❝ A SACRIFICE WAS MADE ❞
( KEEPERS OF THE STONES )
xvii. just a snap
chapter seventeen

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SPACE, LONG, LONG AGO

" We cannot hold him for long. " The wise voice of Thoricus Maragos echoed, Aegina Andris glancing over to meet his disheveled, golden eyes. There was a trail of dull yellow ichor running down his forehead and his usually vigorous eyes are exhausted. " We need a different plan. "

Aegina's electric blue eyes blend in almost perfectly with her skin, which sparkled with the remnants of stars and faraway planets. The Keeper spared Thoricus a tilt of her head as she insisted, " If you have any ideas, I'm all ears. "

From across them, on the other side of the long-forgotten planet of Mistrio, the birth place of the Keepers' bodies, Zakynthos Callas fought on his own. Their home had been destroyed, decimated in their attempt to rid the universe of the Mad Titan, Thanos. Now, dying flames and smoke filled the atmosphere, their Temple of Eternity reduced to nothing but rubble and debris.

Zakynthos's eyes glowed an angry red as he lifted tall rocks out of the burnt surface of Mistrio, raising them over Thanos and collapsing them on top of him. The slabs of rock crushed the Titan with a gasp of air, and the red aura around the Keeper grew as he hovered over to where Thanos' head lay exposed, the rest of his body trapped underneath the sharp concrete.

" The universe will never be balanced until it is rid of you. " Zakynthos prophesied, glaring down at the Titan; his skin was ashen and bloody, but it was barely noticeable under the bright ruby glow illuminating his outline. The man lifted a hand, slowly bending his fingers into a fist, causing the rocks to twist around Thanos, who let out a pained yell.

Standing away from the chaos directly, Cyrene held her arms outstretched before her, green rings of magic embracing her wrists as she kept time frozen around them, keeping any other beings in the universe out of the line of fire. Her arms were shaking, and she could feel the achy pain throughout her body, but her soul was still burning harshly, an emerald glow within her eyes as she stared ahead at the fighting.

" We must ensure that Eretria did not die in vain. " Cyrene stated, forcing her eyes over at Thoricus and Aegina, who were still recovering from their previous battle. " She died for us, so let us win for her. "

" The Soul Keeper died to keep you alive because she believed you could defeat me. " Thanos reminded them, recalling hearing that Eretria had sacrificed her body so that she could give the Stone to the other Keepers for safe keeping; the Titan struggled underneath the rocks before spitefully adding, " She was terribly wrong. "

Zakynthos suddenly lost control over the rocks, faltering and falling to a knee before looking down at his hands with wide, shocked eyes. Within seconds, Thanos raised from the rubble, throwing the rocks off him before chucking a particularly big one at the Keeper. Zakynthos quickly reacted, raising his arm, a blast of red energy shooting at the rock and crumbling it into pieces.

" Try to throw my own idea at me again. " Zakynthos warned as Theodosia appeared behind Thanos; their eyes met for a brief moment before a violet shadow appeared behind the woman, twice as big as her and looming over Thanos unnoticeably. " It will not end well for you. "

Thanos looked amused, and opened his mouth to respond wittily before the shadow raised what seemed to be giant fists, slamming them down on to the Titan. Theodosia kept the Power Stone's energy against Thanos for a while, but they could hear him roaring from underneath its fists before he suddenly stood, shoving the hands up and reaching behind him to grab Theodosia.

He carelessly threw the Keeper into Zakynthos, sending them both rolling into the hard ground with groans as the landed against the rough, rocky surface. The two Keepers laid at Aegina and Thoricus' feet, where they helped them stand again. The Space Keeper gripped Zakynthos' reddened forearm before looking between the three of them with a deadly serious expression.

" We must do it. " Thoricus immediately shook his head in disagreement; Theodosia cautiously glanced back to see Thanos regaining his strength, marching towards Cyrene, who was oblivious to the approaching Titan as she held on tightly to Time.

" We can't do it without Eretria. " Thoricus insisted, quick to dismiss the idea.

" We have to try, or else the universe's fate is sealed, and we will have failed. " Theodosia reminded him, her eyes still on Cyrene as she shouted, " Cyrene, let go. "

The Time Keeper was hesitant, but she didn't need the plan to be explained to her. They had all known this would eventually happen, and they had been advised to prepare for it. Now, the time had come. Cyrene cautiously released Time, not even panicking when she noticed Thanos advancing on her rather quickly. An abrupt blast of red energy sent the Titan skidding backwards, giving her enough time to rush over to the other Keepers.

Then, as they stood in a circle, Zakynthos took Theodosia's hand in his, and grabbed Aegina's with the other. They each held tight onto each other until Cyrene pulled out the Soul Stone, presenting it before them and allowing it to levitate in the center of their circle. In a flash, the Soul Stone bursted into rays of pure energy, striking each of the Keepers in the chest, sending them flinching back but not releasing each other's hands. The power surged through their bodies, electrifying every part of them as Thanos watched curiously, pausing in his rampage.

And, as if it was no longer unbelievable to him, Thanos continued to march towards them. The orange beams of energy finally soaked into them, sparks flying from their connected hands. Theodosia looked up, eyes glowing a pure white color, matching the other Keepers as she scanned each of their faces. A solemn look befell all of their faces.

" It is time. "

Then, just as Thanos was within arms-reach of them, a beam of white energy so bright it made the Titan stumble backwards shot up into the atmosphere. The blast was so large that it overtook each of the Keepers, engulfing them within the burst of power, shooting straight into space. And, as Thanos watched with narrowed eyes, one by one, the Stones retracted themselves from the Keepers' bodies, raising to meet to Soul Stone in the center of the beam.

