My neck hurt. My chest hurt. No, wait, my whole body hurt.

I tried to find a part of me that felt okay. Head, no. Ribs, definitely no. Hands, hmm, no.

Oh. My eyes were fine. I blinked, scrambling to sit up, and almost rammed my head into someone's-

"Agh!" I shrieked, stumbling back, my palm scraping along the rough ground and bringing tears to my eyes. Shit. Blood leaked sluggishly from the cut on my hand and I clutched it to my chest as I stared at the guy standing in front of me.

"Sorry," A familiar voice said, hesitantly. I narrowed my eyes. The room, no the cell, was dark but I could still make out the faint outline of Steve Rogers. My heart hammered in my throat.

"What-what happened?" Of course, I knew what happened. We were on Thanos's evil spaceship, kidnapped, and he was probably going to murder us before the day ended. Fuck.

I groaned. "Actually, don't answer that," I said quickly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," He answered, sitting down slowly. "Are you?"

"Yup." I answered, not even thinking about it as I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on my magic, and felt nothing. Nothing. There was something cutting me off from the power, something tangible but invisible. It was, overall, an icky feeling of something not being right. I hated it.

The cell was a stereotypical cell, bars of metal blocking one side of the room, and the other sides surrounded by stone walls. There was a dish of food on the ground, and I decided to frown at it instead of having a meltdown about everything else.

"Soup?"

"Uh, you can have it." Rogers said awkwardly.

"I'm not really hungry," I replied, and sighed. They had to give one soup and one piece of bread, for two people. Was this some new method of torture? To kill people with overwhelming awkwardness?

We had to get out of here. But, judging by how Rogers wasn't attempting some wild getaway, he had tried and failed.

I stood up, and walked over to the bars. There were other cells around us but were empty, probably because Thanos usually doesn't keep prisoners. I wondered what will happen to us. What did Thanos want from me?

There were two guards at the end of the hallway, standing rigidly. Two scary looking aliens. I contemplated shouting some swearwords at their faces but thought better, since it probably wasn't going to work.

I plopped back down on the ground. My ribs throbbed and I winced, regretting the decision to plop.

"I've never been kidnapped before," I said out loud, because it was very true. The fact that I was in a comic book movie was hitting my brain harder than ever.

"I have," Rogers answered quietly. I raised my eyebrows.

"What's it like?"

"Not good," He pursed his lips, paused, and then gave me a reproachful look-aka Steve Roger's disappointed face. It was slightly intimidating. "You shouldn't have done that."

Memories flashed behind my eyes, and I groaned again, face-palming and jumping when blood got on my face. I tried to wipe it off but only managed to smudge it, and I moaned, super annoyed and super angry and super-

"Is that blood?" Rogers asked, his eyes quirked in that frustrated manner and I scrunched up my forehead.

"Just my hand." I muttered, rolling up my shirt and dabbing it at my cheek. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I didn't know why I was so angry. Oh. Wait. Right, I was kidnapped and any moment now, we were going to die.

I was usually a very logical girl, but at that moment I wanted to punch the wall. Fucking hell. Kidnapped. Kidnapped. What the fuck was going to happen to me?

The aftermath of an adrenaline rush left a sour taste in my mouth and a dizzy head, but I was pretty sure Thanos wasn't going to offer me some toothbrushes. Or some Tylenol. Did Tylenol exist in space? Wait, did toothbrushes?

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to come up with something. Something that would miraculously land me back on Earth. Or at least, off this stupid stupid spaceship.

"You're going to be okay," Rogers said in a steadfast tone that would have relaxed any other fifteen year olds, but I was unfortunately not most of them. I was paranoid, in a way that wasn't any good, and my mind was already spiraling.

Since Gamora was, uh, gone-fuckety fuck-, Thanos was going to look for the soul stone. He didn't know that we knew where it was, but I assumed he could guess, so that was going to be what he wanted, wasn't it? Could I afford telling him? I mean, since Gamora was dead, could Thanos even get to it in the first place?

