Heavy footsteps echoed through the empty space surrounding the pile of bodies that lay upon the ground. A small chuckle resounded as the giant figure stepped closer. There was no words said, no explanation provided as time seemed to stop flowing. Hulk lay on the back of the pile, spikes protruding out of his back. Thor was next, Mjolnir still in his grip. Hawkeye was sitting with an arrow nocked, like he was going to keep on fighting even without a heartbeat. Widow was perhaps the saddest, her eyes were open staring into her enemy with a look of aggression. Below her lay the shield made of vibranium, the world's strongest metal, ripped clean in two. Steve lay at the bottom, the last to fall.
Matt was horrified, but he could say or do nothing as he was slowly carried closer to the bodies. A hand clasped around his throat, the man was forced to hang limply as he approached his friends.
Thanos gave him a small smile before he held his hand, armed with a gauntlet fused with the Infinity Stones, out into space. A portal opened in front of them and the armies of the Dark Elves and Chitauri flew toward the Earth. The grip tightened on his throat until a snap echoed around them. Matt went limp and dropped next to Steve, staring as the Avenger's Last Mission became a failure.
Matt woke up again, the nightmares continued to get even worse. Thanos haunted him day after day, night after night, dream after dream. Sleep was something Matt was terrified of now, for sleep meant returning to the realm of nightmares.
Casey wasn't awake this time as Matt opened the door and walked to the gym. It was very cliche but Matt always found it easiest to work out after a bad dream.
Matt took his time dragging out the heavy set of weights onto the foam pad of a floor. With ease he chained them to his hips and clasped the belt on. Slowly, Matt pulled himself aloft, concentrating solely on flying with an added two hundred pounds. It was easy enough to hold his own weight up, especially after being able to do it for so many years, but he needed to get stronger and faster.
If and when Thanos came, he needed to be prepared. Nebula had told him many times that Thanos could not be defeated and was invincible. Matt, however, could not believe that. It wasn't just that Matt was fighting for the Infinity Stone inside him, he was fighting for his life. Last time he had lost his stone, he had died almost immediately. The odds of there being even a sliver of energy left inside him twice was unrealistic.
With this workout Matt was not only able to move faster, but was able to control himself much better. With the added muscle on himself and his ability, it wasn't difficult to even break the sound barrier. Faster than a speeding bullet, he knew he had heard that somewhere before. Even on top of being able to fly faster, he was able to lift more with his mind. Matt had felt himself getting stronger with each passing day, until his rubber band of power, snapped.
Matt was floating slightly watching Quake stand before him. The two had been at it for hours, but no one was going to come between them. Steve watched from the sidelines with T'Challa, making sure it didn't get out of hand. The sparring had been escalating slowly since the beginning.
"Maybe you two should give it a rest?" Steve offered from the sidelines, with a quick glare from both of the fighters he quickly shut up. Quake held out her hand and sent a series of seismic waves at Matt, who flew out of the way to avoid them. The two went back and forth again but it was obvious the fight was reaching it's end.
Daisy backed Matt into a corner and pounded him with blasts relentlessly. Matt forced all his energy forward to hold a shield, stopping them from hitting him directly. The wall behind him cracked under the immense pressure. Matt felt a burning in his chest and the usually soft orange glow of the Infinity Stone turned bright, his eyes became a piercing orange and he began to scream. Daisy stopped her onslaught but Matt had no control of what was happening anymore. A loud ringing blared in his ears and he continued to scream in pain. T'Challa and Steve ran forward but the two could really do nothing.
With one triumphant yell Matt sent a wave of energy throughout the room, shattering the mirrors on the walls and the lights above them, before he collapsed unconscious.
It was nearly a day later that Matt awoke in the castle's infirmary. Casey was seated next to him watching something on the news. There was a vague ringing still resounding in his ears, but not enough to actually cause pain. Matt was unbearably weak, to the point where even moving his hand was difficult.
A light noise was all it took for Casey to notice him being awake and to quickly turn her attention to him.
"Matt! You scared the crap out of me!" She yelled before hugging him tightly. "You said you could control your powers, that it wasn't like Seattle anymore."
"I can, Cas, that wasn't my powers." Matt replied quietly.
"He's right," Nebula spoke from the doorway, "that was the Infinity Stone inside of him trying to protect him."
"Why are you here?" Casey asked with more than a hint of sourness.
"Cas..." Matt said trying to intervene.
"Because I heard what happened and I was curious to see how he was doing. I think you Terran's call it...'caring'." Nebula dished walking into the room.
"Yeah you care so much, after you killed him two years ago." Casey spat.
"I have explained myself enough to you people, I don't like repeating myself."
"Listen here you blue faced-"
"Enough!" Matt yelled generating a light breeze through the room. The effort of that was enough to make him pant. "Cas layoff." Matt could immediately tell that was the wrong thing to say as the lights in the room suddenly exploded. With a glare Casey left the room.
"Uh-oh, trouble in paradise." Nebula muttered earning a glare from Matt. "Just trying to be funny, something I was told your species enjoys."
"Pick your moments." Matt said leaning into the pillows. It was beyond dark now that all the lights had been shattered, the only source of it was the TV on his wall.
"So how did it feel?" Nebula asked.
"How did what feel?"
"Having nearly unlimited power older than the universe explode through your body at once?"
"Like I was dying and I had entered the ninth circle of Hell." Matt half joked.
"I am unfamiliar to Terran religion therefore your analogy does not reach me." Nebula overly explained.
"It hurt."
"I would imagine, eventually you'll be able to control all that power." Nebula said walking back out the door.
"Unless Thanos kills me before I can do that." Matt said.
"Trouble sleeping?" Steve spoke from behind him, making him jump. The weights on his waist pulled him down fast and sent him crashing the ground. With a groan he lay on the floor. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's cool, been awhile since my face hit the floor that hard." Matt said standing slowly and unhooking the belt. It occurred to him that he standing in only his boxers, but Steve didn't seem to care.
"Funny, have another nightmare?" Steve asked him. Matt shot him a questioning look. "Like I couldn't tell, I'm surprised you haven't collapsed from exhaustion yet."
"Yeah, I did." Matt kept his answer simple and to the point.
"Wanna tell me what about?" Steve offered, Matt shook his head.
"Not important." The total and complete lie was easy to say, but was hardly believed by Steve, the man however said nothing. Matt started to walk out of the room, but Steve held a weight up in the air.
"Hold this." He said suddenly dropping it, Matt quickly caught it with his mind. "And this, and this, this one too." Steve kept tossing more and more up in the air but Matt continued to hold them up with ease. He was easily holding over a thousand pounds, which wasn't too difficult, he'd lifted several cars at once before. "I remember when I first met you, you could hardly lift household objects without losing control."
"Been a few years." Matt said gently setting them down.
"Yes it has. Well you better get back to bed, I doubt T'Challa wants you wondering the castle in your Hanes." Matt's face went red but Steve just chuckled before putting the weights away. "Come find me in the morning, I think we finally have something to do."
Look who actually made one their own set deadlines! Okay bit of news, the chapter after the next will be released after Doctor Strange is released in America, and I'm going to introduce him into this story for a few chapters so that'll be cool. I have the next chapter planned out, not written so plan for it around Halloween or so. The Doctor Strange arc as I'll call it will start in Chapter 17 and in November sometime (this will go until probably Chapter 20, where the whole fic will probably end). This story takes a long time for me to update, but I'm keeping with it so that's gotta be something right? I'm not sure if I'll continue this universe after it ends, guess it depends on how I'm feeling and what people think!
Please leave feedback if you want, and thank you for reading to this point (it's only going to go up from here)