Author's Note: Woohoo! We made it, dear readers! The last Memories Chapter! We survived.
Tony: Did we?
*gives him a look*
Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for the kind and wonderful reviews I have been getting! I am writing all of this for you, so when I hear what you think of the story, it really makes me happy! The writers might tell the readers what to read, but the readers tell the writers what to feel. Okay, that might have been a little sappy. Anyway, we are slowly, but surely, getting close...to the end of the story...It will probably be a bit longer away than I am planning, you know how writing is. I have gotten a few recommendations about what I should do for another reader fanfic, but I would love it if you guys could recommend some more! I am thinking, depending on how the series go, about doing a Falcon and Winter Soldier and/or Loki fanfic. Okay, that was a big spoiler for what I am planning, but it does really depend on how the series go. A few of my ideas for other reader fanfics might be How To Train Your Dragon, Big Hero Six, or even potentially Jurassic Park, although that one might be hard. Okay, please let me know what you think of my ideas and this chapter! I have now talked officially too long, so enjoy!
Chapter 34:Memories 8
You sit at the table, feeling lost. Your insides are knotted but you also feel so empty. It is almost as though all of your emotion was pushed out of you. You feel exhausted but not tired. Everything is numb and cold.
Not only that, but you don't want to sleep. Whenever you close your eyes, you see ash everywhere. The ash even blew away in the wind, so there was no place to bury anyone. No place to grieve.
Rhodes is working at a computer, a frown on his face as he scans the news. Natasha is in a corner, also on a computer. You don't know where Steve is. You want to go and comfort him, but you will probably end up breaking. You shake your head at yourself, rubbing your hand down your face as you lean more heavily onto the table.
Fenris pads over softly, looking smaller than normal. He looks almost normal dog size, but he puts his head on your lap and your knees buckle under the strain. He gives the softest of whimpers. You aren't sure if he understands what happened, but you can tell he knows something is wrong. He kept sniffing the ground where Bucky disappeared.
In a darker corner, Thor sits hunched over with his head bent. He is awake, but you can tell he can't feel anything right now. You want to send comforting energy to him, but you can't use your power. It's not like it is lost or anything, you just can't do it. It's too hard right now, and you don't want to touch it. You know it isn't the Stone's fault, but you are still distancing yourself from them. You wish you could help your friends. You want to make all of this pain go away while bringing everyone back. But, again, the question: how? You are guessing that all of the empty, cold you are feeling is from all of humanity's energy that you could feel from the Mind Stone. Half of it is all gone. Just gone as though it never existed. You try finding some specific people, but it is hard. You actually tried finding Loki, but you couldn't sense him. Normally, though, you can't sense him anyway. His magic and history with the Stones make him a special case. While you are still not too close with Loki and sometimes have rough patches with him, you can't lose anyone else.
You put your forehead on the table, closing your eyes as tears softly slip from your eyes, down your cheeks, and to the table.
Suddenly, you feel a slight trembling. It's small enough that you think it could be a car of something driving by the complex. But, it doesn't stop and only gets louder. Finally, you pull your head up, looking around curiously.
"Does anyone else feel that?" you ask, looking around.
"Feel what?" Rhodes ask.
"Outside," Steve says, suddenly emerging from a hallway. You jog to catch up with him and are followed by everyone except Thor.
For the first time in almost a month, a soft flurry of snow flickers over your fingertips. The action seems to light you up on the inside as though turning on your emotions once again. You don't know what is outside, and you feel almost afraid. If it is another space ship, you want to send it packing off of Earth.
Steve bursts through the doors, quickly followed by you, Rhodes, Bruce, and Natasha. You all jog into the eastern lawn to see almost what looks like a comet slowly becoming bigger and bigger. You squint, trying to get a better look at whatever it is, and you are finally able to make out a bit of a shape.
"It's another ship," you say, but you can tell that it isn't Thanos. But, you aren't sure what else it is, so you keep your ice out.
You can start to make out a woman slowly landing the ship, golden light flickering from her to the ship. You can feel her energy, and it reminds you a lot of Wanda's. In fact, it is almost identical to Wanda's, and the thought makes your vision blurry. What looks like landing gear expands out of the space-craft, and the woman easily lands the ship.
A ramp comes down from a ship, and you almost fall to your knees when you see Tony come limping out of the ship supported by a cyborg-like alien.
"Oh man, Tony," you gasp, rushing forward to help hold him up. "Thank you," you half sob to the women as Steve helps you with Tony. None of you are in peak condition since eating and taking care of yourselves has not been at the top of your to-do lists, but Tony looks like he needs actual medical attention.
