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It was six months into their journey when some apparently caught wind of their actions, realized they didn’t belong, though the moments leading up to the revelation were about as normal as they could’ve been.
Morgan was in kitchen/dining room/living room/bedroom of the studio apartment sat at the table, a lollipop in her mouth and reading a book on quantum theory that had earned her a humored look from the librarian when she had checked it out, and Peter was in the shower washing up after patrol, the faint rainfall of it reaching Morgan’s ears, providing her white noise while she read
Then, suddenly there was movement in the corner of Morgan’s eye, tearing her focus away from her book
A circle of sparks filled the air, the kind she’d only seen in shaky videos from terrified onlookers, and read about in documents she shouldn’t have had access to. Morgan stood so fast the folding chair she sat on clattered behind her, making a loud and harsh thud as it hit the floor, the lollipop soon followed as it fell out her mouth. For a moment she just stood, slack jawed watching the sparks.
Then at a speed so fast Morgan was surprised he managed to avoid slipping and cracking his head open Peter rushed in, dripping wet, shampoo still in his hair and a towel held around his waist like an afterthought “Morgan are you-” he stopped eyes landing on the portal “Mr. Strange?”
“No he shouldn’t be a sorcerer yet.” Morgan said without thought as she wiped the spit from her chin “Wait did you just call him Mr. Strange? He’s an MD.”
Whatever Peter’s response to that was Morgan didn’t hear it as the second he opened his mouth a different voice spoke.
“Peter Parker, Morgan Stark,” in an instant they both turned to see a bald woman in yellow robes stepping out from the portal, Morgan watched, half focused on the woman herself, half focused on the closing window in reality behind her.
Morgan blinked as the portal disappeared, then like a jolt she stiffened, shoving any sense of wonder and curiosity aside she stood, ready to activate her suit. She didn’t want to fight someone in their apartment, to lose this home in the chaos and end up back on the street, and she didn’t want to risk the other tenants, but if she had to fight then she would.
She watched out of the corner of her eye as Peter fell into an awkward version of a familiar pose, one hand up and braced to use his web shooter (he’d worn them into the shower Morgan noted idly, they were were waterproof for a reason she supposed) and the other preoccupied holding up the only thing keeping him modest.
Suddenly Mogan realized another, very important reason she didn’t want to get into a fight right now.
“Relax, I mean you no harm.” The woman raised a hand in a sort of ‘stand down’ gesture that did little to calm her nerves.
She wasn’t convinced, seemingly neither was Peter.
“Cautious, I understand, let me introduce myself, I’m the Ancient One, the current Sorcerer Supreme.”
“Sorcerer Supreme,” Peter said almost to himself “like Mr. Strange.”
The woman, the Ancient One (that’s not a name Morgan thought) gave a small smile interrupting Morgan before she got the chance to chastise Peter for giving away Dr. Strange’s future or for calling Dr. Strange Mr. Strange again or for maybe even both those things. She was going to decide when the words left her mouth not that she got the chance
“Yes, like Dr. Strange.”
Morgan furrowed brow “You know the future?” She asked.
“In a way yes,” she spoke “actually the future is what I would like to speak to you about, may I sit?” She asked a hand all ready on the chair
Morgan shared a glance with Peter and the pair reached a silent conclusion
“Go ahead.” Morgan said “Peter go put pants on” Peter nodded, padding his way back to the bathroom silently, leaving her and the Ancient One alone.
Morgan picked up her chair, and watched as the Ancient One opened her mouth to speak, she put a hand up “Don’t start. Anything you say to me you say to Peter.” She tossed the floor lollipop into the trash
“You two are quite close”
Morgan just hummed in response as she pulled open the drawer where they kept the lollipops grabbing one without pay attention to the flavor and popping it in her mouth
“I understand your hesitation but I meant what I said, I mean you no harm.”
“What did I say about talking?” Morgan tossed the empty wrapper in the trash as she sat down
“My apologies.”
Morgan was saved from an awkward silence when Peter came out of the bathroom, with both pants and a shirt on and damp still but not dripping like before, his hair though was a mess, like he’d tried to get the shampoo out using just a towel. As soon as Peter sat down Morgan spoke
“How do you know us?”
“I am the keeper of the time stone and monitor the timeline, you two are anomalies, you’ve medled in my domain it’s only natural I take notice.”
“So what you’re here to stop us? Tell us we’re acting out of line?”
“Are you going to send us back?” Peter asked so focused on the stranger he failed to notice how Morgan shifted uncomfortably.
