The Quantum Realm was straight up trippy.

It was like she was having a dream about being drunk, which was weird because she hadn't been this disoriented since… well, since she got her powers.

But soon enough, the trip started to clear up and Carol's surroundings became overwhelmingly orange. This must have been the Soul Realm, then.

At the point when she thought the neverending orange was gonna make her go crazy, she began to make out some kind of arch-way, and all of a sudden her feet met solid ground and she was kneeling in a puddle of water.

Huh. Quantum Realm/Soul Realm trip could be checked off the bucket list.

Carol wanted to laugh to herself, but she realized almost instantly that she wasn't alone. Six figures that looked more like shadows stood before her. The longer she looked, though, the more defined their features became. She could make out the woman with green skin, and the man who levitated had a yellow cape who was red and blue—

Her eyes landed on the man on the end.

"Ian?"

"Carol? How the hell did you get here?"

"You know her?"

Carol snapped her head to see the owner of the second voice, and was surprised to see a child, probably a teenager, in an iron suit. Her heart sank. A boy had been incarnated into an infinity stone?

But Ian ignored the kid and jogged up to Carol, whose face mask receded. He extended his hand to probably shake hers, but she scoffed and enveloped her friend in a hug.

They'd met in the midst of some nasty business on the planet Zeffomir (an ally of Xandar) when some rogue Kree group tried to overthrow its government. Things escalated really quickly and before Carol knew it they were trying to destroy the planet as a whole, and she couldn't let that happen. Luckily, Xandar's Nova Force arrived and helped evacuate as many citizens as possible while fighting off the Kree. But it was like they were only treating the symptoms of a disease and not curing it.

Of course, Carol tasked herself with curing it.

Ian wanted to help however he could; he seemed to notice the same problem she did. And after too many close calls and explosions, the two of them were able to apprehend the leading Kree criminals and ultimately take down their entire operation.

They didn't see each other for awhile after that, but whenever she was in Xandar she always stopped by to say hello. She'd heard about the decimation of the planet shortly after receiving the transmission from Fury, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't shed a few tears for her friend before heading to Earth.

So it was very strange to find him here as one of the incarnations of the infinity stones.

"Why are you here?" she demanded, poking him in the chest (not at all gently).

He hesitated. "Um, I died. You heard about Xandar, right?"

"Yeah… and?"

"The power stone was there, I tried to stall to give the others who guarded the stones enough time to prepare for Thanos. Long story short, he killed me—"

"He's leaving out the part where he kicked Thanos's ass first," the boy from earlier spoke up again.

"You used the fricking power stone?!"

"Yeah," Ian responded sheepishly.

"Wow, you really are an idiot." That comment earned her a glare and she smirked in response.

"By that logic, you could say we are all idiots," said another man, dressed in battle leathers with long black hair and piercing green eyes. He looked very Asgardian and also incredibly familiar… Carol had only stumbled upon a few Asgardians in her life, Thor being one of them. The fact that she recognized this man…

"Oh my God. Loki?"

The Asgardian looked taken aback for a split second, but his expression snapped back to that of indifference so fast that anyone who wasn't looking for it wouldn't have seen it. "You know me?"

"I do. You don't remember me?" When Ian gave her a questioning look, she delved into the brief story, "I had to go to Alfheim to tell some Skrulls in hiding that it was safe for them to return home. They didn't believe me. Loki saw us and helped me to convince them!" She turned to the Asgardian, "I've only met you and few other Asgardians in my life, and that's including Thor… so I would definitely remember you. Granted, we only met once, but am I really so insignificant, Odinson?" she joked, crossing her arms.

Loki furrowed his eyebrows in thought, obviously searching his memory. A small smile graced his lips. "That diplomatic journey to Alfheim? Stars, that was so long ago…"

"Did you really not remember till now, Lackey?" a woman to the right of him asked. And who would believe it, she was another Asgardian. She noticed Carol's questioning look, and curtly introduced herself, "Valkyrie."

He hesitated, his smile fading. "My memories haven't been so reliable as of late, ever since the scepter… It's a long story, that bit. But my mother," his voice surprisingly broke, but he kept going as if it hadn't, "sent me on a diplomatic mission almost fifteen years ago to talk politics with the leaders of Alfheim while Thor was off doing Odin-knows-what on Vanaheim. It was before everything—but I remember what you said to me, Danvers. You-you were my first friend in a very long time—" he cut himself off. Carol wanted him to keep going, wanted to reminisce about all the days before Thanos, but there was a mission they had to complete. "What are you doing here?"

"You all are supposed to be the infinity stones incarnate, but now I'm beginning to think that Bruce was mistaken. But oh man, what Thor told us about what happened to your people… I'm so sorry."

"He-he's alive then? What did he tell you?" Loki looked calm, but a quick glance at his hands that shook would tell a different tale.

"Enough," she said sadly. "He didn't tell us that you… um—"

"Ah." Disappointment and guilt flashed across his features. "I see. Sorry, I've led the conversation astray—"

"Loki—"

"—we need a plan. Gamora?"

They both looked to the girl with green skin. "Um, you're Gamora, sister of Nebula?"

She certainly looked taken aback by Carol's question, and instantly responded with her own. "Nebula's alive?"

"Yes, she and Stark escaped Titan in a ship—"

"Mr. Stark? He's okay!" The boy exclaimed, looking overjoyed at the mention of Iron-Man.

Oh no… this wasn't the kid, no it couldn't be. He was so young—far too young to have been killed so ruthlessly by Thanos. "You… you're not Peter Parker, are you?" she asked apprehensively.

"Yeah! How-how'd you know?" he confirmed, but then he seemed to answer his own question, "Oh, you met Mr. Stark, he must have mentioned me."

More than mentioned you, kid. He's dying on the inside without you. "Um, yeah. Yeah, he did."

The red and blue android silently walked up to her, staring at her straight in the eyes as if he were reading her mind. Carol would have said it was really weird, but given the last few decades of her life, the word "weird" earned an entirely new definition.

"Bruce was right. We are the incarnations of the infinity stones. Each of us was a sacrifice demanded in exchange for Thanos' acquisition of each stone. We are here until he loses possession of them," he said, matter-of-factly.

"And if we can get the gauntlet? What then?" Carol thought keeping the stones from Thanos was an obvious goal—which previously failed—so they were going to have to do better than that.

Gamora shook her head. "You don't understand. Even if it's only for a moment, Thanos has to not be in possession of them. If you can slip the gauntlet off for a second, we can take care of the rest." And Carol wanted to argue that again, that's what the Avengers had tried last time, but Gamora continued, "The stones are against him; they're angry with him. Before, Thanos hadn't snapped yet. Now that he has, he's proven that he took each sacrifice—each of us—for granted. He may be powerful, but he is vulnerable. He cannot snap again, else he will destroy the entire universe, including himself; he'll know that."

Carol went to look to Ian to complain that Gamora was crazy, but his gaze only offered a stern determination. She looked around and found that it was a common attitude.

The device on her wrist began to beep; it was time for her to get back to the compound.

"Go, Carol. We'll see you soon," Ian placed a tender hand on her shoulder. She wished she could spend more time with all of them, figure out exactly why this was all happening, but she just had no time. "And now that you've found us, you have to be careful. Thanos will know."

The device beeped twice, signifying she only had a few seconds until she was taken back. "I will. And I'll tell them who you all are. We'll get you back!" As soon as she said this, her helmet automatically snapped into place.

Peter Parker gave her a small wave, and Carol gave a two-fingered salute before she was pulled back into the Quantum Realm. And a few seconds later, she was in the Avengers compound once again.

She stepped off of the platform to see only an extremely surprised Tony Stark.

"Holy—!" He clutched his chest, looking like he'd just had a heart attack. Had they really not been expecting her to come back? Wow—some faith they had in her, then.

But it really was only Tony, and she couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes. Where could everyone else go in that little of time?

"I didn't expect a 'welcome back' party, but… where is everyone?" she asked, detaching the Pym suit and wristband from her own suit.

"Y-you've been gone," Tony stuttered, still getting over his shock, "for days and we thought something went wrong, we were gonna call it quits today but—"

"Danvers is back!" Rogers yelled from behind them, most likely to wherever the rest of the Avengers were.

"Hold on, I was only gone a few minutes!" Carol exclaimed. She shook her head, "Whatever, there's probably a time difference thing that makes it all messed up. Point is, Bruce was right."

