Turns out, I didn't have to go to bed to sleep. I just dozed off, right there, sitting on a very uncomfortable space chair in a very uncomfortable situation.

I knew I shouldn't yelled the moment I re-opened my eyes, waking from that restless sleep. That had been wrong, a stupid, insolent, bloody idiotic mistake. I groaned, face-palming.

Now I had to apologize and all that. I hated awkward conversations, and apologies usually were very awkward. Sometimes I ignored friends and teachers that I liked just because I worried the conversation would be awkward. So...this situation was not good.

This space ride was becoming more foreboding every moment. I couldn't even run away.

Whining, whining, whining. I sighed, stood up, and almost shrieked.

Rogers had taken his spot next to me and I hadn't noticed, unfortunately for my racing heart. He frowned at me and I blinked, turned away and refused the urge to curse out loud. Ugh. Life.

I strode forward, slipping into the co-pilot's seat next to Loki. He glanced at me with a knowing smirk. I rolled my eyes, trying my best to ignore that.

"Are we there yet?"

"If we were, we would have stopped." His tone was steady, in a manner that instantly made me feel more stable, better. I let out a breath, squinting at all the stars streaking past us before my eyes had time to focus.

"How much time left?"

"Five hours, at most."

"Oh, thank god." I slumped, rubbing my bleary eyes, hoping this meant after five hours and one battle, my responsibility for the universe was over. Wow. After five hours, everything would be over.

Suddenly my heart sped up again. But what if after five hours, we lost? Would Thanos kill me? And what would happen if we won? Would I go back to my world? Was I stuck here?

I breathed in aggressively. "Oh no."

Loki gave me a weird look. "You have a strange way with words."

"I'm worried that we'd lose," I said, running a hand through my hair, which I could sense was a gangly mess. "What do we do then?"

"We run away." He answered simply, his eyes fixed on a point ahead.

Running away sounded good to some small part of me, but it felt wrong to a bigger, intrinsic part of me. I was not a runner. I hated confrontations, but I knew when I should have them, and I usually met every challenge head-on even if they were stupid and petty.

But Loki was realistic. If we lost, and if I still tried to fight, it wouldn't be a very healthy decision for my continued existence. Well, simply put, my existence would be un-continued.

And I still didn't know what would happen if I died here, alone, in a world that wasn't even mine.

I looked at Loki. "What were you talking about?"

He barely tilted his head, but I knew he knew what I was saying. "You told me that I lied to you," I continued nonetheless. "What did you mean?"

"It seems silly now," Loki murmured after a moment. "When we are about to have the fight of our lives, barely a few hours later."

"Well, I like silly." I smiled faintly. "I promise I won't laugh."

He considered that, and I could see his thoughts spiraling in that mad quick brain of his, since I had been in there before. Loki seemed much more readable now, after I had glimpsed his thoughts and emotions. Still hard to get, but a bit more manageable.

"...Your age," Loki said, his lips barely moving, and I frowned. "You fooled me."

Um, did he really think I was two hundred something? Wow. Asgardians are somewhat idiots. I realized I was grinning, and then remembered that promise I made like ten seconds ago, and tried to school my look. Judging by his scowl, he had noticed.

"You're not really 226, are you?" He muttered darkly. Then he narrowed his eyes at me. "But you're not really sixteen."

Sixteen? What? My mind drew a blank, before a memory sparked.

Oh. Natasha. Since when do we operate on strategies from sixteen year olds?

I winced. "Yeah."

He kept scowling at me, and I knew that he wanted a number, but I also thought people should stop fixating on age. It was really ageist of everyone.

I opened my mouth to say that, but then realized I could probably correctly map out the following conversation where he needled the answer out of me. I sighed in defeat.

"I'm fifteen. And you are very silly. The fight of our lives are barely a few hours away, do we have time for this?"

"You're fifteen," He repeated, something that didn't go well with his face flashing in his eyes. Well, I knew he was like a thousand years old, so fifteen must seem like an infant to him, but still it wasn't pleasant to watch him see me as a different person. "That explains..."

"Explains what?"

"Everything."

