The Souls

The Black Panther rose, his eyes wide at his surroundings, flashing from Bucky, to the three behind him, and to the vast emptiness around him.

"T'Challa." Bucky all but lurched forward towards his friend.

T'Challa couldn't keep his eyes from going around and around, again and again, waiting to see something and seeing nothing. His eyes finally landed on his friend.

"What is this?" he said slowly.

"Aw, no," Bucky shook his head at his friend, "No, you're dead too?"

T'Challa's already wide eyes seemed to widen even more, "Dead?" he snapped, "what do you mean, dead?"

Before anyone could elaborate, there was a croak, and then Gamora, who had been silent for a while, let out a loud cry.

"Groot!" she gasped, launching herself away from her chair to the floor, where suddenly, there sat Groot.

His big eyes looked up at her, as she dropped down next to him.

"No, no no, Groot," she shook her head as Groot's arms went around her immediately.

"I am Groot?" he asked softly.

Gamora closed her eyes as his head rested against her chest. How did she tell a teenager that yes, he was dead?

He was a kid. How could she tell him that.

In the end, she didn't have to. Because just then, they were joined by another.

She was on the floor, her hair covering her face, and her hands out in front of her, as if laying her hands on something.

Something that was no longer there.

Her whole body was shaking, her red hair shimmering around her head. She seemed to be radiating heat, and everyone almost instinctively took a step back, even Gamora drawing Groot further towards herself.

Everyone seemed afraid. Well, almost everyone.

"No." Vision's voice was a whisper as he floated towards her, "No,"

The woman didn't look up, even as she heard the voice. Her body just kept trembling. Vision stopped in front of her, lowering down onto his knees.

"Wanda," his voice was just a breath, as he reached out his hand, reaching under the curtain of red hair and placing his hand on her cheek.

Only then did the trembling stop, her hair stilling, falling back flat against her head.

"Wanda," he whispered again.

Only then did she move. Her head lifting up slowly, her face emerging from her hair, her eyes locked on the face in front of her.

"Vis?" she whispered in disbelief, her trembling hands lifting slowly to touch his face, "Vis?"

"Vision's hand rose to cover hers, "Yes love. I'm here. I'm here."

Eyes still wide, she shook her head, "This is heaven isn't it. I'm in heaven?"

Before anyone could answer her, they were once again interrupted by a very loud curse.

And then a groan from Bucky.

Sam Wilson was on the ground, and then he wasn't. He leapt up as soon as he felt that something was different. That he wasn't in the Wakandan Jungle anymore, and instead he was...

"What the fuck?" he all but yelled.

"Dammit Sam, there's a kid right here."

Sam's head snapped around, and he saw Bucky.

"Aw hell," he shook his head, "I'm dead aren't I? I'm dead and this is hell?"

Bucky couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Really? Half the universe is dying and you're gonna choose to be childish?"

"Oh well excuse me Mister..." Sam paused before he could finish his insult. He blinked, and took the time to look at the faces around him. he looked back at Bucky, "Wait. Wait what do you mean, half the Universe is dying?"

Again, before an answer could come, they were interrupted with a gasp.

From the ground, the young girl scrambled to her feet, her face full of fright as she was bombarded by her surroundings. Before she could even regain her bearings, a loud voice grabbed her attention.

"Shuri!" T'Challa exclaimed, stunned at seeing his sister.

Shuri let out a relieved choke when her eyes locked on him.

"Brother!" she cried out, her arms already outstretched. T'Çhalla caught her in a hug, letting her collapse onto him, "What... what happened? What is going on? Everyone is disappearing! They are turning to dust, T'Çhalla, our people are dying! They are dead! They... they..." Shuri slowed down as she blinked at the room, and then up at the forlorn look on her brothers face.

"Oh god..." she whispered, "We..." she shivered as she realized, "We... are dying." she looked at her hands, as if making sure they were still there. And then up at her brother, "I am dead too, aren't I."

T'Challa had never seen his sister look so frightened, and he did not know how to comfort her. He didn't even get the chance, because just then, a soft gasp rang out around them.

All eyes snapped around, and suddenly, a woman stood there, her eyes were huge, and she had antenna sprouting from her head.

She blinked around at everyone around her, "Something happened." she said, her voice incredibly soft, but more than loud enough to be heard in the deafening silence.

"Mantis." Gamora called out with a crack in her voice, holding out her hand.

Mantis gasped, running over to the two who were now standing up together, "Groot! Gamora! You're alive!"

Gamora shook her head sadly, her hand reaching out for the other woman's, "No, Mantis." she said softly, "No, I'm not. None of us are."

Mantis's wide eyes looked around the room, and then back at Gamora. And then at Groot.

"Oh," she said simply, understanding dawning on her. "That is very bad."

"So... am I dead too?"

The three Guardians turned with a gasp, and there was Drax, suddenly standing behind them.

Mantis stood again, "Hi Drax." she smiled sweetly, yet sadly, "I am sorry you are dead."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too."

Gamora's eyes shut when she heard that voice, "Peter," she breathed.

"Oh god." He all but whimpered, "Gamora, oh my god." She suddenly felt his arms around her, and it took everything in her not to crumble.

Because she never thought she would ever feel his arms again. But her feeling them now... it meant he was dead too. And Peter being dead was the worst thing Gamora could think of.

