Stephen closed his eyes.
He was searching through his thoughts. There had to be a way to find out how they could win this battle. What would be the best possible outcome? Just think. You're smarter than Thanos. Thanos could not have planned this whole battle through. Was he that smart and thoughtful? Stephen doubted that. The only thing that he knew for sure was that the Avengers had to add some strategy to the fight. Thanos might have all the power in the world, possessing four of the six infinity stones. But even he could be beaten with some brains and strategy.
Then it suddenly hit him. The time stone! He still had the time stone in his possession. Of course. Why didn't I think of that sooner? Stephen could just use the time stone to look into the future. Is this even possible? He never tried that before, nor had he heard of someone who did it before him. So, did the time stone even allow you to do that? Take a look into the future? Stephen was not sure. But he knew that he had to try it. To save everybody on earth. And to save his friends before they did anything that could cost them their lives, knowing damn well that each of them would sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
Stephen knew that with magic comes a price. It always does. That is just the law of nature. He learned this when he almost lost his powers once, when he became too greedy to learn new spells and incantations, striving for more and more power. The taste of simple magic just was not enough for him. But what he is about to do is on a whole different level. It is beyond anything that he ever dreamed of doing. This is the magic he was looking for back in the years, a kind of magic that should not be accessible to everyone, as it holds more power than anybody could think.
Looking into different versions of the future, to prevent a future that is not worth living in. With this power you could be able to either change events into something beautiful, or to make a horrible situation even worse. That's something big. Even for him. And as much as this solution is needed, and might seem like the only plan he could come up with right now, Stephen knows deep down that he should not be doing this.
Usually, the sorcerer would not be so reckless to play with time. He knows how much is at stake and how much you can destroy by doing so. But it does seem like the only possibility he has left to turn this war around. This is the only chance they have on winning the battle they fight, not only for themselves but for all humankind. And because of this, because it was no longer about him and his greed of power, he was willing to accept every risk there was, even if it could mean losing his powers for good or even worse, if he would have to sacrifice himself. He knew that his life was not worth the lives of so many, he always knew. Even as a doctor he vowed to help and protect the helpless, and finally the time, where he needed this devotion most, has come. This was way bigger than him.
With his caught determination, to find a way to make all of this work, he sat down on a rocket on this vacant planet, still a bit skeptical but knowing that this was the only way. He opened the Eye Of Agamotto, which hid the time stone securely inside of it. Then, he used a certain spell, speaking a foreign language that nobody else than a sorcerer would understand, and suddenly he found himself in the future.
- 1 -
Here he was. Totally stranded in a reality that was not his own. The only thing he knew was that everything that happened here, was not really happening, so it had no impact on the real timeline. He looked around to gather as many information as he could, trying to find something that could help him stop Thanos in his own time. And then he saw it. He saw him.
Thanos was standing right there, facing Tony, holding Tonys head in one hand, while holding his own blade against his body.
Stephen unconsciously gasped, hoping that Tony would beat Thanos and eventually defeat him, because he knew that he was able to. He always had his hopes in Tony, even if it might seem like they did not come along that well. In fact, Stephen had great sympathy for Tony, especially after he learned what he has been through and what he had to do in order to become the Iron Man. An unbelievable story, he thought.
"You cannot defeat me. Whatever you do, or whatever you try to do, I will always win." Thanos said that with a grin on his face, he looked Tony deep into the eyes but he did not wait for his response. Right in the next moment, he dashed his blade into Tonys stomach, with now a devilish look on his face, letting go of him and dumping his dead body onto the floor. After that, Thanos turned to Stephen, not the real Stephen but the version of him that was a part of this future.
"You know what I want, Keeper of the stone. Hand it over to me before I show you what your little friend over there just felt." He pointed at Tony, cold-heartedly.
The real Stephen was very tense and immediately knew that this was not going to end well. He knew that he himself would never give up the stone, or at least not without a fight until death. And this would not happen here either, he was sure.
"I will never give you the stone. You can take it over my dead body."
That was the moment when Thanos went straight up to Stephen, without any hesitation, choking him with one hand before Stephen could even cast a spell. He looked him in the eyes and said "Alright. If you don't want to give it to me now, you're coming with me." With that said, Thanos opened a portal with the space stone, took Stephen with him and vanished. Everybody else would just stand there, wondering where he took him and what would happen now.
After thirty minutes, the others would disappear one by one. Each of them turned to dust, except for Peter Parker, who was left on this stranger planet alone. Not knowing where exactly he was or how he could escape this wasteland of a planet. Stephen watched him and at first Peter mourned at his loss but then he realized that no different fate would meet him. Stephen felt so very sorry for him, but there was nothing he could do now for him. Except for preventing that this version would become his own reality.
Therefore, he would fast-forward the time until he was 15 years into the future to see if there had been any developments, but nothing had changed. They still lost the battle and thus half of earths citizens.
So, I have to search on. Until the last breath I allow myself to take.