He had to make a sacrifice, I remembered. Well, he could always throw his chair down the cliff.

I laughed hysterically, thinking about that parody video on youtube, and Rogers gave me a strange look, and I laughed harder, because it was Captain fucking America that was looking at me strangely. Captain fucking America I was captured with.

I should really make the most of this.

I abruptly stopped laughing. "Sorry. I'm not laughing at you," I added, snaking my arms around my legs. It was slightly chilly in here. I hoped the apology might clear the awkward air or whatever and it seemed to have worked, because Rogers shrugged, pushing a hand through his dark hair.

"It's, okay. This must be a...foreign situation for you," He remarked, and I snorted in not a mean way, because that was a understatement. It wasn't foreign. It was bloody alien. Wait, does that mean the same thing?

Loki was probably right. I slightly did need help with vocabulary.

"Kinda," I replied, then frowned. "Weren't your hair blonde?"

"Um, yeah. I dyed it on the run," Ah. On the run. Right. That thought lead me to another thought, which then ended up as a question that I was hesitant to ask. Then I thought what the fuck we were already going to die, so...

"How did you make up with Tony?" I asked hurriedly and he blinked, seemingly a bit taken back.

He hesitated. "Tony found me, a few weeks ago. He explained the threat on Earth, about Thanos. And, of course you. I knew he wouldn't have come to me if it wasn't serious. He promised he wouldn't turn us in, and we agreed on a temporary truce." He smiled wryly. "I did not know I was going to end up in a cell anyway."

"Me neither." I shuddered, my heartbeat refusing to slow down. "I think I'm freaking out," I said in a calm voice. Well, calm as I could make it. I didn't want to seem like a weirdo in front of him, although I highly suspected that that ship had sailed a long time ago. "So let's talk about something else."

"Uh, what do you have in mind?"

"I don't know. Movies? Well, actually, no," I had no idea which movies didn't exist here. Too many actors in one cinematic universe, ugh. "Music, then. Do you know Taylor Swift?"

Rogers looked startled, with his eyebrows furrowed but he replied, "I've heard about her, but not much..?"

"Oh right. You're hundred years old." I laughed nervously. "Sorry." What was I bloody saying? Why was it so hard to find a neutral topic to talk about with Rogers?

"Uh well, let's talk about I don't know, Wakanda. T'Challa. He's hot. And very cool. Have you seen him in a suit? He's has so much dignity." Dignity I was very quickly losing, judging by his strange look. I got up, started pacing, refusing to have a un-cinematic breakdown. Nobody had meltdowns in movies. I mean, they did, but they did it with style. I did not have style. I did not have the physical nor the emotional capability to pull off a cool meltdown, and I pushed down the urge to tear my hair out of my scalp.

"We should've never came to space. You were right. This was too risky," I rambled, ignoring Rogers the best as I could. "Thanos is too powerful. Now he has the reality stone and Gamora is dead and he has us, so he'll probably get the soul stone as well. Oh my god, why am I freaking out about this? It's just stones. Stones. Stones that could kill us, but they're still stones, right? Rocks. This does not rock. Fuck. Wait, that fucking rhymes."

"Regis-"

"Uh, let's not do the name-calling." I frowned. "Yeah, that sounded weird."

"Regis. Eunseo." Rogers said in a firm voice, standing also and I flinched, because my Korean name sounded infinitely weird coming from the symbol of America. "Breathe."

"I'm always breathing." I retorted, turning to face him.

"Well, do it slower."

I rolled my eyes but did as he said, expelling a shaky breath from my lungs, and noted that yeah, it did help.

He stepped forward, looking at me tentatively but with a certain confidence in his posture that made me feel stable. "I don't know what will happen either, Regis. But I'm going to try my best to get you out of here unharmed, so don't panic, okay? We don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to."

"I-I want to talk. But," I struggled for a way to put my words into a nicer sentence, and failed. "We're both going to die."