"Couldn't stop him," he weakly breathes, his voice hoarse.
"Neither could we," Steve says softly.
Tony suddenly stops walking, looking as though he is about to fall apart. His eyes hold a deep, heavy sorrow that almost makes your heart break. "I lost the kid," he chokes, his voice hitching.
Steve loosens with defeat. "Tony, we lost," he softly says, his own voice wavering.
You look at your feet so they don't see the tears falling to the ground.
"Is, uh…" Tony gasps, and from his emotions, you can tell he is worried about Pepper.
Before he can say another word, Pepper comes running out onto the lawn, sobbing. "Oh, Tony! Oh man," she gasps and you move out of the way as she hugs him.
You feel like falling over with both relief and sorrow. But when you look at Tony, you feel an emotion you haven't felt since the Snap: happy. Tony is alive. That is one less person you have to lose.
"Bruce gave him a sedative," Rhodes says thickly, shaking his head sadly. "He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."
Tony's outburst left everyone broken. You aren't mad at him. You don't think that anyone here deserves blame. The Avengers lost, the world was cracked, but you just hoped that the Avengers wouldn't lose again.
Carol, the woman who apparently saved Tony, crosses her arms before whirling around and walking away. "You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixer when I come back," she says almost flippantly as she strides away.
Natasha stands to her feet. "Where are you going?" she demands.
"To kill Thanos," Carol says without even sparring Natasha a glance.
You, Steve, and Natasha quickly follow her.
"Hey," Natasha calls out, enough command in her voice to get the woman to stop and turn around. "You know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, morale's a little fragile."
"We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too," Steve says.
"We lost. We have to make up for it," you add. "That is our job. We have to defend our planet, so we are going with you."
"Do you even know where he is?" Rhodes asks, pointing out the obvious.
"I know people who might," Carol suggests.
"Don't bother," Nebula, the blue, half-robotic alien whispers quietly. "I can tell you where Thanos is. Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me."
You don't like the way she uses the word 'perfect' and it only drives you to want to defeat Thanos even more. You don't know the woman too much, but she practically saved Tony from dying days ago.
"He told me that once his plan was complete, he would head to the garden."
"That's cute," Rocket says sarcastically. "Thanos has a retirement plan."
"Yeah, and we're gonna blow up his plan," you growl.
"Oh, I like her," Rocket says quickly.
"So where is he?" Steve interjects.
Nebula walks over to a holograph-projector table and types in coordinates. After Rocket does some equations, he speaks up. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculous cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago," he says, pulling up a holograph of a planet. What looks like a shock-wave churns over the planet's surface.
"Thanos is there," Nebula states.
"He used the Stones again," Natasha says, leaning on the table. She looks at you. "Did you feel him use them?"
You shake your head. "No. I'm not sure how I didn't, I'm sorry," you say, but Steve quickly puts a hand on your shoulder.
"I don't think she's felt much since the energy surge. The power from the snap took a toll on her energy as well," Steve says, and you feel grateful that he is there.
"We'd be going in short-handed," Rhodes points out.
"He's still got the Stones," Bruce adds.
"So let's get him. Use them to bring everyone back," Carol says.
"Just like that?" Rhodes asks.
"Yeah. Just like that," Steve says, but it is more of an order.
"We have no choice, do we?" you ask. "We have to do this. We can't just sit back and let what happened have just happened. We were defeated, but we can't give up. This isn't the end. We have a chance."
"Even if it is just a small chance, we still owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try," Natasha says.
"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce asks.
"Because we've fought him once. We are more prepared because, well…we sort of had a practice run," you say awkwardly. "We know more about our enemy-"
"You didn't have me," Carol interjects. You turn her a soft glare. You are thankful that she saved Tony, but you don't know why. She showed up out of the blue, got Tony to you, but then decided that she is tough enough to fight Thanos on her own. Having another superhero around will help even the odds, but you aren't gonna let her go out and get herself killed trying to prove a point.
"Hey, new girl, we're all about that superhero life. And, if you don't mind my asking, where were you this whole time?" Rhodey asks, his temper flaring.
"There are a lot of other planets in the universe, and unfortunately, they didn't have you guys," she says.