But still, her arms wound around him, her eyes squeezing tighter.

"Peter." she breathed again.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah you should be Quill, this is your doing!" Drax glared at his Captain, "You should apologize profusely!"

Quill knew he was right. And he was all ready to start grovelling, but before he could begin-

"It's no one's fault," a deep voice interrupted, "Although Mister Quill's actions didn't do us any good, it is not his fault."

Eyes turned from Gamora and Quill to the newest addition to the group.

His feet were about a foot off the ground, and his red cloak billowed behind him, even though there wasn't even a breath of wind.

Doctor Strange looked out at all the faces around him. He knew very few of them, but he had seen every one of them.

He had seen them in almost every one of the fourteen million six hundred and five outcomes he had been witness too.

He had seen them all die. And then he had seen...

He shook his head.

It wasn't wise to think of such things when they hadn't even happened yet.

"I'm sorry but, who the hell are you?" Sam Wilson was the first to speak up. The answer came from way across the floor.

"He's Doctor Strange," Loki drawled out. Eyes turned to him as he lounged on his sofa, seemingly unaffected by any of this, "He's a Sorcerer from Earth. Sworn to protect the planet." he shot the wizard a bitter smile, "Job very well done, Doctor."

Strange couldn't even bring himself to shoot anything back at the god of mischief. He let the blame wash over him and did nothing about it.

"Okay, what happened to ít's no one's fault?" Bucky muttered.

"Except Quill," Drax was quick to mutter, "It is entirely Quill's fault."

"Drax stop it," Gamora snapped at him, "Now is not the time for this."

"Nah I agree with Mr. Christmas lights over here." Sam Wilson spoke up, trying not to think about the fact that he was talking to multicolored aliens, "We are dead. If ever there was a time to blame someone, now would be it."

"Sam, come on-" Bucky tried to stop him but was cut off.

"Now I don't like being dead, alright?" he continued, "Kicking someone's ass would make me feel a whole lot better about it, so how about we find out what this Quill guy did to make it his fault, and then get to kicking his ass."

Drax was all ready to speak up and explain Quill's doings, but before he could even speak, a gasping, spluttering sounded out, and all heads snapped to the center off the scattered group.

Another one.

Stephen closed his eyes in defeat when he saw him. He lowered to the ground in defeat.

Not him too.

The child scrambled up off the floor into a crouch his wide frightened eyes darting all around. Something sounding like a whimper escaped him.

"Mis... Mister Stark?" his voice was soft as he called out, "What... what's going on? What... where's Mr. Stark?" It's then that the boy noticed the wizard.

"Doctor Strange!" he exclaimed, scrambling over to the man as he tried to get away from the strange faces around him.

The boy looked terrified, his face wet with fallen tears, and his body shaking so much it was almost convulsing. He almost collapsed onto Stephen.

"Doctor Strange," his relief at seeing the familiar face was tangible, his eyes still wearily darting around at everyone.

"What.. what's happening?" Peter asked, "What's going on? We... we were just in space. We were just... we were just... and now we're... oh my god, what's gong on?"

Strange wanted to think of a way to break to him easily, but someone beat him to it, "You're dead kid." Sam told him without hesitation, "welcome to the party."

Peter's eyes widened as he stared at the Falcon from behind Doctor Strange.

"D... dead?" he all but squeaked. His head shot up to Stephen, "I'm dead?"

Stephen sighed softly, placing a hand on the shoulder of Tony Stark's ward, "I'm afraid so."

Peter blinked. Many timed, "Oh... Okay," he nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat, "Okay. Okay that... that's fine. Sure... yeah. Dead. I'm... that's... that's okay. That's fine. Yeah sure. That's... that's totally... yeah, okay. Okay, fine."

He swallowed hard again, wiping his face with shaking hands.

"Hey... hi everyone," he acknowledged the room, fighting back a whimper "I'm.. I'm Peter. Parker. Spi...Spider-man. S... sorry we're all dead."

"Do not apologize, boy of spiders," Drax answered him, "We all know that this is Quill's fault."

"Drax!"

Drax shrank back at Gamora's yell, "But it is." he muttered under his breath.

"It's not your fault Mister Lord." Peter spoke up again, despite his still trembling voice, "I'm sure we all would have died anyway," he shrugged, "But hey... at least we all made it to heaven. Right?" he looked back at Stephen, "That... that's what this is, right? It's not hell, right? I mean, I stole some gum one time but I put it back, I swear."

"We're not in heaven." Strange told Peter, "And we're not in hell."

"Then what is this?" T'Challa demanded, "What are we? What is this place."

"And are y'all sure that we're dead?" Sam spoke up again, "I mean, I feel pretty living, right now, so maybe we need to go over that theory again. Cause I'm pretty sure that being dead should feel a little different than this."

Everyone thought of Sam's words, seeing that they kinda made sense. They all turned to Strange for answers, and he sighed.

Strange looked over all the faces, and not for the first time that day, he hated that he had to be the one who knew.

"We're not alive," he started quietly, "It may feel that way, but that's because we-" he swept his arm over the group, "We are souls."

There was silence as he waited for that to sink in before he continued, "We are souls, and we are trapped. Not in heaven, and not in hell," he could see the realization, and subsequent horror dawning over some faces as they realized it before he said it.

"We're trapped here. Inside the Soul Stone