"Maybe. But I have faith in Tony and the rest of the crew. They'll come for us, sooner or later."

"Yeah, and then they'll all die."

He tilted his head, wrinkling his eyebrows. "I did not know you were this pessimistic."

"I've been kidnapped by a purple alien. I'm allowed to be pessimistic." I ran a hand over my hair and tugged at the knots, yanking unceremoniously. "Fucking hell," I cursed, ignoring his raised eyebrows, and wished I could be dead already.

Then he grasped my hand, making me think ooh is this the afterlife and then lowered it from my hair, giving me a disproving look.

"Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" I snatched my hand back, threw both up in the air with a groan. "Can we get any awkward-er? Stop doing that thing!"

"Stop doing what?" He looked genuinely alarmed, and I made that exasperated face that only teenagers faced with stupid adults could pull off.

"That-" I waved a hand vaguely over his physique, my mind tumbling over words I should use and the ones I should not. Unfortunately for me, my mind preferred the latter pile of words. "That 1940s gentleman, virginal dude thingy!"

I regretted it the moment the words came out of my mouth and it seemed like he did too, his face going red. I could see him trying to maintain a serious, work appropriate facade and could also tell the exact moment it went out the window.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked, incredulous, and I rolled my eyes.

"Forget it."

"You shouldn't talk to me-, uh, adults like that," Rogers tried to say stonily, but the whole sentence came out as a question, making it sound silly instead. His face was flushed, and I, for a moment, felt slightly bad because it was bloody obvious that this dude has zero experience with hysterical teenagers. But my temper got the best of me, making me feel like I was going to explode, and I scowled, arms crossed.

"Well, I shouldn't kiss adults too, but I did, didn't I?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to go be gloomy in a corner, so leave me alone." I stalked over to the furthest corner and sat, feeling slightly disappointed that there weren't any door to slam. Still, the look on his face was very much worth it.

Aliens came, the moment I fell asleep. Of course they did. The universe hated me.

"Regis," came Roger's urgent voice and I snapped my head up, my pulse racing suddenly, as the cell door clanged open and two aliens walked in. The first thought I was able to form was wow they're ugly. I mean, of course they wouldn't fit the human standard of beauty, but the creators of that species had been unnecessarily cruel. Their face looked like a rotten lump of mashed tomatoes.

One came for me and I stepped back in alarm, but there weren't anywhere to go and he was holding a stick that looked like it could either skewer me or cut my head off. My back hit the wall and I heard Rogers grunt, knock back the second alien with a fist and reach for the stick but then-

Alien 1 grabbed my arm and whirled me around, the spearhead digging into my throat and drawing out blood. I didn't even cry out, because I was pretty sure even swallowing would cause pain. My heartbeat thudded in my eardrums.

"Drop the spear, or the child dies." The alien's voice was strangely high, I noted absentmindedly. My concentration was more fixed on the sharp thing very close to my artery.

Rogers's gaze darted to me and then to the alien and in that split second I wondered what was the moral thing to do in my position. I wanted to yell drop it but then...could I say it? No. I wouldn't. If only one of us had to live, it would be much more helpful for this universe if Cap lived. I opened my mouth against my mind screaming what the fuck and-

The staff clanked against the ground and Rogers held up his hands, looking deeply resigned. Alien 2 shoved him roughly, spun him around and shackled him, as Alien 1 did the same to me. The metal handcuff dug into my wrists and some distant part of my mind marveled at the fact that I was actually handcuffed. Me, who was such a not-troublemaker, that the most troublesome thing I had done back in Korea was not do my homework and lie about it.

But then, a minute ago, I had been ready to die for a fictional character. Fuck me.

We were marched out of the cell, and I tried to make sense of our surroundings but kept being distracted by the blood dripping down my neck. My neck, combined with how Thanos had choked me, was an annoying mess. Why did people keep going for my throat? I hadn't done anything to their neck!

