𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐔𝐏, avengers: endgame [3]

zero.

00 — the snap.

PIETRO AND AVA SAT ON the sofa in their temporary home, waiting for Ricky to return with the ingredients for a cake — it was his birthday tomorrow, and they decided to bake him a cake in advance! He hadn't had one since he was a toddler.

They had Monopoly set out on the cheap coffee table, Ricky as the cat, Ava as the dog and Pietro as the top hat — each chosen by the specific person. Although Pietro had originally wanted to be the cat, but he relented for Ricky.

It was an old Monopoly board, recovered from the top of a dust ridden wardrobe, all musty and worn out — either from use or age, possibly both. But it did the trick, allowed the trio to settle for some desperately needed family time.

After all the things they had been through, Pietro, Ava and Ricky deserved some peace. Some rest.

But as Pietro stood up from the sofa, hearing his phone — that had just charged, it had been dead before — ring excessively, Ava got a hollow feeling in her chest.

That feeling she had when something was terribly wrong.

And as much as she hated the fact that her feelings were usually correct... apparently she wasn't the only one who felt something wrong.

"Ava," Pietro choked out, scrolling through his phone; all the text messages left unread — because he'd forgotten to charge his phone the night before. He could feel a stir in his gut, a lurch in his chest, a tightness to his throat.

And it felt like some sort of parasite was crawling through him, infecting his skin with beads of sweat, causing his mouth to run dry, his fingertips to burn and tingle... his heart to drop into his stomach.

"Piet... something's... something is wrong. Very wrong." Ava said, keeping a wary eye on the front door to their home — she didn't know what was wrong, so she expected some new evil threat to burst through that door.

"Ava," Pietro urged, and hearing the harshness of his voice, the scratchy sound it made when leaving his throat... she turned.

But how she wished she hadn't.

Ava Maximoff had seen Pietro fall apart before.

There had been a moment where he thought she had died — multiple of these, actually. There was that moment when he crumbled, hearing the line go dead and the love of his life go along with it...

But never had she seen him fall apart like this.

It was horrifying — and after all the things she'd seen in her life time... well, you wouldn't have thought that much would faze her.

But seeing the man who had cared for her, loved her like a daughter, protected her from those trying to hurt her... the man who she had seen as a father to her, crumble and fall apart was the worst.

His skin had cracked, dissolving into small speckles of dust that floated to the ground, his hands slowly disappearing, then his arms, and she had no choice but to watch it start to engulf him completely.

"Pietro, no, no no! You— you're okay. You're fi— fine. You hear me?" She cried out, dropping to the floor as he did, barely cushioning his head from the creaky floorboards.

"Ava," He spoke shakily, "you're okay. We're okay."

"No! No, no... you can't leave me— what is happening?" She shouted, tears welling up in her eyes as she whipped her head around to search their residence. "Somebody help! Please..."

Nobody came to help.

"Dad," She sobbed out, voice grating her throat, tears soaking her cheeks. "Please, don't leave me."

But he fell apart in her arms, regardless.