I scowled. "What?"

"Stark. The Captain," His lips curled slightly saying their names. "You."

"In a good way or a bad way?" I asked, because he was not explaining a lot. I wished I was inside his confusing head again, so I could see his memories that were surely playing again in his mind, from his perspective.

"...In a way," He let out finally, and I made a face, but he turned his head again to the front, eyes stormy. I instinctively knew I was getting nothing more out of him, because that face meant he was feeling things, and Loki dealt with feelings the same way I dealt with broccolis. He thought they were disgusting, useless, and refused to eat them.

Well, refused to feel them, in this case.

I pursed my lips. "Brood, then." I stood, arms crossed. "I'll leave you to your clever little thoughts."

Then I stalked away, ignoring Rogers who probably overheard everything, and feeling slightly sorry for myself. It seemed like I was as bad as Loki when it came to people. On a spaceship with five other people, I had no one to talk to.

It was half an hour before we were estimated to land on Knowhere, and we grouped back at the living room due to the Captain's orders. The journey was about to end, and we desperately needed a plan.

Which I was supposed to give them.

"The Collector has the reality stone," I said, focusing on picturing the man inside my mind, and successfully drawing up the illusion. Rogers and Stark flinched, and Strange and Peter looked impressed. I flashed a wry grin at Peter. Loki, as always, looked unimpressed.

"And if Thanos isn't there yet, we get the stone and we prepare to fight. And if he is there, we fight. And if he's gone, we chase him and fight." I nodded to myself. "It all ends with fighting, so I think it's a wonderful plan in its simplicity."

They didn't seem to think so. Stark frowned heavily, giving me a strange, amused look. "So what's the plan?"

I immediately felt a million times more relieved. That look meant he wasn't mad. I hid the relief in my face, scowling instead. "...Uh, I just told you."

"That's not a plan," Loki retorted. "That's just a course of action we all knew to begin with."

"There's beauty in simplicity. Didn't somebody say that once?"

"It's an anonymous quote," Strange told me, and I pointed at him.

"Yes. Anonymous. Thank you."

"...I wasn't agreeing to your...plan," Strange said the word like it might come back and bite him. "I'm just telling you that-"

"Why would you know that anyway?" I frowned at him. "That's very nerdy."

"He's a doctor. Doctor's are nerdy," Stark said dismissively, and Strange glowered at him.

Rogers cleared his throat before Strange could reply with some scathing comment about Stark Industries. "Can we focus?"

I rolled my eyes and missed everyone else's response, but we all quietened.

"So we don't know for sure Thanos's whereabouts," Rogers said, his eyes meeting mine then sliding away just as quickly. I recognized it as a question.

"Yup."

"Then we need to prepare for all three scenarios," He nodded, and opened his mouth to doubtlessly talk about those three scenarios and the amazing plan he had, but I raised a hand, like I was at school and I had something to say. Then I realized I wasn't at school and this was slightly embarrassing, so I whipped it back down again.

"Guardians of the Galaxy," I said, with a flush. "They're going to be there too. We need to work together. Which means that any plan we make up right now is going to be slightly useless."

Rogers blinked. "You've mentioned them before," He said slowly. "Who are they?"

Right. Now I had to explain two entire movies and seven characters in like twenty minutes. Great. I sighed, and opened my mouth for a monologue that would have surely been funnier if they weren't all real people. (And a real raccoon and a real tree, of course.)

Landing was smooth, as Loki was an excellent pilot, one that was pretty impressive since I hadn't the foggiest idea how to drive spaceships. I didn't even know how to drive cars. I would probably be horrible at it anyway.

(Stop thinking about random, minor things. Focus.)

Loki knew the Collector, and parked-I was probably thinking of car terms, but couldn't for the death of me figure out what you did with spaceships- right on his building. Knowhere was unfamiliar to me, because I didn't really remember the movies, but the spooky creepy feeling was undeniably clear in the air. I shivered, thinking about the explanation Loki had somberly given us.

Knowhere is the severed head of an ancient Celestial being. There are no regulations whatsoever in this place, so be prepared for anything to happen.