"Yeah, but they didn't have Thanos on them either, and he is the bad guy who actually won. From what I can tell, he has been the head honcho of every bad guy in the universe, so he's behind every person you have probably ever fought," you say. "If we're gonna do this, we have to work as a team. Miss Carol, you might be strong, but are you six-Infinity-Stones-that-wiped-out-half-of-the-entire-univers-that-are-currently-being-controlled-by-a-homicidal-maniach-strong? No offense, but I doubt you have ever faced an Infinity Stone. I actively control an Infinity Stone, and we still lost."
"I have an Infinity Stone's power too," she says.
"Not quite. You may have gotten your powers from the Stone, which does make you powerful, but you can't actually control them. You got your powers the same way Wanda did, so you and she are on the same power-level, but she's dead. The only reason any of us are still alive is not because of our power. We were just the ones who were randomly chosen to stay alive. Another player will make us stronger, but we will be stronger together. We can't have an I'm better than you are fight right now. We need to put aside pride and work together. The only fight we can have is us against Thanos."
Thor suddenly stood, Stormbreaker flying to his hand as thunder cracked outside. "Then what are we waiting for?"
"Everyone know the plan?" Steve asks, and you nod.
The trip to the planet had been a little nerve racking. You had traveled through space before, so you thought it would be easy. Then you realized that there was a difference between the Bifrost and the half-dead ship. You landed just out of sight of the small cabin where Thanos is hiding.
Carol floats in the air before flying off to gain speed. Fenris, who is looking about as large as when you first met him, pinned his ears back and looked at you, giving you a growl of determination.
You nod and gesture after Carol. "Go."
Fenris takes off. As he moves, every shadow seems to cling to him, cloaking him from sight.
"Let's go," Steve says, and you all take off at a run, you on your hover board.
Carol crashes through the roof right as Fenris bursts through the wall, body-slamming Thanos as Carol latches around the alien's neck to hold him down.
Fenris sinks his teeth into Thanos' shoulder to hold him down. Before Thanos can even groan in pain, Bruce in the Hulkbuster suit explodes through the floor and grabs Thanos's gauntleted arm.
In an instant, you fly through the whole in the wall by Fenris and raise your hands. Energy floods around Thanos, and you press your hands together. The energy tightens, holding him in place as multi-colored light flows over him. Normally, the amount of power coursing through you would be enough to knock you out. You have never used more than one Infinity Stones at once. Now, you have anger and adrenaline giving you enough drive to stay awake. You have to pull yourself back from completely crushing Thanos. You need him alive.
Rhodes and Rocket both land next to Thanos, pressing their guns to his temples.
Then, Thor barrels into the room, and with one swing of his axe, cleaves Thanos's gauntleted arm off from his body.
Thanos screams, but no one seems to care.
Steve and Natasha stride into the room, ready for anything.
Rocket quickly scampers over to the Infinity Gauntlet.
You suddenly realize that something is wrong: this is too easy.
Then, Rocket rolls the gauntlet over and breathes, "Oh no."
Your heart sinks to your toes when you see the empty Infinity Sockets.
"Where are there?" Steve demands. You have never heard such venom in his voice before and it actually scares you.
"Answer the question," Carol growls, pulling on Thanos's neck. Fenris gives a snarl before biting harder.
Thanos groans in agony and rage.
"The universe required correction," Thanos grunts. "After that, the Stones served no purpose beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Bruce shouts, suddenly pummeling Thanos.
"You should be grateful!" Thanos snaps. "Now, you have enough supplies to survive forever with half of everyone gone."
"How should we be grateful!" you shout, your energy pressing the Titan harder. "You killed half of every living thing, which includes plants and animals. You not only killed half of the people, but half of the resources. The only difference between now and two months ago is that you made a very…big…mistake," you snarl.
"Where are the Stones?" Natasha asks, her voice dangerously soft.
"Gone. Reduced to atoms," he whispers.
You stumble back slightly, your hold reducing on Thanos.
"Focus," Steve says, bringing you back to the present, and you quickly regain your hold with interest.
"You used them two days ago!" Bruce shouts.
"I used the Stones to destroy the Stones. It nearly killed me," he says.
"Obviously, the Stone's didn't try hard enough," you snarl, your power turning violently purple. "Besides, if you did, I would be dead. At least, I wouldn't be able to use my power anymore," you say, increasing the pressure to back your words.
"When I destroyed the Stones, I made sure to shield them from you, that way you wouldn't die. After all, if you did, the Universe would be imbalanced again. And, in case you've forgotten, you did die, but the Time Stone reversed everything," Thanos explained. "Because of that, you are connected to the Stones throughout history when they weren't destroyed. But you can't bring anyone back. You don't have the control to do that without the Stones. You need the Stones as an anchor to use that much power. You are as useless as you were the day you gained your powers."
