Hello readers present and future!
Lots of sad junk in this chapter. Also, some swearing, so you have been warned.
This is the ending where the snap doesn't happen, though I have wrote both endings. I might post the alternate ending on here.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of this, because if I did, Infinity War would have been very different.
The Sun Has Gone Out
"Are you okay?" Wanda panted, examining Vision's wound.
Vision started to nod, but then cringed in pain and let out a small shriek as the gem on his head emitted a bright glow. "What is it?" Wanda asked, trying to keep her cool. She had to stay calm, she told herself.
Vision looked up at her, blue eyes meeting sea green. "He's here," he said softly, and even someone who didn't know him would be able to detect the fear in the android's voice.
Everything went silent.
Steve had been watching awkwardly while Wanda tried to help Vision, but now he turned around and pressed a hand to his earpiece. "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."
"What the hell?" Natasha muttered. Seriously, not even five minutes of peace? Everyone spent about a minute waiting tensely, afraid of the showdown but hating the anticipation even more. The only thing worse than a horrible battle is knowing that said battle is coming and being able to do nothing but wait.
It was Bruce that spotted the blue portal that almost seemed to be made of smoke. And he found it almost hard to breathe when a certain Mad Titan stepped through it. Wanda readied her scarlet energy, Natasha wrapped her hand around her shotgun, and Steve clutched his Wakandan shields like lifelines, which they probably were.
"Cap," said Bruce, with a quaver in his voice, "that's hi-" But he didn't finish his sentence. He just stared, in open mouthed shock, at the person who had stepped out from behind Thanos. Loki certainly looked a lot healthier than the last time Bruce had seen him, and rather than trying to fight Thanos, he seemed to be with Thanos. Had it all been a trick? Had the God of Mischief been working for Thanos all along, secretly planning the death of Thor this entire time?
Bruce didn't even think. He just lunged at the pair, ready to beat the crap out of them, fist raised. Thanos didn't even flinch. The space stone glowed, and Bruce felt an odd sensation as he flew right through Thanos, and found himself trapped in a white slab of rock with a glow from the reality stone. Cap ran towards them, but was flung to the side effortlessly, losing his shields.
This really was a lot easier than Loki had anticipated.
T'challa lunged at Thanos, but the Titan slammed the king to the ground hard, probably giving him a good concussion. Sam flew towards Thanos, guns blazing, but with another glow from the reality stone, the machinery in his wings shorted out and he crashed to the ground with his fellow teammates.
"Wanda," said Vision urgently, "it's time." He gave her hand a squeeze.
"No," Wanda said forcefully.
"They can't stop him Wanda," Vision insisted, trying to remain calm, "but we can. Look at me." The girl turned around, breathing heavily. "You have to power to destroy the stone-"
"Don't"
"You must do it Wanda, please." Vision held her hand to his cheek. "We..are...out of time," he said sadly, hoping she understood that there was no other way.
Wanda shook her head. "I can't."
"It's alright," said Vision, trying to remain calm for her sake, "you could never hurt me. I'll just feel you."
Wanda couldn't help it. She couldn't help the tears in her eyes that she didn't bother to brush away, and she couldn't help that fact that Vision was right, goddamnit! "I love you," she whispered, a phrase for just them to know, and it really did feel like their phrase in that moment, because everything seemed to have stopped in that moment, and it was just them, for the last time. She took a step back, telling herself to pretend that she would only be destroying the mind stone, not Vision. She took a deep breath, and let the red energy loose.
Rhodey flew above Thanos, shooting the Titan with his big gun to keep him away from Wanda and Vision, but with a clench of his fist, Rhodey was thrown to the ground. Bucky ran at the two, yelling a hoarse battle cry, but Thanos blasted him and Okoye, who had been trying to throw her spear at the Titan, to the ground. Natasha was buried under a pile of sharp-looking rocks, and Loki almost flinched at this one, at the look she was giving him. Groot sent his powerful vines at Thanos, but the tree was knocked aside easily.
Then, there was Steve Rogers, coming at Thanos as hard as he could, punching the Titan with all his might. He even managed to hold back the gauntlet, an impressive feat, for a few seconds, before Thanos dealt a rough blow to the soldier's head, a blow that Loki thought would surely be fatal, even to the captain, if he didn't receive medical attention ASAP. And nobody noticed the green glow around the god's hand as the captain's breathing returned to normal, and nobody would probably ever know. Which was fine.
It was only Wanda and Vision now. As Thanos approached, Wanda held him back with energy from her other hand, now destroying an infinity stone while holding back the other six. But Loki she could never destroy it. Thor, in all his power, had been incapable of it. But he couldn't but be a tad bit impressed anyways. Perhaps, in another life, the two would have had a lot in common, but destiny was a wicked thing.
Wanda gritted her teeth as tears streamed down her face. One more blast of energy…
The stone violently shattered, throwing Loki and Wanda to the ground and sending a blinding yellow blast through the forest that they appeared to be standing in. Loki felt a brief flare of respect for the red-haired girl and her powers, and almost wished he had the chance to ask her about them. Then, he hit the ground and heard a horrible snap and felt an awful pain from his right arm. His knife arm.
Thanos approached Wanda and started stroking her hair. "I understand my child," the Titan said sorrowfully, "better than anyone."
Wanda felt disgusted. This monster had as good as killed Vision, and he had a psychotic plan to wipe out half of the universe, and here he was saying that he understood how she felt! "You could never!" she spat fiercely.
Thanos stood up straight. "Today I lost more than you could know, but now is no time to mourn. It's no time at all." And green rings appeared around Thanos' gauntlet as the time stone glowed green….
It all happened in an instant. Suddenly, instead of Wanda holding Thanos back with her power, Thanos was standing over Vision, and Wanda was on the ground. Nobody had any idea how the Titan had done that so suddenly, but Loki couldn't help but notice that the heroes laying behind them had recovered from their injuries. Had Thanos used the time stone.
"No!" Wanda shouted, running at Thanos, but the Mad Titan knocked her out with a blast from the power stone. His large purple fingers curled around the mind stone, and he heartlessly yanked it out. All the color faded from Vision's body as the android went limp as was cast to the ground. And then, the stone was placed into the gauntlet, and shooting burst of energy ripped through the Titan.
Suddenly, the energy flow stopped, and Thanos felt an awful pain in his left arm. Actually, he couldn't feel his arm. He glanced down and felt like he was going to faint.
His arm had been cut clean off, gauntlet included, and was now lying on the ground. And standing behind the Titan, covered in purple blood and holding a long knife, was Loki, who looked a mixture of shocked that he was able to do it, and disgusted by the purple blood.
"What have you done?" Thanos whispered.
"I think the phrase is called avenging," Loki said quietly.
"No…" Thanos said angrily. All that loss, all that planning, only to be foiled in an instant with nothing but a blade. These were his last thoughts as his head was removed from his body.
Loki stared at the defeated form of the Mad Titan, the creature that had haunted him for so long, finally vanquished. Then, a green glow caught his eye. The time stone, balanced on the thumb of the gauntlet. Loki knew it probably wasn't the best idea, but he found himself reaching for the stone, his hand curling around it. He felt a burning energy rippling through him, and a brilliant flash of green before everything went black.
Last chapter before the epilogue!
I'm super proud of myself, this being the first story I've ever finished, or, written on here period. Thank u, thank u, for the 15 reviews ;)!
See you at the epilogue!