A/N: Hi guys! This is my first fic on this site so please forgive me if I make mistakes or upload at weird times. I really have no idea how to use this. As a disclaimer: I do not own any of Marvel's characters, I'm just using them for entertainment purposes. I hope this entertains. Title is from 'Hollow' by Cloudeater. Enjoy!
Prologue- Hollow
Thanos sat silently watching the sun rise from his position on his hut. For almost his whole life, he had imagined this moment. Had imagined the moment when he had finally, finally brought balance to the universe. But he had never imagined what it would cost him.
Of course saving the universe would extract a heavy toll; planets destroyed, countless slaughtered… It was never going to be easy. But he could not watch the universe perish as his home planet had, not when he had the solution.
He was the only one strong enough to bear the weight of the decisions that had been made. Every life taken had been for a reason. He may be considered by some- many, in fact- to be a murderer, a psychopath, a maniac, but one thing Thanos was not, was wasteful. He did not waste lives. He had, after all, spared his traitorous daughter Nebula. But he had killed his other daughter, Gamora.
His favourite child, the one who out of all of his children had shown the most promise. The most will. He had thrown her off of the edge of the cliff on Vormir like she was nothing to him. But she wasn't nothing. That was why he had to do it. It was for a reason, the Titan told himself. He had to, so he could claim the Soul Stone, for the sake of the universe! So why did it leave him feeling so hollow?
He had saved the universe. But he had destroyed everything important to him in the process.
He had won, but it had cost him everything.
Why should I even care? She betrayed me! She left and tried to destroy everything I worked towards! Everything WE worked towards!
These thoughts flickered through Thanos' consciousness before he quickly banished them. Such childish thinking, complaining and whining about things that didn't even matter anymore, besmirching his favourite daughter's memory. It doesn't matter what happened before, it was time to look to the future. The future he had created.
No doubt people would be angry, and confused, and grieving for their loved ones. This combination of emotions was dangerous if possessed by the wrong people. This troubled Thanos. He hadn't given much thought as to what would happen after he had wiped half of the universe from existence. His goal had been so clear in his mind; he had not had time to think about it. Why think about it if it didn't even happen? All of his energy and time and resources had been put into his plan, so what next?
Injured as he was by the god-man Thor, Thanos decided he should heal before anything else. If he was weak, he was an easy target. Well, as easy a target as you could be in possession of all six infinity stones. (That wasn't very easy).
Thanos glanced down at the gauntlet, in ruins and still plastered to his hand. It filled him with awe; it suddenly stuck him that no one else in the history of all the universe had ever been in possession of all six infinity stones. He could rule the universe. Well, he supposed he already did, in a way, (the rest of the galaxies just didn't know it yet). He was their salvation. He was a god.
"You will never be a God."
The dead Asgardian's voice echoed in Thanos' mind. He smirked; he had shown him. Triumph welled inside of his chest as he gazed at the stones, glowing with power. His eyes rested on the soul stone. What it had cost him.
No. Now was not the time for grief. Now it was time to bask in the warmth of his victory; he deserved that, surely? He had, after all, dedicated his whole life to it. He could decide what to do next later. He would face the wraith of all of the galaxies at another time; it wasn't like they would ever be able to find him. No one knew where he was. It could stay that way a little longer.
Thanos sank back and turned his gaze back to the sunrise, and the warm glow it radiated. No one could stop him now.
A/N (again). Hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter. It's kind of short, but don't worry the next one features Nebula and Tony on Titan and is quite a way's longer. Please leave a review telling me what you think, I'm not really used to writing for any of these characters so I hope I'm doing them justice.