Thor screams with rage, Stormbreaker crackling with lightning in his hands as he swings his axe. The blade slices through Thanos, and you look away quickly, so startled that your power disappears.
"What did you do?" Rocket asks sorrowfully.
Thor's heavy breathing is laced with sobs. "I went for the head," he stammers heavily. He slowly turns and stumbles out of the door, defeated.
Five years. Exactly. Five years ago on this exact date, you lost. You look at yourself in the mirror, tilting your head slightly. Your eyes flick down to the picture in your hand of you and Bucky five years ago. You could see the difference between you then and now.
The picture had been taken to celebrate Bucky's complete recovery from Hydra's programming. You had been the one to pull the last piece of brainwashing from his mind before he went with a Dora Milaje into the mountains to make sure that he was fully healed. They were the only ones to know exactly how his new metal arm worked, so they were the most logical choice for him to be around if he lost it again.
Once he came back from the mountains, he was ecstatic, and you both took a day to be 'normal'. You both pretended to be tourists, which gained you some odd looks, but it was worth it to give Bucky a bit of ridiculousness in his life.
You smile down at the picture, your vision blurring. You look up at yourself in the mirror. You've grown up, but in more ways than one. Your hair is longer, your features softer, and you have also gotten taller. Now, you look like an adult. It is a strange feeling, but it is worse since you didn't have a choice on whether or not you could grow up.
"Miss Y/N," Jarvis's voice calls. You jump, shoving the picture in your pocket and wiping your eyes quickly.
"Sorry, yes, Jarvis?" you ask, a little stuffed up.
"There is a man out front. I have alerted the other Avengers as well," he informs you.
"What?" you ask. "Why?"
"Because it appears as though he is back from the dead, miss," Jarvis says.
"Jarvis, I'm sorry, but can you please speak non-Tony-English?" you ask.
"The man appears to be Scott Lang, who disappeared in the Snap," Jarvis says.
You feel frozen as though everything has stopped. Ice almost spreads over the floor, but you subconsciously stop it. You have had a lot of time to perfect your powers. "Show me visual," you order, and Jarvis quickly pulls up a holograph.
Only a second after seeing it, you rush towards the door. "Fenris, come!" you shout.
Fenris, who had been sleeping at the foot of your bed, completely encased in shadows, seemed to jump out of the darkness and bound after you. He seemed to grow from the size of a cat to his normal size without you even noticing. It was strange how he could appear smaller and larger without anyone even realizing it.
You run down the hallway, skidding around the corner and heading to the garage. Instantly, you see the others joining you.
"Jarvis sent messages to everyone not here," Steve says when you notice that only Natasha and he joined you.
He yanks open the door to the garage, where Antman is standing, admiring the large hanger.
"Oh, hey, guys!" he says, and you can't tell if he is excited or panicking. "Long time no see…I think."
"How…" you begin to ask, but trail off. You don't even know how to ask the question.
"Hey, you got old. No offense, I mean, you look great, but, I think I'm just sounding like a creep," he says, then shakes his head. "Never mind. I have to talk to you."
"Come inside," Steve says, gently grabbing Scott's arm and pulling him towards the door.
"Why did you get old?" he asks, turning to you as they walk.
You blink. "Um…it's…been five years," you say.
He shakes his head. "I don't know how, I…" he trails off and realization dawns on his face. "What happened?" he asks.
"Thanos. He was an alien who got all of the Infinity Stones, you know like the Tesseract," you explain. "He, um, wiped out literally half of the universe with it. You were dead, how are you alive? You went missing with the Snap," you say.
He shakes his head. "No, I didn't. I was, well, really small," he says.
"Wait, you were, um, small this entire time?" you ask.
He nods. "It was kind of a two person job, if you know what I mean," he says.
"Oh man, I'm so sorry. You were stuck in microscopic mode for five years," you ask, putting your hand on your chest.
"Yeah," he says, but he doesn't seem to upset. "But, I think I just saved us…"
"What?" you ask.
You have now gotten to the communications room, and he starts pacing, muttering to himself, sometimes taking a deep breath to say something before shrugging it off. You let him pace, seeing Tony do this a lot. If you interrupt now, his train of thought will completely go blank.
"Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?" he suddenly blurts out.
"Only to start a conversation," Natasha says without missing a beat.
