"Is Thanos already here?" Yo-yo asked.

"It wasn't Thanos. It was these two," Fitz stuttered, pointing a shaky finger at Ana and Daisy.

Ana didn't know what to say. She couldn't look anyone in the eye. She couldn't look at the planet that had just become a mass graveyard to 7.5 billion people because of her. Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were among them… Peter's aunt and his friends… A brave kid had gone to space to protect them, and this was what he was going to find if he ever returned. Even FRIDAY was dead. All the satellites in Earth's orbit must have been destroyed by the gravity storm as well.

I can fix this. I have to. "The gravitonium," she recalled. "This is why my future self gave it to me! To fix this!"

"Yeah, that's the problem!" Fitz snapped at her. "You gave yourself the gravitonium and created a bloody time loop! You're going to repeat the same mistake over, and over—"

"I know what a time loop is, thank you!" She knew she had no right to defend herself, but there was already so much guilt and remorse that she didn't need any more from others.

"How did it start?" Hale asked him.

"It's a loop; it doesn't have a beginning, or an end!"

At that moment, everything around them started shaking.

"Daisy…" Simmons said warily.

"You turned me into a weapon of mass destruction," Daisy snarled at Ana, and sent her flying off. Ana managed to halt in time so she wouldn't open a hole in the ship. Then she deactivated the suit completely, in case Daisy decided to try again and succeeded. And if they decided to kill her, so be it.

"I don't know, the future you seemed pretty eager to become the Destroyer of Worlds," she taunted her. "It wouldn't have come to that if you'd just let me keep my memories! I warned you this was going to happen!"

Things started to shake again. "Your solution back then was to read the Darkhold! How was that any better?"

"Daisy," Coulson, who must have been awake for some time, approached her.

"I don't understand, Coulson," she broke into sobs. "Why would I do this?"

"I don't think it was you. You weren't in control. Remember what happened to Ruby?"

Hale collapsed on her knees. "My daughter… She's dead, too!"

"I can't live with this, Coulson! It's too much!"

"It's okay. It's not your fault. It's not anybody's fault." He took her into his arms, and the shaking ceased.

Nobody was going to comfort Ana. Her dad was light-years away. Maybe he was dead, too.

"This is the Wakandan Royal Talon Fighter, requesting permission to board. Does anyone copy?"

Ana recognized T'Challa's voice.

"There are survivors!" Mack gasped.

"Royal Talon, this is Zephyr One," May said. "You have permission to dock."

King T'Challa wasn't alone. His sister was with him. So was Vision and Wanda. And Rhodey.

Wanda was unconscious in Vision's arms. "I carried her to the Royal Talon as fast I could, but she was deprived of oxygen for too long," he explained.

Simmons quickly fetched an oxygen mask. Coulson was telling T'Challa and his sister what had happened. Rhodey got out of his suit and came to Ana's side. Not knowing what else to, Ana buried her face into his chest to muffle her sobs.

"I did this, Rhodey. It's all my fault."

He took her to a corner away from everybody, and made her sit down on the floor. He sat down beside her, still holding Ana in his arms. "Sweetie, tell me what happened. Tell me everything."

"Didn't you hear what Coulson just said?"

"I want to hear your side of the story. Wanda told us what SHIELD did to you."

She shook his head. "Coulson is telling the truth this time. I murdered billions. I thought I murdered you, too, but… I'm so happy to see you here, Rhodey! I know I don't deserve a single bit of happiness after this, but I am!"

"I'm happy to see you, too, sweetie."

"Do you think anyone else might have survived? Pepper, Happy…" Despite all this madness going around, she was somewhat hopeful for a miracle.

"Oh, Ana. I don't think they have."

"Right…"

"I was able to escape because I had my suit on. Vision was barely able to save Wanda. T'Challa didn't even have time to find his mother."

"What am I going to do?"

"We should focus on finding Tony. You still have his coordinates, right."

"I do."

"That's good. That's a good start."

"Peter is with him… My gosh, Rhodey, how am I going to look them in the eye? Dad sacrificed everything to protect our world! I destroyed it!"

"If what they say is true, then it wasn't you. You didn't create the Destroyer of Worlds."

"But I was going to—"

"Ana, did you, or did you not put Daisy Johnson into that chamber? Did you do it with your own hands?"

"I didn't," she admitted.

"Then it's not your fault. I won't let anyone hold you responsible for someone else's actions. Even if that someone is another version of you."

She was grateful to have him here, she really was, but this didn't help her feel any better. That other version had originated from who Ana had become after taking over the Confederacy. She was finally the monster she was always meant to be.

