Tony's horrified. He may not have known them very well, but seeing four almost friends simply crumble and blow away in front of his eyes without warning had been traumatising. His mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water as he struggles to understand what has just happened. It's the sheer shock of it that has left him like this; one minute everything was normal (as normal as it could've been considering the circumstances) and the next, Mantis had looked at him and started to crumble into ash. Before he'd even realised what was happening, the four of them were gone.
"Mr Stark?"
An uneasy feeling settles upon Tony when he hears the voice from behind him.
"I don't feel so good."
That feeling morphs into unquenchable dread and he finds the only thing going through his mind is no no no, not him too.
He turns around to see Peter swaying slightly and looking at him with so much fear and trust in his eyes and it slaps Tony in the face just how young this kid is.
"You're alright," he says softly as the kid falls into him, and guilt settles in Tony's stomach at his obvious lie. He can feel Peter shaking like a leaf against him and his tears soaking Tony's jacket. He's panicking.
"I- I don't know what's happening," he chokes out, voice trembling. Tony finds himself unable to speak, to comfort the child in his arms. All he can think is no, no this can't be happening.
But it is, and it breaks Tony's heart that he can't stop it.
Peter seems to melt into Tony's hold, head lolling on the man's shoulder as he sobs, "I don't want to go, I don't wanna go, Mr Stark, please."
Tony still says nothing even as the kid, his kid, begs him for life, for mercy and as they both crash to the rocky ground. He can hear him struggle to breathe, and Tony's own breath hitches in his throat as the boy meets his eyes.
"I'm.. sorry," he whispers breathlessly.
Shaking his head in utter denial, Tony pulls his boy into his arms, clinging to him for all he is worth and stroking his hair and kissing his forehead as both their tears drip down their cheeks.
And then he is gone, and Tony jerks as where he was once holding his dying boy, he is now holding nothing.
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