He blinks before nodding. "Okay, so five years ago, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm," he explains.
"Microscopic Mode?" you ask.
"Uh, yeah," he says, pointing at you. "To get in there, you have to go incredibly small. Hope, she's my, uh, she was my…She was supposed to pull me out. Then, Thanos snapped and I got stuck there."
"I am so sorry," you say. "For everything. It was my job to stop that and I failed. You shouldn't have been stuck that way for five years only to wake up to see that everyone was gone."
Steve puts a hand on your shoulder but before he can say anything, Scott speaks up again.
"The thing is, I wasn't there for five years. It was like I was there for five hours. Time works differently in the Quantum Realm. It's almost like another tiny universe in a larger universe," he says. "Sort of."
"So, kind of like how your heart and brain are both different organs but they are still part of the body?" you ask.
"Yeah, uh…yeah that's actually really good," Scott points out. "And so, your brain can work faster than your heart can, or, sometimes, slower. Same thing. So, you enter the blood stream at one point, and it deposits you at another…okay, that is a creepier analogy. If you can enter the Quantum Realm, than we can navigate it and get it to drop us off at a different point in time, like before Thanos."
"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asks softly. You suddenly feel a surge of emotion from Steve that you can't even tell what it is. Then, you realize just what at time machine would do for Steve. Then, you realize just what that would do to you. If Steve had the chance…it wasn't like he didn't deserve it after everything he has gone through. But. The idea of loosing Steve…
"No, not a time machine, I mean that's not real, but it's kind of…yeah okay, it's a time machine. I mean, the Quantum Realm is bigger on the inside and everything. I know it sounds crazy, but I can't stop thinking about it," Scott says.
"Hey, if you have actually studied Quantum Physics, than I think you actually know what you are talking about," you say, trying to make him feel better.
"Um, well, I didn't actually study it, I just learned as I went along, but, um yeah…" he trails off.
"Okay, let me rephrase this. I think it is worth a shot. Not only that, but I think it will work," you say.
"Not to be a downer here, but how do we know it is going to work at all?" Natasha says.
You shrug. "I think it's gonna work. It makes sense," you say.
Natasha gives you a strange look. "You have no reason to believe it will actually work. Why would it make sense to you?" she asks.
You shake your head. "I don't know, it just does," you say, feeling awkward.
"But it didn't make sense," Steve says. "No offense, Scott, but time machines are a little out there."
"It's going to work," you say with conviction. "And, it does make sense!" For some reason, this is a point which you really want to argue.
"Do you even understand what he just said?" Natasha asks.
You shake your head. "No."
"Then how can it make sense?" Steve asks, sounding somewhat worried.
"I don't know. It just…clicks," you say.
Steve tilts his head, studying you for a moment before the light in his eyes change with understanding. "The Time Stone," he says softly.
"What?" you ask.
"You are connected to the Time Stone. That is why what he just said makes sense even if you don't understand. I wonder if you can sense time-potential," Steve wonders. The thought makes you reel. You aren't bonded with the Time Stone like you are with the Mind Stone, but you still are connected to it. Could he be right?
"Well, of all people here, I know probably most about time travel," you say. "We had a chance last time and we blew it. But we have another chance. As long as there is another chance, even if I go through millions of other chances, I will still try."
The others nod, completely behind you, even if they still don't understand the timey-wimey stuff.
"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks.
"I think it's time to see Tony again," you say.
"Whatever it takes. Good luck," Steve says, finishing his speech.
You look up to him proudly.
"He's pretty good at that," Rocket says.
"Right?" Antman asks, looking incredibly excited.
"All right, you heard the man," Tony interrupts. "Blast from the past."
"Tractors engaged," Bruce says.
"See you in a minute," Natasha says, smiling. This smile looks different. She is so excited and bubbly. You have never seen her like this. You can tell that this is a chance she won't let go wrong, no matter what.
You press a button on your wrist and a helmet snaps up over your face, making you jump. You have never actually worn a helmet before, and it is a little claustrophobic.
Suddenly, you feel like all of your insides are being pulled down into your shoes and the world gets smaller. The vertigo almost makes you throw up, but then, you are finally tiny. You feel too small next to all of the colorful towering spires and chunks of whatever is down in the Quantum Realm, but, for some reason, you feel too big for your suit. It almost feels as though all of your senses were thrown into a blender.
Then, you are normal size again. Instantly, you hit the button that pulls back the helmet and take a deep breath of air. You feel as though you not only were not breathing for the past few minutes but also stuffed in a box too long.
