Awake, For the Stars Sing

by dancing-songbird

One day, a girl challenged a primordial, and won, though at the cost of her life. Having sent herself cycling through a never-ending chain of death and rebirth, she moves from universe to universe until she finds a world that calls to her down to the depths of her soul. AU from Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine from the Land of Hot Springs arc. Please read that first.

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, any Marvel products or the literary amazingness that comes from Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine. The initial ideas and background of this story come from the We're All Just Dreaming of Sunshine Forum.

'Shikako' doesn't remember her stint as a goddess. She doesn't know why the Gelel stone keeps being reborn with her. Only that it does, has for the hundreds upon hundreds of lifetimes she's lived until she can't remember where one reincarnation ended and another began. When reborn as Piper, every being closely connected to the fabric of the universe can sense a change. Odin, the Ancient One, even the Infinity Stones react when her soul and the last Infinity Stone come back home. All Piper knows is that the starsong is so much more intense here. Her parents, her aunt and uncle worry, sometimes she zones out into trances that takes several minutes to coax her out of, longer if Peter isn't there. It isn't like she's catatonic or unresponsive, she's just... flighty and intense, speaking of concepts, things that no one sees or understands, disconnected. The doctors don't know what's wrong (or that there's nothing wrong), they just tell them that Piper has some sort of mental deficiency and prescribe meds that never work.

Peter knows there's nothing wrong with his sister. That just because she sees the world different doesn't mean she needs the meds. Piper hasn't even taken them since they were 8 and the ones made her nauseous and tired. It isn't until they're 11 that he knows that there's something more to her 'spells'. She has a big one, speaking of the power of mind and bending the fabric of space, mere hours later a wormhole opens above Stark Tower, and the Invasion of New York turns the world on its head. He doesn't tell anyone that her eyes gleamed blue and yellow. He tells no one when her eyes glimmer red, before Thor repels the invasion in London. The sparks of yellow that show up periodically for years before it glow deep in her eyes during the Ultron crisis. As well a burning shade of indigo that appears only once. She clings to him for weeks after that, as if afraid she may fly away on a breeze.

Then, Peter's life changes. He gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Uncle Ben and Piper were mugged, might have died if Piper hadn't taken him down. He starts taking to the streets, Piper does too. Then comes the Sokovia Accords and Ironman and he can't believe that he's here, and he's impressed with their work, the shield prototype they'd been working on for years, with its old parts and inferior supplies... Then they're fighting in new suits, and he doesn't quite know what's going on, but its an adrenalin-rush, and he meets, fights these people they've looked up to for so long. He doesn't miss the look of confusion and familiarity Vision sends towards Piper. How his twin has a 'spell' in the middle of the fight, hears her ramble on the power of mind over their comms, sees her weave among the greatest of Earth's heroes like this was what she was born to do. And he's sure that if he could see her eyes they'd be gleaming with color.

Then- they go back, back to Queens. Back to Uncle Ben and Aunt May, to small-time crime and helping those on their streets. He doesn't miss when her 'spells' turn bad. When she speaks of the walls between worlds, dimensions, the demons of beyond this realm. How her nightmares leave her screaming of blood and fanatics, and the green that clouds her eyes as she speaks of time-loops and void, mirror realms and Dormamu. And he can't help, because he doesn't know how. What her powers are, (because they are, he knows they are). All he can do is bring her back before she goes too far.

Then there's the Vulture, and alien tech on the streets. Ned finds out that they're the Twin Spiders. He messes up, leading to Mr. Stark taking their suits. And Homecoming, and Liz's dad ending up being a super villain. Vulture drops a building on his head. Peter knows that if he hadn't been so stupid in trying to prove himself and brought Piper with him, he probably could have avoided. Mr. Stark gives them the suits back. Then Uncle Ben and Aunt May find out, and the explanations commence.

It isn't until later, when Piper leaves with Aunt May to work on dinner, that Peter tells Uncle Ben his suspicions. Peter isn't good with faith, he likes having hard facts and science, but Uncle Ben is different. He believes, believes in people, in God, that there is some higher power. Though Uncle Ben doesn't have any answers, it's feels good to tell someone. He knows that Uncle Ben told Aunt May too, because her worry when Piper falls into a spell becomes even more palpable. But they're together, and alive, so Peter can't help but hope that everything will be okay.