A light in the dark

"He's in shock!"

Peter's hands stopped fiddling with the backpack on his lap. For a second, the whole world felt like it had completely stopped. The next second he felt like he was being pulled backwards and then into reality again. The third second everything came flooding back to him - his whole life. It was as if he had, just for a little moment, not remembered a single detail of his life at all and now everything he had ever known just exploded inside his brain.

Tony put a hand on one of Peter's shoulders. Not that Peter really felt it, his whole body tingled a little and he could feel it vibrate. There was glittering starts in front of his eyes, making it hard to see what he focused on. It was like he was watching his life from inside his head.

"You ok?" He asked and then immediately stopped when he realized how stupid that question sounded. Of course the kid wasn't okay, his only guardian had just died. And the kid didn't even know how yet, but Tony was resisting the urge to fill him in on that one until the obvious shock had worn off. "Sorry, kid. That was a stupid thing to say.." Tony continued trying to read Peter's blank face.

"How.." Peter tried talking but every world he uttered felt hard to say, his tongue was all thick and wobbly. Finally, two words that sounded near his normal voice came out: "What happened?" He finally asked, voice breaking and Tony swore to himself in his mind as the kid let out a sob with the last word.

"Let's just get to the tower and then we can sort this whole thing out, alright kid?" Tony answered and read Peter's face again. This time he didn't look as blank, it was more of a confused and very sad look. Tony honestly didn't think Peter had even registered the news just yet, he'd thought the boy would've been bursting into tears onto his suit, that's why he didn't wear the maroon Dolce Gabbana one today.

Peter just nodded and looked out the window of the car. For the first time in a very long time, Peter felt like he had no thoughts. No thoughts at all. Shouldn't he be sad right now? Shouldn't his whole life be falling apart as his only living family had just died? Why isn't he crying? What was wrong with him? Didn't he love May? Of course he did.. But why didn't he feel anything? Everything was empty and numb, like being underwater.

Peter's train of thoughts kept him gazing out at all the cars passing by. A while later it pulled into a stop in a big underground garage that was pretty much empty. (Besides the eight or nine sports-cars parked perfectly beside each other.)

"Is he even awake?" The big man asked as he turned the ignition off and eyed Tony in the review mirror.

"I..." Tony started and glanced at Peter for en millionth time, half expecting him so answer that for himself, but kept going as Peter gave no indication of answering the question, "I think so?" He answered reluctantly but it came out as more of a question. The two men eyed each other and got out of the car.

The big man opened Peter's car door and waited for him to step out. Right, this is when you step out, Peter thought. God, what had happened to him? Well, he knew what had happened to him - his aunt had died. But he felt like his mind was somewhere completely else. Maybe in the clouds or something? He knew what it felt like when someone died and that it certainly didn't feel like this.

"Kid?" The big man looked a bit worried and gently grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him out of the car carefully. Right, he was supposed to step out of the car. He'd forgotten that. "Tony, I don't like this. He's clearly in shock. We should call Bruce."

"Already sent him a text, he's waiting in the penthouse." Tony answered and checked his phone just to be sure no other new answer had come. "Hey, kid. You think you can walk?"

Can you walk? What sort of a question was that even? Peter could do more than just walk, he could do things most people couldn't: he could climb walls and swing off of buildings and save people. But why hadn't he saved May? Wasn't that his job? If anyone-