"Whoa! That was weird," you gasp.
"Sorry, should have warned you that it takes a bit of getting used to, to get that small," Scott says apologetically.
You look down at yourself, feeling that you can move a lot easier now that the time-travel suit is off to revile your blue, green, and grey superhero suit. You rub your wrist where your bracelet was. With the white suit over the top, it pressed the bracelet uncomfortably into your skin, and you hope you didn't damage it.
"All right, we all have our assignments. Two Stones uptown, one Stone down. Stay low and keep an eye on the clock," Steve orders.
Suddenly, everyone jumps back as the Hulk comes flying into view, pounding aliens and destroying everything as he goes in a mad rage. Bruce, who you still don't quite understand how he looks like the Hulk, embarrassedly hides his face with his hand, blushing forest green.
"Feel free to smash a few things along the way," Steve says.
Bruce shakes his head as he rips off his shirt with ease and begins to sarcastically smash things.
"Need to work on your acting skills, buddy," you quip, activating your hover board and follow Tony. They decided that you would help Tony with the Tesseract. You had wanted to get the Mind Stone, since you thought it would be easier, but Steve argued that you would be able to handle both the Tesseract and Loki better than Tony by himself (which Tony found insulting). It was a bit of an awkward conversation when Steve tried to point out that you have fought against or with Loki more than the others so you could defend against him better. It ended up with you glad you were flying to get some fresh air.
"Around the back and up the corner. Surveillance doesn't reach there. Just in case I ever had to sneak out without Pepper worrying about me or something like that," Tony says.
"Good to know," you tease.
You follow him very closely, easily maneuvering your board out of camera's views. Tony slowly hovered up and into the building through one of the broken windows. You quietly follow him, softly stepping off of the board before the board collapses and attaches back into your bracelet.
You tip-toe behind Tony. The soft waves in your mind from the Infinity Stones feel strange but also like an old friend. But, you have no choice other than hiding yourself from them. Loki or younger-you might feel that something is off.
You peek out from your hiding place to see…you. You give a soft smile. You are practically a child. Granted, you weren't that young, but five plus years is a long time.
Then, you hear a voice, one you hadn't heard for five long years. And the first thing it has said, "I'll have that drink now."
You look around the wall again and just catch a glimpse of Loki before pulling back again. As you wait, you glance sadly at your feet. You have been having suspicions. You haven't seen or felt Loki in five years, which, honestly, isn't that surprising. But, you never actually got a yes or no answer. As you hear them talking more, you aren't sure if you want one.
"Got to hustle, Cap. Things look like they're just about wrapped up here," Tony says softly into the com.
"Got it," Steve says as you watch everyone in the room start to relax and get everything under control. Loki is handcuffed and a few of the Avengers, all noticeably younger, go to the bar for a drink.
"Ugh, Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot that suit did nothing for your 'behind'," Tony says.
You facepalm. "Thank you, Tony," you grunt. "And, thanks, Cap, for the visual."
"Not helping, Y/N," Steve says.
Instead of participating in the incredibly awkward conversation, you watch as Hydra agents grab the Scepter. You bristle, and you catch the flicker sent off from the Stone: it is not happy being held by a Hydra agent. After all, it can sense what is going on in the guy's mind.
That's when you realize that you can feel what is going on in the agent's mind. The more you focus, the more his mind becomes clearer. Quickly, you bring yourself out of his consciousness. It was easier than you thought to leave his mind. You can still feel who is holding the Scepter, though, and it gives you a prickly feeling down your spine.
"All right, you're up, little buddy," Tony says, snapping you out of your thoughts. "There's our stone."
You just manage to see Antman on Tony's shoulder. "All right. Flick me," he says excitedly.
Tony makes a snapping motion.
"He did actually get to where he needs to be right? You didn't just flick him into a wall?" you ask.
"Hey, have I ever let you down?" Tony asks sassily.
You give him a dull look. You then press your com. "Steve, Antman is in place. Your Stone is heading to the 80th floor," you say.
"Got it. Head to the lobby," Steve says.
"All right, see you there," Tony says, free falling out of the window as he taps his arc-reactor as your hover board catches you.
You both hover for a moment before dropping to the ground. Tony slips a guards uniform over his clothes, and straps on a helmet. You both slip in through the side door and you position yourself behind a pillar and out of sight.
"Okay, I have to be out in the building's lobby. You stay right here, and don't come out unless absolutely necessary," Tony commands. "You are here to make sure things run smoothly, okay. You are the last resort."
