Pawn to King
MABalas
Posted: 11/02/2017
Chapter: 7/8
Thank you to everyone for sticking with this! Officially this is the last chapter for Pawn to King. The final chapter is an epilogue kicking off the next story in the King Series.
As a note, the next story will be taking place in the Riddick (2013) movie verse and WILL be slash. In fact, it will be Harry/Riddick slash which is the idea that started this whole venture. If you haven't read my profile by this point, I'm sorry to disappoint anyone on that front. I like slash. There will be future het too, but yeah. Slash. Man on man action.
Again, thank you so much for all of the support and love and enjoy! (You have no idea how many times I've rewritten this chapter. Seriously. Thanos is hard to write.)
Stepping from a breathable atmosphere into a non-breathable void shouldn't have surprised Harry. Loki had described Sanctuary and its inhabitants in enough detail the night before he should have equated "asteroid field in outer space" to "asteroid field in outer space which really means outer space with no oxygen to breathe."
His magic crackled across his skin almost immediately, instinctively covering Harry in a sort of pseudo-suit against the effects and holding him to the rock he stood on. That was one problem solved. The whole boiling moisture and bursting lungs was one way to die he was happy to avoid personal knowledge of, thank you.
Safe for now, Harry took his time observing the area from the shadows he was cloaked in. He could feel the difference in this section of space from the surrounding planes, a sort of dimensional pocket tucked between the set universes. With the Infinity Stones Thanos could control space and time.
It was confirmation for Harry that Thanos needed to be stopped. If he had the power to move between the various universes and timelines at will then there was nothing to stop Thanos destroying all of time and life.
The Titan could slip between this present and the past; he could go back and destroy Harry's friends. Hermione. The twins. He could stop earth ever being created.
He could destroy Harry's home. Far more permanently than it was now.
The shadows thickened around Harry and his magic surged as the possibilities grew in his mind.
Either Harry was overly paranoid or Thanos was overly cocky not to have thought of the possibilities and ended this all before it began. Likely a bit of both, going off Loki's knowledge of the Titan.
The skill for sensing the various universes and time streams was something Harry had explored outside Loki's tutelage. He knew he would need the skill to get back to his own time and place, and it had proven more than useful when Harry found he could carve his own chunk in the between places. There were some benefits to being Death's Master aside from being a glorified Gifted matchmaker.
Similar to Thanos' Sanctuary, Harry had made his own personal dimensional pocket he could use to tuck away his valuable items or even hide himself if need be. Better than Thanos, he was the only one who could access it. He had cloaked it in Death's power and set some nasty wards for anyone who did happen to miraculously stumble on it.
Harry's wanderings from asteroid to asteroid as he thought finally got him his first glimpse of the Chitauri. Loki had warned him they called this rocky section of space desolation their home. Overwhelmingly loyal to Thanos-who let them maim, murder, destroy, and conquer at will-they were his foot soldiers and a large part of his power base.
To Harry's eyes they were dripping with the oily sludge of corruption and unbalanced death. There was not a single one he glanced that could ever hope to be redeemed.
Good. Harry was hoping it would go that way.
Harry threw off the concealing shadows in the middle of an asteroid easily the size of the Hogwarts Great Hall. He was left in his pale human guise wearing a loose cotton black shirt and pants.
Where Loki dressed to impress, Harry preferred to dress practically. Blood was a bitch to get out of leather, no matter the dramatic flair it brought.
He smiled as hundreds of eyes turned on him. These things still haunted many of Loki's nightmares. Harry could understand why-torture of all kinds would be nothing for them. They thrived on pain and misery; their black souls reveled in it.
The first Chitauri came, weapons blasting and knives flashing as a murmur of feral excitement spread out in a circle from where Harry stood.
Golden magic flashed, wielded like a blade and shield to cut down anything that moved.
Blood sprayed across Harry's face.
He was the chosen of Death, a Primitive Guide, and a trained Shield.
