The axe fell.

And it was over.

Much too quickly.

The god of mischief snarled at his brother. "Why?! That monster deserved to suffer-"

His rant was cut off by Thor's burly arms wrapping around him tightly.

"You are alive." The blond breathed. His tone was disbelieving. In fact, Thor would have thought he was dreaming if Loki didn't feel real in his arms.

It took several seconds, but Loki's shoulders relaxed. Even the trickster could not help the softening of his visage when Thor was so sincere, "Of course, I-"

Suddenly, Loki collapsed, Thor carrying his brother's entire weight.

"Loki!" Thor cried, carefully placing him on the ground. The god snapped a murderous stare at the man standing behind him. "What did you do, Stark?!"

"Wow. That actually worked." Tony breathed out with a chuckle, amazed that the formula he had been tinkering with actually worked.

"Stark!" Thor roared.

The billionaire put his hands up, "Don't worry Point Break. It was just a tranq. Once we-"

Another massive set of explosions suddenly rocked the ground, this time coming from the outskirts of Wakanda. All those in the forest clearing could see that the alien mothership, as well as several of its counterparts, was going up in flames.

"Holy smokes! That looks fun. Looks like your team did their job." Rocket grinned, admiring the smoke and destruction. He sounded slightly wistful, like he wished he'd been the one to cause it.

::Mister Stark!:: Peter Parker's voice crackled through the comms.

"Kid?" Tony grinned. He'd heard Rhodey assign Peter and Nadia to run an infiltration mission earlier. "Great work-"

::It's Nadia! She- The fire...:: The boy was frantic.

Tony's heart suddenly felt heavier than when Yinsen had put that first magnet in his chest. He looked almost desperately to Steve, "You got this, right?"

Before the captain could voice out an affirmative, Tony had blasted away.

Steve took a breath and turned to the blond god, "I'm sorry, Thor. Loki's still... Well... Volatile. We'll have to keep him under until we can get the stone." he said somewhat apologetically. His last encounter with Loki, after all, was New York.

Thor sighed in resignation, "I know. I know."

It occurred to those in the clearing that the outriders had become inert, convulsing on the ground.

It was over.

But at what cost?

Renny had been keeping an eye on the fight with Thanos, even as she could feel the tingle of energy from the stones clashing with her own cloaking magic.

She had used a healing spell to reset the bone of her arm. However, it was definitely fractured and throbbed painfully from where she held it against her chest. The pain was inconsequential. There was no way she would just leave Bucky, Steve, and everyone after she spent her life finding ways to make sure this battle would go in their favor.

Her body was tense, ready to spring if they needed any sort of intervention. Everything looked like it was going well.

With three different people using the stones against Thanos, it was almost painfully easy to subdue him.

The hell? Why was she even thinking that?! It was good that it was this easy.

She didn't know if her small interventions over the years had helped push this. She just thanked God that it would be over soon. The titan wouldn't achieve his goal.

That made her breathe a sigh of momentary relief.

Momentary because they still had to destroy the stones. They were too powerful to simply keep. Even if they could be used for infinite good, they could also be used for unimaginable atrocities.

A villain so driven like Thanos was not a one-time thing. There would always be the possibility of another such like-minded creature.

It was an inevitability, actually.

Thanos was now down and subdued. There was no need for her to keep hidden. Bucky was definitely going to be so very, very mad at her for not following his request, his plea, to leave. She dropped her cloaking charm, sighing. She'd just-

The air was knocked from her lungs and pain radiated up her arm when something barrelled into her, knocking her off her perch.

What was it with things trying to run her over like a truck today?

Twisting, she maneuvered herself on top of her attacker. Her eyes widened at the sight of none other than Corvus Glaive. How could she forget about him? It would have been very easy for him to survive the fall from the labs.

Dammit.

She kicked off of him and he landed on his back while she skid on the ground into a crouch. Using her good arm, she kept herself up several feet away.

Corvus pushed himself up, looking feral, his lips pulled back in a fierce scowl.

He had actually been watching and waiting for some kind of opening to help his adoptive father. There were just too many of the opposition. He wouldn't get anywhere near Thanos before he himself was struck down.

Then he heard it.

"Take the stones! While Thor has him stunned!"

The woman from the labs, he deduced.

Her frantic instructions were enough for him to pinpoint her general location. Silently, he stalked in the direction the voice had come from.

All he needed was one more hint-

There!

The moment he saw the familiar shimmer in the air, there was no hesitation and he launched himself at the woman who had revealed herself.

The resulting fall had them tussling in the air and facing off on the ground.

Renny looked into his burning gaze and knew she had to pull out all the stops for this. Her regular attacks wouldn't be effective.

Adrenaline numbing the pain in her arm, she peppered Corvus with blasts as she willed the vambraces on her arms to gradually loosen their hold on her magical pathways. She felt the burning increase in her veins. Hotter and hotter.