"I feel so appreciated," you say.
"I know. Stay here," he orders one last time before walking out into the open.
You watch as Tony, incredibly professionally, stomps out into the open, his eyes keenly flicking over the scene of Avengers exiting the elevator. You are among them, and you raise an eyebrow. "Is that really how my hair looked after the battle?" you ask.
"Yup," Tony says uncaringly.
"Why didn't you tell me!" you hiss.
"Because I thought it would be funnier not to," Tony says.
You growl in disgust before continuing to watch yourself. Past you is trying to stand tall, but you are obviously hesitant and nervous around Loki. You look incredibly guarded and whenever your eyes flicker to him, your hands clench, but you don't know whether it is out of fear or anger or annoyance.
Abruptly, Alexander Pierce strides out, and your stomach churns at the sight of him. He caused a lot of problems in the future (or is it past?), and one slight slip up from your part could alter everything.
Within a few minutes, the conversation moves from stressful to a downright argument.
"Antman, please hurry," you whisper into the com.
Suddenly, the younger Tony gasps and drops the case, falling to the floor. Your hands clench as you watch. You step forward slightly as you worriedly watch your friend. Younger you yelps in surprise before trying to help.
"Tony, are you sure this is okay?" you ask as the younger Tony convulses on the floor.
"Oh yeah. Perfectly healthy," Tony says nonchalantly.
"Okay, because it doesn't look like it," you say, taking another step without even realizing it. The sunlight is touching your boots now, and you vaguely realize that your toes are getting warm.
The case holding the Tesseract suddenly flicks away, sliding easily across the floor to where future Tony bends down, picks it up, and starts to walk away, whistling to himself.
"Don't whistle, this isn't the Andy Griffith show," Antman warns. "Seriously, I know how guards act."
You watch as past Tony continues writhing on the ground, the attacks coming more frequent now as he gasps for air.
"Tony, are you sure this is okay, because it really is taking a long time for it to stop," you say frantically as you take one more step out.
Then, in a heart stopping moment, you feel eyes on you. You freeze, Tony's voice about everything being fine going hazy in your ears as everything seems to slow down around you. You look up to meet two, cold green eyes.
Everyone else is focused on Tony, but Loki is watching you with a steady gaze. Then, his gaze flicks from you behind the pillars to where you are crouched frantically next to Tony. He looks back at you before tilting his head questioningly.
"Oh no," you say, realizing that you just blew everything.
Suddenly, the wall explodes as the Hulk comes tearing out of the stairwell. But you only notice as the case goes flying, landing on the hinges, which snap under the pressure. The glowing, blue cube bounces out of the case before sliding to a stop right next to Loki's boot.
You gasp and take a step right into the full light as Loki quickly bends down and grabs the Stone. He looks at you for one more minute before ripping open a portal and disappearing.
Quickly, you jump fully behind the pillar, leaning your head back against it's cool surface. If you were down the Mind Stone, it wouldn't be as bad since you could most likely fill in for it. But, the Tesseract is a different story.
Once again, you blew it.
Ash flows in the wind, and everything suddenly turns silent. The wind blows ghostly through the battle ground, washing away Thanos's guards as they disintegrate. The power surge from the Stones is still vibrating in your ears.
You hang your head in relief. It's over. After everything…after losing, gaining, losing some more, it is finally over. You didn't even see what happened, but suddenly, you felt the spike in the Stones.
You lift your head almost smiling in relief…but then you see him.
Tony limps onto a pile of metal before sinking to his feet, gasping. His whole left side is burned and wounded, and sparks of color still trace up him from the Stones before they flicker back to the charred gauntlet on his hand.
You fall to your knees, shaking your head. "No…no, not you…" you breath.
You agonizingly push yourself to your feet as Spider-man frantically tries anything to help before breaking down and being pulled away by Rhodes.
You stumble over, kneeling in the dirt next to him. His eyes vacantly waver on you for a moment. "Tony, I'm sorry," you say, suddenly sobbing uncontrollably. "I tried…I tried so hard. I'm so sorry. I couldn't do it. I tried saving everyone and it didn't work. I-I can't…"
You gasp as sobs rake your body, and your head falls limply to your chest as you put your hand on the last bit of armor on Tony's chest. You don't know if it is your powers or not, but you feel his heart pounding slowly.
Someone, you think Steve gently pulls you back, and you fall back against him, rocking back and forth as you press your hand to your mouth. It hurts. It hurts so bad that you feel you are being ripped in two.
