Chapter One

When he was a child, Peter had been told to look at and observe the stars.

His mother had been a avid amateur astronomer during her prime. With her openness about her passion and her knack for exploring the hidden depths of the balls of light, her passion for night sky passed on to her child.

Together she would sit with him on the roof of their home with a telescope nestled between them along with a pair of thermos filled to the brim with hot chocolate. His left hand would be joined with her own as she would adjust and readjust the equipment while looking back down at him every second or so to confirm he wasn't half asleep.

The toddler would then be picked up and held within her arms as his mother would grin up at the sky. Cold air would bite at the pair's skin as the woman felt that the best time to go star searching was during the eve of midnight, when the city streets began to slow their bustling and the pollution didn't appear to be that thick.

"Look up petey pie," She would whisper in his ears as her hands rubbed his tired body into a comforting submission. "the stars are brighter then the sun tonight."

Small meaty hands would wave at the air and grab at it with his eyes wide with wonder. Sometimes he'd babble back to her and earn a chuckle about how much she couldn't wait to take him to the nearby planetarium when he was older. While other times he'd be to tired to even try and care about what she was saying.

It was the closeness of the situation that made him remember it. The sound of her heart beating against his sensitive ears, the sparkling gaze she had when a shooting star would fly by. Her mouth would hang open as they stared agape in wonder as his mother pointed out some familiar constellations.

"There goes Orion oh oh look petey there's Cygnus!" She yelled jostling in slightly as she pointed at the sky with a glimmer on her face. They'd smile at another and turn back to gaze back threw the telescope.

Laying with his back against the shambles of the car's passenger seat, Peter gazed up at the pitch black night sky in complete and utter terror.

A warm feeling filled his lower body as he pushed and turned against the seatbelt. When the car had been crashed into his body had flown into the front of the seat and the belt had snapped after wrapping around his body. It's leather and plastic components had cut into his skin, drawing small drops of blood onto his ashen skin.

Peter found it hard to remember how long he had been trying to free himself or when the men who had nearly killed him ran away in fear. His mind was muddy with his consciousness waning the longer he sat trapped with the car's fumes being breathed in threw his panicked breaths.

Splinters sat lodged in his fingers as he clawed at the earth, his fingers digging up mountains of dirt and grime in a effort to pull himself free. The inside of his mouth burned with the taste of his blood heavy on his tongue serving as a bitter reminder for what was soon to come.

Despite have become delirious with pain and fear, the fourteen year old knew that he wouldn't have much time left. Liquid from the dripping gasoline tank dampened his pants alerting him of how gruesome his death would soon be. Civilization was miles upon miles away with their bags from their vacation still packed snugly under the car's back seat.

More tears came to his eyes as he remembered how happy they had been only hours earlier. When his aunt had scolded him about packing his entire jumbo lego set when he should have been packing his clothes. When his uncle had ruffled his hair as they ate in the parking lot of a Checker's with the promise of going to the movies hanging over his head.

All of it was gone now, those men had stolen it from him and now he wouldn't ever be able to see his aunt again. His home again. His life was over because of those...those monsters. Blind and uncontrollable agony filled his entire being as he clawed at the earth his nails bending and snapping off uselessly as he sobbed.

It was falling, falling at a incredible pace with no destination in mind.

The air screeched against the confines that kept it from it dyeing the entire atmosphere in it's inky remains. Whistling filled it's senses as it plummeted towards the empty earthen land, it's stomach aching from it's ever growing hunger.

It needed to feed. It craved a hearty, plump meal.

Sadly this couldn't be achieved in it's current form nor would it in any form it decided to take on it's own. It's kind needed a safety net o keep it form falling apart at the seems. It needed a host to feed off of while protecting it and to keep it from going mad from it's isolation.

Lonely. It had become so lonely in it's confinement that lasted for decades and centuries and milleniums and eons.

Many of it's kind where emotionless besides the addiction to kill and torture, but it was different. It felt sadness and it felt happiness. All it wanted was to be cherished by it's host and to be the one to protect it from filthy vermin with greedy palms.

He wanted that. He ached for that. He craved for that.

Gravity hit them full force and the glass of it's prison began to crack as the air became thicker. Seeping threw, it burned with need as it was able to make out shapes and creatures on the land below. Filled with a maddening urge to break it threw itself against the glass again and again and again.

Flesh and bone. Bone and flesh. It could smell all of it.

Piercing threw the glass, the symbiote screeched as the body came into view. A creature laid dormant within it's trap with terror in it's eyes and blood spilling from it's lips. Thick tentacles of grime and ink sprung forward to cradle the dying child with the alien crying in glee.

Host. It found it's host. Finally after so long.

Peter laid his head against the ground and began to scream.

Whatever the creature was it had to be torturing him. Because of it his skin had become thin from the claws that tore at it. Salty tears fell onto the ground as he seized sobbing violently as he scratched at his throat. The fourteen tear old tore at the skin as he tried to get in any air threw his lungs. This was near impossible as his saliva and blood had started to get backed up in his throat with his lips cracked from his nails scraping at it.

Silently, he begged for the assimilation to end and for his death to finally settle in. Swollen limbs fell on the dirt blistering in red beautiful warts from the increase in heat. His eyes moved back and forth as one of the tentacles slipped into his mouth forcing his jaw to bend and maneuver open. The appendage enlarged itself as it forced itself down his insides and attached itself to it.

Talons dug into his flesh injecting its black webbing into his body and made his eyes roll into the back of her skull. Liquid poured from his body dampening the earth and taking control of him. The tentacle disappeared within his skin as the liquid wrapped around his being, becoming one with it. His mind buzzed as he lost touch with reality and started to lose control of his motor skills as his shock grew and took hold of it.

'Host. Sleep Host. Host will heal. Host will live.'

Peter couldn't think, he couldn't breathe. All he did was close his eyes and fall asleep.

Authors Note: ok, let's clear some things up. The X Men and Runaways are in this story since they deal with mutants and are related to Marvel. They won't be in the fic for to long but they'll be here as long as they are needed to be.

So if you haven't watched all ten episodes of the Runaways it's fine, doing so isn't that crucial to the fics plot or development. Peter doesn't know about these kids and neither do they know about him. Plus they are a bunch of teenagers on the run from the authorities, their parents and intergalactic beings so i think they'll all get along well.

For my fellow Runaways fans, the Nico relationship will be explained, she isn't just messing around with Karolina's feelings as I know about my rainbow's soon to be tv canon alien girlfriend. Don't worry.

This fic is two years in the making. Trust me.