"My—" She swallowed thickly, then gasped for air. It was like an invisible hand was squeezing her throat, and another was punching her in the chest. "Rhodey, I—I can't—"

"Sweetie?"

"I can't breathe!"

"You shouldn't," someone interrupted. Princess Shuri. She was giving Ana a baleful glare.

"Okay, this is not going to help us," Rhodey said. "We gotta focus on—"

"Look around you, Colonel! There's nothing left to focus on! And it's all her fault!"

"She just wanted what we all wanted: To stop Thanos."

"It wasn't up to her! What made her think she's better than any of us?"

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't grow up on a mountain of vibranium!" Ana finally retorted. "I had to work with what I had, okay?"

She didn't know how she still had the nerve to defend herself. Maybe it was just her brain holding onto the last fragment of sanity left in her.

"Do you even have any idea what it was like down there? You deserve to die a horrible death, like all those people you killed!"

At that moment, Ana recalled Charles' vision again. "I am going to die a horrible death," she mumbled, and ran to find Daisy.

Daisy was with Fitz-Simmons. They were discussing if the loop could be broken. "We're stuck, Jemma," Fitz was saying. "We can never stop trying, so we're stuck in this loop! Forever!"

"We can try something else!" Simmons said. "A different strategy, maybe—"

"Do you think we didn't think of that before! That's the thing. We're going to make the same mistakes again and again!"

"We have to let go," Ana broke in. "We have to let go of the Earth itself. It's the only way."

Fitz looked at her incredulously. "Do you honestly believe we'll listen to you after this?"

"My future self gave me double the amount of the gravitonium I need for time-travel! She quoted from Sun Tzu. It has to mean something!"

It wasn't just any quote, it was Howard Stark's favorite quote. She had found that out in Hell.

"Yeah, I'm sure we thought of that, too."

"Come on, Fitz! I've changed the future before."

"Yeah, but this time, you're going to have to undo the past, which is impossible!"

"I know. It's too late for us. I'm talking about saving another universe. Of course, not that the Doctor cares, but…"

"What?" Simmons asked suspiciously. "What's she talking about, Fitz?"

That would be enough to stop his attempts to shift the blame. Ana looked at Daisy. "Remember my death? It all makes sense now! This is why I'm supposed to die in the past!"

Daisy smiled bitterly. "That's your redemption, though. What about the rest of us?"

"I'm not sure yet, but—"

"Selfish as ever, Ana…"

Seeing there was no reasoning with them, Ana left them alone, and went to Vision and Wanda's side. She was awake now. "How are you feeling?" Ana asked her.

"Better."

Neither she nor Vision seemed as hostile as Ana had expected them to be. Perhaps it was because Wanda had been in her head, and knew her intentions were good. "You've seen my death. You know what's meant to happen."

Wanda nodded. Vision didn't seem confused, or shocked, so she must have told him.

"Your plan will work." Wong's ghost had appeared right beside them. Everyone turned to him.

"What the—"

"This is my astral form," Wong explained, though Ana had no idea what an astral form was. "While on Titan, Strange used the Time Stone to see the future. He warned me. I know how this will play out. Thanos will come for the Mind Stone. He will choose to adopt you and Princess Shuri, just like he adopted Lady Sigyn. He will give Daisy to the Kree, in exchange for a truce. He will kill everybody else."

"How do we stop him?" Coulson asked.

"We can't. We should not. This is the only way."

As Wong spoke, a plan was already being formed in Ana's head. "He's right," she said.

Everyone except Rhodey, Vision, Wanda, and maybe Coulson looked at her like they wanted to strangle her to death with their bare hands.

"You're all going to die," Wong continued, then looked at Ana. "But you… You're going to die twice."

"I know."

"Who the hell is this guy?" Mack asked. Right, most people here didn't even know who Wong was.

"We saw him on the news this morning, remember?" Coulson said. "He's on our side."

"Wanda," Ana started. "I know what I must do. What we all must do. But they won't trust me. So, I need you to look inside my head, and see my plan. You'll see I'm right."

Wanda nodded, and entered Ana's mind again. She saw it all. The remaining gravitonium had to be split in half. One was going to be given to Thanos, the other was going to be hidden from him. Wanda was going to erase these moments from everyone's minds, including her own, because once Thanos got his hands on the Mind Stone, he would be able to see their thoughts. It was a risk they couldn't take. Wanda was also going to rewire Ana's brain to earn Thanos' trust, so that she could convince him to destroy the stones. Only then, the truth would come back to her.

"I will never get my powers in that other reality. Vision will never be born," Wanda thought.