The ramp opened up with a nod from Rogers, and we slowly moved down and about, Peter and I following the adults in the back. I sneaked a glance at Peter, who looked nervous, his eyes flitting from shadow to shadow. Which said a lot, because there were loads of shadows in this place. I wondered why people would ever live here. Was the rent cheap? Did space have rents?

(Focus, stupid.)

Peter stopped and I realized everyone was looking at another ship, already parked in place somewhere closer to the edge of the building. The Guardians of the Galaxy. They were here.

Which meant Thanos was, too.

Strange turned around, his eyes grim but sharp. "The reality stone can warp our very realities, like the name suggests. Be wary. The world is not as it seems."

I knew he could sense it already. Something was off, a metallic tang in the air and magic tingling at my fingertips unpleasantly. The reality stone had been used recently. Thanos was prepared.

I shuddered, and Loki touched me gently on the arm, pulling me ahead with the rest. I tried to snap out of it, but my magic was sensitive. It knew something, no everything was wrong, and it was screaming with the weight of it.

I clenched a fist as we climbed down the stairs to the Collector's fort, digging my nails into my palm, willing my mind to stay in the moment. Loki was looking at me warily, and I knew that he knew too. That gave me a sense of relief that was short-lived, ruined by Stark running directly into Drax.

Someone yelped and Strange swept out his hands and enclosed the space in a bubble, so no one could see and hear what was going on. It was a smart move, because Drax immediately started yelling, charging at Stark who's nano tech crept over his clothes and covered his body in mere moments. He raised a hand armed with the repulsor but Strange flicked his hand and Drax froze in mid-sprint, face so comical that I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious.

Gamora-who by the way looked gorgeous in green- raised her dagger in alarm as Peter Quill spun around, blasters raised. Peter-the younger one- raised his arms in reflex, impossibly quickly.

"Don't shoot," He cried out, and everyone was frozen for a moment.

"...Who are you? What have you done to Drax?" Quill whispered furiously, unaware of the magic Strange had cast. Rogers stepped forward, probably the one with the most trusting face in the group. I mean, that dude's face screamed good. I couldn't imagine him doing anything slightly incriminating, like littering, or spitting on sidewalks. Although spitting on sidewalks wasn't a crime. Still, I disliked everyone that did it.

(What are you blabbering? Get your mind straight.)

"We're here to fight Thanos," Rogers said softly, hands also raised in the air. "You are the Guardians of the Galaxy, right?"

"How do you know us? Why are you-"

"Thor." I said, striding next to Peter, throwing the teen a reassuring look I had had no idea I could pull off. "He told you about the Avengers, didn't he?"

"You know Thor?" Quill asked, pupils blown wide in alarm. Gamora lowered her dagger slowly.

"He did," She said, face still distrusting, and I nodded.

"They're the Avengers," I made a vague gesture at Rogers, face as determined as I could make it. "And we're here to stop Thanos. So, we need to work together."

On that note, Strange twisted his hand and Drax fell face-first on to the ground with a manly shriek. He stumbled up with help from Mantis, and gaped at Strange. "Witch!"

Stark tilted his head with a frown. "Pretty sure you meant to say wizard."

"Thanos's allies!" Drax yelled. "I will-"

"Whoa, chill dude." Peter-ugh two guys with same names- Quill said, holstering his weapons. "They say they're also here to fight Thanos."

"That is what Thanos's allies would say." He growled, and Loki rolled his eyes.

"That is what people who're here to fight Thanos would say," He muttered, and Drax looked very confused for a moment, before snarling out "You do not fool me!"

Stark glanced at me. "I am strangely not reassured by their presence," He said, and Gamora scowled.

"What are you supposed to be, cyborg?"

"Wrong franchise," I muttered under my breath, and made a time-out sign with my arms. "We really need to focus, dudettes. Let's move."

Gamora paused, then slipped her dagger back in its sheath, leading the way down and beyond the various metal crates littered on the ground. Drax narrowed his eyes but complied to her glare. The Avengers, including Loki and me, followed the Guardians, sneaking silently.