The rest of the Avengers jogged in and gaped at her in awe. She wanted to make more jokes, but she remembered the promise she made to Ian, to Loki, Gamora and Peter and all the rest—

"Hey, are you alright?" Tony's voice seemed so faraway.

Oh man, this was going to be difficult. "Tony… your kid's name was Peter Parker, right?"

The man visibly flinched as if Carol was going to punch him in the face. "Yeah. What about him?"

She took a deep breath, "He's one of the incarnations of the Infinity Stones."


Huh?

Peter was… alive? But still dead, like Nebula's sister. What was he supposed to do with that?

Tony staggered back from Carol as the rest of the Avengers reached the two of them. Whatever she was continuing to say was lost on him as he was engulfed by his own thoughts.

He had a location. Peter was-was somewhere and if he was somewhere, Tony could find him. But then he had another terrifying thought, and this one overwhelmed him to the point where he needed to sit back down. What if he couldn't get Peter back and he was stuck in that stone forever? Knowing Tony's luck, it was most likely the latter of the two thoughts that would come true.

"Please, don't—" he choked out, "—don't give me hope…"

Carol knelt in front of him, "I promise you, he's there. And we can all find a way to get them all out." Tony shook his head; it was too good to be true. But Danvers was even more stubborn than he was because she nodded her head, not budging, "I promise, Tony."

Slowly, he let the hopeful part of him open up…. As Steve ran up to them, Carol turned to face the captain and the rest of the Avengers.

"Bruce, you were right, and so was Tony. The stones had some kind of defense mechanism that made it so each stone required a sacrifice of a life—it wasn't just the soul stone, it was all of them."

"What—? Who were they?" Rhodey asked what was on all of their minds.

Carol sighed with a knowing look on her face. There were more people they knew than just Peter, Tony deduced. This was definitely going to be a jarring revelation for all of them.

"Peter Parker, for one." And the room erupted in exclamations and questions, while multiple worried glances were sent Tony's way. Despite the clamor, Carol continued, "My friend, Ian Drake, died defending the Power stone in Xandar. Gamora, of course," Nebula grimaced at that. "There was a red and blue android, I never caught his name…"

"It must have been Vision," Clint said, everyone else suddenly quiet. "Thanos had to have gotten the Mind stone from him."

"Alright, so that's four, who are the others?" Bruce chimed in.

"An Asgardian woman—" Tony saw Thor's head snap up, and Danvers turned her attention towards him. "You must know her, said her name was Valkyrie… Loki seemed to know her—"

And the god of Thunder looked like he was about to have a heart attack then and there. He actually stumbled backwards into Nebula, who (very lightly) shoved him off of her. So, Danvers knew who Loki was? And Loki was in the Soul Realm?

"Loki?" Nebula mumbled. "He was one of the only ones able to slither out of Thanos's grasp. We thought him dead."

That piqued Tony's interest (he was looking for anything to distract him from thinking about Peter at this point). He knew the army at New York came from Thanos, but he never really knew what the "working relationship" was like between Loki and the titan. Based off of Nebula's tone, Stark assumed that it wasn't a very happy one.

"What are you talking about?" Thor whimpered.

Which was certainly odd—Thor was always the "god of Thunder!" and boisterous and loud, perhaps even angry or mopey… Thor was never shaken, never sad. So hearing the 1500 year old Asgardian whimper? Tony would be Thanos if it didn't pull on his heartstrings a bit.

Even Nebula looked phased by his tone. "We… found him in the Void," she began slowly, "and Thanos could see his potential. He said Loki was already almost broken, so it wouldn't be long before the Mind stone did its work."

"Wait, Thanos used the Mind stone on Loki?" Clint broke in. He seemed to be the only one not watching Thor's every move at the revelation. While the god hadn't moved a muscle, his hands were balled into fists and lightning sparked around them.

Nebula flinched. "Yes."

Clint's anger at the other Asgardian's name even being mentioned seemed to subside slightly. So, the mind-controller had also been mind-controlled… in at least some capacity…

"He never told me," Thor scoffed. "Well, I never gave him reason to think I'd believe him, did I?"

Something like empathy flashed across Nebula's face. "He did what the rest of us could not; he escaped."

"Thor, did Loki die for an—" Leave it to Steve Rogers to not waste any time trying not to step on anyone's emotions. Tony almost wanted to face-palm, but Steve's question was on all of their minds. He had to give the guy credit for having the guts to actually ask it.

(Hold on. Did Tony just compliment Rogers? What the hell?)

"—infinity stone. Yes. The Space stone," Thor said curtly.

There was short beat of awkward silence where no one knew if they should be glad Loki was gone or comfort Thor. It was just… too much to take in. Peter and Loki were stuck in the same place, died at the hands of the same damn titan, and were part of some mystical infinity-coup to overthrow said titan.

"He was glad to hear you were alive, Thor," Danvers cut into the silence.

"I'm sure. He seems to love being dead while I'm left to pick up the pieces." Thor chuckled ruefully at the team's concerned glances. "I'm fine. Truly. Loki's been dead before. I'll survive." No one bought that, not one of them.

Whatever strained relationship Thor had with his brother, it was obvious that he loved him anyway. And in a way, Tony was jealous of Loki. He had someone who looked out for him and cared about him no matter what screwed up thing he did. Sure, Loki was more extreme, but that honestly made Tony feel worse. He snuck a glance at Steve, who was pensive and seemed to be very distracted by whatever he was thinking about.

Probably relating to Thor, thinking about Bucky.

Tony didn't want to gag, so he tried to change the subject to what his mind had been circling back to constantly the past week.

"And Peter? Did you talk to him?"

Carol sighed. "I wish that I could explain everything, but I don't think we're gonna have much time."

Tony glared at her like a petulant child because he wanted to have some sign or message that his own petulant child was actually somehow going to come home. Carol only looked back at him apologetically, which made Stark give it up. If whatever they were going to do worked, he would see Peter again. He would.

"Why?" asked Nat.

"They said that by my breaching of the Soul stone, or wherever they were, it would send a signal to the bearer of the stones. Like…" she pressed her lips together, trying to find the right words to explain whatever it was she was trying to say. "Like in Lord of the Rings? How Sauron can see Frodo only when he puts the ring on at the very end. Thanos knows something is happening, and where do you think he'll look first to find who's responsible?"

"Oh, those were fantastic movies," Scott blurted out.

"I thought they were just books."

"Where have you been the last two decades?"

"Saving other planets, Scott."

Scott's mouth snapped shut (thank God).

The light banter only masked the imminent sense of urgency that would befall the group almost immediately.

"Moral of the story… this is the endgame," Carol said, gravely.

"Suit up!" Steve said. Everyone else rushed to find their weapons and suits, and Steve moved to do the same but Tony stopped him, grabbing the super soldier's very toned arm.

"I…" Tony didn't know where to begin. He seriously hated Rogers for lying to him, breaking up the team, choosing Bucky over everyone else… for leaving. But what choice did he give him? And just because he seemed like he was so sure of himself didn't mean that Steve actually was. He could have been just as hurt as Tony was, feeling unwelcome from the one place he finally had felt at home.

Again, Tony was not sure why in God's name he was defending Steve of all people right now, but he supposed the end of the universe put a lot of things in perspective. In the grand scheme of things he wasn't mad at Steve, not really. He was angry that neither of them tried to fix it.

Steve gave him a shy smile, "It's okay, Tony."

What? There was no way he knew what he meant because he sure as hell did not say any of that out loud. "No, I just… I didn't mean it. What I said that day when I got back. I mean, I meant it, but it shouldn't have been directed at just you."

"Really, Tony, it's—"

"I swear to God, if you tell me 'it's okay' one more time, I'm actually going to lose it." Steve's smile disappeared and Tony felt like a jerk, but he needed to get this off his chest. Trying to placate the situation wasn't going to help anyone. "Look, turns out, resentment gets old… and I hate it. But I don't hate you," Steve's dumbfounded expression made Tony grimace, and he couldn't help but look away.

"You should. Hate me, I mean."

"You're not making forgiving you any easier, you know," Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. "So what, you're saying you hate me still?"

Steve scoffed. "I never hated you. I just was mad that you couldn't understand."

"I'm sorry I didn't."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you the chance to."

Something like relief spread throughout Tony's whole being. Maybe he should have tried talking to Steve sooner, even if it would just end up in some weird kind of apology circle. Maybe what they needed was an apology circle.