"Are you okay?" Rogers asked quietly, and I bit the inside of my cheek. Ugh. Why was that guy so nice? I was so used to Loki's casual disregard that the change was actually really significant. I had been accustomed to dealing with stuff alone. Rogers made me feel sad about that.

"Yeah," I muttered under my breath. "Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" He said immediately, re-enforcing the self-pity I was feeling. I tried to roll my eyes but lost the cynical energy halfway through and ended up staring up at the ceiling. "I shouldn't have tried-"

"Quiet," Alien 2 poked his back with the staff, making him stumble, and we fell silent, me wishing I was more physically capable. I wished I was bad-ass like Black Widow. Then we would have already escaped. I wouldn't have been a burden.

Ugh. So fucking depressed.

We passed through another huge gateway and entered an enormous chamber that I recognized from the movie. Thanos's throne Gamora hated-had hated, I reminded myself- was at the center, surrounded by dark water. I faltered, seeing the figure sitting on the steps leading up to the chair, and the aliens shoved us to walk the path towards the middle, retreating into the gloom.

Rogers and I exchanged a heavy glance, and we walked forward, me half holding my breath. Thanos was looking down at a dagger, and I knew it had been Gamora's, which made me feel sad and stupid and drained.

"My daughter is dead," He murmured, his gaze fixed on the knife in his hands. I couldn't come up with something clever to say back.

"I had wanted her, on this throne someday. Someday after all the fighting and the violence, when peace will reign; I had wanted her to rule." Thanos looked up, eyes dark. "And now she's gone."

I found the words somewhere in my chest, and breathed out. "She hated that throne."

His eyes turned sharp, baring into me with frightening deepness. "You knew her?"

"Kinda." I replied simply, raising both my shackled hands to scratch at the back of neck. When I offered no further explanation, he stood, towering over the both of us. I refused the irrational part of me that wanted to cower in fear.

"I had a purpose," He said, balancing the knife on a finger, as he did in front of young Gamora all these years ago. "Salvation, for the universe. But now..." He grabbed it and his knuckles tightened, and I winced as it snapped in half. What a dramatic dude. I wished I could introduce him to Joker, from the DCEU. What a meeting that would be.

"No more," The Titan muttered, and he straightened, flicking the pieces away carelessly. I didn't dare break eye contact with the guy, scared that he might make some sudden move to snap my body in half, like he did to the dagger. Rogers gritted his teeth.

"What do you want from us?"

"I want nothing from you, human. But from her," He wore a cold smile I could see held none of his emotions. "The truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember our conversation on the Asgardian ship, before you tricked me?" I narrowed my eyes, and the memories came roaring back to me.

Ah. Didn't I tell you? I know the future.

You are never going to win, Thanos. No matter what your motives or plan is. You are never, ever going to win. This universe doesn't work like that. The world's heroes will fight against you to the very end and will win every time, and you don't stand a chance. And this is just not misplaced optimism, but it's the truth, because this universe, this world is-

I swallowed. "I do." I ignored Rogers's questioning look, trying to keep my mind from spiraling.

"You were so convinced I wouldn't succeed in my goal," Thanos hummed. "You mocked me. You laughed at my plan for the world's redemption. I have had time to think about what you said, and I found myself wondering, how? How could you be so sure?" He looked down at me, face so impassive yet so threatening. I wanted to step back, but forced myself to stay still.

"So that, is what I want to know. The truth. A new purpose, that you will give me."

"I can't tell you," I answered immediately, my voice strained. I hadn't expected this. I could not tell him this world was a bloody movie. He raised his eyebrows.

"You will."

"I-"

"This is your last chance. Answer me, and you will be spared the needless pain."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I glanced at Rogers, whose eyes were piercing into mine with a surprising intensity, and knew without doubt what I needed to say.

"Nope." I popped the p. "No thank you. But...I'll reconsider if you hand me the reality stone, though." I added casually, and he laughed softly, a deep sound that echoed around the room.

"Amusing to the end. I think I shall miss it, when you're broken."

