Reconcile › P. Parker [2]

000. prologue

› PROLOGUE ‹

His feet rocked against the metal flooring as another blast of energy fired against their small travel ship. Red lights spun in front of his vision, blinding him from viewing the giant battleship that hovered in front of the window. Even though many had managed to escape to the exit, there were still many downed bodies of unfortunate Asgardians who had been knocked out in the first blast. The ones who were still active scampered around the open space, searching desperately for their loved one so they could escape. With every blast, their screams intensified and bounced off the smoking walls. At times, he didn't know if the shrieks were from the people or the ship.

No one had tried to pull him from his rooted state, they were too concerned with their own selves to bother with the troubled princes' son. His feet remained planted against the ground and his eyes stayed glued to the monster ship in front of them. He knew he should move and follow the crowd, but for the first time, he was too scared to do anything.

"Raleigh?!" Loki's tight voice broke through the chaos. The young teen finally tore his sights from the enemy ship and towards the call of his name. He first saw Thor bust through the crowd of people while he directed them to the escape pod, then he saw the raven headed adult. Green met blue and all sound deadened to Raleigh. Loki didn't stop to help anyone as he rushed to his child. Loki's hands grabbed either side of Raleigh's shoulders, and in the same instant, all sound came back to the young boy. "Why are you just standing here? Come with me!"

The older male forcefully pulled Raleigh from the large window and into the crowd of Asgardians. Thor was still towards the front, helping the young and old, when a blood-curdling cry erupted from the head of the group. As quick as they were to the exit, the people shot back into the main foyer.

Only seconds later did they realize what they were running from when four alien-beings calmly walked through the entrance.

There was a sudden change in Loki as he threw himself in front of Raleigh.

"Stay behind me and say nothing."

Raleigh panickily gripped Loki's arm as he watched a woman alien with black markings on her face pull out a long spear. Beside her stood a relaxed and thin gray alien.

Heimdall stepped up beside Thor and together the two approached the enemies. The two Asgardians said something, a warning to the intruders, but with the whimpers and cries from the ones around him and his own racing heartbeat, he couldn't understand what was being said. So when the thin gray alien suddenly lifted his hand and deserted metal smashed into the two heroes. Raleigh sucked in a gasp and flinched as Heimdall landed roughly to his and Loki's side. Something snapped as the Protector of the Bifrost rolled on the ground and the man grabbed his side with a pained hiss.

There was no hesitation on Thor's side as the king got back up and raced to the enemies. Loki called out to his brother in warning, but he didn't listen, and they had to watch as Thor was grabbed by a claw of sorts and sent flying back to the wall. The weapon led back to a giant buff alien and the creature growled as he flung around the God, up until Thor became limp.

Dying screams were the next thing to become evident to Raleigh; and standing there, frozen and latching onto Loki with his entire life depending on him, he had never felt more frightened and useless all at the same time. He risked his life protecting the innocent Asgardians just hours before but now he couldn't even think how to look away from the blood that was pooling under his sneakers. He had the ability to protect them, but he wasn't, because he couldn't even gather the strength to discern who the blood belonged to.

He only turned his head up when he heard the thin alien welcome his father—just in time to see a giant purple alien squeeze through the doorway.

Raleigh shot up in his bed silently heaving as his anxiety squeezed at his chest. His hands painfully clutched onto his blankets and he slowly pried his fingers off of them and dropped them to his side. Sweat and tears rolled down his pale face but he didn't pay much attention to it as he peered about his mostly dark room. His door was once again propped open and he could faintly see Trystan Dagher sleeping soundly on the couch, his chest rising and deflating in a slow and soothing pattern.

He could almost hear Trystan's comforting words telling him he was okay through the distancing screams of the Asgardians.

Ever since Raleigh returned six months ago he has been dealing with nightly sleep terrors and Trystan has made a habit of sleeping on the couch in case he woke up thrashing about and screaming. He'd always try to comfort him, but if his nightmare had anything to do with what happened on the ship or on Earth, then not much could ease him.

Over time he had learned that having dreams of something that didn't happen was better than having dreams of things that had happened. At least with things that didn't really happen, he could be comforted knowing the people in the dream were actually safe; but having dreams that had really happened, there was very little there to comfort him. He was just forced to relieve something he wished he could forget.

He wanted to forget their screams, the sounds of the weapons piercing through their flesh, and more than anything he wanted to forget everything Thanos had done. He didn't want to be constantly reminded about Tony's death during the day or how Loki protected him in his nightmares. He just wanted to avoid all that and be numb to all the terror, but that wasn't his life. He couldn't ignore it since his mind liked playing games on him every single hour.

Discreetly, Raleigh got up and walked out of his room. He carefully walked around the living area, being mindful of the spots in the floorboard that creaks, until he was safely on the tile in the kitchen. He was relieved he hadn't woken Trystan this time with his nightmare, because over the last six months he had been dealing with Raleigh's problems and it guilted Raleigh that he had to tackle his episodes single-handedly. He didn't want to be a bother considering everyone has had their own share of problems since the Snap.

Keeping the lights off, he moved towards the cabinet that had the cups and he took out one of the glasses, filling it up with water at the sink. Leaning his hip against the counter he sipped at the cold water, focusing on how it stung his dry throat. Slowly, he drank the glass, before filling it up again and moving back to his bedroom. He silently closed the door behind him and walked toward his desk, setting the glass down and turning on his lamp.

Pulling out his chair, he sat down. The clock on the wall behind him showed it was only three in the morning and he ran his hands down his eyes. Tiredness weighted his body but he knew he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep again while his mind was racing of past events, plummeting him down the overly familiar hole of worry and stress.

Authors Note:

This is just two months before the start of Far From Home. I just wanted you to get a small understanding of where Raleigh is emotionally and physically right now. As you can see he's dealing with trauma from what happened during the war, and especially with what happened on the ship. The things he's witnessed at only 15/16 years old isn't something easy to come back from and I hope you understand why and how he's dealing with this. Obviously more will be explained going forward, but this is just a short insight on his personal problems.

I'm so excited and scared to dwell into some events that take place in FFH! Let me know what you're most excited about and what you think will happen!