We All Fall Down
Tony didn’t understand. It wasn’t supposed to end like this… it wasn’t supposed to all fall apart os miserably. They had all been where They needed to be. Sam, Steve, Rhodey, Natasha, Wanda, Harley, Kamala, and Bruce had all been in Wakanda to protect the mind stone while Clea, Wong, Loki, and the other sorcerer's had fought valiantly with the Defenders to stop another the invasion of New York. Carol and Thor had gone out to find anyone else who could help fight Thanos and had sent the Guardians to Titan before meeting up with Talos and his army to get Thor's new hammer and join the fighting on Earth. It was exactly as it was supposed to go, so why had it failed?
“Tony…” the voice of Nebula said.
“I- I don’t understand,” he said, a similar statement echoing in his find as the memory of Peter disintegrating in his arms flashed through his mind.
Peter.
Riri.
Oliver.
The Guardians.
“We have to go,” Nebula said urgently. Tony just stared blankly down at the dust coating his hands.
Stephen.
“Strange,” he said in a choked whisper. Nebula stared at him with a look that he couldn’t place before she grabbed his shoulders and hauled him to his feet.
“If you want to avenge him, then you need to keep going,” she said. It sounded like something Stephen would have told him. Tony nodded jerkily and stumbled after Nebula as she walked purposefully towards her ship.
“It’s damaged,” Tony stated. He didn’t even have to turn it on to know that it wouldn't’ get them anywhere useful.
“We can at least try,” Nebula snapped. Tony wondered idly if Carol would come for them if Carol was even still alive. It was then that he felt a sudden gust of cold wind, and the dust at his feet began to move until the name ‘Frost’ was spelled out before him. So he’d survived.
“Frost,” he stated. “I take it you weren’t dragged into the void with Oliver?” he asked in a monotone voice.
‘No’ was the drawn response. ‘I cannot sense him anywhere. He is gone.’ Tony nodded absently and staggered almost drunkenly onto the ship. A cool breeze told him that Frost had followed.
The repairs to the ship were hard, and Tony knew that they wouldn’t last. As Frost was a spirit and didn't require any oxygen or food, He and Nebula would have enough to last a few more days than expected, but after that, they were done for. Tony couldn’t quite say it was the worst news he’d ever received.
Steve stared out at the damage around them, his mind only able to comprehend one thing; how? How had this happened? They had been so close! Shuri had been removing the stone from Vision’s head so that it could be destroyed, and Carol had brought Talos and his army to Wakanda to help fight along with Thor’s new ax, and Rocket and Groot. Everything had gone as planned.
“Steve, there’s no sign of Wanda or Sam,” Natasha said grimly. Steve squeezed his eyes shut. Bruce stumbled out of the forest, the Hulk-buster suit long gone.
“Wh-what happened?” he asked.
“We lost,” Steve said simply. All their heads turned when Okoye appeared. The stricken look on her face telling them all they needed to know about the fate of the King of Wakanda.
“We need to contact the others,” Rhodey said. “See how many survived. Has anyone heard from the Junior Avengers?” he asked. Steve felt his stomach drop.
“I’m here,” Kamala said, slowly coming into view. Her eyes stared sullenly ahead, and the child-like innocence and charm that had endeared her to so many of the Avengers was nowhere to be seen. Iron Savior’s with Nakia,” she said hollowly.
“Alright, someone get a call to New York,” Rhodey said. “I’m gonna try and get in contact with some of our other bases, see how they’re holding up.” Steve pulled out his phone and numbly dialed the number that Clea had told him to call. Each ring sounded magnified, and it took all of his willpower not to drop the phone and fold in on himself.
“Steve?” Clea asked. She sounded panicked, but at least she was alive. “Steve! Thank the gods! We were fighting and then suddenly everyone just- they just-”
“I know. It happened here too. From what we can tell, it’s happening everywhere. How many of yours are left standing?” He asked, slipping into his ‘team leader’ mode.
“Wong’s still here, and so’s Loki. About half of our Sorcerers are gone though. Marrabel, Carlos, Chris-” she was cut off by a loud sob. Steve could relate.
“ANy word from the Defenders?” he asked, not sure if he wants to know.
“Daredevil checked in a few minutes ago,” Clea sniffed. “Jessica and Luke are gone. Everyone else is fine, though. Just a bit shaken.” Steve nodded.
“Clea… Wanda’s gone,” he forced himself to say. He flinched at the heart-wrenching sob that came from the other line.
“I can’t- I’m sorry, I can’t do this right now,” the sorceress choked out before the line went dead. Steve forced his tears back before putting the phone back in his pocket and re-joining the group.
“Does anyone have contact with Tony?” Carol’s voice asked over the coms. She was at the other side of the battlefield witch what was left of Talos’ forces, the leading Skrull among them.
“I don’t think so,” Rhodey responded, new panic evident on his face. “I mean, he ended up having to take Ebony Maw’s ship instead of the one he’d built for the trip because they caught Strange, so I doubt that he’s got a radio.” A brief silence descended upon the group. Tony and his team, or whatever was left of them, was stuck up in space with no way to contact Earth.
