It's Not Over Yet

Ch. 1

"I think we just have to crush it," Steve said. Tony frowned. It seemed too simple now that Thanos wasn't wearing the gauntlet and they had it in their hands. "He said they were all trapped in it, right? Well then, if we crush it they'll be released."

"Or they'll be crushed too," Natasha pointed out. "We have no way of knowing for sure." They all glanced over to where Thanos was laying on the ground, dead and without his head (courtesy of Thor). It had been hard trying to kill him, but they had finally managed it and now they had all the infinity stones and the gauntlet in their hands.

"If we crush it and it crushes them, we won't be able to save them," Bruce said. "Maybe we should do more research."

"We don't have anything for research!" Shuri exclaimed. Okoye rubbed her back as tears sprang into her eyes. "My brother is gone and if crushing that damn stone might bring him back, then we should do it." She glared at Steve who was about to contradict her then turned to Okoye. Although she wasn't incredibly fond of physical touch, Okoye hugged Shuri who had begun to sob.

"Alright," Steve said, nodding. "Who thinks they can crush it?" Thor stepped forward and Steve nodded at him. If anyone had a chance at breaking the stone, a god seemed most likely. Everyone stepped back from the gauntlet as Thor raised his axe. He looked down at the stones and was tempted to break them all, but decided against it for the time being. He brought his axe down and the soul stone shattered. They all stared down at the shattered yellow pieces. It seemed to simple.

"Is that all? There's no big boom or anything that signals something happened?" Tony asked. Thor looked back at his team and shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out," he said. "We return to the place we lost them and see if they reappear."

* * *

Tony paced back and forth on the orange ground, repeating in his mind everything that had happened. He was worried that if he didn't think about something, he would go crazy, so he chanted what had happened back on earth to himself. We killed Thanos. We crushed the soul stone. Peter should be back. We killed Thanos. We crushed the soul stone. Peter should be back. The chant rang through his head nearly three dozen times before something moved. He stopped in his tracks and looked up from his pacing. Something was shimmering in the air. It looked like... glitter? He moved closer to it and it went from a few small specks to a large cloud of dust and seconds later, Star Lord appeared. Soon after him, Drax and then Mantis followed by Doctor Strange. Tony, although glad to see them, didn't relax until he saw Peter appear from the dust and collapse to the ground. Tony couldn't seem to move, but Peter could. He got up from the ground, dusting off his suit then looked up to see Tony.

"Mr. Stark?" he asked softly. Tony nodded and Peter ran towards him. Tony didn't even care that the kid accidentally tripped and collapsed on top of him. He was just glad to have him back after two years without his constant chatter. "I was so scared. It was so scary. Mr. Stark, I never want to go back, it was so scary." Peter was crying as he clung to Tony and Tony would be lying if he said he wasn't crying too.

"It's okay," he muttered, clinging to Peter just as hard. "You're okay now. You're not going back. It's over now." Peter didn't let go of Tony for a long time. After awhile, though, the Guardians announced they should probably get back to earth. Tony managed to get Peter to let go of him enough they could walk onto the ship but as soon as they were seated, Peter returned to clinging to Tony.

"Your kid there has some grit," Quill said. Tony looked up from Peter to see Quill steering the ship. "Stayed pretty calm for the most part. He's young still, isn't he?"

"16," Tony answered. Quill nodded solemnly and Tony looked back down at Peter. Was he 16, though? It had been two years since the beginning of Thanos. Did Peter age in the soul stone? Maybe he was 18 now. Oh god, he hadn't had an 18th birthday party.

"I'm sorry," Quill muttered. No one spoke again as they flew back to earth. Tony was alright with that, though. All he wanted to do was make sure Peter was alive and with him as if the steel grip around his torso wasn't enough evidence.