Chapter Text
Chapter One
His life changed; his world changed four times with a snap.
The first time he didn’t realize what was happening. Suddenly he felt sick to his stomach, his body slowly tearing itself apart while he clung to his mentor, hoping against hope that his healing abilities would keep him from leaving. The rag-tag group they met on the alien planet hadn’t seemed to be in pain when they vanished, but Peter would have remained in a constant state of pain if it kept that look of devastation from Mr. Stark’s eyes.
Nothing. There was nothing but a warm orange light surrounded him from all sides. For the first time in years, his senses weren’t screaming at him. He could sense others around him, but he wasn’t in danger; if anything, it was the most relaxed he had ever been. Peter didn’t know how long he remained there, floating in the orange glow, unconcerned with what was happening around him.
A bright flash, another snap.
Sucking in a large gulp of air, Peter ignored the pain as his body rested against the hard rock. His head was throbbing, back aching, Peter stood from his prone position and looked around, narrowing his eyes against the harsh light. He was still on the desert planet he died on, only this time without Mr. Stark there to guide him.
The others were slowly coming around as well, blinking and groaning while they got on their feet. The only one who didn’t look confused was the wizard. Doctor Strange gathered them together and waved his hand. After a quick explanation from the wizard, they jumped through a portal and hopped into battle.
Peter barely had time to see Mr. Stark, to make sure he was okay before the fighting began. Fighting Team Captain was nothing like this. Everything happened so fast. One second he held the gauntlet; the next, he was fighting for his life and looking out for those around him.
Through it all, he gathered as much information as he could, his brain working overtime while Karen highlighted what she could find from when he and the others died until then while also helping him stay alive. His webbing cartridges were replaced twice before the battle was over, Karen set on Instant-Kill and ripping into aliens right and left.
When he saw Thanos raise his hand with the gauntlet, Peter’s breath caught in his throat. Everything became quiet as Tony took the stones from Thanos in a move that would haunt him for years to come. Raising his hand, Tony proclaimed the same line that gave Peter hope all those years ago.
“I am Iron Man.”
The third snap echoed through Peter’s head, ruining him.
Watching as Tony turned Thanos and his vicious pets to ash broke something inside him. Absently Peter had known that there was no future for them, that Tony didn’t feel the same way. But to see the man he loved make the sacrifice play once again, Peter couldn’t breathe.
Heartbreak. It was just as physical as breaking a bone but ripped you apart from your very soul. Peter ached, his limbs hanging loosely at his side as he watched his hero lay down and say his goodbye. Tony wasn’t made of the same stuff as Thanos or the Hulk; he was only human. Humans couldn’t take on the Infinity Stones force and couldn’t save the world without sacrifice.
Clenching his hand, Steve gently guided Peter aside while Pepper said goodbye to her husband. A sudden thought crossed his mind, one that spurred him into action. Turning to the wizard who had seen over fourteen-million possible results, Peter caught his gaze. Pushing against whoever was holding him, Peter sprinted to the man.
“Did you see beyond this?”
Peter could hear crying in the background, how the world was slowly starting to weep for the man who gave everything. Strange shook his head, one of his hands at his side, while the other was held slightly behind him, a signal to the wizards to stand down. Different scenarios rushed through Peter’s head. Some dismissed before they fully formed, some he considered while he tried to think of his next step.
“Peter, I’m sorry, but it was the only way.”
Shaking his head, Peter looked back, realizing now that he was only a few feet from the body of his hero. Pepper was crying, sobbing into her hands over her lost husband. There were very few dry faces, and wherever Peter looked, people were holding back tears.
“He was only human,” Peter whispered; his eyes transfixed on Tony.
“If anyone’s destined for greatness, it’s you, son. You owe the world your gifts. You just have to figure out how to use them. And know that wherever they take you, we’ll always be here. So, come on home, Peter. You’re my hero, and I love you.”
Ben’s words ran through his head, making Peter turn around to the grieving widow and small group of friends who had gone through hell and back together. The last time he had seen Captain America, he had been fighting against Tony, but judging by the tears running down his face, their feud had been, at least temporarily, resolved.
Glancing at the ground where Tony lay, Peter choked back a sob at seeing the man before him, his eyes thankfully closed while he lay slumped on the ground. He didn’t begrudge Pepper for having Tony, for loving him. It would have never worked between them, not in this reality. Not with the limited time they had together. Instead, Peter was happy that Tony had someone at his side who loved him and made him happy.
He could change their time, could change those years Tony spent alone and hurting. He could change everything.
Once he was close enough, Peter knelt beside Tony, everyone thinking he had to say his final goodbye, allowing the young boy whatever he needed for closure. He was always faster than most of them, and with Wanda not paying much attention, her head buried in Clint’s shoulder, Peter could do as he wished.
Placing his hand on top of Tony’s, Peter flicked his writs and tugged. It took a second for him to slip the give on his hand, ignoring the way Tony’s fingers limped back to their original position. Hearing the rustle of clothing behind him, Peter pointed his hand back and webbed Pepper in place.
Her shout rang out too late for anyone to stop him. Closing his eyes and focusing on what he needed to do, Peter snapped.