“Carol, can you find them?” Steve asked.
“I can try. There’s a lot of space out there, but I’m using that I can try tracing the energy signature of the stones to see where they were used last besides Earth,” she said.
“Thank you,” Rhodey said quietly. Carol nodded before turning to Kamala.
“You gonna be alright?” Kamala nodded but continued to stare firmly at the ground. Carol sighed before turning back to the others. “Head back to the compound and try to figure out who’s left. I’ll see what I can do out there,” she said.
“I’ll see what’s going on in other galaxies,” Talos said, coming up with some of his soldiers. “We’ll report back if we find anything.” Carol gave the Skrull general a nod before being engulfed in gold and soaring up into the clouds.
~
Stephen woke with a gasp, hand automatically reaching for the time stone only to find it missing. He scrambled to hi feet and looked around, hand grabbing frantically at his chest.
“Tony?” he called. ‘Tony, are you there?” he asked. He seemed to be in a shallow pool, an orange light glimmering around him.
“Dr. Strange?” a voice asked. He spun on his heel to see Riri standing behind him, her faceplate lifted, but her repulsors ready to fire. “Where are we- what’s going on?” she asked.
“Riri?” came Oliver’s voice as he slowly sat up from the water. “Dr. Strange, where are we?” he asked. “I… I can’t feel Frost,” he said. “Oh god, I can’t feel Frost He’s gone!”
“Oliver, I need you to calm down. If you can’t feel him, then it means that he survived the snap,” Stephen explained.
“So that means that we’re dead?” the ex-assassin asked quietly.
“For now, yes,” Stephen replied. It also means that things are probably about to get a lot more crowded, he said. Right on cue, the Guardians all came into view.
“Groot!” the half-human called. “Oh hey, it’s sorcerer-guy!”
“Dr. Strange,” Stephen said in the introduction.
“Oh no, not another one obsessed with fake names,” Drax grumbled.
“It’s not fake, that’s just his name,” the voice of Peter Parker said. They all turned to see the Spider-man walked slowly towards them, eyes downcast and feet dragging. Stephen felt his eyes widen. When he had disintegrated away, Peter had been fine! His powers must have made it take longer for him to fade away.
“Spider-Boo!” Riri exclaimed, running over to her fellow Junior Avenger. “I thought you were okay, you were supposed to be okay!” she said.
“My healing factor just made it take longer than it was supposed to,” he replied, his voice void of emotion. “Tony’s still alive, and so’s Nebula,” he said, looking up at Stephen. “I’m not sure for how long though. They don’t have a ride or any workable communication with the others back home.” His voice broke on the last few words, and Riri pulled him into a hug.
“Alright, who’s here so far?” Oliver asked with a shuddering breath. “We’ve got Strange, Spider-man, and Ironheart. Groot, Quill, Mantis, and Drax. How many more people do you think are gonna show up I mean, will it be half of the universe shoved into one pool?” he asked. Stephen’s brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head.
“I don't’ think so. From What I can tell, we’re currently in the soul realm, which means that we are under the infinity stones domain. I think that they're putting us together because they want us together. For whatever reason, they want all of us to be able to communicate.” Oliver nodded; it made more sense then shoving billions of creatures into one tiny pond.
“Stephen?” a voice asked. The sorcerer turned to see Wanda standing behind him, a light red glow surrounding her. There were tear tracks on her cheeks, and he looked exhausted.
“Wanda!” he exclaimed. So the universe wanted her there too. Interesting.
“He’s gone,” she whispered. Stephen squeezed his eyes shut. He had a feeling he knew who she was talking about. “Shuri almost had the stone out of his head, but it was a trick. It’s my fault, I went out onto the field and left them undefended,” she was saying.
“Woah, Woah, Woah, what do you mean?” Oliver asked, not following the conversation at all.
“Thanos’ army had these giant machines that were powering through our troops. I knew that I could stop them if I went out and used my magic. It was a trap the whole time to get me away from Vision and Shuri so that Corvus could steal the mind stone,” she explained. ‘I had to- to-” she began only to break off into a sob. After a few deep breaths she looked back up at Stephen and the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.
“You had to destroy the stone while it was still connected to Vision,” he said. Wanda nodded.
“I did it. I destroyed the stone and held Thanos back, but he already had the time stone. It was useless, he just brought it back and ripped it out of his head,” she whispered. Stephen sighed. He had known that this was going to happen, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
“Do you know who else got dusted?” Riri asked, arms still wrapped tightly around Peter.
“I’m not sure,” Wanda replied. “I think Sam might have; I heard Rhodey calling for him. T’Challa too.”
“Yes, I am here,” the king said, appearing from the water. “As is Barnes, Shuri, and Wilson.” Wanda forced back more tears as she looked around at the assembled heroes, her eyes landing on Oliver.
“Oliver, is Frost with you?” she asked. The assassin shook his head.
“We’re guessing that he survived the snap. He most likely is lacking a corporeal form at the moment,” he explained. Wanda nodded.
“I can still feel his imprint on you I have a feeling that whatever magic he used to keep your soul together when he was bonded with you is still in effect. It was small comfort to know that a part of Frost was still with him. He wondered if the winter spirit knew as well.