A Chitauri gurgled behind him as his magic gutted it; at the same time the head was nearly severed from the Chitauri in front of him and the blow continued to cut through the body next to the nearly headless corpse.
A leviathan tried to crush the asteroid where Harry fought. He sent out a whip of magic that cut and cauterized the beast nearly the length if its body. Its corpse floated past.
The murmur turned into a roar around him. More Chitauri poured in. It was only a matter of time before Harry was overwhelmed.
When the flash of his magic and the burn in his arms was no longer enough, he threw up a shield shoving all of the surrounding Chitauri back in a good 10 meter diameter.
Then he called out the puffs.
10, 20, 100 and more. They filled up the space inside the shield and began stacking on each other, flowing in and out like a living, amorphous ball of shadow colored slime.
Hundreds of faceless, deathless soldiers waiting for his orders.
He grinned madly. It felt comfortable on his face now.
"Kill every Chitauri."
Shadow morphed, solidified, and the puffs became knee-high, goblin-esque shades with deadly teeth and claws. Silent killers who had no will but Harry's own and felt no pain or weariness; the perfect soldiers.
Harry dropped the shield.
Chitauri and shades met in a crash of sound.
Blood sprayed.
Too bad shadows couldn't bleed.
Harry against the Chitauri army had been a fight.
With the shades in play it was a slaughter.
An army, even a remorseless and technologically advanced one, was only a number.
Take one away again and again and eventually the able bodies would hit zero.
When nothing moved, when there was only the sound of silence, Harry stopped to catch his breath.
It had been draining on his magic to hold so many shades for so long while still fighting. He didn't feel whole again until the last of them had returned. It was a potential weakness he took careful note of.
In that small window of waiting for the final shades to return he took the time to regroup himself. His shadows had gotten involved at some point, living darkness sucking away life, and his more inhuman aspects were bleeding through. He focused his breathing and cloaked himself securely in the glamor once more.
He surveyed the battleground as the final shade was reabsorbed into his cast shadow. Bodies were strewn around the asteroid field. The leviathans floated dead in the space around him.
He was satisfied with the results, a new dark part of him happy with the judgement and execution. Harry couldn't find it in himself to care after he had combed through some of their minds and found the Chitauri severely lacking. A clean genocide had been too gentle for them.
Harry had to step over and on and through the bodies. He moved through the severed limbs, blood, and other more dubious liquids to continue to where he could sense the Mad Titan. He honestly wasn't sure how long the Titan had been there, but the so called Dark Lord-the Chitauri had chittered the title over and over in their odd language, ironically enough-had never made a move to stop Harry or his shades.
That either said a lot about Thanos' intelligence or his arrogance. Harry was really going to guess the latter at this point. Blind arrogance seemed a required trait in Harry's experience with Dark Lords.
Harry found Thanos seated on a stone throne at the far edge of Sanctuary. The Infinity Gauntlet was on his hand; it practically blinded Harry with the glowing power generated by the six stones. Not physically, but magically.
"What a creature the Liesmith has sent to me this time." Thanos' voice filled the space and seemed to carry its own presence. Part of that was Thanos himself but Harry could see the magic from the stones bolstering the sound in translucent waves of power. "I have never seen one such as you. Why hide in this parody of humanity? Drop the glamour so I may clearly see the being that has single handedly destroyed my most loyal army."
Harry smiled pleasantly at Thanos' massive form. He could feel the blood and bits of flesh that had become tacky on his face.
He dropped his glamour. Obviously the stones could see through what Loki could not. He stood before the Mad Titan in stark truth.
"Thanos," Harry acknowledged. He didn't break eye contact.
"So you are aware of who I am and the death you court." The massive form settled leisurely back into the throne. "It was a favor killing the Chitauri for me. They were no longer useful to my plans."
"Death is the last being I would ever wish to court. And the Chitauri were dealt with in retaliation for Loki Liesmith, not myself. I am here for you, Thanos."
Thanos watched him, seeming to take in Harry's form. Harry stared back, observing the unnatural aura around the Titan.
