Chapter 2 - Matt Reappears


Matt's breath snagged in his throat and for a brief moment he struggled to maintain a balance that was usually impeccable.

Something had just happened but he couldn't…he frowned…he couldn't work out what.

His head twitched searchingly as he steadied himself. There had been chaos, screams, heartbeats gutting out all over Hell's Kitchen, and then a split second of…what?…it had felt like the world was imploding, that he was being sucked into…into complete and utter silence…A shiver snaked down his spine…and then it had all came rushing back…but somehow changed…a completely different chaos…as all those heartbeats had suddenly flared back into existence.

He swallowed uneasily. And where were Karen and Foggy? They had been here a second ago and now they were gone.

He tried to block out the distant chaos to focus on his apartment. He couldn't pick out his friends distinguishable heartbeats anywhere in the vicinity. He focused further out, beyond the building, but there was still nothing. Or nothing he could isolate clearly enough above the mayhem.

He froze, suddenly picking up something strange about the apartment itself. He took a shaky step as he glanced around, his equilibrium still a bit off.

It felt somehow…wrong.

His head twitched again. The fridge was silent, its familiar hum gone. It was at room temperature and had been that way for some time, the door slightly ajar. In fact, there wasn't any food in the apartment whatsoever.

His heightened senses investigated further. The kitchen sink. His brow twitched his confusion. It was bone dry. He reached out to the bathroom sink. That, along with the shower, were completely dry too.

And dust. There was more of it. Yet there were also faint traces of an unfamiliar furniture polish. Not the unscented brand he used. The apartment had been cleaned but much less frequently than usual.

He stumbled over to one of the radiators, knelt down and pressed his hand against the cool metal. They had been used, but again, not in a while. The last time…he concentrated…roughly about three weeks ago.

Strangely, though Foggy and Karen were missing, the apartment smelt most strongly of them. But like the furniture polish it was subtle, from maybe around the same time the radiators had been on.

He felt slightly nauseous as he stood up again. As he suddenly acknowledged something even stranger.

Why could he pick up no recent traces of himself?

The last time he had felt this helpless, tremors had been rippling through his apartment, courtesy of The Hand.

What the hell was going on?

Why did his apartment feel so…vacant?

Bewildered, he dragged his hands through his hair. Nothing was making any sense!

He turned with a start when a cry sounded from downstairs. Mrs Johnson? It was quickly followed by a heart wrenching wail and "What are you doing in my apartment? Where are all my things?" It was chorused by a young male voice: "Holy Shit. She just appeared out of nowhere!" Then a second male voice: "Your apartment? This is our apartment, lady. Has been for the past three years!"

"Please…calm down everyone," thankfully a more reassuring female voice joined the distressing conversation. "It's Mrs Johnson, isn't it?" One of the male voices demanded: "Who the hell is that?" To which, the female answered: "She lived here before that fucker made everyone disappear!"

Disappear? Despite not knowing what the hell was going on, Matt contemplated going downstairs to intervene and at least be one familiar face for Mrs Johnson. But when he finally picked up Foggy's heartbeat just outside on the sidewalk, his relief was so overwhelming he forgot all about his neighbour. He heard the main door being wrenched open and Foggy rushing up the stairs two at a time.

For some inexplicable reason Matt found he couldn't move, and not just because he still didn't quite feel steady enough on his feet. Foggy seemed different somehow. Something about his panic unsettled him. He stood, rooted to the spot, just staring towards the door.

When he heard Foggy struggle with the key in the lock, he frowned. Since when did Foggy just let himself into his apartment?

His friend burst into Matt's hallway, his heart racing worryingly fast. And then he practically screeched to a stop. Matt heard his sharp intake of breath, could smell the salty tang of tears pricking at his eyes, and sense the slight trembling of his hands.

"Matt?" Foggy's voice was hoarse with a combination of exertion and emotion. The intensity of his stare was disconcerting. "Matt?" he choked again. "Oh my god, Matt?"

Matt fleetingly bit down on his lip. He felt equally as emotional but he didn't know why. But it was as if Foggy's disturbing state of mind was contagious. "F…Foggy? What's going on? I can't…I don't understand what's happen-."

Matt had the wind, as well as his words knocked out of him as Foggy rushed across and hugged him so tightly he could barely breathe. "Oh my god! I don't believe it! You're back! You're back!"

"Back?" Matt quickly pulled away. "Back from where?" When Foggy didn't answer he added urgently: "Where's Karen? Has something happened to her too?"

"Karen's fine. She's on her way."

"On her way? From where?! She was just now here!"

Foggy took a deep breath. "Sit down, Matt."

Ignoring him, Matt swept out his arms. "And what the hell is wrong with my apartment? I feel as if I've fallen down a fucking rabbit hole!"

"Matt! You need to sit down. Please."

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Matt reluctantly obeyed.

Foggy remained standing. As he started pacing back and forth, he shook his head. "Jesus, how the hell do I explain this?"

"Just tell me, Foggy!" Matt was growing impatient now. He needed some answers. His brain felt as if it was about to explode from frustration. "Back from where!?"

Foggy stopped pacing. "I don't know! No-one knows. You, and half the world's population, just suddenly disappeared. One minute here, the next - poof - gone!"

Matt blinked up at him in shock, feeling as if he had had the wind knocked out of him all over again. Disappeared? That's what the girl had said downstairs. He shuddered as he remembered all those heartbeats gutting out. But then coming back almost immediately after. Another shiver snaked down his spine. Had his been one of them? "How?" he demanded steadily, his voice sounding a lot calmer than the turmoil he felt inside.

Foggy shrugged wearily. "Thanos. Some psycho alien. The Avengers tried to defeat him but he did something…used something…to destroy half the universe. Not just Earth, Matt, the goddam universe!"

Matt tried to speak, but as the enormity of Foggy's words sunk in, his throat dried up and wouldn't function.

"You turned to dust right in front of our eyes, Matt," Foggy whispered shakily, the tears pricking back at his eyes. "We thought we had lost you."

Matt shook his head in denial even though he knew Foggy was telling the truth. He fleetingly closed his eyes, finally managing: "You and Karen. You're the last thing I remember."

Foggy sat down beside him, leaning his head back against the sofa, and Matt could feel just how mentally exhausted his friend was as he wrestled with his own shock. "I'll never forget that day. It was like a nightmare."

Matt turned to look at him. "Day? It just happened, Foggy." He hesitated warily, knowing instinctively that Foggy hadn't yet delivered the worst bombshell. "Didn't it?"

"That's why I needed you to sit down. It wasn't just now."

Matt could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. He was almost afraid to ask. "How long ago was it?"

Foggy took another deep breath. "Five years, Matt. It was five years."


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