(He'd like to think Peter would be proud of him for this)

"The point of this was, uh, I have something for you that I should have given you a long time ago," Tony said sheepishly. He started walking over to where their storage room held some of their older or damaged gear. The room held one of Tony's old arc-reactors, Steve's star spangled idiot costume, Natasha's old handguns, and even Clint's first wrecked bow.

Opening a secret compartment, Tony pulled out Captain America's shield.

Steve looked at it with a sad wistfulness that gave Stark the feeling it was past time to give it back to him.

"Tony, I don't know…"

"He made it for you." Tony tried to ignore the weight of his father's ghost hanging over them, but it was ever present as always. But you know what? Screw it. "And it's a part of you. No one should take that from you."

Steve's eyes looked glassy, and it seemed like he was only going to stare at it but he soon accepted the shield with a tight nod.

"Thank you." The sincerity there was enough to bring a smile to Tony's face. At least through all of this infinity stone mess he had found his friend again—that was some small comfort.

"Yeah. But better get ready, Thanos's purple ass could be here any second."

Steve clapped a hand on Tony's shoulder, and the two made their way to meet up with the rest of the team.

… … …

It was slightly terrifying that Thanos could show up at any second, but looking around at the badass group of heroes, Tony knew they could handle him. The titan took Peter away from him, and by any means necessary was he going to get his kid back. He had to.

Tony failed the universe, but he was used to feeling that weight on his shoulders. He couldn't handle failing Peter.

Pepper, being the saint that she was, understood him. She knew that he needed to do this, to take down Thanos. What he didn't expect was that she would want to take Thanos down with him. Tony had been working on the Rescue suit for some time, but he never would have guessed that Pep would ever want to actually put it on. She never wore anything he gave her…

But he couldn't have been more terrified and proud at the same time seeing her standing beside him in the blue and silver suit. It reminded him that this was it—after this battle, there wouldn't be any do-overs, no second chances. Glancing around at his wife and the rest of his teammates, he knew that they were all prepared this time. They were together.

Scott wore his classic ant-suit primed with the rest of the Pym particles they had scrounged up. Bruce was at the ready in the Hulk-buster armor, the Hulk still unable to make an appearance—he'd be helpful nonetheless. Rhodey had been devoured by War-Machine, the suit holding so many weapons it was hard to tell if the veteran even occupied it. Rocket climbed up onto Rhodey's shoulder, cocking his terribly oversized gun. Danvers shone bright like a star above them, too anxious to whoop Thanos's ass to stand on the ground with them.

Even from Tony's distance, he could see the way Clint gripped his bow so tight that his knuckles turned white, and the scowl he sported alone looked like it could kill. Nebula stood beside Natasha, the former wearing some of the latter's older gear. Nat was terrifying, her sleek black suit (that Tony had upgraded while she was… away) crackled with red electricity that lit her face in an eerie red glow. She stood next to Steve, who wore a suit that was more reminiscent of his old one he'd sported back in the 40s. The man looked comfortable in his own skin—Tony had a feeling Steve hadn't been in a long, long time.

Thor stood off a few paces away from the rest of them, his new weapon glowing with power much like how Danvers shone above them. Even though they all wanted Thanos dead for their own reasons, Thor looked absolutely murderous compared to the Avengers. You could tell he was thinking of Thanos when he looked like that, and Tony was honestly scared of the guy—it had only gotten worse ever since Loki was mentioned.

Frankly, Tony didn't care if Thor ripped Thanos apart. The titan beyond deserved it, and they were all lucky to have powerhouses like Thor and Carol to fight with them. The only issue was that they had no idea what to expect. Would Thanos have an army again? Or was he powerful enough to fight them by himself?

The sky darkened and more clouds rolled in with a gust of bone-chilling wind. Steve bristled beside Tony—it was only a matter of time, now.

"Remember, we need to get the gauntlet off of him," Steve said aloud and into his comm. "Kill him if we can, but the stones are the priority." He paused, looking at the ground and then mumbled, "Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes," the rest of them replied intermittently. Steve probably wasn't expecting them to support him as the leader, but he seemed reassured at their own willingness to follow him to battle one last time. Tony gave the younger man a half-smile.

But the moment would be cut short, because soon enough the clouds above them began to take a bluish tint. A portal opened above them and the other side looked like the black abyss Tony suffered so many nightmares about. He shook his head, getting rid of the thought as the abyss seemed to light up before them.

And then what looked like hell-fire rained on top of them.

Meteors engulfed in purple light flew down and crashed into everything in sight, completely destroying the Compound. Had they not been prepared, they would have been vaporized where they stood. But as it was, Tony had experience with getting moons and things thrown at him so this was nothing he couldn't avoid.

The team sprang into action, either taking cover or preparing to attack whatever else Thanos would shoot through at them. Tony heard over the comms that Rhodes and Rocket were trapped under some debris, and his heart clenched. He had to get them out—

"Stark."

Tony hated that voice.

While everything prior to that moment had been going way too damn fast, time seemed to still as Tony gazed upon the titan once more. This was the fiend that made all of them suffer, and that thought alone made his blood boil.

What made things worse was that time actually had stood still because Thanos was using the Time stone to do it.

Peter.

The way he smirked led Tony to believe he knew the significance of the Time stone and how much it hurt to have a reminder of his kid dangled in front of him. And it fucking hurt.

Stark literally had become blind with rage. It was something he'd never felt at this magnitude before; the only time that came close was when he found out Steve lied to him about his parents' death.

Tony screeched and attempted to advance on the titan, but in an instance the purple monster had teleported away from him.

Time resumed its normal pace, and Tony found himself flung to the side by the whiplash of it. Thanos chuckled, watching as Steve rushed to his side to help him get back up. Taking in their surroundings, Tony could tell that Thanos hadn't necessarily come alone. The Reality stone allowed him to create an endless yet deadly army that advanced on the Avengers mercilessly. Danvers seemed to be holding them back with a wall of… some kind of energy or light, while the rest either fought with her or were trying to free Rhodey, Rocket, and apparently Scott from the rubble of what once was the Compound.

Thanos approached them slowly.

"…You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me." The titan grimaced, "You must understand, by eliminating half of life the other half will thrive. But by tampering with the stones, you've shown me as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yep, we get stubborn when a psychotic purple Hutt tries to take over the world," Tony barked. Steve raised an eyebrow, not fully understanding the comment, but didn't say anything.

Thanos huffed. "I'm thankful. Because now I know what I must do. I will shred your planet down to its last atom. And then with the stones you've helped me collect—" Tony growled at this, but Thanos did not stop, "—create a new one teeming with life that knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given. A silent, but grateful world."

"Born out of blood… the blood of children—!" Steve began, but Thanos went on as if the two of them had been silent.

"They'll never know it, because you won't be alive to tell them. You should know, in all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal. I only make the necessary sacrifices to keep the balance, same as the Stones, and you've disrupted that balance. So, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm going to enjoy it," he said as he brandished the gauntlet and his blade that he conjured using the power stone. It seemed rectangular in shape, but even from their distance they could tell it was a sinister weapon. The army built from the reality stone coalesced behind him, taking the form of every villain the Avengers has ever faced. "Very, very much."

Chitauri, Ultron's robots, Kree, Dark Elves, Outriders, Hydra agents, and any other mob of enemies they'd defeated in the past decade were silhouetted with the blood-red light of the Reality stone. They advanced on the pitifully small group of Avengers; but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in strength.

At that exact moment, Scott burst from the debris of the Compound in the form of a giant, safely depositing Rhodes and Rocket onto the ground. The remaining Avengers all got to work helping Carol fend off the army behind Thanos while Cap and Tony rushed forwards head on against the titan.

It seemed a miracle that Thanos hadn't snapped his fingers yet, but given what they had learned about him, it wasn't that far out of character. He liked to explain himself, put himself above others intellectually before grinding them to dirt. He must have known the infinity stones were awake, ready to turn against him, and using all the Stones at once again might end up backfiring.

And Danvers had explained this to them earlier while they were preparing for this battle. The infinity stones might obey him individually, but if he were to snap… well, it could be catastrophic for not just Thanos, but all of them.

Tony lunged for the gauntlet, but he was knocked away by the flat end of Thanos' blade. Steve got a few good hits in, but it turned out that whatever material the titan's sword was made out of could slice clean through Vibranium. He chipped off the edge of Cap's shield, breaking his guard and then sliced open Steve's calf. The Captain bit back a scream.

