The Arrival
Toni felt when Thanos arrived. She felt the stones sing as they connected with their sister soul stone, she felt the connection sing through her.
She felt when the battle for the universe, for every soul, began.
She had to make sure her family was safe
She knew Loki was safe, or at least alive because she didn't feel him die.
She found Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Peter, and Harley. She had told them who she was, what she was, she showed them what she was, and what would happen. She didn’t tell them everything though, she told them if she died she could come back (a lie) but since they couldn’t come back (true, but they would still be hard to kill). She pleaded with them to stay safe and allow Death to hide them away, promising that she would come back but couldn’t bear to lose them. When she fought Thanos’ mage, they had been injured by collapsing buildings and projectiles. Too exhausted to put up much of a fight they reluctantly agreed.
As she prepared to leave to battle Thanos she was stopped by a hand resting gently on her forearm. Death turned her around gently and took a deep breath.
Death pulled Toni close and mumbled apology after apology into her hair, when she pulled back she realized that Death was crying. It was eerie watching someone that so many cursed shed tears for her last angel.
“I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how.” Death mumbled, refusing to meet Toni’s eyes.
She inhaled sharply and sighed, too exhausted with the prospect of what was to come to do anything drastic “I’ve always had suspicions, ever since DUM-E, JARVIS, YOU, and BUTTERFINGERS. They have souls don’t they?” Death nodded with guilty eyes.
“So I’m…..”
“The Soul Stone, yes.” Death sighed, Toni felt the pieces slide into place, she felt her soul sing as it was made whole. “Your powers were masked, you are the soul of the Soul Stone. When you needed to be hidden from Thanos we didn’t want you to gain awareness alone, we wanted you to know the joys of life, the meaning of death, you needed to be, for lack of a better term, human to be the Soul Stone. We chose Earth because Thanos would never look here, time passed fast here so you could grow up normally, and should he come early, you wouldn’t lose the opportunity to be a child.”
Toni nodded “so….. when I go to face Thanos, will he recognize me… or…?”
“He won’t know, because your power signature never changed, when you use your powers you are using your abilities as the Soul Stone. I can’t make weapons out of the fragments of souls, no one can. Except you, only you; the Soul Stone can wield souls. The shadows are the will of the dead so that was your ability as one of my angels. Your powers as the Soul Stone align perfectly with your powers as an angel because they are so closely intertwined”
Toni turned towards the battlefield she couldn’t see, she could feel her siblings, she could feel the souls on the battlefield, she could feel Thanos. “I have to go,” she said softly.
Death smiled “I wish you the best of luck, I will come as soon as I can but this war has caused so much death, I haven’t caught up yet. You can hold your own, but you won’t have to when it counts.”
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His magic surged across the battlefield pulsing in green waves like a heartbeat as he threw dagger after dagger at each enemy.
Pain didn’t even begin to explain what he felt. Heartbreak didn’t begin to explain what had happened. His gaze washing over the battlefield. Thousands of bodies lay motionless, Thor… his brother was struggling to stand his lightning crackling through the air, knocking down a few enemies at a time as opposed to the hundreds his bolts had fallen when the battle had first begun.
From beside him, he heard a sickening crunch, as a Wakandan warrior was smashed until most of her bones were shattered and death granted her peace.
Thanos was laughing as he slaughtered some with his sword, or incinerated others with his incomplete gauntlet. Their deaths amused him, their lives meant nothing, they were offerings sacrificed by Thanos for a cosmic entity that wouldn’t even speak to him.
Clint and Natasha with too many broken bones to move were bound and held in a prison, a final gift for Death to kill personally. The Guardians were alive, the green woman was in difficult shape; unconscious but alive. Hulk was gone… Barnes and the Captain were close to each other. The stubborn Captain determined to continue fighting. Barnes' metal arm was fried and he was out of weapons. As much as he still had some issues with the Captain, they had experience fighting beside each other and had stuck together. They’d done well but in the end, they were outmatched. Thanos was just too strong and he had almost all of the Infinity Stones as well as his almost-immortality.
Loki struggled to get to his feet but he managed. He couldn’t see his mortal and as much as he hated it, he was thankful for that. He hoped she was safe and far away, or at least if she was… was… he wouldn’t have to see her, that sight would haunt him for all eternity.
He met Thanos’s gaze, the mad titan had injured him but he wasn’t a fool. It wasn’t kindness that Thanos hadn’t killed him yet, he had broken free from Thanos with the help of his Antonia. Naturally, Thanos wanted revenge for what he did. Thanos wanted to break him all over again in the most unique and painful ways he could.
“Such worthless creatures. You thought you could stand against me?” He laughed coldly and cruelly.
It was pointless to dignify an answer.
The Infinity Gauntlet, still on Thanos’ hand and all the stones within it, flared to life. Loki heard the Avengers grunts of pain and gasps for air, he felt his seidr flicker out, he waited for the final blow to come, to end him, to end them all. Instead, he felt something wrap around his wrists and neck, restricting his movements, draining his energy, and blocking his seidr. He opened his eyes, when had he closed them? He found the Avengers and Guardians in similar states of imprisonment, some too hurt to move, some chained, some bound, some had lost their will to continue.
Soft steps echoed across the silence of the battlefield, and Loki looked down, not wanting to see the face of Death. When he heard Thanos growl his head jerked up in search of the cause.
NO! IT COULDN’T BE, SHE SHOULDN’T BE HERE!
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When she stepped onto the battlefield, she had known it would be gruesome. But it was like knowing being shot hurt, you didn't know how much or how it would feel, you just knew it would be terrible.
The Avengers, the Guardians, and Loki surrounded by the auras of the Infinity Stones, trapped and covered in blood. Bones were sticking out through skin in ways that should never be possible but this, the scene in front of her, was all real.
She could feel souls begging for rest but she couldn’t grant it, not yet. She needed to stay hidden. If she revealed herself they would die and all they had fought for would have been for nothing.