Ah, thinks Thanos. So this is what power truly feels like.
Around him, he can feel the flow of the universe, the steady heartbeat of time, pushing ever onwards. Everything is so different, now. He understands.
The pale human in front of him is screaming, weeping for her lost lover. Thanos's own heart aches for her - He knows the cruel grief of losing someone precious, someone loved. He still feels the sting of Gamora's sacrifice so intimately, but he cannot dwell now. Not when there is nothing to be done for it.
Not even the power of the infinity stones, Thanos knows, can bring back his most beloved child from death.
He shakes his head - He has stalled himself, unwittingly. There is no reason to wait any longer - His plans, after years of blood and sweat, have finally come to fruition. All it will take is a snap of his fingers, and the universe will be saved from its own selfishness.
And yet . . .
Even as he raises his hand, ready to carry out the deed, Thanos finds his mind wandering, taken by all the little things he's never noticed before. This planet - Terra, something unknown whispers to him, Earth - is beautiful, in its own way. Not quite like his own home, to which nothing could ever hope to compare, back in its glory, but . . .
The trees carry the light, shivering in the slight wind. Overhead, birds call to each other, bright, joyous, laughing. Out of the corner of his eye, Thanos watches a snake, a brilliant, poisonous green, slide across the forest floor, only to still at the sight of him.
Thanos, following some impulse he never knew he had, reaches out his uncovered hand, beckoning. The snake, after another moment of stillness, slithers forward into his palm, curling up and around Thanos's thumb. The snake's scales are stark against his purple skin.
Thanos finds himself wondering if this small creature will be part of the half of the universe which is stolen from existence. He knows there must be a thousand more snakes just like this one in this forest alone, but there is still something quietly sorrowful about it. For a moment, he ponders the feeling, unfamiliar with the strange connection.
But the moment passes. Thanos, with a oddly heavy heart, reaches up yet again with the Infinity-
"M'blearg!" Loki shouts, transforming back himself and stabbing Thanos in the face. "It's me!"