"But you will have your brother. Sokovia will never be destroyed. And I will have JARVIS. A fair deal, if you ask me."

"I'll do it," Wanda said, this time out loud. "I'll help you."

"Thank you," Ana said with great relief. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for everything I did to you. I wish we'd met under different circumstances."

"Me, too."

Vision smiled.

Ana turned to Wong again. "Once I split the gravitonium, where am I going to hide the other half?"

"I'll send it to Lady Sigyn's pocket dimension myself. She won't know it's there until you tell her."

Yeah, that was the part Ana would need the Sun Tzu quote.

"Wait a minute… We haven't agreed to anything yet," Yo-yo objected.

"You won't have to." The person Ana had once hated the most was now the one who understood her better than anyone else. With these words, Wanda's red energy waves spread around Zephyr One, where humanity was soon going to make its final, doomed stand.

…

Thanos was… exactly as Ana had imagined him to be. Not that she had a particular picture in her head, but he lived up to his reputation.

After the fight, they had locked her into a small, dark room. Soon, Thanos himself entered, still wearing the gauntlet with the six Infinity Stones gleaming on it. She hadn't expected to see him so soon.

"The deed is done, I take it?"

Much to her surprise, he said, "Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first."

"Why?"

When he sat down on the edge of the large and sturdy cot next to her, it creaked and sunk in with his weight. "Because I want you to be my daughter. Not a slave. I want you to share my vision. Just like Gamora once did."

"You want me to think killing half of the universe is actually a good idea? Yeah, that's not going to happen…"

"My planet was called Titan. It was beautiful. Perhaps I'll show you one day… But my people, they were deceived by this beauty. They thought it could last forever. They multiplied, and multiplied, not realizing the sources were finite. I tried to warn them. My words fell on deaf ears. You know how that feels, don't you? You tried to warn your people, too. Against me."

"I wasn't alone."

"What happened to me, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. You can't imagine it right now, but in time, you'll see what true equilibrium looks like."

His voice was actually soft… and affectionate. Ana couldn't help but wonder if she had a chance to talk him out of this.

"If this is about resources, why not just double them instead?"

"Doubling the resources would only encourage people to breed even faster. That's basic biology, and you know it."

Daughter. That word coming from him, the one who had murdered her father, made her want to puke, made her skin crawl in disgust.

He took her blistered left hand, which was the least of her concerns, into his right one, with unnecessarily great caution. "What happened?"

"I tried to steal the Time Stone from the wizard… To destroy it."

He smiled, like this was the exact answer he had hoped to hear. Then, using the Time Stone, he healed it completely. "There. Are you feeling better now?"

"Why did you take me?"

"I want a family."

"Yeah, but why me? I'm sure you can find some psycho bitch who doesn't need convincing. Why do you want me? Or Shuri, or Sigyn?"

"They're here to be your sisters. To replace the one you lost."

"What? I don't have any siblings."

"You were going to have one. Your step-mother was pregnant."

Ana was on the verge of a new anxiety attack. No, she thought. He is lying. Today had been crazy, yes, but that was just too much.

"Okay," she said, hyperventilating. "First off, Pepper wasn't my 'step-mother.' Never call her that. Secondly, she wasn't pregnant. Dad asked her this morning. She wouldn't have lied to him."

This morning. It broke her to think about how naively, blithely the day had started. You would have never guessed it was the day the world was to end.

"She didn't know either."

Ana didn't think he lied. "A sister, huh? That would've been nice," she thought out loud.

"You have two of them now. I don't want you to feel like I stole anything from you."

"You have the Time Stone," she said. "If you really want to help me, can't you bring them back? Can't you bring everyone back? My dad, too?" She got off the cot and went down to one knee. "If you do that, I'll do anything you want. Let them be a happy family, I'll stay with you. I'll be your daughter."

"No," he said firmly. "That would make you a slave, not a daughter."

"How are you planning to make me love you, then? I guess you could use the stones, but that would be brainwashing. It wouldn't be me. Not really. That's not how it works."

"I'm a patient man. You will understand me one day."

"How do you know that?"

"Because this isn't only about what I want. It's also about what you want."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, exasperated. At this point, she just wanted the conversation to end, so that she could go back to mourning everyone she had lost, including her unborn sister.

"Let me show you." He made a fist with the gauntlet. The red gem glowed, and the room changed into a bigger hall with enormous stone walls looming around, which gave her a sense of grandeur. There was a throne in the center of the room, carved out from the same dark gray stone. It was her dad who sat upon it. He was wearing a smaller version of Thanos' gauntlet, with all the six stones in place, but it was made of the same nanites he used for the suits. He looked thoughtful, and much sterner than she had ever seen him before.

