Starlight › Marvel [1] ✓

038. infinity stones

› CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT ‹

His body and mind were numb as the muscles around his eyes twitched. His conscious was slowly being returned to his body, but even when he started to feel the pins and needles through his limbs, his mind remained numb as the images of blue energy lights rocketed the ship and the sounds of every scream beat against his aggrieved eardrums. His stomach rolled as he relieved the scene of the aliens as they slaughtered the remaining Asgardian and Sakaarians. However, his mind raced awake as he remembered the violet monster that walked on board after his Children completed their quest.

In an instant, without any warning, Raleigh Ridley shot into a sitting position and his eyes flew open. His heart beat against his chest while his vision spun from the abrupt movement. As everything settled he noticed a vintage patterned blue wall and he was settled on an old floral couch. A brown pillow, which his head had been rested on slid to the ground.

"Whoa. Hey, kid, calm down."

Raleigh jumped at the unknown voice and curved his head, finding a Chinese male in red robes approaching him. His hands were placed in front of him as if to show he wasn't going to hurt him, but that didn't help Raleigh's comfort level in the slightest... not after what he just saw. He leaned into the back of the couch to keep a distance from the stranger, but as he moved, his mind flashed back to the Asgardians scattering and screaming as they ran around the exploding ship. He sucked in a sharp breath as he ran his dirtied and scrapped hands over his face to try and block out the memory.

"Stephen?" The man called to someone and the tapping of his footsteps resigned. The balls of his palms rubbed at his eyes, trying desperately to wipe away the terror he witnessed. He could faintly hear the Chinese man speaking with someone else and after a few moments, a new set of steps neared him. They stopped and for a short second, it was silent as the new person studied his behavior.

"Raleigh Ridley?" The new voice was faintly familiar and in the desperate attempt to find comfort, he dropped his hands and gazed up at the figure. He immediately recognized the man since he had been the wizard that had helped Thor locate Odin before everything with Hela, Sakaar, Ragnarok, and Thanos started. It was the same man who threw the portal at him, which forced him on the journey he shouldn't have been on. Maybe he should feel mad at him, but all that energy had diminished and now he could only raise his eyebrows at the man. "Do you remember me?"

He nodded. "Doctor Strange... you sent me through the portal with Thor and Loki."

"It was a request from Odin," Strange admitted and Raleigh bit the inside of his cheek, unsure how he should deal with that information. Yet the sorcerer didn't let him think on it much as he asked him another question. "I need you to tell me what you remember?"

Raleigh's gaze fell to his trembling, ash-covered, hands. "Thanos..." He whispered and Stephen seldomly heard him. "They killed everyone who was still on the ship. He—he wanted the tesseract and then Hulk—" He couldn't say that the green beast was defeated like he was nothing by Thanos, because who would believe that? Tony had to build a suit just to stop Hulk... nothing living should have been able to do what he did. "Loki pushed me into the Bifrost with Hulk, but they—" Again he stops, refraining himself from thinking about how Loki, Heimdall, and Thor could be dead. Instead, his head shoots back up as he remembers that Hulk protected him during the fall in the Bifrost. "Where is he? Where's Hulk?"