What Could of Been

PART ONE - The Snap

Disclaimer- the beginning of this story is based off Infinity War, the scene when everyone blipped away. I hope I described it right, of course if you've seen the movie it should be easy to follow. I've twisted the story line, and I've added Loki, but you get it! I hope you enjoy 😊
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THIRD PERSON

Mantis was the first to go. Her eyes filled with terror, her body turned to dust as Quill held her. Everyone looked around worried. Not even a half hour before, Thanos had just attacked trying to get the Time Stone from Strange. He succeeded, and quickly left to who knows where. Everyone was just glad he left before killing them all...or did he? Drax got scared, which is weird enough to send chills through anyone. "Quill??" he tried to speak before turning to dust also, his remains going away with the wind. Tony and Quill locked eye contact as Peter, Strange and Nebula watched on uselessly in pain."Steady Quill.." Tony reassured before Quill gave up the tough guy act. "Oh man," he said as he turned to dust. Nebula stood quietly. "He did it..." she muttered. Tony turned around in concern. "He must have had all the stones..." she continued. "...And now he can destroy anything with a snap." she gulped dryly. "Seems like he already has." Tony said with a half gasp, trying to comprehend how fast everything went sideways.

Stephen spoke up with a hint of shame. "It was the only way." he said to the remainder of people; Nebula, Peter, Tony, before looking up to the sky and accepting himself turning into dust. Strange had given up the time stone in exchange for Peter to live, after Thanos stabbed him during the attack. Peter stayed in silence filled with regret, knowing that Strange had said he would save the stone over anyone. He wondered if he was a huge hypocrite, or if just maybe Strange was so dumb he thought Thanos wouldn't have won with it.

Wrapped in his thoughts, Peter didn't realise Tony turning in for a hug. This was odd, for the fact that Tony wasn't a big hugger, not to Peter's knowledge at least. "Mr Stark?" Peter said shakily. Tony had tears in his eyes but kept on a forced semi-smile, the kind of smile you give before telling someone you're moving away forever, or before saying I'm proud of you. "Mr Stark what's wrong??" Peter repeated his name, not giving into the hug. He pushed Tony back to finally see that he was dusting away in front of him. Literally dying in front of his eyes. "Hey- Hey, It's okay, you're okay," Peter didn't know what to do but stare into the eyes he's never seen cry before. "Don't go, please don't go I need you-" was all Peter could manage to say in shock. Tony shook his head and finally frowned as he let a tear fall and muttered out, "I'm sorry." Peter was shocked and took seconds to react, and just as he did and went in for a hug, Tony was gone. Nebula placed a hand on Peters back and let him cry- even she herself let out well deserved tears for her fallen sister, Gamora.

* * *

Back on Earth, when the snap had just happened, everyone stood in shock as Thanos gave a smile before disappearing to somewhere unknown. Everyone's mind went blank as they tried to register what just happened. Loki had caught up to Thor, where he had just thrown an axe to Thanos but missed right before he disappeared through a portal. "Brother?" Loki asked out of breath. Thor was breathing heavily and didn't have the energy to stand, so he knelt to the ground. "He got away." he said.

"Where'd he go?" Steve ran up to them. At the start of the battle, Loki was worried to show his face amongst people who he once tried to kill, but during the battle -only for a minute- he looked around and finally realised that they knew it wasn't him that killed and killed. It wasn't him being greedy, it was him being trapped, and for the first time in years he felt a little more free of his sins. He knew he wasn't completely safe, he had still tricked many people many times, but in the moment, he was a free man. Steve looked at them both, his hand on his stomach from where he had gotten kicked. He turned around when he heard someone call his name. "Nat?" He responded to himself, still trying to understand what had just happened. Nat was looking at her hands, they were slowly turning into dust. Clint ran in past trees and tried to grab her hand. "No," was all he could say before Nat was gone, although she was able to make one second of eye contact before leaving. Clint turned to Steve and shook his head slowly as his face gave an expression that could only be explained as giving up. "I'm done." Clint said as he closed his eyes and left as well, floating off as dust.

