Ensoulment
by Valerie Vancollie
valeriev84 at hotmail dot com
Notes: Another big thank you to everyone who has either left a review or favorited the fic, it's much appreciated!
This chapter starts to give you some answers, but there's more to come!
Soul World, 2018 A.D.
"Does what you did weigh even a little on your conscious?"
The sound of his little one's voice was the first Thanos knew of his sleep. He had not intended to allow himself to succumb, instead having sat down to simply enjoy the view of his new chosen home on Rhea. He sighed before he turned around, glad to see Gamora once more, but not wishing to deal with her venom and demands just now.
Her last set of questions and observations still disturbed him.
He knew what he had done was right and had saved the universe from Titan's fate, but he had not realized there were so many species who would be decimated due to it. Thanos had even used the gauntlet to check the number, wondering if perhaps his dreams were playing out some hidden fear of his he had never allowed himself to acknowledge least it caused him to stumble or hesitate in what he knew he needed to do.
Alas Gamora had been correct, both in the figure and the fact that the Infinity Stones were now connected enough to allow her access to the others from the Soul Stone.
"Hello, Little One," Thanos said in lieu of a reply.
"Well?" she insisted, crossing her little child's arms.
"Why do you appear as a child? Why not as you were?"
"What? When you killed me?"
"Sacrificed."
"Sacrificed, killed, same thing," Gamora spat. "You are the reason I no longer live."
"It makes all the difference as I would not have been able to sacrifice you if you meant nothing to me," Thanos replied calmly though inside he felt all of the pain and horror he had experienced on Vormir, both before and after her death. "I would not have harmed you for anything less than an Infinity Stone."
"Ha! Tell Nebula that."
"Nebula was never my favorite."
"You were ever a terrible father, but that is amongst your worst crimes. If you were truly a parent, you would not have so readily and obviously favored one child over another."
The words cut deep and Thanos had to fight to keep his face calm. Gamora was seeking to hurt him and to show she had succeeded would only mean she used this tactic more, not less. As he had no intention of attempting to remove her from his dreams, he had to ensure she did not realize how deeply she wounded him now. Then there was hope she would cease saying things like this in favor of allowing them to converse on other matters.
"How could I not when one was so much better than all of the others?" Thanos inquired instead.
"Nebula did far more and worked far harder to gain your love and approval than I ever did."
"Yet she never could match up to either your skill or your fire."
Gamora shook her head before she stared long and hard at him, an uncomfortable silence settling between them. Instead of allowing himself to become unnerved, Thanos used the opportunity to observe her. He still did not know why either Gamora or he himself chose to have her appear as a child, but he enjoyed it. She had grown so fast, as children always do, that it had been a long time since he had seen her like this and it brought back many pleasant memorizes from back when she had been less venomous and more open with him. From when she had sought him out rather than avoiding him.
"You will never understand," Gamora finally said instead with a little shake of her head. "But you never answered my question."
Thanos had known it was only a matter of time before his little one returned to that. She had ever been stubborn and relentless.
"Does what you did weigh even a little on your conscious?"
"No," Thanos lied, not even hesitating as he never showed weakness to anyone, much less his children.
For the first time since he had seen her after her death, Gamora stepped forwards towards him and out from under the pavilion she had stood in until now. She tilted her head as she peered at him closely, a frown marring her face.
"Not even knowing how many species you wiped out?" she asked.
"It may have been more than I had intended, but what is fifty when compared to the universe as a whole?" Thanos demanded, wishing she would stop probing at this.
Would she haunt his dreams forevermore asking only of this?
"Surely if Titan was one instance too many and is the reason you commenced this demented quest of yours to begin with, then fifty should be far too many?"
"Not if those fifty saved all the rest."
"And what of the others you sacrificed? Those you drove straight into Titan's fate?"
Now what was she speaking of? Part of Thanos did not wish to know, but he could not quite bring himself to reach out and seek consciousness. Not when being asleep allowed him to see his precious little one once more as he never could out there.
"I saved them from Titan's fate," he said.
"Depends on what you view Titan's fate as being."
"Say what you mean, Daughter."
"Titan destroyed itself through war."
"Because they no longer had sufficient resources to sustain the population."
"Yes, but it was still war which killed them all and destroyed your civilization."
"What is your point?"