And, in just a blink, they rocketed up the pipe of energy and out of sight, flying off in separate directions of the universe, hidden from the Titan. The energy shortly died out after that, leaving Mistrio dark and gloomy again as the Keepers let go of each other's hands before collapsing to the ground.

It was silent.

Thanos slowly approached the bodies of the most powerful beings in the universe, seeing the smoke billowing from their bodies just as their respective Stone colors bursted from them in the form of spirits. Before Thanos could ever imagine what to do, the spirits went soaring into space, off to find the next generation of Keepers. All except one.

The Mad Titan walked over to Theodosia, who laid with one hand twitching, the side of her face pressed into the ground while she let out a quiet scoff. He lifted an eyebrow at her, noticing the white glow begun to fade from her eyes. With her last breath, just before her spirit would leave and travel throughout the universe to find an Asgardian infant, she told him,

" You will never be the hero, Titan. "

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WAKANDA, PRESENT DAY

            " You did it, Wanda. " Itai called, shifting himself into a standing position as he regained his steady breathing. " It's over. "

                Even while saying those words, Itai did not feel genuine. He could see it by the way Thanos approached the witch, tsking and walking over towards her with a sympathetic expression.

                " I understand, my child, better than anyone. " He assured her, and Helena sat up, keeping her arm tightly around her wound, a nasty glare on her face.

                   " You could never. " Wanda spat, and Thanos just hummed in response, placing a large hand on her head.

                     " Get the hell away from her. " Helena shouted, as loudly as she could, causing Thanos to look her way with a curious expression. " You could never know what she feels, what any of us feel, because you're a monster. You're a cancer to the universe. "

                   Thanos watched her with an amused look on his face as he stepped around Wanda, closer towards Helena and Vision's gray body.

                     " You couldn't be more right, Asgardian. " He claimed, then, lifting the Gauntlet in a fist, the Time Stone lit up and he raised his palm towards Vision's body.

                    Helena's eyes widened in horror as he began to rewind time, the explosion reappearing, slowly shrinking in size. The woman struggled to stand, moving to one knee as she tried to raise her sword. Wanda looked up in confusion, and she screamed in protest, the energy burst sucking back into the Soul Stone, sat inside Vision's head as if nothing Wanda had done happened. The witch got up and moved towards Thanos, but he simply swung his arm back, sending her crashing into the dirt.

Thanos lifted Vision by his throat, and Helena lurched forward, unable to even lift her sword before collapsing on her legs, crashing back into the ground. Itai ran at him, but was easily deflected. Helena watched helplessly as tore the Stone out of Vision's head, dropping his crumpled body to the ground as he let the Stone find its place in the Gauntlet.

Helena narrowed her eyes and flinched back as the power surged through Thanos, lighting up his veins as the intense energy struck through him. Once his body accepted the power, he exhaled and looked down at the perfected Gauntlet.

Helena pushed on the tree trunk she sat against, breathing heavily as she forced herself to stand. Thanos looked over at her with a bemused grin.

" There is nothing you can do now, Keeper. " He pointed out, flexing his fingers in the Gauntlet. " You failed. "

" I'll still do whatever it takes to stop you. " She insisted, letting the Swoed of Serenity drop to her feet, raising her bloodied fists instead.

" Well, I'm afraid you're too late. " He commented, and Helena glanced down at the sword's blade to see a lightning strike crackling in it's reflection.

" Maybe. " Helena agreed, a halfhearted grin on her face, confusing Thanks. " But he is not. "

Thanos narrowed his eyes at her, but before he could question her words, a blast of lightning struck him straight in the chest. Helena held a hand up to shield her eyes as the beam of energy barreled into the Titan, digging him into the earth and throwing him back as Thor cane flying down within the burst.

Thanos sent his own blast from the Power Stone, but Thor threw his axe in response. The axe cut through the beam of energy, landing in Thanos' chest, knocking him back in surprise. Thor leaped down in front of the Titan, placing his hands on the axe, shoving it further into his torso.

Helena stumbled over towards them, Thanos kneeling down as he breathed painfully slow. Thor grabbed the back of his head, glaring down at him.

" I told you. . you'd die for that. " And Thor pushed the axe further, Thanos groaned in response, and Helena could hear the cracking of something in his body.

" You. . " Thanos whispered, and Helena's eyebrows pulled together in confusion as she moved to stand just behind Thor, waiting to see what trick the Titan had up his sleeve. " You should have. . you should have. .

" You should have gone for the head. "

Then, Helena and Thor's eyes flickered over towards his Gauntlet-bearing hand, and Thanos raised his hand, snapping his fingers just as the two Asgardians yelled out.

And, with a bright white flash that nearly blinded them, the world had changed. As soon as she regained sight, Helena looked to the Gauntlet, which was fried and melted together. Thor's eyes were wide as he looked from the Gauntlet to Thanos.

" What did you do? " Thor demanded, shaking the Titan's shoulder. " What did you do?! "

note.

I apologize for how ridiculously short this chapter is, but I had to break it up like this for the ending. Anyways, we have one chapter left, and the epilogue, and then we move to Endgame!

If you have any feedback about this chapter, I'd love to hear it! What'd you like about it, what'd you dislike about it? A specific character, relationship, or scene caught your eye? Brotps? Otps?

Any predictions or worries for the future chapters? Anything else you'd like to mention? I'm all ears!

until next time,