You want to scream, to fight. Why did this have to happen? Why did it always have to happen?
"We lost…we lost again…" you sob to yourself, but you are so quiet no one could hear.
"Hey, Pep…" you hear Tony's crackling voice say softly. He gives Pepper a sorrowful smile.
"It's okay," she says quietly. "You can rest now."
She holds his hand to his arch reactor and kisses his forehead as the light goes out.
You feel Tony's death in more ways than one. You grind your fist into the ground as everyone around you kneels to show respect. You are curled over yourself, fighting with all of your might not to accept it.
You lost again. You may have won against Thanos, but you lost again. Natasha…you know that even though no one told you, Loki isn't coming back…and now Tony. You promised yourself you wouldn't lose anyone again. But you lost.
"This can't be how it ends," you say, choking on your sobs. "I won't accept it."
Suddenly, fiery determination burns inside of you, filling you with intense anger. You weren't going to lose…not again. You had to fix everything. You had to make it so that none of this ever happened.
Pushing past the pain ringing inside of you, you pull one knee up under yourself and push with all of your strength. You feel as though you are held down by the sky as you push past all of the anguish and rage. You brace yourself and then stand up, unable to take your eyes off of Tony.
You were going to fix this.
Whatever it takes. You had to.
And you know how.
You look up at the sky, and open all of your power. Every bit of energy you have ever held inside of you explodes out around you as all of the Infinity Stones flow through your body. Waves of energy cascade around you, burrowing into the earth and doming over your head. Light shines everywhere and when you open your eyes, the light flicks different colors as each Infinity Stone passes through your vision.
You let yourself go, swaying with the rhythm of the Infinity Stones. The sound from all of the Infinity Stones that you are controlling is deafening, the light blinding, and it is all you can feel. All you can think. The energy rips through you, but it doesn't hurt. It is what you were meant to do all along.
You feel the Infinity Stones inside of you and they are now bursting out. You have the under control, each and every one of them. All of their power is flowing out of you, shinning through you. You are a funnel for every bit of energy. Around you is a swirling mass of colors that makes you hover in the air.
Even when you close your eyes, all you see is the Infinity Stones.
But, all you need is three. Two to get the job done, and the third as the anchor.
When you open your eyes, all six Infinity Stones are spinning in front of you.
You open your hand, and the Time, Reality, and Mind Stone all float towards you.
You grab the Mind Stone in one hand and feel it pulsing in your mind.
You hold the other two with your free hand and feel their power bond with yours. You feel their willingness to help.
"Reverse everything," you tell the Time Stone. "Make this a reality that was cut off. Turn us back five years. Thanos never happened. He is no longer reality. Make it so that this never happened."
Instantly, reality and time flowed together, spinning backwards and turning everything shades of green and red. No one dies. Not this time. No enemies, no fights. Only your friends. You feel the Time Stone cutting off Time right before everyone dies and turning their time-stream in a different direction.
"None of this ever happened," you say.
You feel Reality smoothing everything into place, making this the right timestream and universe. But not for Thanos or his armies.
Then, you feel something different. Something not quite what you asked for but also exactly what you asked for. Something completely from the Reality Stone.
You feel that everyone you have ever loved is safe, but you suddenly can't stop your power anymore. Whatever the different thing is, it's pulling you towards it. You don't feel afraid, but you aren't sure you want to go.
Then, flashes of what look almost like memories play in front of your mind.
"Mom, have you seen the new Avenger's previews?" a young you asks.
Then, you are sitting in the theater with your friends, starring wide eyed at the screen as the Avengers theme plays.
Then, you are older, sitting in a new theater with the next Avengers movie. Then another movie, quickly followed by another. There is laughter, tears, but most importantly…there is a screen.
You are going to school. You are being normal. You are home with your parents with no power what so ever.
Then, your words echo in your head. "None of this ever happened."
You feel yourself sinking into the new reality that is just what you asked for. Part of you is terrified, but another part of you knows that everything will be all right. You'll find your way back to your friends. Even if it is only through a movie theater.
Then, the Infinity Stones just…disappear. Completely, and everything goes black as you drop into the new reality.
None of it ever happened.
Extra Author's Note: Okay, so this chapter might have been a bit confusing, but that is what the next chapter is for! :) I wanted to have reader in the big main fight at the end, but it would take too much time, and I would have to figure out how everything is going, and it would be a lot longer before I could post, so there is my excuse! Have a good week!