CHAPTER FIFTY THREE
the endgame

Doctor Strange's portals ripped holes through the sky for miles, opening out onto the battlefield. Eddy stood back for a moment, observing the black of the sky, the expanse of alien technology suffocating the horizon. Thanos stood at the head of his army, the same commanding figure he had been the last Eddy had seen of the real world. That felt like both years and minutes ago.

He felt his suit unfurl around his body like a second skin, black and edged with neon green. The familiarity felt cool but his body felt foreign as his feet stepped upon solid ground for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

Yet like muscle memory, Eddy's body seemed to know what to do as the fighting began. Split had returned completely, but something else had joined him. That familiar darkness seemed to seep from his body, materialising in thick, black clouds, clinging to the ground like a fog. Eddy closed his eyes, feeling everything around him. The dangerous noise filled and clogged his senses but he could feel that power responding to his movements, following him loyally.

Eddy didn't question it.

But while his body screamed for a release of energy, his mind screamed for something else. His eyes scanned the battlefield. Looking for familiar figures, one most of all. When his search came up empty, he closed his eyes, took in a breath, and teleported.

"You will not believe what just happened. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? And I must've passed out because I woke up and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? And he was like, 'It's been five years, come on they need us'. And he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time."

Peter was rambling, the sound and sight pulling something light back into Eddy, the feeling affectionate and warm against the cold that trembled his body. Tony shook his head, the look on his face haunting yet filled with relief. In one swift movement, he pulled the boy into a hug, trapping him in tight arms.

"What are you doing?" Peter stuttered, but then after one single, unsure moment, he held him just as tightly. "Oh, this is nice."

"Forget about me?"

Eddy dropped down beside them. With barely enough time to finish his words, the two were pulling him in with them, trapping him in the middle. He almost wanted to cry, beneath the weight of it all. So long in solitude had left him unfamiliar with the presence of others and unable to remember the rawness of being with those he loved.

"God, I'm so glad you're both okay," Tony said, pulling away slowly, wary of their surroundings.

Eddy looked to Peter next, finding him already staring with a smile. Yet as he opened his mouth to speak his own truth, a huge hulk of metal came flying down from the spaceships above, sending them both flying in opposite directions. Uncontrollable, Eddy felt his power slip out from beneath him, shooting as fast as a bullet at the aliens that streamed out from the fallen carrier, engulfing them one by one, suffocating them on the spot, some disappearing entirely.

With Peter gone, Eddy looked for a familiar face in the sea of invaders and found that he could see none. At that moment, the battlefield did not feel so dissimilar to the place he had been caged after the snap. The isolation amongst a field of enemies, all wary of his newly-found presence.

As if sensing his loneliness, Wanda dropped down beside him, stumbling slightly as she landed. Here eyes were dark and hollow, stricken with a grief he had not long shared. She engulfed him in a hug, the lingering tendrils of her power wrapping around them both like a shield. Wanda's eyes were glossy and her lip quivered, but she nodded away whatever pain she was holding and widened her stance. No words were shared. They didn't need to be. There was a silent agreement hanging between them. Together.

Thanos stood in front of them, his path blocked. On his large face, the Titan held a smirk. He was a giant looking down upon ants.

"You took everything from me," Wanda said.

Eyes aglow, she extended her hands, letting her power throb between the air and the ground, a bright and dangerous crimson. A promise for blood.

"I don't even know who you are."

"You will."

The earth seemed to rise around Wanda at her will, hovering threateningly all around him until her hands came clapping together, the resulting force like an earthquake. Mounds of rock shot like bullets toward her target, sending the Titan reeling backwards, taking blow after blow of both boulders and her sharp, red power.

Even as his blade came down upon her, Wanda's smile only turned malicious, never threatened by his size and anger. In one, swift movement, she threw him away sending him skirting against the floor. It was an action so abrupt and effective, that Eddy could feel the floor shake beneath his cumbersome wait, just as strongly as he could feel he familiar zing of Wanda's power gracing the humid air.

She was tearing him apart from the inside, his armour shaking and compressing his organs. Thanos gave a shout of fury, something incoherent from such distance, and then the skies were raining fire- great, blue flames that pierced the ground as finely and as abruptly as tremendous needles.

Eddy felt his own dark power flow from within himself in a cloud of black and vague colour. It tumbled over the edges, fighting to reach Thanos as he threw his head back, letting it pour and pour until there was nothing left inside. His eyes closed as his hand reached forward, palm pointing toward the Titan.

"Stop."

Someone grabbed his wrist and his power lurched backwards like a flinch. Eddy opened his eyes to find Doctor Strange towering over him, eyes wild, confused, and filled with rage. He ripped his hand backwards. 

"What are you doing?" Eddy shouted, keeping his attention on the Titan's retreating figure, Wanda hunched on her knees. "I can end this."

"No. This is all wrong," the wizard said, voice a sharp hiss. "All wrong."

Yet as soon as the warning had come, Doctor Strange was pulling himself away with precision, launching himself toward the breaking damn in the near distance. Eddy's body itched for a release from all the power but he held it in. Something about the wizard's reaction- that crazed look and erratic movement- made him stop.

As the shots rained down from above, a second distraction came in the form of Peter's falling body. He landed flat against the floor, his mask pulled from his face, the gauntlet still held tightly in his arms.

"Peter!" His shout fell on not a single set of ears.

Eddy scrambled over to him, rolling the other boy over so he was facing upwards. Peter's eyes were wide, his body stiff and protective. He held onto the gauntlet with a death-like grip, his knuckles white from the effort. Eddy spoke, but Peter's eyes looked straight past him. Past him to the glowing figure that was descending toward them, crashing through the largest space ship in the process.

A woman settled down in front of them, the glow edging away to reveal a blonde hair and an unfamiliar face. Eddy's expression mimicked Peter's as he watched her advance toward the pair smoothly.

"Um, hi?"

"Hey," she said, eyes flickering to the gauntlet. "You got something for me?"

Looking out across the sea of enemy aliens, Peter handed over the gauntlet swiftly.

"I don't know how you're going to get though all that."

Wanda floated down to her side, Mantis and the others swiftly joining her. The red swirls crowded around them like conjoined armour.

"She has help."

Eddy let them go, turning his attention to Peter. "Come on, let's go."

Peter struggled against him. Against the dark, muddy smudges on his face, his eyes looked pale and wild. Spidersenses. They must be going wild. Eddy calmed him with solid hands on his shoulders.

"Mr Stark. We have to find Mr Stark."

Eddy's worry began to fester.

"It's okay. I've got you," he said, placing his hands on Peter's face as he teleported them away.

Eddy felt it before they'd even reached through the darkness to land at the other side of the battlefield. There was a familiar energy in the air- something that would have made him feel afraid had it not felt so right. As they landed once more, Peter's arms unfurling from around him, Eddy looked to the horizon. Against the soft light of a setting sun, the ashes of many began to clog the skyline, like fog. Eddy knew exactly what had happened.

The snap.

*