Reaching for his friend, Stark charged his repulsors. But whatever he was going to try to do was briefly halted, for he looked to the sky and saw a bolt of white lightning crash down upon the titan. It was Thor, in all his rage sending his own version of hell-fire on Thanos. Tony smirked beneath his mask, making a run for Steve.

"Hey, bud, you alright? Need a walker, old man?" he reached a hand out to help him up.

Steve chuckled. "Leave it to you to make a joke right now, Tony."

"That's half of my job description."

Steve rose, and Tony blasted off after Thor and Thanos, wherever their fight had taken them. From what Stark could tell, Thor's axe was doing better than Cap's shield, but that was about the only success he seemed to be having. Lightning blasts that made Tony's hair stand on end only singed the titan, and this made the god even more furious.

"You will die, I swear it to you!" Thor bellowed.

"Come now, 'god of Thunder,' you failed twice already. What will make this time any different? It seems your brother's faith in you was misplaced!"

And oh, did Thor scream.

Tony had to remind himself that the god was on his side so he wouldn't stand frozen in place after hearing the noise tear itself out of his throat. It was a scream born of pure anger, and the emotion behind it made Thor unfocused.

The purple asshole knew that.

Thanos used it to his own advantage, deflecting Thor's lightning with growing ease. Tony tried to approach him to get another hit in, but a lazy blast from Thor had Thanos redirecting it right towards Iron Man.

For Thanos, it seemed to be a perfect way to get rid of two opponents at once. Luckily for Tony, this had happened before. The lightning struck him, charging the suit up 400-fold as it conducted enough energy to light up ten Stark Towers. With a grin he fired up his repulsors and shot them at the off-guard titan.

It bought them some time, but the army of the Reality stone was upon them soon enough. And once again, the Avengers were in for the fight of their lives.

They were able to destroy the individual soldiers created by the stones, but when one disintegrated, five more only took their place. Thanos took his sweet time recovering after Tony's repulsor blast and seemed frustrated that not even his endless army could take out the Avengers in one fell swoop.

Tony spared a glance around the battlefield, and he noticed Nat and Clint tag teaming against Chitauri and HYDRA agents outlined in red. The two of them together were a nearly unstoppable team, and had there not been more soldiers advancing on him Tony could have stood there all day watching them participate in their art of combat.

He must have missed something going past his defenses, since Pepper was suddenly behind him and blasting a wayward outrider. He could practically see her smirk beneath her helmet, and he decided that would be the last time she got to one-up him!

Landing on the ground, he helped Black Widow and Hawkeye take out the surrounding enemies. The least he could do was give them a breather, and Tony didn't want to brag but he knew that he could take out more enemies than they would be able to alone.

"Thanks, shellhead!" Natasha shouted over the cacophony of the battle.

"Anything for you, Agent Romanoff!" Tony quipped. He didn't want to leave them to their own devices again, but then Bruce came charging in with the Hulk Buster armor completely annihilating any of the surrounding enemies that Nat or Barton hadn't gotten to yet. Alright, he supposed that worked too.

Tony flew around the field again, taking out any airborne enemies alongside Rhodey and the occasional Carol, but she was making her way towards Thanos. Tony smirked; good. That bastard wasn't going to know what hit him.

He blasted a stray Chitauri off of his ankle, and it fell to the ground only to be squashed by Scott's now giant foot. Ant-Man swatted at flying enemies and outriders that tried to climb up his legs as if they were only, well, ants. Tony aided him in the process of eliminating them, feeling oddly strange that now he was so small compared to Scott.

"Hey, it's like a role-reversal!" the man boomed.

Usually, Tony found Scott's humor to be incredibly unintelligent, but in the midst of this battle Ant-Man's joke had Iron-Man giggling. Maybe Lang actually was funny.

"Whatever you say, pissant."

A burst of light distracted him and everyone else on the battlefield, causing many of the remaining Avengers to become disoriented. Pepper lifted a hand to shield her eyes, and for a moment it left her vulnerable to an attack from behind. Tony ignored his own discomfort to come to her aid, and it was just in time.

Well, now he could say that they were even.

He wished whole-heartedly that she would just fly away from this battle to somewhere safe, but he knew she was far too strong and courageous for that.

She nodded her thanks, and Tony wanted nothing more than to just hug her in the middle of the battlefield. He wasn't sure why, but even still he had to suppress the urge.

The shining light turned out to be combined attacks at Thanos from Thor and Carol, with the titan deflecting their blows using the gauntlet. An extremely strong strike knocked Thor many yards away, his axe flying in the opposite direction.

It landed right at Steve's feet.

Iron Man watched with awe as the super soldier picked up Stormbreaker and swiped at Thanos with it.

Tony landed next to Thor, helping the god up.

"You let Rogers pick up the axe but not me? I'm offended."

"Well, he did almost pick up Mjolnir once."

"What!?"

"Thor!" Steve shouted and threw the axe in their direction. Thor jumped up with the aid of lightning and caught Stormbreaker mid-air, bringing the weapon down on top of Thanos again. The titan barely blocked the god's strike and Captain Marvel's soon after.

This time, Carol lunged for the gauntlet, but Thanos had become much more skilled in handling the stones than the last time they all had faced him. She couldn't get close enough to Thanos' left hand without his sinister blade blocking her photon blasts. While the Space stone was voided as far as Carol was concerned, the other infinity stones were still in play. Thanos used the Time and Power stones to keep her at a maddening distance.

They all knew that if she were to get any closer, the titan was done for.

Thor seemed to be having a similar issue, and when Captain Marvel and the demigod would work together the titan used it against them. Their attacks shot off towards each other, and it was one big confusing explosion of light after another.

Everyone else seemed to be dealing with the army of enemies currently, and with Thor and Carol down for a second, it was only Iron Man up against the titan. Thanos didn't even see him, so Tony took the small distraction and used it to his advantage. He rushed the titan and reached for the gauntlet. He was so close…

Iron Man was met with a very hard punch to the face. In fact, it was so hard that he was pretty sure his helmet was dented which was supposed to be impossible.

He groaned, struggling to stand when he saw the titan glowering over him, holding his blade ready to strike.

And for the second time, Tony accepted death as the titan stared him in the face. It was harder this time because he knew that Pepper would be watching now, and he knew that he wouldn't get to see Peter one last time.

But it was okay. Tony tried, and that was all he could do, he finally realized. He tried.

Pepper was screaming, and so was Rhodey, and he hated hearing that. It shouldn't have been them here to see this, but it was.

Tony flinched, waiting for the killing blow that never came.

He pushed himself fully to his feet to see Steve now grappling with the titan, squeezing the gauntlet so hard it could have left marks. He was no match for Thanos alone, he had to have known that, but still Steve grabbed at the Time stone and it almost came free from its housing. Thanos growled, and Tony knew what was about to happen but he was too slow to act, always too damn slow—

"No!"

Thanos impaled the super soldier, lifting him up on the blade for all the Avengers to see.

Steve gasped, his eyes blown wide as his broken shield slipped from his nerveless fingers. The damaged vibranium disk fell to the ground silently, and Tony found himself wishing it would make a sound—anything that could mask Steve's gagging that sounded far too much like Peter's had been.

The titan examined the young man like he was only a bug on a stick. Steve grasped at the blade in some unconscious attempt to relieve the pressure to his abdomen, but Thanos only chuckled at the futile attempts.

Tony roared at made straight for the titan but was overtaken by more and more enemies that he'd neglected earlier. Natasha appeared and helped lighten the load, but once she followed Tony's gaze a look of sheer horror came over her features.

"Steve!"

Everyone else flicked their eyes to where Natasha's anguish was directed, and they too became distraught. The distraction caused many of them to falter in their own battles, but Carol swooped back in to keep the army from overrunning them all. At the same time, a grand roar belted out across the battlefield, one that Tony hadn't heard since the battle against Ultron.

The Hulk was back.

Seeing Steve so injured and broken like that must have finally made Bruce angry enough for the Hulk to emerge. And Tony understood; if he had a Hulk inside of him, it would be bursting out with the rage of ten green monsters. Thanos just hurt their friend.

Hulk tried to reach Thanos, but the army proved too great in numbers to let him pass.

The titan still held Steve off of the ground, and now he was laughing, relishing in their collective despair. It seemed he finally got one of them, and he thought the rest of them would be close behind.

This was not the case.

"You-you say the Stones demand a sacrifice?" Steve spat blood at Thanos. It was surprising that he was managing to speak at all, especially in between his gasps for air that seemed to be getting more strained as time went on. He also winced, and Tony felt a pang in his heart at the sight.

