Daemons are borrowed from the bookseries "His Dark Materials" or if more familiar with the film "The Golden Compass".
All you really need to know is that Daemons are the physical manifestation of a persons' soul in the form of an animal.
This is my 2nd Marvel related story but my first Superfamily tagged one. If you're not a fan of Tony/Steve it is mild and limited to one small scene. The focus is on Peter so you'll have to judge for yourself whether to read it or skip it.
Peter was breathing heavily by the time he stepped into the elevator of the Avengers' tower, his home. Cold sweat trickled down his back causing him to shiver. His stomach churned unpleasantly and he felt far too warm to be comfortable. As he leaned heavily against the wall, a familiar voice responded to his presence.
"Good evening, Peter. It is currently one hour and 24 minutes past your curfew."
"Hey Jarvis, yeah sorry about that. I guess they're waiting for me?"
"You would be correct, young sir. Good luck."
"Thanks JARVIS."
Peter grimaced at knowing what was waiting for him upstairs. His dads were protective and quick to worry which considering who they were and how many enemies they probably had, wasn't a bad thing. They just got a little overprotective with Peter.
The elevator came to a gentle stop at the right floor, the doors opening to reveal none other than his dads. Peter sighed internally, not feeling up to this but having no coice in the matter. He pushed off from the wall with more effort than was considered normal and immediately the stern faces morphed into concern and previosuly crossed arms reached forward as if to steady him. Peter usually dodged such attempts but his world shifted sideways dangerously, so he allowed them to steady him and almost literally pull him out of the elevator, his bag dragging behind him as he lacked the strength to lift it up.
"Peter, what's wrong?" His pops asked him as he brushed the sticky hair from his forehead.
Peter was still processing the question when he found himself seated on the couch, his pops face in front of him looking intently into his eyes and it occurred to Peter far too slowly that he was still waiting for an answer. He was prevented from answering by his dad's concerned voice from somewhere to his left.
"Where's Kalyca?"
A tingle of alarm shot through Peter as he tried to remember. Being reminded of Kalyca suddenly made Peter aware of his dads daemons flitting about, more concerned than his dads even because they didn't have anyone to fuss over like them.
His dad's raccoon, Basil, was walking back and forth on the back of the couch, leavinga brush of cool air in Peter's neck every time he passed by him. Qatara, on the other hand, was seated perfectly beside his pops, ears switching between up and alert and flat in the neck in concern.
"Peter," His pops hands gently held his face forcing Peter to look at him. "Where is she, son?"
Peter inhaled shakily as another shiver surged through him and he blinked several times before finally managing to answer through his fevered thoughts.
"Bag."
He realised now why his bag had felt so heavy when he'd dragged it behind him earlier. He'd forgotten that Kalyca had climbed in his bag when they both began to feel ill.
His dad immediately reached for the bag dropped beside the couch, pulling it open and releasing a sigh of relief at having found her. Basil jumped down beside him and gently pulled her out, revealing a wealth of frazzled fur and unclear eyes once they opened blearily at being removed from her hiding place.
"We don't feel so good."
Kalyca's words came out in a slur as she hung almost limply in Basil's hold. She shivered and abruptly curled into a tight ball, Peter mimicking her almost exactly a few seconds after.
"Let's get you two in bed. I think you're coming down with something."
Peter offered no resistance when his pops lifted him into his arms and carried him to the bedroom. Everything had turned into a blur of movement and actions and before he knew it both himself as Kalyca were tucked into bed and blissfully drugged by medicine and painkillers.
Explaining the reason for being so late would come later. For now, Peter had no strength or consciousness left to tell them about sneaking into Oscorp or make up an excuse so he wouldn't have to tell them about sneaking into Oscorp.
Steve was just turning back the bedspread when Qatara's ears shifted and her head came up turning towards the doorway. Basil came jogging into the room jumping onto the bed beside Qatara and promptly began cleaning his fur, clearly agitated. Tony followed suit clenching and unclenching his hands as he walked to his side of the bed and began to get ready for bed.
Qatara huffed her annoyance at their silence but remained otherwise silent, allowing Steve to handle this. She did nudge Basil non-to-gently before abruptly licking across his nose and getting the expected and intended reaction. A screech and a short tussle later and Basil was in a gentle dead-lock by Qatara, forced to endure her gently nosing him in an attempt to comfort him.
Tony stood as still as a statue while it was going on, completely unaware of Steve approaching him until he felt the hand on his arm gently but firmly turning him around. Tony refused to look at him though, not wanting the gentle reassurances he was sure were coming. He'd much rather stew in his anxiety, thank you very much.
"Tony, hey, look at me." Steve released his arm and both hands grabbed hold of his face and refused to let go even as Tony tried to wiggle free. "It's just the flu or something. JARVIS would pick up on anything life threatening. Peter is going to be fine."
