Peter suddenly stood up, collapsing on the ground, holding his stomach.
"Peter?" Steve reached for him. "Are you ok? What's wrong?"
The boy started shaking, his stomach twisting in horrible ways. "I...I don't feel so good..."
"Somebody help us! Please!" Steve called out for a nurse, someone...anyone.
T'Challa ran towards the pair. "What is it?" The king looked Peter over, beads of sweat dripping off his face.
"Is...is it a fever? A virus?" Steve wondered. "Did you get bit by a bug?"
Peter barely shook his head, eyes pleading for help. "I don't know what's happening."
T'Challa calmly went for the trembling boy. "We will figure this out I-"
The Black Panther vanished into a pile of dust.
Steve's heart was beating out of his chest. He turned back to Peter, who started crying.
"I don't wanna go..." He whined. "Please, please, I don't wanna go."
Steve watched in horror as Peter fell into his arms, and was slowly disappearing. Dust was floating out of his skin!
With one last effort, he looked up to his second father. "Tell Dad I love him..."
And then he was gone.
Steve felt the dust settle on his hands, and did not know what to do.
Tony.
He opened the door to the room to find Tony sweating as well, eyes squinted shut as if in pain.
"Tony?" Steve gently shook him.
There was no response to his touch.
"Tony? Honey, wake up, please..." He got a warm towel from a bowl on the table next to them and put it on the genius' sweaty forehead. "Please be ok...I need you."
"Steve!?" Natasha was gripping her stomach, shaking as well.
"Nat?" Not her too. "Are you alright?"
"...I'm fine..." She managed. The Black Widow never looked this scared since the Hulk attacked her years ago back on the Helicarrier. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know...Peter, he just...disappeared..."
Soft eyes of remorse stared back at him as she went to the other side of Tony's bed. "I'm so sorry...I only got to know him for a short while..." Stop talking like that. Something is going on, and you need to focus.
Tony moaned pitifully, giving Steve and Natasha even more anxiety.
"Tony? It's ok...it's ok. I'm right here. Please, try to wake up for me...show me you're ok..." Steve pleaded.
He never noticed Natasha step outside to talk to Bruce. He had no idea what was going on either.
The scientist quietly approached the couple and looked at Tony's chart and readings on an advanced screen.
"His vitals are normal. It seemed to have been a mild anxiety attack."
Steve went pale. "He had a nightmare...and I wasn't there for him..." He squeezed Tony's hand, which was limp and growing cold.
"Thor?"
Bruce went to check on his friend, who was staring ominously at his fallen ax, blood soaking part of it.
"What happened?" He found it hard to believe Thanos was just in and out like that. Almost as if...
He got what he came for...
Thor fought the tears hard, shaking, fists clenched in rage. Shots of lightning danced around his fingertips.
"Thor? Buddy, talk to me. Are you alright?" Bruce went to touch his shoulder, but the Asgardian flinched away.
He sniffed. "I had him, Bruce..." Stormbreaker came to his hand, his gaze still fixed on it. "And it still wasn't enough..."
Bruce had never seen Thor cry, but on a day like today, hell, this past year, the shit he saw his friend go through...he could understand.
"Hey, don't talk like that. Look at you. You are the most powerful I have ever seen since we've met..." He smiled. "Now I think you're the strongest..."
Thor did not even blink, and Bruce knew right then and there that this was the straw that broke the camel's back. This was the face of a man who had finally lost too much.
"Come on, there's still some of us left." Bruce was pleasantly surprised when Thor solemnly followed back, not saying a word, but still able to have the courage to face the rest of his friends.
It's not your fault...if you couldn't stop him, then who can?
Steve looked up, Natasha stroking his back, tears in both of their eyes.
"Is he alright?" Thor managed.
"I-I don't know what's going on..." Steve silently cried. "I thought he just collapsed earlier from blood loss...but maybe..."
"He just fought the most powerful being in the universe. He's fucking exhausted." Nebula was leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, with Rocket standing sadly next to her.
Thor got down on one knee, and put a hand on Rocket's shoulder. "I am so sorry...Tree was a good friend..."
Rocket sniffed. "There's nothing you could've done...hell, went to the ends of the earth, and after all that crap, he still won!" He kept going off and stormed out into the hallway, kicking, screaming, crying...
Thor stayed on the ground and sobbed. A thunderstorm covered Wakanda.
"Thor..." Natasha directed her attention, trying to prevent a tornado. "Thor." She got up in his face, making him look at her. "This was not your fault." She spelled it out for him. "Look at me...not your fault. Nobody's...we were in over our heads, and we've gotta deal with it. But right now, we have a friend who's life is on the line right now. Pity party is over. Be there for him."
The Mighty Thanos collapsed onto the porch of a simple shack, watching the sun rise on a glorious day. This was the day he had been so patient and ready for. This was the day...
The Soul Stone gleamed.
Half of the universe was sacrificed for the greater good. Now things are perfectly balanced...
He frowned.
Not so perfect after all...
Using the Stones, Thanos closed his eyes, listening, searching, until it was revealed to him that...
Exactly half of all life was taken. As he had wanted. But he never even considered the possibility...
"How odd..."