"-I know you have the Reality Stone, Tivan. Giving it to me will spare you a great deal of suffering." Thanos's voice drifted out of the room ahead of us, and Quill halted, raising a fist to signal us to stop.

Everyone just passed him, not even pausing, and I patted his arm in a comforting manner, then walked by him too.

"I told you, I sold it." The Collector gasped, Thanos's boot on his chest. "Why would I lie?"

"I imagine it's like breathing for you," The Titan remarked, and Gamora stopped, her face gaunt, looking back at all of us.

"What's the plan?" She murmured quietly, addressing Rogers. Ha. Told ya. He had such a honest face that space assassins he met for the first time trusted him.

"We have to attack before he finds the stone," Cap replied, gesturing at Thanos. "You guys take first round. We'll follow."

Gamora nodded curtly, but Strange shook his head quickly, his hand unconsciously rising to the time stone around his throat. "He already has the stone," Strange said, voice dark. "This is a trap."

"Can you destroy the illusion?" I asked quickly, glancing at Loki who was also looking reproachful, keeping quiet.

Strange pursed his lips, body still. "This isn't an illusion. It's real, in some part, and I don't have the power to strip away the entire reality."

"What do we do, then?" Peter said, his hands slightly trembling. I wanted to feel less hopeless, but it was hard, when we had no plan, nothing.

(Not nothing. You know the future. Focus.)

"Gamora, you attack him. He'll die, if you kill him." I muttered, rubbing my hands together, the air seemingly growing colder with every second. "And then the real Thanos will reveal himself. Then, we fight him to the death."

"But-"

"If we attack, all of us together at once, we can overpower him." I said, sounding like I was trying, badly, to convince myself.

Everything about this place, Knowhere, drained me. The magic crawling like bugs over my skin, the freezing temperature, and the dark shadows sapping the light out of the scenery. I felt barely alive, the trepidation of what was coming hanging over my head like a noose. Silence thrashed at the words spoken, dragging it away as soon as it could, leaving me empty and wide open. I felt like someone was watching me, shudders running down my spine, and-

A rumbling laughter, echoing all around us and my breath hitched as everyone's head snapped up.

"Overpower me?" Our surroundings were changing, the from my right to left, crates on fire and the air filled with toxic fumes. We were in an aftermath of a battle, destruction all around us, and I staggered as we were shown what had been hidden from us before.

Thanos emerged out of the gloom, his illusion-self disappearing with a flick oh his gauntlet. The reality stone's red glimmer shined brightly, blending well into the background of fire, and he laughed again, a harsh sound that felt wrong to my ears. "When I have you all in my grasp?"

Drax yelled, enraged, and charged forward with his sword. "For Ovette! For-"

I never did hear his daughter's name, the reality stone pulsing and Drax...disassembling. He came apart, turned into a pile of cubes and Mantis shrilled, pain and shock resounding through me with her scream. But her emphatic ability didn't seem to phase Thanos, who just stood there, tall and strong, and very much purple.

Thanos's eyes slid over the group, and landed on Gamora.

"Daughter. There's something we need to discuss, little one."

"I have nothing else to say to you," She hissed, drawing her daggers with a sound of metal against metal. "then die."

And everything went to hell.

A/N : Things are going to take a darker turn, beloved readers.

하하하하 정말 어렵다 사람이 왜이리 많아 진짜 어이가 없어서 영화는 딱 주인공 두명만 있으면 되는 데 하아. 어쨌든 매우 심각해질거야. 트리거 워닝 그런 건 없지만 잘 안 맞다, 그럼 나에게 뭐라 해주세요. 요즘 스네이프를 파는 데 어둡고 다크한 그런 분위기가 너무 좋아져섴ㅋㅋ 이 캐릭터, 레지스, 는 더 이상 너나 나가 아닌 것 같아, 그냥 스스로의 생명을 얻어서 내 머릿속에서 걸어 나갔어 그러니까 너무 상심하지마삼. 죽이겠다는 건 아니고. 어. 죽일까?

결말은 진짜 모르겠어 아직도. 도움을 주실 분!