The titan dragged him closer, and ripped off Steve's suit's cowl, revealing the bruised face of a very tired Steve Rogers. As the titan did this, he opened his mouth to say something probably patronizing or anything along those lines. However, he didn't get the chance. By pulling Steve closer to him, it allowed the super-soldier to make a grab at the gauntlet on Thanos' other hand once more—the hand that had ripped off Steve's mask.

It shouldn't have been possible, not even for someone with the super soldier serum, but something had granted Steve some kind of godly strength in that moment to rip the gauntlet in half as he tore it from Thanos' forearm.

As soon as he did so, the blade that once held him above the ground disappeared and a small shockwave sent Thanos colliding with the ground. Steve crumpled to the rocky surface, finally slumping down. He wasn't moving.

Tears burned in Tony's eyes as he grit his teeth. Dammit, Rogers was supposed to get back up, he couldn't just lay there! After everything they'd been through, this couldn't be how he met his end.

Tony couldn't lose another person because they had sacrificed themself for him. Certainly not Steve.

As soon as the stones clattered to the ground, the army created by the Reality stone disappeared. Any other hazard that Thanos had created using the stones vanished, and the infinity gems lay dormant and silent on the scorched ground.

They had a moment to breathe, and in that moment Tony staggered to where Steve lay curled in on himself—Natasha was hot on his heels. When they reached him, they saw how his face was twisted in pain and he held his hands over the wound in his stomach as if that would relieve him of the agony of being impaled.

It literally was like Peter all over again.

Tony turned him over onto his back and Natasha rested his head in her lap.

"You dumbass—" she choked out.

Steve chuckled but it was a hollow, gurgling sound. "I know, I know."

"I thought none of us were making the sacrifice play anymore, Rogers!" Tony hissed. "Now you go and pull shit like this?"

"Had-had to one up you from New York…"

Did Captain America just make a joke?

Despite himself, Tony let out a wet laugh. "Yeah, well, I survived and so will you. You've got to hang on for me, bud."

Steve shook his head weakly. "It's not over… you have to finish the mission."

"No," Natasha blurted. "We're getting you out of here—"

"Nat…"

"Shut up, Rogers! You, of all people, are not leaving me behind."

Tony never had seen Nat cry in earnest, and the sight of tears streaming down her face had him frozen in fear. If she was breaking, how could there be any hope for the rest of them?

"This is how you get—" Steve coughed, "both your families back. Y-you deserve it…" He trailed off. Tony wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but Natasha seemed to understand, squeezing her eyes shut as she swallowed back a sob. "And-and for Peter," Steve's eyes flicked to Tony's. "I'd do this all day, any day."

Tony shook his head. "Quit rambling, old man. You've gotta help us end this—"

"No," Steve gasped. "You… you have to finish it. Assemble the team, both of you… I'll be alright…"

Tony didn't quite believe that, but he did not have time to dispute since their small moment of peace would soon be shattered—the stones weren't quite done yet. Both he and Natasha rose reluctantly from Steve's side as the super-soldier urged them onwards, and he returned to curling up in a ball, keeping pressure on his wound. Natasha stood in front of him in a defensive stance, and soon Barton came up behind her and stood with her.

Now, the stones shone so bright where they lay scattered on the ground it was completely blinding. Tony even staggered backwards, tripping and falling back to the ground due to the disorientation.

He closed his eyes, but not even the back of his eyelids nor his suit's helmet could block out the ambient green glow that blinked before him. The glow was cradling him almost, and he might as well not be wearing the suit at all as he felt its soft light between his fingers.

"Mr. Stark?"

Tony blinked his eyes open despite knowing that he would probably go blind. He retracted his helmet for good measure, just to make sure that his eyes did not deceive him, because it was Peter standing before him.

His kid.

"Don't worry, Tony," he said, bathed in a green light that twinkled in his eyes as he smirked. He spoke with a voice that seemed to transcend all sound. "We got this."

And for what felt like the millionth time in the past couple months, Tony sobbed.


By some miracle, the Avengers had managed to remove the gauntlet from Thanos' arm. Loki had no idea how, and was honestly surprised they figured out how to do it. Well, he supposed that Carol might have had something to do with that.

Upon reentering the physical world, the first thing Loki thought was that he was so glad to not be greeted with the sight of complete orange for a change.

The second thing he realized was that the Space stone lay at his feet, and its power reached deep within the depths of his soul.

The third thing he saw was Thor across what seemed to be a charred battlefield. He had forgone the eyepatch in favor of some kind of artificial eye. Shame—Loki liked the eyepatch.

And among all of these things, Loki found he couldn't care less about the power he'd been granted, nor the Avengers presented before him, nor Thanos next to him. He instead strode towards his brother, ignoring the blue light that seemed to follow him everywhere he went now.

The god of Mischief extended a hand down towards the god of Thunder, and Thor's eyes widened as far as anyone's eyes could ever widen.

"Before you say anything, no, we are not doing 'Get Help'." Loki must have been seeing things, because Thor's entire face crumpled as he choked down a sob. He grabbed his arm, and Loki turned back towards the battle but was pulled backwards by his brother. Strong arms grabbed ahold of his shoulders and suddenly he was pulled into a bone-crushing embrace. "Thor, the battle—"

"Shut up, you stupid, stupid—" Thor began, but his own sob cut him off. "You're not the worst brother, you're the best brother, you're my brother."

Loki would be lying (as usual) if he said he didn't cry right then. A genuine smile graced his lips, and Odin's words filtered through his mind once again.

Remember this place. Home.

"Oi, Odinsons, we got a job to finish, yeah?" Valkyrie quipped, as ill-timed as ever. She was bathed in red light, her armor flashing in different variations of the same ancient design of a Valkyrie warrior.

Oh great. Now she could use magic to prank him. Loki would not stand for that!

But the woman was right; there was a job to finish.

They moved to where the rest of the Infinity Souls stood, but Thor would not release Loki. He held onto him for dear life, picking up some kind of axe weapon with his other hand.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't need another hammer."

"No, I just upgraded."

Loki scoffed, but couldn't hide his grin.

Thanos still stood a decent distance away, too shocked to try and recover the stones. It wasn't like there was a gauntlet he could use them with anymore anyway, as Loki spotted the remains of the old one upon the ground. Whoever had done that must have been immensely strong and stupid to try and get so close to the titan. But alas, their plan had worked.

Ian stood next to Danvers, helping her to stand up. Vision hovered next to Barton, clasping the man's forearm. Stark clung to Peter even more desperately than Thor had clung to Loki, and he didn't seem to be letting go any time soon, even though he would have to.

(Was he the boy's father? He never quite sorted that out.)

Gamora stood in the middle of all of them, with some kind of rabbit resting atop her shoulder. Nebula stood quietly behind her and the cyborg actually appeared to be smiling. So, it really was the end of times.

"I have to go—" Peter began, but Iron Man held him in an iron-tight grip.

"No. I'm taking you away from here—"

"I gotta do this, Mr. Stark…" the boy said solemnly. Loki thought again of how Peter was far too young to be in the situation that he was. "You have to let me do it."

"Tony," the Vision spoke up. "He will be alright. This is our duty."

It seemed Stark trusted Vision enough to believe him, and slowly his grip on his boy loosened. "You come right back here when it's done, you understand me, Parker?" he said, pointing his finger at him.

The boy nodded and laughed, it was a remarkably sweet sound, before he slipped out of Tony's grasp.

Loki turned to Thor behind him, and was about to say that he too needed to let go, but Thor seemed to understand without Loki saying anything.

"Loki," Thor said quickly, desperately, before he had a chance to turn around. He looked back at him earnestly, blue eyes meeting green. "I'm proud of you, brother."

Loki wasn't sure why, but the words gave him more strength than any infinity stone ever could have.

The six Infinity Souls found themselves in a circle, grasping onto each other's hands and shoulders. At this point, Thanos had begun to stir, to march towards them, but his efforts would be in vain.

Finally, Valkyrie enclosed their circle by grasping Loki and Ian's hands. As each of their eyes blazed with the color of their respective stones, they could all feel the power surging through them. This was the power that Thanos had undermined, had took for granted.

But no more.

The energy coursing through their veins reached its peak, and they were no longer individual souls anymore, they were—if only for a moment—a singular entity, representing the universe.

Gamora was the one to snap her fingers to undo all the evil Thanos had done with the stones.

This time, it would be the titan's shout that would get drowned out by the power of a snap.