"Simply this," Gamora said. "How many planets do you think will now destroy themselves or each other through wars started because of what you did?"
Thanos frowned. She was making no sense. "They have no need for war now, there is plenty for everyone."
"No need for war? How about to avenge the deaths of half their population?" she demanded. "Not everyone knows why that happened, simply that it did. There are many planets and species out there who view what happened as either a sign their gods or goddesses are displeased with them or as the actions of their enemies. Either way it means they now think they must act, to ensure it does not happen again. For those who think it divine retribution, they will seek to eradicate those they deem responsible for the gods' displeasure, while the others will seek vengeance on their enemies. Or simply to ensure that those enemies cannot wipe out the rest of them."
That...
For a few moments Thanos was not able to comprehend what she meant, but then realization struck and his stomach dropped. It had never occurred to him people could attribute his actions to others, but his little one was right. Not everyone knew what he had been planning, he had purposefully kept it secret for as long as he could least they attempt to hide the Infinity Stones from him even more than they already had. It had been in his best interests to not rally everyone else against him as their inability to view the necessity of his actions would make them think he was best opposed.
"The Xandarians blame the kree and have reignited their war with them," Gamora began. "The badoon each think the other society has violated an important tenant and brought divine wrath down upon them and are thus fighting to properly be able to punish the other society. The jötnar think their ancient enemies the múspellssynir are taking advantage of their recent weakness and Ásgarðr's destruction to wipe them out and so are preparing to retaliate. The jyn'ai are considering whether or not to attack the sleepwalkers, whom they feel may have caused the attack in retribution for the actions of one of their own several millennia ago. We then als-"
"I understand your argument," Thanos interrupted.
"Do you?" she snarled, twisting her little face as no child's ever should be. "For one who said they sought to avoid seeing Titan's fate play itself out elsewhere, you have created a lot of new Titans."
"It is not my fault those species are too simple to see the truth of what transpired and to recognize it for the blessing that it is. My own people were too ignorant as well and I have still chosen to ensure others do not suffer their fate needlessly," Thanos countered. "My actions have ensured the universe and all those in it bar the forty-eight you mentioned need not suffer Titan's fate. If they now seek to eradicate themselves for a different reason, I cannot stop them."
"So that's it? You're simply absolving yourself of all guilt and responsibility?"
"There is much in life we cannot control, Little One."
A laugh, though it was a dark and unpleasant thing Thanos did not care for.
"Of that I am very well aware," Gamora retorted viciously. "But this is not one of those instances. You caused this, the countless deaths when you snapped your fingers and all of those that will follow as a result of it. You can try to blame it on the individual species themselves, but the guilt and responsibility is still yours. They would have been at peace but for you and what you did."
"Until their populations grew too large for their planets."
"Not all who outgrow their home planet suffer Titan's fate!" Gamora spit. "The Xandarians began moving off-world, colonizing lifeless planets."
"And thus bringing themselves into conflict with the kree. Had they controlled their population sufficiently instead, that would not have transpired."
Thanos could not understand the way Gamora looked at him now, shaking her head. Why was it so difficult for everyone else to understand? Yes, he understood it was a dramatic solution, but that did not make it any less necessary. He had once hoped his children at least would understand this. Most had, but of course Gamora- his favorite of the lot- had refused to do so. It had long pained him, particularly when she had shown signs of spreading her ignorance and resistance, but he had already done what he could to teach her the necessity of it all.
If people did not wish to come to terms with the reality of the situation and its only viable solution then they should not have allowed it to get so bad.
Vormir, 965 A.D.
From one second to the next Sága was back out of the pocket dimension where the Soul Stone had been kept, flat in the middle of one of Vormir's many small pools and she knew immediately it would become her son's birth pool as the first contraction hit hard and fast.
Even with all of her powers she was helpless here and now, the ripple effects of what she had done with the Soul Stone interfering with her own power. Luckily she could still do some things like vanish the clothing in the way of her little one's entry into the universe. Then she allowed her body to take over, having witnessed what came next countless times since people had first come to live in her boughs.
There was pain, but it was such a novel experience for her it intrigued Sága in and of itself. Not to mention the novelty of the whole experience from the moment she had first allowed herself to conceive, right through the pregnancy, all the way up to now, the birth, all of it would have been worth far more pain. For those as old as her, new experiences were hard to come by. Just now she could not recollect why she had never elected to try this sooner.