“No,” the Ancient One said. “I’m here to warn you.”
“Warn us?” Peter asked
“You are forging a new path, a dangerous one at that. You cannot that you cannot go back from whence you came, not even forcefully by my hand.”
“What do you mean we can’t go back?” Peter asked voice edging on fearful
“It doesn’t matter what she means!” Morgan said quickly before the Ancient One had a chance to speak, the words tumbled out of her mouth quick and stern “we weren’t planning on going back. We don’t need to go back because we’re going to save everyone. We’re going to make a new, better timeline, that's what you agreed to so don’t-”
“-Morgan,” Peter reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, suddenly and deeply aware of how young she looked, how young she was, “deep breaths.” He said gently
Morgan jerked away from him. Very suddenly refusing to look him in the eyes
“You know. He doesn’t.” The Ancient One observed
“He… knows. He’s just. Stupid.” Morgan began fidgeting with the lollipop in her mouth, pulling it in and out and twisting the stick between her fingers “I told you there was no going back,” she said, suddenly directing her words at Peter, arms crossed defensively “I said that!”
“I know what you said,” Peter responded softly. “I just don’t think I realized what exactly you meant. You were being very literal, weren’t you Morgan” he said softly
“Don’t talk to me like that” she spat.
Peter blinked.
“Like I’m a kid! I’m not a kid.” Morgan answered his unasked question
“Your future, the time you came from doesn’t exist anymore,” the Ancient One said, reminding the pair of her briefly forgotten presence. “Now there is only the past, and the present moving ever forward. The future died the moment you traveled back.”
“Died?” Peter choked out.
“I didn’t- they’re not dead!” Morgan protested quickly, “They’re alive! Everyone is alive! They’re alive right now and they’ll stay alive because I’m going to fix it.”
“Have you thought that perhaps there is nothing to fix.”
For a moment there was silence
“What… do you mean” Peter said feeling something he couldn’t quite pinpoint
“You have come in hopes of preventing the suffering that you and so many others have endured, but the time you’ve come from is not all strife, there is joy in it as well,” the Ancient One gave a look at Morgan, stern and pointed, “there are people who would’ve never met otherwise, families and friends that would’ve never formed if not for the events you seek to stop. The dead are dead, but humanity mourns and moves on.”
For a moment Morgan was still, her eyes misty and wide and full of a rage Peter hadn’t realized her capable of. Then in an instant like lightning she stood, and the only reason her chair didn’t once again clatter to the floor was a web shot from Peter catching it and pulling it back upright.
“So what, we should just sit back and do nothing!?” Morgan began her words slow and steady in a way too intentional to be anything other than a desperate attempt to contain a swell of emotion “Let a word happen where my dad is dead and Peter’s alone and there are billions dead from the snap and its aftermath!?” Each word came a little quicker, a little louder and her face grew a little redder “And before the snap! All suffering from a world reeling from bi-yearly world ending threats?! Where Hydra was run amok in SHIELD free to do whatever they pleased!? When the people who were supposed to be earth’s protectors were fighting amongst themselves constantly!? You want us to do nothing and let a world like that happen!? ‘The dead are dead’?! No. They aren’t not now not anymore! And you want us to let them die!? For what?! Joy?! Joy for who?! Not for the people who came back to find their partners and families have moved on or died! Certainly not joy for Peter! Not for Mom or Happy or Wanda or Hawkeye or Bucky or Bruce or Thor or me!” And the damn burst, Morgan’s teeth clamped down like a guillotine, severing the paper stick of the lollipop, it fell to the floor, as did her tears, fat like rain drops.
Before Peter had a chance to speak, or even think of how to pull together the right words the Ancient One started, “I’m sorry you have suffered but this is selfish. Let things proceed as they are meant to, it’ll be for the best.”
“Selfish?” A renewed spark of rage entered Morgan’s eyes, somehow even with tear filled eyes and stained cheeks, a snotty nose and looking every bit like the child she was she was still intimidating. She spat out the head of the lollipop and idly Peter realized that she could’ve choked on that “You’re calling me selfish!? I’m the one who wants to save people!” She leaned into the Ancient One, with her standing and the other sitting they were at eye level, the Ancient One, for her part, seemed completely unphased.
“That may be how it seems to you,” the Ancient One placed a hand on Morgan’s shoulder, and gently pushed her back “but ask yourself, do you care for the lives of these other people, or are you doing this for yourself, to fulfill your own wants and desires as to how the world should be?”