When Corvus stumbled and she bought herself a few more extra seconds, she pulled as much interdimensional energy as she could to herself for one more finishing attack.

Then a shockwave blasted through the trees.

Fire.

Ice.

Her body felt like both were running through her veins, cutting through her chest, and coating her skin. Like she was being pulled apart.

It almost felt like the first time she arrived in this universe. Just a hundred times worse.

She screamed.

Her vision went white.

Then she could feel no more.

Corvus smirked as she fell to her knees. The woman looked ghostly now.

Pale.

Washed out.

Weak.

And so very, very fragile.

To think that this was the creature that had kept the mind stone away from his sire. Even dared to face the mighty Thanos alone.

"Pathetic..." Corvus spat, a scowl on his lips.

The alien's voice sounded like she was hearing it through water. Everything seemed like she was seeing it through a wall of water.

Renny's mind was slow, but she processed that Corvus had raised his glaive.

This was it then.

After so many years.

This was how she was going to go.

This was fine.

That shockwave could only have meant that they had somehow won, right? Corvus would only have that look in his eyes if Thanos' plan had failed.

This was okay.

She lived way longer than she should have, anyway.

Maybe there were some regrets...

Nadia... She would be the last Cappelli. But she had Peter, Tony... Like she'd told Anya before, Nadia was more a part of this universe than she or her mother.

Bucky.

Oh, Bucky.

She loved him. She would always love him. And he'd move on from her. He had his life to live now thanks to Shuri's efforts. They'd had a blissful year and a half together. He deserved to find that bliss again.

That regret would probably follow her into the afterlife. Still, she'd achieved what she had lived almost her whole life for.

Their safety.

Their lives.

It was over and she never felt freer or more weightless in her life. The almost overwhelming burden on her shoulders that had constantly been weighing her down for almost eight decades had finally lifted.

This is okay.

Her eyes fell shut, ready for the blade to pierce her chest. Then she'd be completely free.

It never came.

Warm liquid splashed on her face and she opened her eyes to see a blade piercing through her would-be executioner's throat.

The alien gurgled, clutching at his mangled neck, another blade piercing through a seam in the side of his armor before he slumped, dead, to the ground, revealing a feral looking Bucky behind him.

The moment his eyes landed on her though, the ferocity immediately turned to something horrified.

Bucky knelt down to wrap his arms around Renny's back, cradling her to him.

"Oh God..."

She was so cold.

So very very cold.

"Hey, Pancakes."

The woman glanced at the alien corpse a few feet from them, lips pulling up slightly at the sight of the knives she'd given to Bucky before the battle. Asgardian blades she'd gotten a long time ago. Her eyes were slightly glazed and unfocused from the memory. She was white as a sheet, her lips seemingly bloodless and her hair almost translucent.

Her face was spattered with the dark blood of the alien who'd almost killed her, but from her pale lips was a bright red trickle of blood.

Bucky ran his hands over her, but couldn't find any visible sign of injury. The brush of his fingers on her made her come back to herself.

"You know the stones mess you up. Why didn't you leave? " Bucky asked shakily.

Renny choked a laugh, "Not ever."

She wanted to put her hand on his cheek, but she could barely lift her arm. Her fingers twitched but it was almost she was detached from the rest of her body.

Bucky immediately took her hand in his own, lifting it to his cheek. Her skin was so cold, her fingers felt so fragile.

::Thanos is dead. We have the stones secure.:: Steve said on the comms.

The following exclamations of relief and victory went unheard. They didn't matter.

"You hear that, Sunshine? It's done. He's gone." Bucky put his other hand on her cheek, the vibranium arm only registering the pressure of her leaning into his cool metal hand.

"That's nice..." Renny smiled, her expression tainted by the red that stained her teeth.

He bent his head down, touching his cheek to hers instead, needing to feel her.

So cold.

He took a sharp breath and let go of her hand, scooping her up to his chest and getting up to his feet.

The hand he'd held to his cheek had moved to his neck, her fingers managing to cling there. She could feel his pulse beating strongly. Her head leant against his chest and she relished in hearing that same strong beat of his heart. It was soothing... Assuring... "This is nice..."

"I need a medic!"

Bucky ran as fast as his feet would carry him though he felt as though he was running a thousand miles through deep water.

"Shuri!?" The princess of Wakanda was a genius. Their tech was more than cutting edge. She'd managed to erase years of HYDRA's work in a few short months.

He didn't want to acknowledge how Renny's hand had gone limp and slid down from his neck.

No.

Not after all this.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. Life happened. Oh well. Still, we're nearing the end again, I think. I'm polishing the next chapter, so hopefully it will be up in a few days to make up for the relative shortness of this chapter.

Thoughts? I'd love to know what you guys are thinking. Did it seem like Thanos died way too easily? I guess it's likely to go this way, for me anyway, since the Avengers had three stones instead of none, plus Loki, and the Guardians too.

So far, no reviews for the past chapter, which is a bit disheartening. Anyway...

'Til next time