The failures to stop Thanos made sense. Thanos couldn't be killed. Whatever species he was did not know death. He was a true immortal, like Harry; unlike Harry-who had Death's favor-Thanos could be stopped, if not killed.
The gauntlet gleamed in the low light as the self-proclaimed Most Powerful Being in the Universe sat straighter on his throne.
"I have had many who called themselves enemy. All of them now rotting flesh and splintered bones. What do you think will stop me from adding your worthless corpse to the pile?"
"Death will not come so easily for me."
Thanos was not amused. Harry's Gift easily picked up the shot of anger encasing twisted fanaticism and a spark of a corrupted power trip. The Mad Titan was an apt title for the giant.
"No? Let us see then how your mortal shell fairs."
Thanos strode forward. He was faster than Harry had thought possible for such a large being.
A tire-sized fist swung at Harry's face, cutting through Harry's own magic like mist. Not the gauntleted hand, just Thanos' bare fist.
It was Harry's combat training that kicked in and made Harry raise both arms in a block. It was muscle memory, and he honestly didn't expect it to work. Running would have made less sense. Harry wasn't a match physically for Thanos.
The blow connected. Harry's muscles burned and strained. For a moment, he thought his muscles would snap from the shock. Death's power surged in his core and then the force of the blow cratered the rock where Harry stood in a burst of powder and stone.
Harry blinked. His arms were still raised in a block above his head. The Titan's fist was millimeters from his face.
"You would defy me," Thanos sneered.
Harry didn't need to be a Guide to know the giant was pissed.
Thanos stood straight to look at him like fresh dog shite on his shoe. Harry knew because Snape had used the same expression nearly daily.
"Die."
The command was intoned with power.
There was a flash of power from the gauntlet.
Harry was dead before his body hit the floor.
"Master is a child yet, playing with fire and its get. Now Death will lose her bet if Master his limits has met," a faintly disapproving and disappointed voice spoke.
Ow, Harry thought.
"Indeed. The Titan is one to heed. He plays no games and suffers no shame in stealing souls in Death's name. Foolish-his arrogance knows much; it is Master's place to ensure the Mad One can no longer rush at those he has no right to touch."
Harry sensed Death getting closer. Why could he not feel the tug of life yet? It never took this long when there was no physical injury.
"Death is patient. Death does not boast. Death does not envy. Death is not proud. Death does not delight in evil but in truth. Death has no limits. Death never fails. But even Death must bend some rules in the face of the Gems of Fate."
Harry still ached. How did he hurt so deeply in Death's nothing place? The fact he could feel pain at all here was testament to whatever the gauntlet had done.
"Do not forget your cause or the title you have claimed. Master is and will be Death's King in this game."
The words were vaguely familiar somehow. Echoing with memory through the haze of pain.
A skeletal hand dripping decayed tissue, colder than the deathly winter on Loki's planet, icier than the depths of northern seas on earth, pressed hard over Harry's heart.
Harry was shocked awake. His heart wrenched, fighting the command to beat again. His lungs stuttered in a breath, as if he had just been kicked in the chest.
He had never experienced such agony being brought back from death before, especially when he hadn't been injured physically. His body ached as if every cell protested its living state.
Harry had a fair guess it had to do with being killed so completely by the stones' power. Death had to reverse their influence with her own to bring him back.
"What is this?" The words were sibilant and enraged. "How do you live? I commanded you to die."
The word was spit into the air before Harry could hope to stop it.
"Master, my Master, not the brightest I see. Still his voice. Your title is key."
Harry couldn't respond. He felt like his cells were in the process of imploding one by one. The stones' power and Death's own hand fought over control of his soul.
He couldn't even twitch when that cold hand shoved him back to life again.
"Wretched worm! You-will-d-"
Harry desperately lashed out with magic twined erratically with Death's power before Thanos could finish bellowing the word.
Harry's body was disjointed. Strings cut, some retied the wrong length, some left to hang. His vision swam as he struggled to coordinate limbs. He blinked blearily to bring the purple mass of Thanos into focus.