Thor held onto Loki as the two saw a lot of people leaving. Wanda was still at Visions body, just hugging it. She turned into dust a few seconds later, but amongst all others, she had a face filled with relief. Rhodey turned to dust just as he found Sam, Sam looked terrified to see a body leave right in front of him, but with short time to react, Sam also left, maybe ten seconds later. Rocket held Groot and kept telling him it was going to be okay, as the two turned to dust together. Many Wakanda Soldiers disappeared amongst their team, all looking up to the sky for answers but they all shared the same disappointed look. T'challa was holding tight onto Shuri who had started crying, and they both dusted away together. Bruce walked into the forest area, now out of his Hulk suit and was confused at the lack of people. "Where's Nat?" was his first question. Thor spoke up on behalf of the people that were dying hopelessly. "He did it. Thanos won. Snapped half the world away in an instant." Loki stood by his side. Bruce looked down to the ground with a confused look, trying to comprehend all the people that were dying and also wonder if Nat was gone before he could even see her.

Everyone looked at Steve for directions before Bucky ran in. Steve's stomach dropped. "Buck?" he said with a slight voice break. Bucky saw Steve and slowed down to a walk before his gun dropped from his now dusted away arm. "Steve?" was all he could manage to say as one leg was now gone too. Steve walked closer and placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. They exchanged a sad look with tears forming. "Steady." Steve said, letting Bucky lean onto him before he fully left the world, now dust floating away.

Everyone stayed in complete silence for a minute, waiting for the next person to disappear, but no one did. Unspoken, everyone slowly left the woods and returned to the main Wakanda war ground. Steve let out an audible gasp as he saw just how few soldiers were left. "This is it?" Thor croaked out. Steve, Thor, Loki and Bruce stood on an almost empty field as they looked out to maybe only 25 soldiers, scattered around and all in pain, and a sky full of dust.

Steve and Thor locked eyes and knew what each other were thinking. "Tony?" Steve barley said above a whisper, yet Bruce still heard. "You don't think he's..." Bruce started while thinking aloud. "We need him. For this- I cant fix this on my own." Steve turned to face Bruce, shock across his face. "You can fix this?" He asked with Hope. The team looked at Bruce as his eyes shifted downwards. "No..." everyone let out a sigh. "But maybe if Tony is still here?" Bruce thought aloud towards the situation, as if millions didn't just die and they were lucky to be alive.

Loki started shaking his head and decided to speak what his mind had been thinking. "Fix this? There's no fixing this. Unless you want to pay Thanos a visit- and I don't feel like doing round two of this!" He huffed. Thor placed his hand on his brothers shoulder, Loki felt cold. He had a tendency for his other half to come out when he was feeling a sad emotion, and while he might portray him being hopeless, Thor knew he felt useless. "Look," He continued after seeing everyone look down. Loki stepped in front of everyone and used his hands as a gesture. "The only way we can reverse this, is with the stones." Thor kept looking up in hope that maybe someone would appear again. "And since we don't have the stones..." Loki sighed, "I don't think anyone's coming back anytime soon."

* * *

Nebula helped Peter walk back onto Quills ship after the devastating events. They stood in complete silence as she closed the doors and the two realised just how lonely they were, stuck on an empty planet in an almost dead ship. Peter looked around and gave up, kneeling to the ground and covering his head with his bloodied hands. Nebula spoke up, though she is not one to feel strong empathy, she knew she had to speak. "It wasn't your fault."

Peter looked up with teary eyes he didn't try to hide. "You didn't steal the stones. You didn't murder innocent people. You didn't snap away half the world. My father did." She continued before standing right in front of him. Peter let that sink in for a while. A year ago, he didn't think that he could feel as shitty as he did, with his suit been taken off him, Tony being mad at him and Peter almost dying...but it turns out that there was rock bottom, ten feet of crap, and then this. But Nebula was right, he wasn't the one that fired the bullet, he was just the one that didn't stop it in time. And sometimes, being the hero just meant getting past it and moving on. Nebula reached out her arm and spoke softly. "I know you just lost some people you love...but..." She took in a big breath as if she didn't realise she was going to say until she said it, "...So did I." Peter finally made eye contact and noticed even the robot was stifling in tears. "This ship needs fixing." She said. Peter looked at her outstretched arm and realised that the only helpful thing he could do in the moment, was try. Otherwise Tony and all the others fought for nothing. Nebula pulled Peter up as he took her hand, and the two got to work fixing the ship the best they could.