“I sacrificed everything to give the world a second chance.”
“You’re so eager to martyr yourself, and yet you were unhappy with what you had, can you truly call that a sacrifice?”
“You don’t know anything about me!” Peter watched in dawning horror as Morgan reached for her locket, about to activate her suit, without a second thought he caught her hand with a web, stopping her.
“Morgan.” He said, desperately trying to keep his voice from wavering, “don’t.”
Morgan turned and Peter flinched under her gaze “You’re taking her side?” She asked, voice quiet with rage and betrayal.
“No.” Peter said, quick with conviction “but it isn’t smart to fight her, especially here. You know that.”
Morgan looked at him like she didn’t quite know what to make of his words, her eyes still puffy and red pin pricked with rage directed at him.
“Let me go.” she commanded
“Morgan-”
“-if you don’t want me to fight then let me leave.”
Peter dropped his grip on the web and in a momentary and futile effort Morgan attempted to unstick it from her wrist.
“Whatever.” she growled, allowing it to trail on the ground behind her. “Come find me when you decide you care.” She said before slamming the door behind her.
For a long moment Peter just stared at the door, almost expecting Morgan to walk back in any second.
“Peter-”
“-I think you should leave.” Peter cut the Ancient One off, he didn’t quite understand what he was feeling, some odd mix of confusion and frustration.
He’d never seen Morgan like that before.
He didn’t like it.
“My warnings are not to be taken lightly.” Her expression hadn’t changed, but somehow it felt different, colder, than it had been when she first appeared.
“You said you could see the future. Could you just tell us what goes wrong?” Peter was trying to rationalize what was being asked of him. To knowingly let people die, to sit back and do nothing while having the power to save them.
“You misunderstand,” she said “I can see possibilities, but you are a variable I cannot account for, the choices you make, nor the consequences of them. I am blind to you in that regard.”
“You’re blind to us…” Peter repeated quietly “Is it because we’re from the future?” a future that didn’t exist anymore, came a whisper from the back of his mindHe wasn’t sure how he felt about that, still Morgan had told him, she told him there’d be no going back, and they were going to rewrite things that was always the plan and at the same time she didn’t tell him, didn’t tell him just how literal she was being. would he have agreed if she did? Clearly she thought not… Peter stopped himself, resolving to dwell on it later.
The Ancient One nodded “yes, it is.” Before Peter could ask for more details the Ancient One began to speak “Whatever you did to harness the power of the time stone after its destruction caused a small bit of that power to cling to you. The stones are not meant to come in contact with their own power, when they do, they repel, rendering any of the time stone’s abilities incompatible with you.”
“You know of the time stone's destruction-” he began to question “-never mind.” It wasn’t important how she knew, not right now “you don’t know what’ll happen if we try to fix things.” He said pointedly “You’re not objecting because something bad will happen. You’re objecting just…because.”
“I am objecting because it is not your place. Nothing happens without reason, that is what you fail to see.”
“Then tell me!” Peter snapped, “Tell me what I fail to see, tell me the reason so many people have to suffer!”
“Because that is the order of things.” the Ancient One said in a non-answer.
“That’s not good enough.” Peter responded, surprising himself with the wavering in his voice
The Ancient One said nothing, as though she were lost for words.
For a moment there was silence between them.
“Leave.” He said quietly, “I mean it this time.”
The Ancient One turned her robes flowing behind her as she did, and a circle of orange sparks formed a window in reality from his apartment to, well where she was going, from a glance it looked like a library
There was certainly a beauty to it Peter thought
For a moment the Ancient One stood still “I hope you heed my words, I do not say them lightly.”
“And what if we don’t?”
She turned to him, not fully, just enough to look him in the eye “I’m sorry?”
“If we don’t ‘heed your words’ if we go on with our plan and try to stop things… what will you do?”
“I will not fight you if that’s what you’re asking, ultimately your choices are your own, I will not interfere with the actions you carry out. My job was to warn you of a foolish choice, I have done that and you were not swayed.”
Before Peter could say anything more she stepped through the portal and disappeared along with it.
Peter slumped back in his seat, a long weary sigh escaping him. He was so tired, and still reeling from what he had learned. The future… or what used to be his present, gone. Ned and M.J., Pepper, Mr. Delmar, everyone. Just gone, snapped out of existence like…
Morgan told him they were rewriting the universe. What had he thought would happen? He guessed he thought that everyone would just keep on living their lives, then when they got to what used to be their present it’d snap all back into place, and it’d all be the same but better because they’d fixed it.
