Wakanda
Two steps. He had been late by two steps. Thor leapt into the air, having become aware just a moment too late of the threat that had arrived. In the intensity of the battle for Wakanda, he’d forgotten he hadn’t been on his fellow Avengers’ com line. After so many years away from Earth, he had forgotten the once familiar voices he heard cracking jokes and barking orders over the team’s communicators. By the time his newfound ‘rabbit’ friend had managed to inform him of Thanos’ arrival, he could see the Mad Titan using the Time Stone to reverse Wanda and the Vision’s sacrifice. Now rising above the dense foliage, the Asgardian glared down upon the man, nay, the monster responsible for the deaths of so many of his friends and family, and with a great battle cry he blasted the Titan with all the lighting he could muster. Thanos stumbled back, unused to his newly bestowed godhood, but still strong enough to withstand even Storm Breaker’s level of power. With his love, his anger, and all of his sorrow, Thor bellowed and threw the axe toward his foe. The Titan fired a blast of his own in retaliation, but the Uru steel overcame even the Infinity Stones, and with a thunderclap Storm Breaker sank deep into the strongest being in the universe.
Thor landed upon the ground, pleased to see his attack had succeeded, but not yet satisfied. Thanos looked at the blade buried deep inside his chest in a mix of disbelief and horror. For all his unrelenting power, he had been brought down by the King he had left for dead alongside his brother. He fell to one knee in pain and shock, clutching the blade but unable to muster the strength to pull it out. Thor walked slowly toward him, eyes, cybernetic or not, burning with fury. Behind him, Rocket ran over to Groot, helping his son stand up from Thanos’ assault on the heroes. Within the clearing, Steve and Bucky slowly began to stand up, while T’Challa walked, steadily so as not to fall, to the assistance of his retainer, Okoye. Rhodey began to help Natasha get out from beneath the stones she had been pinned under by Thanos, while Bruce tried to remove the Hulkbuster from the hillside. The Avengers would be back on their feet and ready to fight in a matter of minutes, time that Thanos didn’t have. As he looked into the eyes of the Asgardian that had brought him so low, he began to feel true fear. Even if he could heal himself from the severe wound he had received, it would be difficult, even with the Stones, to best Thor fighting alongside the other heroes. His despairing thoughts were suddenly cut short by excruciating pain, as Thor forced the axe deeper into the Titan’s chest.
“I told you you’d die for that,” the Thunder God growled, practically spitting the words at Thanos. The Mad Titan cried out in agony, realizing he couldn’t count on even being given the opportunity to heal himself. But as that thought entered his mind, the Mad Titan remember that his goal was not to kill the Avengers. He didn’t need to win this fight. And as he realized the fatal error Thor had made, he almost chuckled, and began to mutter the words he knew would haunt the short remainder of the Asgardian’s life.
“You should have gone for the head.” Thor’s face of rage turned to confusion, but as he saw his enemy lift the gauntlet and prepare to use the stones, the hero’s face turned to one of sheer terror. “No!
*snap*
Everything went white. Thor squinted, blinking as his eyes adjusted and the flash faded away. His gaze met Thanos’, who seemed just as awed as he was, and then he looked down at the gauntlet. Thanos’ arm had been seared and scarred by the unfathomable power he had just wielded, and the gauntlet itself seemed almost damaged beyond repair. The use of the stones had taken the Titan almost all he had.
“What did you do?” the Avenger asked in horror, his eyes darting back to Thanos. “What did you do?!"
But before he could force the madman to answer him, Thanos clenched his charred fist, and a portal opened behind him. The Titan was pulled back into the abyss created by the Space Stone, leaving Storm Breaker behind. As the axe dropped to the ground, Captain America hobbled to his teammate, who looked at his weapon in disbelief.
“Where’d he go?” Steve asked, clutching his side, his voice full of panic.
“Thor, where’d he go?”
Thor looked up at his friend, unable to speak for a moment, before looking down at his own arm in shock. At the tips of Thor’s fingers, dust was forming. As the wind carried it away, the fingers disappeared with it, and as Thor’s hand and arm began to vanish, Thor turned to Steve.
“I don’t know,” was all he could muster. “I’m sorry, my friend.” Steve looked on in disbelief as the rest of his teammate’s body turned to ash in the wind, his axe dropping to ground.
“Steve?” The captain turned to face his oldest friend. “Bucky,” the Avenger whispered, as he realized his own body was beginning to turn to dust as well.
“Steve!” Bucky yelled as he ran as fast as he could to his friend, trying desperately to do something, anything, for the little punk kid from Brooklyn he’d tried so hard to protect. But there was nothing he could do to stop this, no way to save his oldest friend. All he could do was watch as his hands slipped through Steve’s own, and Captain America ceased to be.
Shuri slowly made her way to the massive window overseeing the great city of Wakanda. After narrowly surviving her encounter with an outrider thanks to the assistance of Vision, the Princess was full of fear and adrenaline, but she knew she would have to see the state of the battle for herself. To her horror, what she bore witness to was the death of half of the Wakandan army. As she watched, finding herself unable to look away, she understood that the heroes had failed, and that the world would never be the same.
Her brother T’Challa, however, unaware of the fate of his army and allies, made his way to Okoye, reaching for her hand to help her up. “Up, General, up. This is no place to-” but his reassuring words were cut short by the sight of his companion’s body rapidly turning to ash.