The Mad Titan was chained to his throne in thick cords of golden magic reinforced in the black edge of Death's power. Shadow was pressed over his mouth physically gagging him while even more had wrapped around the gauntlet to smother the power it held.
It took Harry a few moments, but eventually he sat straight. A few seconds more and he took the chance to stand. Thanos struggled against the chains, already bulky muscles straining impossibly against the bindings.
Harry had just gotten his feet under him when he felt power tremble and the inky gag fall away from Thanos' mouth.
Merlin's balls, what did Harry have to do to shut him up.
"Lying roach," Thanos spoke. Steady. Controlled. And laced with enough cold hate Harry could feel it polluting the air around them. "I. Will. Crush. You. I'll send your atoms to the farthest corners of space and time. I'll split them and destroy planets with your worthless remains."
"And I will come back again and again and again after it all. I am a roach. Crush me, kill me, destroy me, and I'll only crawl back again."
"Blasphemy!" he roared. "What claim do you have on Death? What tricks have you played to claim her power?"
Harry nearly cackled at the thought of it. Raw arcs of magic staticked across his skin while Death's black power raced between the tendrils of his hair to caress his face and neck. Nearly a lover's touch. Something infinitely tender with the power to destroy from the inside out.
"No tricks. No ploys. No pleas. I am Death's right hand chosen for the spite of the privilege. I am the Master of Death."
Rage. Hate. Jealousy. Denial. "Die," Thanos growled.
Even cloaked in Death's shadow like a leech on flesh, the stones responded.
Harry's knees buckled as his muscles spasmed. He grunted a breath as his heart lost cadence and his lungs seized. For a few frozen seconds he couldn't force his body to inhale.
He grit his teeth as his healing fought back. He could imagine the shadows contracting his heart and moving his lungs in retaliation, bringing them forcefully under control.
"Die," Thanos said again. Then louder, "Die!"
Harry wasn't sure if Thanos' control of the stones was slipping the longer they were wrapped in Death's power or his own healing was already on top of the triage, but he only felt a stuttering heartbeat, a full body shudder as his muscles spasmed and then relaxed.
He rose again.
"I am the Master of Death," he said slowly. "My body has been given to her work; my soul has been stilled by her hand. Balance is her brand on my skin."
Death's power spiked at the words and Harry welcomed the cool rush. His shirt was destroyed as Death's marks flashed stark black against his corpse-pale body. The marks seemed to breathe with their own life, Death's presence bleeding from the lines branded into his skin.
"Fool! I am THANOS. I bring death in her name and for her favor-"
"You are an aberration," Harry cut him off. "Without check or balance." Harry smirked as thick shadow pooled in his cupped palm. He raised the hand for Thanos to better see. "I am a pawn turned Death's king." He stared unblinkingly at Thanos. "The balance and check for all things."
The concentrated power shot from Harry's hand to further wrap the gauntlet.
"You are a child playing a game that's already been lost," Thanos growled. "I have defeated billiions, hundreds more powerful than you. I have ended universes in her name. I have ended your earth! I court her favor with my offerings!"
The shadow before had been duct tape. This was a blowtorch and industrial strength glue. This power leached through the cracks and crevices of the gauntlet, curling around the metal to attack the stones. It began to pry them one by one from Thanos' control.
"You are a poison on the multi-verse. Death cannot be courted; your offerings are an affront," Harry said simply.
One by one, the stones disappeared under the weight of Death.
The infinity stones were near-limitless power. Death was limitless power.
Harry did not harbor any fantasy that the stones could be destroyed, even by Death. Instead he placed each of them into his pocket dimension for indefinite safekeeping.
Thanos was not idle while his claim to the Most Powerful Being in the Universe was systematically stolen. The Titan strained against Harry's magical bindings. At least he had stopped trying to talk Harry to death-literally. Halfway through removing the stones Harry saw his magic around Thanos sizzle and fracture, Death's power barely keeping it together.