The group couldn’t find any other signs of life. The pool wasn’t endless, and so they waded into the brownish orange ground to sit down and try and get their bearings. It was decided that Dr. Strange’s theory that they were trapped inside the soul stone was correct Shuri ran a scan and matched the energy signature to that of the mind stone. All of her devices still worked as they should, but they were unable to communicate with the land of the living. Whenever they tried they came up with only static.
Small groups were formed, friends huddling together and whispering quietly to each other as they tried to clear their heads. Stephen, T’Challa, Bucky, and Shuri all sat in circle trying to figure out where they had gone wrong while Sam and the Guardians compared the battles of Titan and Wakanda. Oliver, Riri, Peter, and Wanda sat curled around each other, all wondering if their fellow Junior Avengers had made it out okay. There had been no sign of Kate, Kamala, or Harley and so they hoped that that meant they had survived.
“Oliver,” Wanda asked quietly, “do you remember any of the stories that Frost would tell?” Oliver was quite for a second before nodded.
“Yeah, I even know some of the ones he didn’t tell. Since our minds were linked, some of his memories got transfer to mine,” he explained.
“Could you tell us one?” Peter asked. Oliver shifted to sit up a bit straighter, and Peter adjusted accordingly so that his back was pushed against the ex-assassins shoulder.
“I guess, but I doubt that I’m as good a storyteller as he was,” Oliver said. Riri wrapped an arm around his and Wanda’s shoulders and shrugged.
“Do you really think that we’re gonna care? You’re literally our only source of entertainment,” the iron-clad hero said. Oliver nodded.
“Okay then… what do you wanna hear about?” He wasn’t sure how many stories the others had heard. He often got the conversations that happened when Frost was in control mixed up. All he knew was that Wanda had heard the most.
“Can you tell us some more about that mage guy… Silver something?” Peter asked, showing the most excitement out of all of them combined.
“You mean Silven Drascoue?” Oliver asked. Upon seeing Peter’s enthusiastic nod and smiled slightly and thought back to the earliest story Frost had told him. Yes, that would work.
“Well, it all started on Frost’s homeworld, Enexion. It’s a planet many galaxies away that isn’t too different from Earth. They too have very powerful nations that are always at war with each other. However, unlike Earth, their strongest weapons are often mages. The Enexion version of a sorcerer. Silven Drascoue was one such being. He would end up being known as the most powerful mage in Mirval, one of the strongest nations on Enexion,” Oliver explained.
“He’s the one who told Frost the things that he used to help me levitate the pencil, right?” Wanda asked. Oliver nodded.
“He was one of three powerful beings. The other two were from the nation of Ferwan. They were his lover, Mestin Garmage, and their best friend, Emilia Corvell. Like Silven, Mestin was highly powerful and would presumably one day be made into a leader of his nations mages. Emilia was not technically a mage. She possessed only one magical gift, but it was powerful.”
“What was it?” Riri asked, enraptured by the story.
“She could shift into the spitting image of the one you loved most. Her training allowed her to turn it on and off, but she proved very useful in a fight. No one wants to hurt the one they love the most. They were inseparable, the three of them. It seemed like nothing could pull them apart. Until something did.” Oliver looked down sadly as he spoke. From Frost’s memories, he knew how broken the trio had become. It was painful to revisit, and Oliver hadn’t even been there in person.
“A war broke out between Mirval and Ferwan. Both sides demanded the presence of their mages on the battlefield, and so Silven returned to Mirval, and Mestin and Emilia returned home to Ferwan. Both parties believed that they were doing what had to be done for the greater good,” Oliver said with a shake of his head.
“I never met Silven in person, but from Frost’s memories, I can tell he was someone that would have made a good Avenger. He was willing to sacrifice everything for his people. Even his greatest love. In all my years at Hydra, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who harbored so much hurt in them. From what I’ve seen of Frost’s memories, I don’t think he has either. Well, maybe Jax, but-”
“Who’s Jax?” Peter asked. Oliver frowned slightly, unsure of how to explain.
“That’s a story for tomorrow,” he replied. “Do you think that we can sleep in this place?” he asked. Riri shrugged. “I mean, we don’t have to eat or drink, so I don't’ think that it’s a requirement,” she replied.
“I guess we can just try and hope that it works,” Wanda answered. With that, she got comfortable between Riri and Oliver and closed her eyes against the orange light of the soul realm.
~
The first thing he was aware of was water swishing gently around his head. His limbs felt heavy, as though he’d exerted a large amount of energy in one go. He groaned as he slowly sat up and blinked his hazel eyes open only to see orange everywhere he looked. Slowly he got to his feet and looked around, his boots sloshing in the shallow water.
A memory flickered across his mind, and he latched onto it before it could pass onward. He remembered being at his house in Ciine when suddenly there had been a surge of energy, and then nothing.
“Is this death?” he asked no one in particular. “Have I passed on to the great goddess?” he slowly began to walk forward, a silver light crawling up his arms and engulfing his hands in energy. As he reached the shore the universe tensed in anticipation.
Silven Drascoue was awake.