The Unassigned Mission

Time After Time

It was dark; Nothingness and silence. There wasn't much of an afterlife, it was just black but it didn't drag on. It was an instant that felt like it was ending just as quickly as it happened. Almost like a snap of fingers, to signify it has just begun but is over now.

Sophia's ears slowly focused in on music that was far too loud. It smelled like sweat and intoxicatingly cheap cologne. A hand grabbed for hers and that caused her to open her eyes; the last thing she felt was her body fading to dust. Now, she's face to face with the one boy who she once felt a longing pain for when she ached to find him. Her eyes welled up because surprisingly, she can recall everything that happened before this now confusing moment. Prom was surrounding them, people were dancing, she could faintly hear Ned and Michelle chatting aside them and those damn strobe lights are functioning above still. She had to tell herself to focus because most importantly, Peter was in front of her.

"I found this outside. I think you dropped it when Aunt May dropped us off," he hummed as he slipped her corsage back on her wrist.

She stared at the boy in shock, "Don't do this."

"You look amazing if I hadn't said that enough."

"Peter."

The boy looked up with a confused frown but his eyes played with the idea that he knew what she meant but didn't want to be the first to speak up.

"I remember everything. Where were you?"

"Sophia, not here."

"Peter, you can't just disappear," she whispered in a harsh tone, "You can't just brush off the fact that you blasted off into space then all of the student body turned to ash, including myself!"

Peter hushed the shaking girl and rubbed her warm arms, "I know you're in pain. Except, I felt every millisecond of dying. My senses kind of enhanced that experience for me."

"That's literally so awful to hear."

"I tried my hardest from stopping a raisin looking alien from permanently wiping out half of Earth's population. We succeeded by the way,"

He gestured to the active dance hall and kept his voice low as he continued,

"I mean not the first attempt but Mr. Strange, a magician guy who can see different dimensions in time, knew our one percent success would be to fail first. Then, thanks to Tony and Nebula, they defeated the raisin Thanos. No one else remembers that he wiped out half of existence originally. Just the Avengers and apparently you."

"That's good to hear, honestly. I had no idea what you were leaving for. I'm glad you're okay, I just didn't know what I was experiencing."

"Hey," he cupped her cheek, "we're at prom now. Humanity is restored, yadda yadda, let's enjoy ourselves, okay?"

"This seems like a lot to just kind of brush off."

"Like dust?"

"Wow," she smiled, "a bit too soon, yeah?"

"Is it too soon if no one knew it happened?"

Sophia laughed and watched Peter for a minute before turning to Ned. She smiled wildly and hugged the bigger man. The boy stood shocked while ceasing his conversation with Michelle.

"Looks like we're living this life time together."

"Uh?"

"Sorry," Sophia pulled back, "I'm just happy you're my friends."

A smile played on Michelle's lips, Sophia noticed and froze. It was the same facial expression she had when the girls were talking the moment before Michelle turned to dust. Peter, as well as Ned and Michelle, noticed Sophia's change in demeanor and placed his hand on her shoulder. He coaxed her out of whatever funk she put herself in,

"It's haunting me," she whispered; if Peter wasn't fully focused on Sophia, he could've missed what she just said.

"Soph, are you alright?"

She slowly looked at Ned and nodded, "sorry for killing the mood by making that awkward. I'm just lost in my thoughts."

Peter looked between the trio before gently pulling Sophia by the hand,
"Let's get you some air, yeah?"

Michelle and Ned shared a look. Ned was about to start a conversation but Michelle just stepped back and molded herself into the crowd of dancing teens. Ned nodded knowing she just weirdly rejected his attempt to hangout and stood in the middle of the floor.

"Guy in the chair," he repeated to hype himself up.

The kid from the chess encounter, last year, was passing as Ned continued his mantra. He paused walking by to turn and give Ned an incredulous look. Ned noticed, not as quickly as he would've hoped, that he was staring at the crazy looking boy. The chess kid, who Ned never got the name of,maybe Julian, didn't make an effort to question the other boy. They just stood there staring, making the situation increasingly awkward. Ned smiled uncomfortably,
"Just, inspiring myself."

Julian showed no sign of a change in facial expressions, he eyed Ned judgmentally before motioning with his thumb to the active dance floor,

"Dancing."

With that Julian kept walking and fit into the crowd just as easily as Michelle did, not too long ago. Ned watched the crowd and tried to quietly build up the nerve to join everyone.

"I should've worn my hat," he grumbled.

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