To take physical form like this and allow said form to reproduce had once seemed odd and strange, but not after having felt the new life grow within her. And having experienced its growth in seiðr had been both amazing and pleasurable and she found herself surprisingly eager to see how her child grew and changed, even if she could not be there for his infancy. Not given why she had decided to do this.
Thanos and his plans to wipe out half the life in the universe.
Half the life she guarded and cherished.
Sága would not allow it, but by the time she had her first vision, eliminating Thanos from the timeline entirely had no longer been viable and now he was protected by Death, the cosmic entity whom had taken a shine to him and whom she knew he adored in turn. Thanos may claim he did this all for the good of the universe as a whole, but she feared it was more Death's influence than anyone else knew or suspected. Death had always hungered for the extinguishment of life, so death on such a colossal scale would be a true victory for her and even by Sága's own standards it would be a truly unique and overwhelming experience.
What Sága feared the most, though, was what would happen next. Once Death had experienced what she no doubt felt would be the ultimate pleasure, then what? Would Death be satisfied or would she want more?
And what would more look like?
Sága feared the end result could be the death or destruction of everyone and the entire universe and that she would not stand for even if her meddling with Thanos' plan could draw Death's very wrath down upon her.
Yet even in the Mad Titan's plan itself there was an opportunity to end it all. One Death would never see coming and so could slip past her very guard and strike just when Thanos was most vulnerable.
If everything worked as Sága planned it to. The problem was she had been forced to add a mortal element and that risked the plan itself as that always introduced unpredictability and chaos in and of itself. So she had tried to incorporate that chaos into the very basis of what she did, hoping that in doing so it would help stabilize the mortal element and prevent it from ruining her plans before they even began.
She would not have a second change.
Despite all odds, the life she had sought to create had survived the addition of pure chaos, which gave Sága hope and had garnered her very first maternal feeling; pride.
Now she could only hope he continued to impress and fascinate her. And that he survived the final stage for her to get to know properly.
Sága screamed as the pain became worse even as she felt her son start to emerge from between her thighs. A few more pushes and he slipped free, landing in the pool with his first cry. She immediately sat up to reach for him, marveling at how he veritably shone with power as she did so. At first it was immediately obvious that he bore the Soul Stone as its power and presence all but radiated from him, eyes an orange glow in his pale face. But then the power died down, the Infinity Stone subsiding and integrating with its half mortal host and Sága breathed a sigh of relief.
She had succeeded.
She had rendered the an Infinity Stone flesh and thus given it life. And the Soul Stone at that.
It was her greatest achievement to date and quite possible her best ever.
In more ways than one, Sága realized as none of her wonder and awe faded with the integration of the Stone into her son's very essence. The Soul Stone gaining a soul. No, instead her emotions remained as strong and bright as before as she beheld her child.
"I am truly sorry, Little One," Sága whispered, pressing a kiss to his brow. "But the universe needs you."
With a thought her clothes were restored and they were dry as soon as she stood. The next instant they were on Jötunheimr, invisible to the naked eye as she weaved between the warriors, jötnar and æsir alike, who were all locked in mortal combat. Not allowing herself even a moment to hesitate, she made for the temple, stepping inside and up to the main altar. With a final kiss, Sága lowered her son onto it, remembering at the last minute to materialize him a blanket.
"We will meet again," she promised.
Sága allowed herself another moment before she stepped away, vanishing from the Realm even before her son shifted into his father's jötunn form, knowing Óðinn was close by and would soon find him.
Ta da! So who guessed this? There were enough clues in the prologue, though I've not yet had a review from anyone who caught the most important one. But chapter 4 did alert most I think.
So in Norse mythology Loki's parents are Fárbauti & Laufey. However, while Fárbauti is known to be jötunn, Laufey's species isn't clear from the remaining texts. So while the MCU made Laufey the father and I've not gone with Fárbauti as his mother, I have kept this little nugget in there.
The question now is, what is Sága? Anyone want to haggard a guess?
Also, since I couldn't find a name for the planet we saw Thanos on at the end of Infinity War, I chose to call it Rhea. The reason is two fold. First, Rhea is one of the Titans from Greek mythology, so it seemed apt. Secondly, both Titan and Rhea are among the names for the many moons of Saturn, which is where Titan was located in the comics.