"Thanos," Rogers tried. "You don't have to do this. Let her go. She's just a-"

"I will punch you if you say child," I muttered darkly, and he looked at me seriously.

"This isn't a-"

"Joke. Ha. I'm finishing your sentences. How predictable of you." I turned to Thanos. "Can he go? He's annoying."

"Regis," His voice was quiet but somewhat desperate and Thanos tilted his head.

"I don't think he wants to leave."

"But-"

The Titan waved a hand, and Alien 1 emerged out of the shadows silently like a ugly ninja. "Take him back to the cell."

Okay, I gotta admit, being alone with Thanos suddenly seemed very daunting. My eyes went wild, darting between Rogers and Thanos and he snapped his fingers, and suddenly Alien 2 was in front of me.

I felt the familiar but still unpleasant tingle of magic crawling like ants over my skin. Thanos had used the reality stone.

I stumbled back, my mind wondering what the fuck was going on, and raised my hands in alarm and realized I wasn't handcuffed anymore. Alien 2 slowly walked towards me and I kept stepping backwards until I realized my magic was back and snapped out a palm to push him backwards with the air.

He didn't even flinch.

I growled, glancing over at Rogers who was struggling futilely, since he was still in his handcuffs. Alien 1 knocked him in the jaw and I couldn't see what happened next because Alien 2 did the same to my face.

It hurt. I tripped, almost fell into the water, and barely managed to stop the ground smacking into my head. I cursed, tasted blood, and got a kick to my stomach for my troubles. Air rushed out of my lungs and I gasped, stopping the next strike with my arms. I tried to swipe his/her legs out from under him/her like I had seen Loki do, but his/her legs were too firmly planted on the ground and I made do with getting up from the ground again.

Thanos looked bored from his seat on the throne. Rogers was getting dragged out, a staff across his nape. Our eyes met and I only just avoided having a melt-down right there and then.

Then he was gone and Alien 2 was there and I dodged a jab from his stick, stepping sideways and trying to run, but his/her hand caught my hair and jerked, drawing tears to my eyes. I spun, kicking his/her-ugh its shin, and it let go and I tried to punch its face. But the Alien was too fast and knocked my arm away and lashed out, my head snapping back and I lost all sense of balance and fell to the ground.

Fuck, I thought before it kicked me once, twice, thrice, and whatever the word was for four times, and I curled up into a ball, a searing pain in my mind drowning out any coherent thoughts. Any movement brought agony and I would have screamed if I had the moment. Thanos was saying something and the Alien kicked me again and my ribs felt jagged and I was pretty sure I should be able to breath but I couldn't.

Then suddenly, the pain went away miraculously. I laid there, waiting for it to return, and frowned when it didn't. I wiped a hand across my mouth for the blood but there was none, and I stared at my fingers for a moment before understanding settled in my mind. Reality stone. It wasn't real. The pain I felt wasn't real.

I tried to stand but couldn't, my legs refusing to budge and the phantom aches making me cry out as I did.

"Do you wish to talk, now?" Thanos asked absentmindedly. "It's not weak of you to admit when you have lost, child."

I did my best to maintain a grasp on my consciousness that was slipping away even as the seconds passed. I opened my mouth, shut it, and opened it again, releasing the tension in my body with a breath.

I looked up at the dark ceiling, and wondered what was going on in my world. Did they know I was gone? Or had time not passed at all? Were they going on with their lives normally, like I wasn't being tortured a universe away?

Somehow that thought brought some sort of twisted amusement to my mind, and I smiled like I knew something he didn't, and could never know.

"Go easy on me," I croaked, my throat dry. "I'm feeling very delicate today."

Thanos laughed and a feet stomped on my chest and darkness rained upon me until I could feel nothing.

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

Mad Girl's Love Song - Sylvia Plath

A/N: I just like this poem. It has nothing to do with the story. I mean, it could, if you want it to be. It's up to you to decide.

Please review. I'm really anxious to hear what you guys thought of this one.