Loki could hear Gamora's request for the universe to mend itself carried along whatever celestial wind encircled them now. And in his mind's eye, he could see worlds he'd never even known about. He had access to them all, to watch them be created, grow, age, and eventually die under his watchful eye. This was the power of the space stone.

He could constrict, phase, displace, do anything he wanted in order to bring about glorious chaos or calming peace. He could see where Asgard was supposed to be, saw where it was going to be, and saw where he was going to be—where he wanted to be.

By Thor's side.

Loki had full control over his future, now—as did the rest of the Infinity Souls.

They each released each other, all of them entranced in their own visions. However, it was here that they were all at their most vulnerable. Loki was the only one who could actually see that, seeing as his vision was of everything at all times at once.

Thanos had resided himself to crawling along the ground, too quick to be caught by any of the Avengers. He grasped at where the Power stone lay on the ground, and slammed it into the center of his chest-plate. It wasn't an infinity gauntlet, but the titan seemed to be strong enough to withstand the purple infinity stone's power.

Ian was none too pleased with this once he snapped out of whatever vision held him captive. The rest of them eventually came to as well, and instantly went for the kill against the titan. He was able to defend himself utilizing the stone, and immediately went for Ian and Carol.

Danvers had still been disoriented from the second snap, and was in no position to deflect the blast. Ian, who stood in front of her, could not draw power from his stone seeing as it was in the hands of another, and was sent flying back with her.

"Enough!" Gamora screeched. "Can you not see when you are finally beaten?"

Thanos looked at her with what seemed like anguish, but his visage soon turned to that of an evil glare.

"Fools," the titan spat at the Avengers who were taking fighting stances once again. "I felt your tampering of the stones days ago. This… mirage will not defeat me. I am nothing if not prepared." With a sonic boom, a large space-ship broke through Earth's atmosphere and hovered over the remains of the compound. From that one ship, more shuttles and enemies (albeit less than there had been originally) kept appearing as Thanos' actual unending army descended from the sky. This was no fabrication created by the Reality stone. "I am inevitable."

"Well, like the old man said," Stark boomed over all of them, "we're the Avengers. We can do this all day." His eyes narrowed as his iron helm snapped over his face and the armor he wore buzzed to life. "And this is the endgame."

The team of heroes prepared themselves for what they were sure would be a losing battle, but as soon as Stark said this, orange portals began to appear all around and behind them.

Loki could see with his new sight where each portal led to and where these heroes were all coming from—they were the Avengers that had been taken in the first snap, now reborn.

A whole new army finally appeared, and Thanos finally looked afraid.

"Dear Thanos," Loki couldn't help but taunt, "it seems you have the gift of hindsight and foresight; you do know what it's like to lose."

Crazed eyes snapped to meet his own, and the titan was roaring as he rushed Loki. The god easily sidestepped the attack, despite the use of the Power stone. Thanos was met with a harsh hit from Thor as the other god swung Stormbreaker in Loki's absence. Thanos was sent staggering backwards.

The Infinity Souls each battled Thanos then as the two armies collided with blood and battle-cries.

Ian rejoined the fray, using his own power now to hold his own against the hordes of enemies. Loki never figured out what exactly the man was, but he was powerful—he could deduce that much.

Val created her own army of sister Valkyries on winged horses with her power of reality. They quickly overwhelmed and thwarted any airborne attacks Thanos' army had prepared. Vision utilized the Mind stone with 100% efficiency, and he too attacked flying enemies from above. The only time he landed was to talk to some young woman dressed in all red. Peter, his fingers forming interesting shapes, wielded the Time stone to slow the advance of any enemies that would come close to aid Thanos or hinder Gamora.

Ah yes, that was right, Gamora was ruthlessly battling Thanos with Nebula at her side. The Zehoberei was trying to use her power of the Soul stone to reduce Thanos to ash, but he was able to just barely use the Power stone to block her advances. Loki found he could not help himself from aiding her, and soon joined the fray as well.

The titan was a formidable enemy, but even he could not hold his own against the power of the infinity stones. Every time he'd come close to claiming victory over one of the Infinity Souls, Peter would find a way to slow his attack or reroute time to move in a different way.

Loki supposed he should have seen what was coming next, but he was ashamed to say that he didn't.

While the Infinity Souls were imbued with the power of each stone, the stones did not take their humanity from them. With humanity came human error, and the titan knew just how to exploit that—exploit Peter in particular.

Instead of aiming for Gamora and Nebula or Loki and Thor, Thanos directed his attention to Stark, who battled enemies not too far away from Peter. The titan punched Iron Man so hard in the face, it left quite the dent in his armor and sent Tony staggering.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter shouted over the cacophony of the battle. He ran to protect his mentor, but Thanos had already grabbed the Avenger by the head and ripped the metal helmet off of him. This stopped everyone in the vicinity's tracks.

"Take another step, and I will disembowel your father, Spider," Thanos said in a menacing and low voice.

"Technically, he's not—"

"Technically, I'm not—"

Both Peter and Stark began to quip, but the titan's grimace and tensing of his hand silenced them. "Give me the Time stone."

"I-I can't…"

"Then I shall dispatch of Stark before your very eyes. And you won't save him this time."

"No!" Peter shouted and lunged for Tony. But, this was exactly what Thanos had intended. The titan instantly released Stark and instead grabbed Peter around the throat in a bone-crushing grip.

Tony collapsed, but had enough strength to look up in horror at the sight of Peter dangling from Thanos' grip.

For Loki, this sight was far too familiar.

"Killing him will not give you the stone," Loki cut in frantically, taking a hesitant couple of steps forward so as not to antagonize the titan into killing Peter. "It's still somewhere on the battlefield, most likely trampled by the barbaric heathens you call an army."

"Perhaps. But perhaps I could still extract it from his veins," Thanos smirked. His fingers twitched, causing Peter to gasp in pain.

Loki panicked. "Then take the Space stone from me. Let them live," he nodded to Tony and Peter.

"Ah, Laufeyson. We've done this before, haven't we? I'll show you what it was like from your brother's perspective," he said, tightening his grip around Peter's throat, cutting off any air supply the boy had. He clawed at the titan's massive hand, but his efforts were futile.

Loki's mind was further afield than Thanos', however. He knew what Peter would do because Loki had told the boy what he wished he'd done before Thanos killed him in the exact same way.

("Did it hurt?" the boy had asked hesitantly.

"Yes, but not for long. I only wish I'd ripped the stone out of his gauntlet instead of trying to free myself. It was a futile attempt, I should have just done what would have caused the most chaos."

"Because you're the god of Mischief?"

"No, Peter. Because that power, as much as I once coveted it, does not belong to one being. Not even Thanos."

Peter chuckled. "You sound like my uncle.")

"H-hey douchebag…" Peter gasped out. Before Thanos could even turn his attention back to the boy, Spider-Man yanked the stone from the holding in Thanos' chestplate with a pained cry. The Power stone was Ian's, not Peter's, so it did not spare him from whatever burns it would inflict upon any other human, Time stone powers be damned. "With great power…" he overemphasized the word, "comes great responsibility!"

And using the Power stone, Peter Parker punched Thanos square in the jaw and sent him flying at least 100 yards away.

"Peter!" multiple heroes shouted as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his now completely burnt and charred arm. The one who shouted closest to Loki was Gamora.

The woman's face darkened, but instead of rushing to Peter's side, she turned her glare to the rest of Thanos' army. With her arms now raised up high, her eyebrows pinched in concentration and her face twisted with exertion. Even when a Midgardian man alongside Nebula, a tree, and a rabbit among others bounded up the hill to plead with her to stop, that she was hurting herself, she did not relent.

She would have been unsuccessful had Ian not come up behind her and use his rightful power of the Power stone to strengthen her. Carol shouted after him, but he pretended not to hear her as he grasped Gamora's shoulder and let all of his power flow through her.

The two of them stood there, Ian crumpling further as Gamora siphoned more and more of his power in order to do what Loki feared she was attempting to do. A dribble of blood traveled from her nose and down her chin as she squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, she fell backwards and into her friends' arms. Ian collapsed to the ground, Danvers rushing to hold him up.

And all at once, the souls of Thanos's army were blown away like dust in the wind. It couldn't have been the same as a snap, but Loki reckoned it was as close enough to one as it could get.

Gamora was alright, albeit exhausted now but Ian was—

"Loki! Watch out!" Thor's shout cut through his thoughts.

But Loki already knew who would be running to try and attack him from behind, and he knew that he would not be successful.