The doors opened, and Ana saw herself enter. She had a suit on, but it was plain black instead of blue-and-bronze, and her hair had been braided in some fancy, but practical-looking braids. Vision was walking by her side. His colors were darker, too. He didn't have the Mind Stone on his forehead. Even he seemed much more solemn than normal. Together, they approached the throne, their dark capes bellowing after them.

"So," her dad started. "The rumors were true. The Sovereign have been conspiring against me, after all."

"They have been designing a weapon against you, sir." This was odd, too. Vision would never call him "sir." Only JARVIS did that. Could this be… him?

"It doesn't matter anymore," the other Ana announced confidently. "We broke them. They will never find the audacity to revolt again."

"Were you able to find out who was behind the idea?"

She smirked. Vision, JARVIS, or whoever he was, took another step toward the throne, knelt before it, and placed the bag he had been carrying at his feet. Then he returned to his spot beside Ana.

Her dad didn't bend over to pick up whatever was inside the bag. Instead, he closed his fist, and using the Space Stone, he lifted it. It was the golden head of a man.

"His body is now decorating the walls of their temple," Ana explained. "But his mind, his knowledge is all yours to take."

This time, the Mind Stone started to glow, too. Her dad closed his eyes, and a deep line appeared on his forehead. He was absorbing the knowledge of the dead inventor.

"Ana!" a little girl cried. The patter of her tiny feet echoed in the hall, and she came from somewhere behind the throne. Pepper was right after her, trying to keep up. The cruel smile on Ana's face turned into a warm one upon seeing her. She squatted, spread her arms, and the girl ran into them.

"I missed you," she said, showering her with kisses.

Ana scooped her up and returned to the standing position. "Yeah, I missed you, too."

"Hi, JARVIS," she told the android.

"Hello, Miss Morgan."

When she became certain of who those two were, the real Ana's heart sank. That adorable little girl with dark hair and brown eyes… Was she what Morgan was supposed to be, or just a random image Thanos had conjured to mess with her? Deep down, she knew the answer.

"Welcome home," Pepper greeted them.

She looked gorgeous in that backless blue dress. The same one she had bought herself years ago, as a birthday gift from her boss. This vision was getting ridiculous…

Morgan turned to the throne. The golden head floating in the air didn't seem to bother her at all. "Daddy, can we go play now?"

His face had softened, too. "Morgan," he said sweetly. "Your sister has just returned from a mission. Let her get some rest tonight. Tomorrow, she's all yours, I promise."

"It's okay, Dad," Ana cooed, kissing her back. "I'm never too tired to play with my baby sister."

Morgan giggled, and buried her little face into the crook of Ana's neck. Thanos paused the vision.

"What's this?" Ana asked him.

"Your deepest, darkest desire. The one you're too afraid to admit to even yourself."

"My sister growing up around severed heads?" she yelled. "That's my desire? You're delusional!"

"You want her to be strong, like you. There's no shame in that." He studied the frozen image for a while. "Look at yourself. Ferocity and compassion rarely coexist. That's what makes you such a precious daughter. Stark is brave, but he is not brave enough for you. "

"Is?" Ana gasped incredulously. Until now, she had just assumed Thanos had killed him. "Is he alive?"

"Probably, but you have lost him, Ana. Do you really think he'll appreciate what you did here today? No, he will never stop blaming you."

"Good. Because I'll never stop blaming myself."

"Oh, come now, child. We both know, deep down, you're proud of yourself. If your friend had had more self-discipline, you would've created the weapon that could destroy anyone, even me. This is your success, and her failure."

"Is that why you sold her into slavery?"

"I sold her because I knew the Kree would seek retribution. Contrary to popular belief, I prefer to avoid a fight if I can. Daisy is the price I paid for our peace. Stark could never give you what you really wanted. By my side, you will thrive. You will know what true power feels like."

"I don't care. I'm Tony Stark's daughter. I'll always be his daughter. You can't change that. Not even with the Infinity Stones."

He smirked. "Loyalty. Yes, I admire that, too."

When Ana made no comment, he looked at the gauntlet, and said, "I suppose it's time. I won't do it in front of you; I see you're not ready."

He stood up, and made for the door. Before leaving, he added, looking around the room, "Don't worry, daughter, this is only a temporary arrangement. Your living quarters will be much more… fitting."

A/N: In case anyone is wondering, yes, that was the canon Morgan :') Gamora's deleted scene in IW inspired me for that vision and I really had fun writing it. Hope you liked it, too.