“Kumkani...” (My King...) the great leader of the Dora Milaje managed to say, before crumbling to dust. As T’Challa stared at the place his dear friend once lay, he began to shake with grief and rage, realizing what this sudden disappearance signified. He fell to his knees, cursing Thanos’ name in his native tongue of Xhosa before standing up, stepping out of the forest to see his soldiers fall one by one on the battlefield. He looked on as even the great Jabari warrior M’Baku turned to dust in the wind. And as the King of Wakanda witnessed the greatest tragedy his people had ever faced, he did not cry for those he had lost, but feared for those he had not.
Rocket watched as the heroes around him began to turn to dust in horror. The Procyonid had been helping Groot up when he saw Thor and Steve vanish before his very eyes. As he tried to understand what was happening, he saw Natasha turn to dust while Rhodey attempted to help her up, before Rhodey began to call out for Sam, running to where the Falcon had fallen. That’s when it hit the Guardian that Thanos had succeeded, and that anyone else could be the next to disappear.
“Groot,” Rocket whispered, almost afraid to speak for fear of his worst fear becoming a reality, before raising his voice. ‘Groot!”
The raccoon-like being looked to Groot, terrified that his son would be next, but as his eyes met the tree’s, he realized that Groot’s expression wasn’t one of fear, but of sadness.
“I am Groot?”
Rocket looked down to see his arm had already begun to fade, and that he was mere seconds away from becoming dust. He looked back into his son’s eyes, seeing tears welling up in them.
“I am Groot?!” the teenaged Flora Colossus asked fearfully. Rocket gulped, his voice catching in his throat, knowing how frightened his son must be.
“It’s gonna be okay, Groot. You’ll be fine.”
Groot shook his head. “I am Groot!” He rushed to his father’s side and held him tightly, tears now streaming down his wooden face. Rocket hugged his son back, his own eyes starting to brim with tears, and he began to speak, desperately trying to assuage his son's fear.
“It’ll be okay, Groot. The others are gonna come to get you. Don’t worry about Dad. Stay with the guy with the robot arm until Quill and Gamora come, okay? Dad’s gonna be fine. I lov-”
And with that, he was gone. And as Rocket spoke his last words of assurance, Groot sobbed, now truly alone on an unfamiliar world.
Cradling the body of her lover, Wanda Maximoff looked on as heroes vanished one after the other. Through eyes blinded by tears, she watched her friends turn to dust in the wind, and as she held the Vision in her arms, she wished to join them, to join him. But as time continued to pass, and Wanda remained intact, it slowly became apparent to the Scarlet Witch that she would not be dying this day. She found herself as part of the half that lived, when she had yearned to be part of the half that did not.
“Dammit! Why? Why do I always lose the people I love most?” Her powers began to shake the forest around her with her rage and anguish. She thought back to her parents, her brother, and to Vision. She was so tired, just so tired of losing the ones she loved.
“I just want to die! Why can’t I die?!”
“Wanda?”
Bruce’s voice cut through the Scarlet Witch’s anguish, and as she turned to face him, Wanda saw that he was slowly fading away too.
“I know what it’s like... to want that, but you have to keep living. Not just for the ones you have left, but for yourself.”
She reached up to hold the Doctor’s hand as he began fading faster. “I can’t live for myself yet,” she said, her hand just barely reaching his in time. “But can live for them.”
Bruce smiled, content that he could be a comfort in his final moments, and Wanda wiped her eyes as he turned to nothing but ash. She looked back at Vision, her eyes no longer filled with despair, but instead determination. “I’ll keep living, Vis. I’ll keep living.”
Natasha’s last words hadn’t been panicked or jumbled. The instant she saw what was happening to Steve and Thor, even before she knew she would swiftly meet the same fate, she told Rhodey to find Sam.
“He crashed somewhere in the brush. If he’s hurt, we need to treat him,” she said, looking down at her legs, now seeing that she too would soon disappear. “Hurry, Rhodey!”
Rhodey shook his head. “I can’t just leave you here to die alone!”
“There’s nothing you can do for me! But it might not be too late for Sam.” Natasha’s voice was suddenly choked up. The seemingly fearless assassin dropping her tone to a whisper. “Please, Rhodey.”
Rhodey wiped his eyes and nodded. “I’ll find him. I promise.”
The Avenger held her hand tightly in his before letting go and starting to run towards the brush.
“Sam, where you at?!” he called out, hoping that his friend was still conscious. From the tall grass he heard the faint sound of grunting, and upon taking a closer look, he saw the tip of a wing.
“Sam!” Rhodey yelled, rushing to his friend’s side, but he stumbled as his right leg began to turn to dust.
“Ugghhh… Rhodes? Is that you?”
“Sam, you alright?” the War Machine responded, trying to inch close on one leg.
“Rhodey? Yeah, I’m fine. You okay?” the Falcon asked, starting to stand up only to recoil at the sight of his teammate, now half turned to dust.
“I found you.” Rhodey said. “And you’re okay. That’s what matters.”
“Oh my God, what happened?” Sam asked.
“We lost.” Rhodes answered, as he vanished from existence. “But you’re okay. That counts for something.” Sam stood up slowly, looking around to see who had survived. In his head was but one thought.
Who else did we lose?