I Need A Hero Vol. 4 {Peter Quill}

twenty two

All of Thanos' army had started crumbling into ash. Gwen watched in relief, knowing that it was all over and everyone had been saved. She felt Peter's hand link with hers. A smile grew on her face. The two of them looked at each other.

"I love you, Gwen" Peter expressed.

"I love you too, Peter" Gwen repeated. They touched foreheads, but not for long as they noticed that Tony collapsed beside a pile of debris. Gwen's eyes started swelling with tears as she knew that he was dying. Rhodey went up to Tony and bowed his head. Then Peter Parker went up to Tony.

"Mr. Stark?" Parker said as tears began swelling up in his eyes. "Hey... Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr. Stark... We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. You did it" Tony was unresponsive which made Parker break down and hug him. "I'm sorry, Tony" Pepper let him have his moment with Tony before she pushed him aside so she could say goodbye to her husband.

"Hey" she greeted.

"Hey Pep" Tony managed to speak. Pepper placed her hand on Tony's arc reactor, and Tony placed his hand over top of hers.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y?"

"Life functions critical"

"Tony, look at me" She made sure that her husband was looking at her. He had managed a smile but tears brimmed his eyes. "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now" After Pepper's words, Tony's arc reactor flickered off. Pepper couldn't contain her tears anymore.

Tony Stark had died.

Gwen let go of Peter's hand. She lowered herself, planting one knee on the ground and bowing her head. Clint had kneeled after her, then T'Challa. Carol and Meredith both took a knee together. It was Peter's turn to kneel, and then it was Nebula. Valkyrie kneeled, then Scott, then Steve, and then Stephen. Gamora watched on as everyone kneeled. She glanced over at Nebula and Gwen before walking off.

There was nobody left standing as they were all kneeling for the man that had sacrificed himself to save the universe.

~

A funeral was held for Tony at his family cabin. Almost everyone who had known and worked with him had shown up. There was Pepper, their daughter Morgan, Happy Hogan, and Rhodey. Steve Rogers, Thor, and Bruce Banner were in attendance. Peter Parker was there with his Aunt May. Stephen Strange and Wong were there, as was Scott Lang with Hope Van Dyne, Janet Van Dyne, and Hank Pym. All the Guardians of The Galaxy showed up, as did Gwen's parents. T'Challa, Shuri, and Okoye were there. Clint Barton was there with his family. Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Barnes, and Sam Wilson stood together. Harley Keener, Secretary Ross, and Maria Hill made an appearance. Carol stood on the steps of cabin, clad in a black uniform. Meredith stood beside her, their arms linked together. Lastly, there was Nick Fury.

~

After the ceremony, Pepper had welcomed everyone to food and refreshments. Gwen had found a quiet spot to sit along the lake. She felt a presence behind her. She assumed it to be Peter but when she turned her head, her eyes met Thor's.

"May I join you, Lady Gwen?" he asked.

"Of course" she replied, patting the ground beside her. Thor sat down beside her. There was a moment of awkward silence between them. "So, what becomes of us now?"

"Well, we end our marriage, and you can be with Quill again" Thor had managed to hide the pained tone in his voice from Gwen. As much as he grew to love her and didn't want to let her go, he made a promise that he would when Peter returned. Now that he had, he was going to keep that promise.

"It's not that simple. I'm not exactly married to Peter anymore, but he thinks that we are. How do I break it to him? I can't just say to him, "Hey. While you were snapped away from existence, I married another man." Then he has yet to meet Yondu, which I'm really nervous about, and--" Gwen stopped when she felt Thor place his hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will be fine, Gwen. You just need to take it one step at a time" Gwen smiled at him and placed her hand on top of his.

"Thanks Thor. For everything. And you can stay with us for as long as you need to. Peter may need a bit of convincing, as he doesn't completely trust you, but you just leave that to me" The both of them heard someone clearing their throat behind them. Gwen and Thor stood up and turned around, only to find that Peter was watching them with careful eyes.

"We should gather up the others and get ready to leave. It's a long way to Kosmo" Peter said.

"I'll go find the rabbit and squirrel" Thor excused himself, leaving Gwen and Peter alone. Gwen was unaware that a tear had slipped from her eye until Peter wiped it away.

"Are you alright, Star-Princess?"

"Yeah. It's just been an emotional day, and I have you back, and I..." Gwen trailed off, and Peter looked at her with concern. She sighed. "I have a lot of things to tell you, and some of them aren't going to be easy"

"You don't have to tell me right now, okay?" Peter cupped her face in his hands. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Right now, I just want to go home to Kosmo and see my little girl"

"Yeah, about Meredith..." Gwen started. She hadn't told Peter about how his daughter was now a woman in her twenties. "She's not exactly a little girl anymore"

"Right. It's been five years. She'd be about nine right now, right?"

"Not exactly"

"Mom? Are we leaving? Carol decided she's coming with us. We were thinking about having our wed---" Meredith stopped herself when Peter turned around. The father and daughter's eyes met for the first time in five years. A smile cracked on Meredith's face. "Hi dad"

"Meredith?" Peter was in absolute shock at the appearance of his daughter. When he last saw her, she was only a little girl. And now, here she was as a grown woman standing in front of him. "Is that really you?"

"Yes. It's me" Peter slowly approached his daughter. He carefully examined her face to be sure that this woman truly was her daughter. When he saw the purple eyes that were so similar to Gwen's, he knew that it really was Meredith.

"My little Star-Angel" Peter rasped, embracing his daughter in a hug. Meredith returned the affectionate act by wrapping her arms around her father. "You look so beautiful"

"I absolutely think so" Carol's voice interrupted. The father-daughter embrace ended. Peter looked over at the blonde stranger, and then back to his redhead daughter.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet Carol Danvers. She's my--"

"Fiance" Carol finished as she took Meredith's hand in hers.

"Fiance?" Peter wondered. He looked between the two girls, and then smiled. He noticed Carol was holding out her hand for him to shake. So that's what he did. "Well, you definitely have my blessing"

"Thank you, Mr. Quill"

"Carol, we're gonna be family. You can call me Peter or dad. You know, whatever you're comfortable with"

"Hey, as much as this family reunion is bringing me to tears," Rocket spoke in a sarcastic manner as he joined the four. "We've got some business to conclude before we go back to Kosmo. Like our stop in Norway" Rocket sent a wink in Gwen's direction, and she smiled in return.

"Norway? What's in Norway?" Peter asked, furrowing his brows. He looked between his love and his raccoon friend. "And why was Rocket winking at you?"

"It's a surprise" Gwen confessed. She couldn't wait to see the smile on Peter's face when he realized that he had fathered a second child. A son, to be exact. And yet, Gwen was also nervous. Nervous because Yondu didn't know that Peter was his real father. He thought Thor was. And that was going to be a difficult conversation to have with Peter.