He was forced to pull up even more of Death's power to shore up the bindings, deeper into the well at his core than he'd ever gone before. The glow became edged in darkness, solidifying into physical wraps of shadowy chains binding Thanos to his throne.
Every stone Harry stole was a battle pitting Harry's will and Death's power against Thanos' for control of the gems. The asteroid they were on trembled under the weight of the conflicting forces. The throne cracked and crumbled into shards that floated into the vortex surrounding them. The bindings immediately adapted even as Thanos took a few thundering steps towards Harry. Harry found himself taking a knee as he channeled more power into restraining Thanos while still removing the stones.
The Titan was left chained into the very asteroid he had ruled from, Death's power anchored into the rock. For good measure another wrap of shadow gagged the raging Titan.
The final stone disappeared.
There was a sudden absence, a sort of vacuum as the stone was sealed into the pocket of Harry's space and the tear closed.
Harry turned his focus to Thanos. Nothing but enraged eyes as he continued to struggle.
The black and gold of Harry's magic and Death's power had melded completely, creating a purple miasma around the Titan's form, twisting around his body and locking him down.
Harry had no true plan, only intent.
Intent was always stronger than thought.
It was done.
Harry collapsed to his knees on the small chunk of asteroid that was left, barely enough for him to kneel.
Thanos was a snarling statue of stone, bound in the equally petrified chunk of asteroid where Harry had held him. The Mad Titan would be frozen forever in Sanctuary.
He felt empty, disconnected, as he looked up at his work.
He had never so fully embraced Death's claim on his core.
It was as if, by embracing Death's power, he had absorbed her apathy as well. Blind eyes to judge, no emotion to interfere.
With unclouded eyes he could see as plainly as Death. He knew it would always be too late to fix this timeline. Thanos may be contained for the future, but the past had still been played out. There was no fixing what had been.
Harry and Loki were now and always would be the last two souls left in this universe.
Harry brought Loki to Sanctuary.
He had been hesitant to dredge up such old wounds, but in the end it had been Loki's choice. The god was almost too sane when he mentioned he wanted to see the blood and bodies as proof that it was over.
It was a closure, of sorts, Harry thought. That much was obvious as Loki walked through the killing field with a faint smile on his face. The last Asgardian and Jotunn would probably never be completely sane again, but this was a start. Loki had literally given everything to see the Titan ended, and now it was done.
When Loki reached Thanos' stone body, face forever twisted in bitter rage, he stopped. Harry wasn't sure how long Loki stood silent and motionless before he began chuckling. The laughter grew until the god was nearly in tears.
"Stone," the god muttered as he turned away, still chuckling.
Harry smiled himself. It was rather unorthodox.
"He's not truly dead," Harry thought he should explain. "Whatever he is, he can't die. He's truly immortal. But it would take someone powerful to undo what I've done, and they'd have to get through the wards I plan on placing. Sanctuary will be his tomb as long as I live."
Loki flashed him a blade-sharp smile. "And that will be a very, very long time."
Harry found himself grinning back. That didn't seem like such an issue any longer.
"Yes. It will."
They both returned to Loki's cave-home-with a smile on their face.
Harry never could revert his form back to something truly human after his battle with Thanos. Even in his glamour, his human nails were a little too long and hard, his teeth were a little too sharp, and his eyes a little too dark. It wasn't a conscious choice; Death's presence was too intrinsic to fully separate any longer. He still looked human, but also something a little bit more.
Harry learned all that he needed from Loki to become a Shield. Anything more could only come from his chosen Sentinel. Difficult to choose a Sentinel when there were none left, though.
Harry found the thought wasn't as depressing as it had first been.
With Thanos gone Loki was much more at ease. Seeing the god nearly carefree, knowing he had helped with that, set Harry's mind at ease. Loki even seemed to regain some sanity. He was no longer lost in memories so often. He became a man Harry could admire for his skill and cleverness.
He was proud to call Loki a friend.
Life was simple, it was easy, and it was exactly what they needed. A trickster god and the Master of Death, the last two people left alive in a dead universe.