As Loki turned, he watched as Thanos' legs turned to ash first and he tripped over himself. His hateful glare was directed at Loki, but the god of Mischief only smiled his famous, treacherous smile. He held the titan's gaze as the fiend disappeared into nothingness, finally one with Death.

The battle was over, but it had not been won without sacrifices.

Of course, not without damn sacrifices.

Loki found himself helpless to watch Tony Stark cradle a small Peter Parker in his arms, the boy's right arm a charred and bloody mess after wielding the Power stone with his bare hand. The Guardians of the Galaxy crowded around Gamora, her eyes unfocused even as she tried to rise to her feet, failing to do so. Valkyrie rested a hand on Danvers' shoulder as she cradled Ian in her arms—Loki could see his life-force fading fast.

"Loki?" Thor said cautiously behind him.

He refused to turn around and show his brother the tears overflowing in his eyes, he was an Odinson, he'd only known these people for… well, some period of time, he should not be weeping. It was preposterous, weak, and pointless.

But he wept nonetheless.

Loki's lips quivered as he sunk to his knees. He hardly noticed Thor grabbing hold of him, checking him for injuries, and then just simply holding him. His brother did not understand that Loki could see multiple things at once, could see his friends cling to life as their loved ones begged for them to hold on.

First, it was Gamora. She would live, Loki could see that much, but only if she received medical care right away. Nebula would not give up on her sister, and rushed around the battlefield full of reborn heroes searching for any kind of healer or medic. She would find someone, a girl with a man donning black panther armor next to her, and they would carry Gamora away on a stretcher. The young girl shouted orders to other warriors similarly dressed as her, and that Doctor, Strange? Whatever his name was, he created a portal (similar to the ones that brought all the heroes to this battlefield) and Gamora was carried through it. On the other side of the portal existed some sort of healing chamber or hospital, and the Guardians followed after their friend.

The warrior with black armor did not follow the young girl who had led them through the portal. He instead ran off to another part of the battlefield alongside Barton, but they ran right behind where Stark held Peter, and Loki could not look away from this fresh tragedy.

Stark had shed all of his iron armor and gathered Peter in his arms like the mere child that he was. He kept brushing the boy's hair back from his forehead, hoping that would comfort him, but it was fruitless. Peter was too weak to call upon the Time stone to reverse his injury, and who knew wherever the Hel the stone was underneath the dust and debris of the battlefield.

Little Peter Parker, who reminded Loki so much of his younger self, was going to die.

"Peter? Pete, wh-why—" Stark cut himself off with a choked cry. More heroes surrounded him, and he looked up at two of them who wore armor similar to his, "Pep, Rhodes, please, I-I can't… I don't know what to do!"

Tony shifted Peter in his arms again, hoping to jostle him into awareness, but all Peter could muster was a small groan and whimper.

Once, Loki might have relished in Iron Man's despair. Now, he only empathized with the man.

"Rhodes!" Tony shouted again, his voice breaking.

"Tony… there's nothing we can—"

"No, no, you will not finish that sentence. I'm not losing him again… I—oh my God—" Tony sobbed to himself then, pressing little kisses to Peter's cheeks, his forehead, his hairline, his temples, even though the right side of these was burnt and blistered. "Please, please, don't go, don't go…"

"Tony…" Peter came into awareness enough to rasp, "i's okay."

"No, Pete… it's not! I love you, kid, come on, perk up Spider-Man, you're an Avenger! Avengers don't—" he sobbed again, glancing over his shoulder at something before turning his attention back to Peter, "Avengers don't die."

Peter's eyelids fluttered, "'M sorry, didn't mean to… make you s-sad…" his teeth chattered as he gasped for air again.

"I can't—Oh God, I can't do this again…" Tony breathed, and the woman who also had iron-armor, Pepper, stepped in and crouched next to him and held both him and Peter in an embrace.

Dr. Strange appeared behind them, but his gaze was not focused on Peter and Tony. No, he was looking at Loki with pleading eyes—a look unbecoming of a Sorceror Supreme.

Loki glanced back down at Peter and could almost hear his heartbeat slow, nearly stop, before a thought occurred to him. He snapped his gaze back up to Strange's, and the other man nodded to confirm Loki's suspicions.

The power of one infinity stone had done this to him, but there were many of them readily available as people, some even just enhanced by them. Loki rose from the ground and utilized the Space stone within him to teleport across the field (Thor would be confused, but Loki did not have time to go over it with him) and found Vision. Perhaps their combined efforts, with the girl who must have been the Scarlet Witch, could be enough to bring Peter's injury from the cosmic kind and back to the physical kind.

"What is he doing here?" the Scarlet Witch hissed.

Loki ignored her. "We need to help Peter. Us three, we can. Please." His pride cringed at his plea, but at this point Loki could not care less. "We need to siphon the energy out of his soul that poisons him—his own strength is the only reason he is still holding on. We can do something!"

The android's eyes searched Loki's and seemed to understand what his plan was. He whispered to the girl by his side, and her glare softened at whatever Vision had reassured her. She nodded at Loki, and the three of them headed over to where Tony crouched.

Peter was still alive, but barely.

When Tony saw Loki, his eyes were absolutely murderous. "You! You stay away from him!"

"Stark, I'm here to help—"

"No, you bastard—!" he shouted, scrambling away from Loki, kicking dust up in his wake. Peter whined in his arms at the sharp movement, and Loki knew they had to act fast.

"Let me help him. Please. I think I can."

(Loki's pride was taking all sorts of blows today.)

"Tony. Let us help," the Witch (Wanda, he would learn later) mumbled.

"He-he's a liar!" Stark's voice cracked, but his resolve was also cracking.

"If not Loki, trust us, we can do this," Vision crouched in front of him, and slowly Tony's grip on Peter lessened ever so slightly. It was as good of an answer as they were going to get.

Immediately, Loki and Vision began extracting the destructive essence of the Power stone that poisoned his veins. Before, Loki would never have known to do this—but he had been granted endless knowledge from the Space stone while Vision literally was the Mind stone and they both used their knowledge to do this for Peter.

As he and Vision extracted and dispersed the remnants of the Power stone back into the stone itself (which rested beside Peter's almost-corpse), Wanda did what she could to close off the open veins of Peter's life essence from which the Stone's energy came. Without the wrong Stone flowing through Peter's body and soul, he had a much better chance of survival.

However, like Gamora, Peter would need medical assistance immediately. Not to mention that he would most likely lose his arm…

Loki shook these thoughts from his head as he opened a portal to the best healing chamber he knew of in the whole universe; the healing halls of Vanaheim.

"Go! Tell them King Thor sent you. They can heal him, now."

Tony did not ask any questions while he carried Peter as carefully as he could, and the two people (Rhodes and Pepper) from before helped him. Right as Stark crossed the threshold, he turned and looked back at Vision. He thought that he might tell them all "thank you", but this was not the case. "Help Steve. Please, he-he can't die…"

"I'm on it," Wanda said, flying off in a burst of red energy towards where Tony had been glancing back before.

Tony walked through the portal, and Loki closed it as Thor ran up beside him.

"Where the Hel did you go?"

"I had to help the boy," Loki said simply. "But… my other friend…" he turned, trying to feel Ian's life-force as strongly as he had been able to before but it was muted—almost silent completely.

Loki had nearly forgotten about him. He rushed off again—much to Thor's chagrin—to where Valkyrie knelt, where Carol sat next to Ian who lay motionless on the ground. Well, not completely motionless—he was talking.

"I've done my people proud, Carol. The Soul stone is safe, now."

"But what about you?" said Danvers, fighting back tears. "You don't deserve this."

"I go to rest in the stars with my people, my family. Maybe… it is what I deserve…" he replied barely above a whisper.

"Perhaps I can help—" Loki trailed off, but the way Valkyrie glanced back at him told him that there was no helping anymore. Ian was too far gone.

"Keep the stones s-safe," Ian mumbled, his eyes already closed. They weren't sure who he was talking to out of all of them, so they all nodded in response even if he could not see them anymore. "I trust you—all of you."

With a shaky exhale, Ian Drake left the mortal world behind… for good, this time.

Carol curled him into her chest, letting silent tears fall as she mourned her friend—the one Infinity Soul to fall, the only one Loki could not save.

Loki clenched his teeth, feeling the burn behind his eyes again that meant tears were threatening to fall.

Yes, it was over—perhaps that meant that there would not have to be any more sacrifices. Loki was sure that his heart could not take much more.

