SOKOVIA ✦ marvel oneshots

the soul stone

( obsidian! )

...

"I'm sorry."

The words danced off his lips before he broke apart like a smashed statue.

He didn't want to go, he didn't want to die.

Although he fought bravely against it, Peter Parker did die. It didn't hurt. He was weightless, unfeeling. Yet, he found that worst of all. To not feel. To have his body slip away into nothing, his consciousness bleeding away, the last thought in his mind loud and fearful: what would happen once it was over?

The unknowing was terrifying.

Where would he go? What would he see? Would he still be or would his existence disappear, like a drop of water into the ocean?

When Peter found his answer, he knew it would haunt his dreams for years to come. There was nothing. A long stretch of emptiness from all sides, with him a mere speck in the middle of the darkness, alone.

A brief time spent there, so miniscule it was a single grain of sand on an endless shore of time, but to him it felt like an eternity.

Just when he thought he would be trapped, Peter suddenly felt solid, steady --- no longer a wisp. With that feeling came the sparks of his nerves returning, a blaze of life running through them and into his slowly reforming body.

His lungs filled hungrily, yearning for the first breath of life that followed after. His eyelids fluttered open to a deep and bright red, so rich and vivid it was like seeing for the first time. A ring blared in his ears, sharp and grating at first, then muddled and muted into a soft voice.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're okay."

Once Peter's eyes adjusted to the light, his gaze focused on the figure above him.

The man wore a look of worry, fear in his brown eyes, and concern in the crease of his brows. Bucky sat crouched with a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"I died, oh god, I died." The weight of everything pierced into Peter's chest, heavy and suffocating. It was too much. Hot tears pooled in his eyes and slid down his cheeks. "I failed."

Bucky grasped Peter's hand firmly. "Kid, you're here. You're alive. Just breathe." His eyes bore into Peter's, serious yet comforting. "You did your best. This isn't on you."

Peter swallowed the lump in his throat as he nodded. The tip of his nose was red, his sniffs loud in the silence. "Yeah, yeah okay. Thanks, uh Mr.---"

"Bucky is fine."

"Thanks, Bucky."

It took Peter a while to steady his racing heart. Deep breaths, focusing on the feeling of being alive, Bucky not leaving his side once, and he finally felt like a remnant of his old self.

"Is it just us?" Peter finally asked. He had sat up, his back hunching forward as he caved into himself, as if he were hiding from the truth of the situation. Eyes fixed on the sand before him, he didn't bother glancing around. "Did others... Make it here?"

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "There's a few of us here."

Bucky's words were a brutal understatement. Seeing everyone was bittersweet. Peter was relieved to not be alone in the aftermath, but he was torn up that so many souls had been taken so easily.

"This ain't so bad," Sam's words were spoken quietly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. "We've got each other. Could be worse, right?"

The others were huddled to themselves, fragile shells trying to cope with what had happened. Bucky only offered a nod. No one spoke.

"You're right," Peter said, breaking the silence. He didn't want to be weak, not when he knew he could help better their situation. "We'll get through this."

"I'm not worried about us." Peter recognized the owner of the smooth voice. The Black Panther. "I worry for my sister and mother. My people. I left them."

This time the silence was nearly deafening. They had all left someone they loved behind.

Aunt May was strong. He knew she'd be safe without him. But he couldn't help imagining what she was going through; waiting for him to come home, hoping and praying he was okay, until one day she finally had to accept that he was gone. She had lost Uncle Ben, and now him, too.

"We'll be okay." It was a lie.

...

this has been in my mind for a while & i finally got to write it down. sorry there's no pairing or reader in this, but i just wanted to focus on peter's experience