Finally Tony gave in, how could he not. Steve had that affect on him, damn his very fine husband. "I know...I know, I just hate to see the kid suffer. He's suffered enough already in his life. "Tony placed his hands on Steve's for a moment before gently prying them off and continuing his task of getting ready for bed. "I hate being useless."
"You're not useless, Tony. Just being there for him is enough. Let's get some rest, you certainly look like you need it."
Before Tony could indignantly retaliate, Steve had already moved out of reach. Pretending to be offended, only slightly pretending, Tony got in bed beside his husband, Basil making himself comfortable on a pillow beside the bed, Qatara stretching out on her own on Steve's side.
Peter would be fine. That was the last thought in his head as Tony drifted off to sleep.
Tony was no stranger to nightmares, especially when he was worried about something or someone. In this case, Peter. So the nightmares that followed that night were not unexpected. What was unexpected was waking up abruptly from a nightmare, only to feel as if he were still dreaming. Emergency lighting was flashing in his room and from the sudden movement beside him, Tony knew Steve had awoken too and was already up. Tony quickly followed his lead, sparing a quick glance to find Basil nervously fidgeting on his nightstand, before turning his attention to JARVIS.
"What is going on, JARVIS?"
"Medical emergency! Mr. Parker is having trouble breathing, is in severe pain and his heart rate is reaching dangerous levels."
Steve was out the door in a heartbeat, Tony rapidly following him although there was no feasable chance of him keeping up with the supersoldier. "Alert Banner!" Tony ordered JARVIS as he ran.
Steve had likely already reached Peter's room by now but before Tony could find out he stopped dead in his tracks because of what he suddenly heard. Screaming. Terrible screaming coming from Peter's room, from Peter himself. It sounded like he was being murdered and didn't that bring to mind all kinds of horrifying images. Basil suddenly screeched in distress as he flattened himself to the ground. Daemons rarely screeched like that as it sounded unnatural and pointed out how deeply terrified and vulnerable they were at that moment. Tony reached down to comfort his daemon, confused as to why Basil would shows such behaviour when normally it was only used in the most extreme of situations, usually when a daemon was dying itself or its human. Before Tony could touch Basil a similar screech tore through the hallway and it wasn't coming from Basil.
Tony jumped up and ran the rest of the way, grinding to a halt in the open doorway taking in the terrible chaos inside.
Peter was tossing and turning and kicking and screaming on the bed as Steve did his every best to hold the teenager down while Kalyca was writhing on the floor in the middle of the room screeching her death rattle with Qatara pacing circles around her at a loss for how to help.
"Steve?!" Tony didn't know what to ask precisely. All he knew in that moment was utter fear for his son.
Peter was screaming his throat raw, throwing his limbs around wildly with no concern for who he might hit or how badly he might hurt himself in the process. If they didn't stop him soon, he'd end up bashing his head on something. Steve was always careful not to use too much strength at home, especially with Peter but now was not the time to be gentle.
"Steve, hold him still! He's going to hurt himself!"
"I'm trying, Tony!"
"Oh come on, captain. He's a skinny teenager and you're a supersoldier. I know you don't want to hurt him, but he's going to hurt himself if you don't give a little more."
"I'm serious, Tony! I'm using almost everything I've got!"
Steve's gaze was clear and honest, there was no lie there. He truly was giving it his all and yet Peter was giving him a hard time. Scrawny, unathletic Peter was giving Captain freakin' America a hard time?!
"JARVIS, where is Banner?!"
Tony barely heard the estimated time of arrival for Banner, his attention on Peter who had gone from scremaing to whimpering and wailing, still struggling against Steve's hold on him. Fearing the worst, he turned around to see how Kalyca was doing. His blood ran cold at the sight.
"Impossible!"
Kalyca's skin was moving, shifting as if she were trying to change! But that was impossible. She was settled! She'd taken her permanent form. No daemon could shift once they settled. It was impossible! And yet there was no other explanation for what was happening. How often in his youth has he seen Basil shift to try out new forms.
"Please, help me. Make it stop!"
"Peter! Can you hear me? Can you look at me? What is happening, son? Peter!? Peter!"
Peter went limp in Steve's arms, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and his breathing slowed down considerably. Kalyca was in a similar state, as if life had just drained from both of them.
"No! No, it can't be. Peter! Peter wake up!" Tony dropped beside the bed, shaking his barely alive son, watching the life slip out of him.
"What happened?!"
Tony and Steve looked over their shoulders at a very confused and concerned looking Banner standing in the doorway. Kalyca twitched once more drawing everyone's attention followed by Peter releasing a final breath of air.
"Mr. Parker has died, sir."
fin
It's short and cut off at a mean place, but for now this is all I've got. I might continue it eventually though, but for now it's complete.
List of Daemons:
Tony Stark - Basil a Raccoon, male
Steve Rogers - Qatara a German Shepherd
Peter Parker - Kalyca an Otter
Since I can't put up links or anything so for pictures of the daemons, just look for my deviantart, same name as here [Selene467].