And the god of Mischief mourned, letting his brother hold him once again as he finally let himself come undone. It had been a long time coming, Loki mused, and he'd died and come back too many times to think that he was above sentiment.

He nuzzled into his brother's warm embrace, letting everything else fade away.


Natasha was beyond grateful that this whole nightmare was over. She was sure of that. But the others that they had lost or almost lost—even if she did not know them all—were far too great a price to pay. Losing the one person who had been with her these past few terrifying years… Natasha could not stomach that.

So when everyone came back and Thanos' army turned to dust, she let herself collapse next to Steve, holding onto his face in hopes that maybe he was still alive, that her presence alone would keep him that way.

She knew it was a childish thought.

He was exactly how she and Tony had left him; curled in on himself and holding his hands to his stomach. His chest still shuddered, meaning that he was still breathing and alive, but the pool of red beneath him grew by the second.

"Rogers! Hey, you're not done yet, soldier!" she shouted, hoping to rouse him from unconsciousness.

His eyes were slits, glassy and unfocused—not the striking blue she'd come to love. "N'tasha?"

She carefully rolled him back onto his back and replaced his hands with her own steady ones over his wound. She knew it was not a good sign that he hardly reacted to the change in position.

She heard footsteps but didn't turn around to see who it was. Clint, T'Challa, Sam, and finally Bucky came skidding to a halt beside Steve, and after a quick glance-over from the King of Wakanda Natasha held her breath, hoping again for some good news after this shitshow.

She received none.

T'Challa looked up with a grim expression. "Clint… it is not good," he said quietly, but both Natasha and Bucky could still hear him.

"No, no, we can take him to Shuri—" Bucky said as he clasped Steve's hand in his own.

"There is nothing we can do, Barnes—"

"No!" Bucky repeated. "He can't go before me, I won't let that happen!"

Natasha was slightly thankful that at least someone else was just as in denial as she was, but at the same time she could hear how ridiculous their refusal to accept reality was.

"There has to be something…" Sam trailed off, but it seemed that he too was coming to his senses.

In a split second decision, Natasha decided to abandon her pride and now attempt to comfort Steve in his last moments. It's what she would want, and this man, her best friend, deserved the world in her eyes. No one was perfect or all righteous and Steve no longer pretended to be, but he was the perfect person for her, to be her rock.

She smiled sadly. "Steve, look at me."

He barely had the strength to lift his own head, so she helped him turn his face so that his eyes could meet hers.

He blinked. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Natasha shook her head, stroking his hair back from his forehead. "Does it still hurt?"

"Yes," he grunted, struggling to draw in breath. "But it's… it's fine."

"How the hell is any of this 'fine'!? You stupid idiot—!" Bucky was the last one still clinging to hope, but the tears escaping his eyes convinced Natasha that he too would be coming to terms with the death of Steve Rogers soon enough. In their line of work, this was practically inevitable.

(Oh, how she wished that was not true.)

"Buck," Steve huffed a laugh. "Thank you, for sticking w' me."

Bucky smiled despite himself. "You know me, Steve. It's until the end of the line…"

"We're family… you all need to be a family even—" he swallowed thickly, "even without me."

Clint knelt down next to Natasha, resting a hand on her shoulder and with the other he patted Steve on the chest. "It's been an honor, Cap," he whispered to himself, and Nat wondered if he even meant to say it at all.

Steve's eyes nearly shut until something that Clint had said made them open dramatically, locking eyes with Sam. "S-Sam… the shield—it's yours…"

"Steve, I couldn't—"

"It's yours," he repeated sternly, letting his grimace pass for a smile.

Sam nodded, his eyes glassy but he did not cry. Natasha admired his strength.

Steve coughed, and the sound was grating—like nails on a chalkboard. She would not be surprised if he coughed up his lung on that one.

"Nat…" he strained to look at her. Something akin to fear lit up in his eyes, but she doused it as she hushed him, continuing to stroke his hair.

"It's alright, Steve. You can go home, now. We'll be alright," she said, hoping that her voice sounded steadier than she felt.

He hummed in contentment, and at last Steve Rogers closed his eyes.

It was then they all let themselves break.

Natasha's face crumpled for what felt like the thousandth time that day, and she leaned forward to press a kiss to Steve's temple. "Thank you," she whispered.

For everything.

… … …

Wanda arrived a few minutes later, but Nat never looked up to see her. She wanted to, especially when she heard her begin to weep, but her own grief had swallowed her whole in that moment.

The clean-up in the aftermath would take a long time, longer than Natasha had patience for, so she let herself sink into the deep recesses of her mind. It was there that time could pass more easily and was a tactic she reserved for the most drastic of times. The last time had been the first snap—she never expected she would have to do it in the wake of the second one.

Natasha thought it might have been Thor who carried Steve off of and away from the battlefield, but she hadn't really been paying attention.

Hours, days, or weeks might have passed before they had a proper funeral for everyone they had lost. It wasn't anything extravagant and they knew Steve wouldn't want it any other way.

Tony returned from wherever the hell he was with Peter in some kind of alien wheelchair. Poor kid looked healthy, maybe a bit worse for wear, until her eyes traveled to his right side—it was then she noted the lack of a right arm.

The kid's aunt finally got to see him, but Nat found that she needed to turn away. It had been a long time since she had been comforted by a motherly figure, and she did not want a reminder of just how long ago that had been.

Heroes from everywhere gathered around for the ceremony and celebration, and the remaining Infinity Souls were once again reunited. One of them had fallen in the battle, and they used this time to mourn the loss of their friend.

The Power stone had lost its potency once it lost its connection to its soul, and apparently the infinity stones would each eventually fade away once their guardians left the mortal world behind.

It was all magic and nonsense to Natasha, so she turned away when Strange tried to explain it.

She looked out to the horizon, noting all of the beautiful colors and clouds that danced in the sky. She closed her eyes, enjoying the fresh peace that had begun to settle over her, the world, and the universe—but at the last moment she heard familiar footsteps approaching.

She smirked. "It's been awhile since anyone has snuck up on me."

Turning, she locked eyes with Loki.

"Well, figured I had to return the favor."

"I don't forgive you," she said simply.

His face fell a bit. "I know."

"But… thank you, for everything you've done since."

"I am sorry. For… well, everything a person in my position ought to be sorry for, I suppose." The vulnerability was clear in his voice, and it honestly surprised her. He was a master of lies, of talking around a subject, but here he was speaking plainly and honestly. Perhaps the infinity stone within him had something to do with that.

"So what now?" she asked with a twitch of her eyebrow and a quirk of her lips. "You become an Avenger?"

"Oh Valhalla, no. I unfortunately have to broaden my horizons beyond this little, blue one. Being the guardian of the Space stone has its drawbacks, if you can believe."

She chuckled. "Thor's not going to be too pleased about that."

"No, but I do plan to start with ensuring the safety of all the nine realms first. He'll be happy to hear that. We're heading to Vanaheim first—"

Despite everything, Loki still loved to talk. "Thank you for saving Peter Parker's life. I don't think Tony could have handled any more losses."

"Peter is my friend, and I don't come across those very often."

"I wonder why…"

He scoffed in mock offense. "That boy deserves the world. He does not deserve death… Speaking of Peter, how is Stark?"

Natasha shrugged. "As good as he can be. Peter's back, albeit with an infinity stone giving him even more strange powers than a seventeen year-old should have to deal with. But I think he'll be alright. When he heard about Steve, though—"

"I am sorry I could not save him, too."

"Why would you?"

Loki looked away, searching for the right words before looking back at her. "He reminded me of my people." His seriousness fluttered away with his laughter. "If nothing else, he was immensely easy to make fun of."

Natasha found herself laughing, too.

They stood in silence for awhile, both admiring the scene before them.

"Sacrifice… who knew such tragedy could bring such peace?" Loki mumbled.

"I suppose that's the point," Nat hummed.

"This peace is for you. They all would want you to enjoy it. I will do what I can to preserve it."

She found herself saying "Thank you," to Loki a second time, and it was something she never imagined herself doing at all, let alone twice.

But it felt right.

Peace…

After a moment, the wind blew as if beckoning them to return to the rest of their friends. They turned, heading back to their lives as Avenger and Asgardian prince, glad that the infinity war had finally ended so that the world—the universe—could enjoy at least some semblance of peace.

They avenged their loved ones, and now it was finally over.


Thank you so much for all of your support on this story! It's been a long time, but alas we have reached the end. I bid you all a very fond farewell :)