Fire raced up his gloved arm, his lungs constricting while his healing abilities repaired the damage. Even with his spider healing, he wouldn’t survive using all five stones. Thankfully, he only needed the help of two.
Using the time stone was considerably more manageable than the reality stone. Throwing his body back in time and watching, absorbing the timeline of the one who used it before him was more straightforward than fabricating his existence.
Two versions of the same person couldn’t exist in the same time stream for long. Going back to New York’s battle, before the team split into two, but after they saw the alien invasion, Peter cleared his mind.
Ben was still alive; it would be a while before he would go on the school trip that changed his life. May was working one job instead of two; their lives had been so much simpler then. Everything looked so bright for them, for him, back before he could swing from skyscrapers and fought crime every night.
Reality had to change.
Grinding his teeth, Peter slipped into the cracks between time and space and focused. Changing reality took a lot out of you, especially if you were already beaten and bruised from a war fought only a few moments before. Feeling his healing start to become sluggish, unable to keep up with the onslaught of power coursing through him while he worked, Peter couldn’t change anything more than himself.
It was hard. One of the hardest things he had ever done, but two Peter Parker’s couldn’t live at the same time. Fresh tears streamed down his face while he played with something he should never understand. Peter Parker, nothing more than a toddler, was on the plan when his parents died. Nobody survived the crash.
Ben and May Parker would live their lives as if a baby hadn’t ended up in their care. With him no longer being in their lives, it would hopefully allow them to start a new family, one without him in it. Modifying the memories of those who knew him, erasing his history from time itself, Peter’s arm slowly blackened.
Grunting against the onslaught of pain, Peter made a new life for himself, adding the years he lost in the soul stone. His body had been frozen as his mind floated in the orange glow of the soul stone. It took only a thought for his body to catch up, adding the extra years.
Nearing the end of his rope, the pain settling into his bones, Peter finished what he set out to do. One by one, the stones went back to their original timeline, at the exact moment they were taken. Now without help, Peter found himself once again on Earth; only this one wasn’t the husk he had seen before slipping his hand into the gauntlet.
If he did things right, he was only a few yards away from where the battle of New York had taken place, a couple of hours from when Tony had first tried to sacrifice his life for the greater good. There would be SHIELD agents swarming the area, picking up whatever alien technology they could, unknowingly putting Adrian Toomes on a dark path.
Grunting as he stood on his sore feet, Peter looked down at himself. His suit was torn, the stones having rendered his right side all but useless, hopefully only for the time being. There was blood trickling from his ear, his wounds open and seeping into what remained of his suit.
Stumbling, Peter made his way to the small Middle Eastern place that Tony had dragged him to once after spending too much time in the lab. Opening the doors, Peter looked inside. They were all there and whole. Everyone was so much younger than when he first met them, though only a few years from this moment, it felt like he missed out on decades.
Natasha was the first to notice him; though she placed her hand on her hip, she didn’t draw her weapon. Clint tensed and turned around, his eyes narrowing. Thor and Bruce didn’t seem concerned with the new arrival, though Bruce’s gaze soon turned concerned upon noticing his battered appearance.
Steve was already out of his chair, though if it were to help him or hold him back, Peter didn’t know. He only had eyes for Tony. Tony, who was alive and well. His hair was missing some of the gray Peter was accustomed to seeing. His body was missing some of the tension Peter always hated seeing on the man. Tony wasn’t just younger; he was happier than when he picked up a skinny kid trying to save the world one mugger at a time.
Grabbing a chair with his left hand, Peter sunk before his knees gave out.
“I need to speak to Nick Fury.” Spoke Peter, trying to show
Natasha twitched her hand flexing around the handle of a gun. Peter ignored it. If she were going to kill him, she would have done so before now. Holding back a groan as his right hand jerked while trying to straighten his back, Peter hoped that the pain meant that he wasn’t going to lose the arm completely.
“Listen, if you need to talk to SHIELD—”
Peter didn’t let Bruce finish his sentence.
“No, I need to speak to Nick Fury. SHIELD is compromised. If we’re going to make a difference, we need to act quickly, starting with Thor taking the Tesseract off Earth and putting Loki with whatever variation of a mind healer they have on Asgard.”
Black spots began to dance in his vision. It wouldn’t be long now before his body would give in to the need to sleep and heal. Ignoring the people demanding answers, Peter locked gazes with Tony.
Oh, to be able to see those warm brown eyes again, full of life and alive.
“I know how to solve your palladium problem. I’m about ten seconds from passing out, so I must make this quick. Keep me safe while I’m vulnerable Tony, and I’ll save you from being poisoned to death by your arc reactor.”
Before Tony could agree, Peter fainted, his body slumping over and spilling onto the floor. He needed time to heal, and his mind needed to process everything the stone had shown him. By going back in time, he had watched events unfold backward, time itself shoved into his brain. He needed to process the overload of information, come to terms with everything he had seen.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
Uncle Ben was right, and now that he had the chance to fix things, the responsibility of it, he wasn’t going to back down.
Four snaps were enough.