It was stupid when he thought about it like that.
But he hadn’t thought about it.
He’d been so caught up in the idea of saving people, of saving himself, (or a version of himself that wasn’t beyond saving yet) that he failed to think of the implications. Just taking Morgan’s childish idealism to heart. Because that’s what she was a child, a genius child, one who figured out how to do something no one else even knew could be done, but she was still a child and Peter had never been more aware of that fact.
And Morgan what did she think? Not that she killed anyone, obviously the idea that she did terrified her. But she knew.
She didn’t tell Peter the whole truth because she knew if she did he’d refuse (she was like her Dad. far too much like him. He thought)
God Morgan what was he going to do?
“Come find me when you decide you care.”
Find her, he supposed.
Peter stood with a sigh, when a drawer, opened just a smidge and filled with color caught the corner of his eye, and before he really had the chance to think about it he’d pulled it open fully and started rooting around in the bulk bag of lollipops, like a kid on halloween.
Morgan liked lollipops, it was one of the first luxuries they’d gotten once they’d had the money, it was lollipops for Morgan and the occasional small lego set for him.
She didn’t seem to have too much of a preference for flavor, but Peter had noticed a tendency toward cherry when particularly stressed so that’s what he searched for. Finding what he was looking for he went to the door, casting a glance back at where the Ancient One stood, as if he expected her to show back up, he stood there dumbly for a few seconds before being to turn back.
He closed the door behind him and listened blocking out conversations from neighbors, and sounds from tvs he scanned for Morgan, coming from the stairwell on the first floor he pinpointed a quiet sob and a heartbeat he’d come to know well.
Entering the stairwell he took a quick glance around to essure no one else was there before propelling himself down with his webs. (He really didn’t feel like walking down eight flights of stairs, not now)
He spotted Morgan, curled up with her knees to her chest and head buried in her arms in the dusty alcove under the first flight of stairs, looking so, so, young
“Morgan?” He said quietly, kneeling down “You ok?”
She lifted her head a bit and spared him a quick glance, with red puffy eyes but refused any further eye contact “you done talking about how much I suck?” She sniffled, her voice muffled in her sleeves
Peter sighed, “I don’t think you suck Morgan.”
“But you’re mad at me.”
“I’m not-” he paused, “I’m not mad at you.” He wasn’t, was he? Truth be told it was hard to tell, he wasn’t happy, he certainly wasn’t happy but he wasn’t sure if he could quite bring himself to anger even if a small part of him wanted to.
“I don’t believe you”
“Morgan-” he started more frustrated than he meant to be, he took a breath, “Morgan can I come in?”
She didn’t say anything but scooted over to the side, Peter had to crouch down even further to get under the stairs, and even sitting his hair brushed the step they were under.
“Morgan, I wouldn't lie to you.” He reached into his pocket pulling out the cherry lollipop, holding it out in a silent offering.
Morgan glanced at it and after a moment, grabbed it, discarding the wrapper and popping in her mouth in one go, it was then, with Morgan’s face no longer obscured buy her arms Peter noticed Morgan’s bleeding lip (she’d been chewing on it, he noticed)
“Why?” She asked
“Because I care about you.”
“I lied to you.” She said, twirling the lollipop in her mouth
“You did.”
“You’re stupid.” She mumbled “Only a stupid person wouldn’t be mad.”
“I’m not happy,” he said “I’m certainly upset with you, you should’ve told me the truth, but being angry won’t solve anything.”
“I just… I didn’t kill them. Right?” The final word coming out as a whisper, “they’re alive right now they’re alive.”
“Morgan, why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’re mad”
“I’m just trying to understand.”
She pulled the lollipop out of her mouth twisting it in her fingers. “I’m selfish,” she whispered, “I needed you, if I’d spelled it out for you would’ve refused.”
Peter didn’t say anything
“Are you going to leave me? Or-or listen to the Ancient One and stop me or-” she shoved the lollipop back in her mouth
“No.” He said firmly “I’m not going to leave you. I’m going to help you, we’re going to save people, just like we planned.”
Morgan sniffed “I don’t understand…” she trailed off
“You should’ve told me.” Peter said, “I don’t know if it would’ve changed my decision, I think it probably would’ve, but you didn’t tell me, and we’re here now and we know what’s going to happen and we can stop it. And… and I think we have to, I think that’s our responsibility.”
“Peter?” Morgan whispered
“Yeah?”
“Can I have a hug”
He smiled, “yeah, of course.”