beat yourself up about this, you're still a kid. This responsibility shouldn't even be on any of your shoulders." His words directed to the two teens that hitched a ride on the space ship. Quill, Mantis, Drax, and Nebula were slowly limping their way over to them. All of them holding the same solemn expression that everyone had. 

Beth let go of Tony before Peter dove into her arms. Tucking his head into her neck as he let out a long sigh, and a heavy feeling fell over all the adult's shoulders watching the pair. Sometimes it's hard to remember that the two were just kids in all this, pulled into a world of so much pain and suffering. Responsibility thrust into their arms without warning and learning to adjust to it while juggling the life of a teen. 

Beth could remember the nights she would scream herself awake, her hands trembling and the room going colder. When she slept at Peter's, which was most of the time, he would always be there to calm her down. 

Beth remembers when she could hear Peter crying in his sleep from the top bunk before he woke up and crawled into bed next to her. His arms locking around her waist as he pulled himself close to her, making sure she was there. Both of them were plagued by the nightmares from their fight with the Vulture and Zena. And now their not so little space trip wasn't going to help with their traumas.

Then it was like the air shift, something unsettling washing over them. Mantis looked around trying to figure out what was wrong. Peter could feel it too, his spider senses were going crazy as he pulled his head off Beth's shoulder. "You okay?" Peter whispered to her as he became extra alert, "yeah." The silence was almost comforting cause nothing was happening, but then the silence was broken. Beth's head snapped towards Mantis who was leaning against Quill, "something's happening."

And then, she disappeared.