the siren |peter parker x siren!oc|

Infinity: Part 6

It had been weeks since Lena had been back on Earth. It had been weeks since unknown havoc had rippled across the universe, and Lena was now the one having to take care of Tony, as lack of nourishment had started to take a considerable toll on his body. Once they had been able to get the ship in the air before they had given up on attempting to save the Benetar, Lena had ventured to discover that a lower hangar had been completely flooded, allowing her to gain all the nutrients that she needed, but it did not change that she was completely powerless to help Tony. For the last few days, all she was able to do was use her song to make him feel comfortable.

Throughout their aimless voyage, Tony had done almost everything in his power to block her out. Any time she made an attempt, she was met with a brick wall, one insistent on keeping her strength up, on pushing through to the next step, but once hope seemed as far away as their home planet, he started letting them go. She felt his fear, the pain of accepting fate, that this would be Tony Stark's final stand, it was overwhelming but welcoming at the same time. He finally looked into her eyes and allowed her to understand, but it was all coming at a price. She did not know how she would proceed once it was just herself and Nebula drifting for eternity, what she did know that the depths of this ocean were better spent than a reality back in the Atlantic. They were going to have to swim eternally in the vastness of space, hoping one day that there might be a passerby.

There was one evening before what they would have considered dinner (if there had not been a lack of it that) Tony escaped into the cockpit to spend some time on his own. She assisted him over, and let him know she would be back after one quick swim.

"I need you to be here when I get back," she said.

His sunken eyes drug their way up to hers, "I'm not going anywhere without saying goodbye."

It was the adventure of a lifetime, and it had come to its close all too soon. There had been a time where she had told Peter that they could stand together for eternity, however they wanted it to look like for them. Staring out the window that accompanied her makeshift swimming area, she found herself leaning her face against it, staring into the void that had kept her company all of this time. She had imagined that accepting her peirasmós instead of suppressing it was her purpose, and once again her entire perception of reality went crumbling into pieces, and she was left to accept that space was her final frontier.

Lena had never taken the time to consider the idea that life on other planets had existed in the first place. She was still grappling with how much life was already living on land. While they had touched down on another planet, it was completely decimated. What if they were all like that? Did it matter?

Nebula entered the doorway of the swimming area, the platform from the floor above, holding the large sheet that they had been using to dry her as quickly as possible. She had a look in her eyes, urgent, and Lena took it as her cue to reach out her hand and allow the cyborg to yank her out so she could see if Tony needed anything before it was time to sleep. Based on the look and feeling behind her eyes, Lena knew that her worst reality might come to fruition.

Dry and clothed, she listened to her feet patter against the linoleum as she made her way over to where Tony's decrepit body was hunched over his Iron Man helmet, softly speaking a message to what was probably Pepper. She let him finish his phrase before sitting down next to him, straightening him up, and sticking an arm around his back so that some of his weight could rest on her. He was already using enough energy as it was.

"Can you believe it Pep? I talked about our hypothetical kid on the run that fateful morning, can you believe we were already doing it?" Tony turned his head to face her as it dawned on her what she was saying, "This family...it was the one I always dreamed of. Stop crying, L."