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TWENTY THREE | DAWN OF THE END

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THE PARK WAS filled to its maximum capacity as the bright, midday sun grew comfortable and content in the middle of the cloudless, blue sky. A gentle breeze was felt blowing through the massive trees and the aroma of freshly cut grass mingled with muck and sand. The calming sound of birds could be heard, their chirps creating a soothing tone.

Cassandra watched the business of the park where proud parents push and parade their young children on an afternoon stroll. Young kids screamed and hollered in the play park, each taking their time to enjoy all the park has to offer. Her teal eyes flickered to her right just as Moon-Young and Jae-Hyuk entered her view.

It had been five months ever since these genuine, kind-hearted twins came into her and Stephen's life and they had been nothing but good to them. It really cemented her decision to adopt the twins. They were both still under aged though both of them were already in med school and culinary school, so the law required them to have a legal guardian which Cassandra knew she could apply for.

She sighed. Months ago, it devastated her that she wouldn't be able to have a mini her or a mini Stephen, but she slowly grew to accept it. She could just adopt or just fully welcome the fact that motherhood wasn't just for her in this life. But, whenever she catches a glimpse of the twins, she couldn't shake the thought that perhaps, this was the universe's answer to her plea.

"You know, I really like your shirt." remarked the man sitting beside her, Stephen, smirking.

The woman let out a hearty chuckle. "It was yours after all." noted Cassandra, deciding to cross her legs, lean her head on his shoulder, and place her hand above his thigh. Stephen smiled, gently placing his own hand above hers, giving her a chaste kiss on her hairline.

She was wearing once again his university shirt, the one that she brought with her when she scrambled away after their little escapade. A sudden cold wind blew in their direction, seeping through Cassandra's shirt. The exposed skin on her face felt as if it had been touched with lit cigarettes. She shivered, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin. The woman drew closer to her partner in hopes to get warmer and she noticed he turned his head to her, cocking an eyebrow then sighed. "I told you to wear a jacket earlier. Now, look, you're freezing. Come closer, here."

Frowning out of concern, he wrapped his overcoat around her and pulled her close to his body, shielding her from the cold air. The warmth of his body appeased her as he cocooned her. "Still cold?" he asked.

Pouting, Cassandra nodded.

Stephen gently took her hands and put them under his shirt. The pads of her fingers skimmed his skin and across his stomach that was dipped in the right places. Smiling, the brunette leant her head against the crook of his neck. they are closed, you'll feel a sense of self. Cassandra embraced the sense of herself in this moment, sitting a while and being still, letting the joy of being Stephen and the twins bring her a soft happiness, a sense that was akin to gratitude and awe.

"Cassie, Stephen, we're done! We got what we needed!" Jae-Hyuk beamed, his broad, contagious grin eked out a return smile from Cassandra.

"You both sure?"

This time, it was Moon-Young who replied, nodding, "Yes, Master Wong said we will only be needing these flowers for our next lesson with him." She showed them each of the blossoms they picked, one of them was a Lavender.

"Moon-Young," Stephen spoke up, reaching up to twist the girl's hand. He narrowed his eyes at the small bleeding wound just below her right elbow. "Did you hurt yourself?"

At this, Cassandra also noticed another wound, but this time it was in Jae-Hyuk's left elbow. "You too." She pointed at it. "What happened to you two?"

The twins checked out their elbows, grimacing and sobbing suddenly. "Aigoo," They both simultaneously uttered, their lips curled into pouts like two children asking for help. "It stings."

The Guardian exchanged a glance with the Sorcerer Supreme and immediately tossed aside the overcoat, jumping up to grab the two. "Come on, let's get you both home."

Back in the temple, the couple both cleaned up the twins' wounds. Cassandra observed Stephen as he took care of Moon-Young. The two of them conversed about medical procedures and first aid since that was their common ground, medicine. Moon-Young was already in her last sem of med school, specializing in cardiothoracic surgery.

"Are you sure you really don't want to apply in neurosurgery? That specialization offers a lot of benefits." Stephen conversed with her, convincing her to switch her practice.

"I already told you, Stephen. I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon."

"Alright, what is the most common heart surgery, at least here in the U.S.?"

Moon-Young grinned. "The CABG, short for coronary artery bypass graft surgery."

"Ah!" hissed Jae-Hyuk, retracting his arm in pain. "Eomma, apayo..." he complained, then looked up in surprise and swallowed. Cassandra stilled for a moment, recognizing that Korean word. She had been studying the twins' language for a while now, and those were some of the words she learnt.

Mom, it hurts.

Mom.

Jae-Hyuk called her mother.

And it warmed her heart, filled her with overwhelming joy.

Then, Jae-Hyuk bowed his head, profusely apologizing for his words, "I'm sorry, Cassie. I shouldn't - "

"No, it's okay. It's okay. It's fine." She cut him off, assuring him that it was alright. It was more than alright. She could get used to it, she wanted to. "Does it still hurt?"

The young man shook his head. "It's okay now. Kamsahamnida." Thank you.

Cassandra ushered the somnolent twins back to their beds, talking to them as they fell asleep. The two were exhausted from their day in the park and also from their herbology class with Wong. They were phenomenal in understanding the mystic arts and controlling their sun and moon associated powers. Smiling, she was about to leave their bedroom when she heard Moon-Young talk in her sleep.

"Cassie..." she murmured, stirring. "Eomma... Saranghae."

Mom... I love you.

The sorceress didn't know how to react. Not only did Jae-Hyuk call her mother, but also Moon-Young. Were they considering her to be their adoptive mother?

She let the happiness soak right into her bones, closing her eyes and savouring the moment. For the second time in her life, her body and mind relaxed. She felt the relieving feeling pass through her like a warm ocean wave, washing away the stress of her day to leave her refreshed inside.

Opening her eyes, Cassandra smiled, "Nado dul da saranghae."

I love you both too.

IS THERE NOTHING nobler than risking your life for the universe?

There was a vast expanse of emptiness that stretched underneath the alit clouds. The battleground was hot and dry and the stagnant air hung loosely under the lambent sun. Weak rays of sunlight ignited the clouds, and burned across the sky, turning it into a sea of flames.

The Titan took a step back, successfully deflecting the flaming blade that was about to slash his neck open though it had burned his skin. Hissing, the woman watched as he curved his arm upwards, the entire force pushed into his fist.

Cassandra barely had time to breathe, let alone dodge. But, it was a testament to her experience in battle that she kept the presence of mind to roll to the right in a desperate dodge, towards the boulder. Just in time.

Thanos' fist smashed flat into the ground, crushing the area where the brunette once stood into a torrent of dust that rose up around them in the air. Vesper then entered the scene with her sword and ruthlessly fought him alone, distracting him enough away from Cassandra who was preparing herself for the next part of her plan. She watched the blonde create massive blue tentacles made of light and phased them through Thanos inflicting pain. In retaliation, he aimed the gauntlet at her and utilized one of the stones to incinerate her.

"No!" screamed Cassandra in horror, yet just as the Titan launched a powerful pulse of energy out of the power stone, Vesper raised her steel arm to defend herself, absorbing the full blast of the stone. Jarring lights from both of their sides competed, forming a clash of colours that was enough to give anyone a headache. The sorceress gasped in awe as the woman rose up and cocked her head to the side, unscathed and scowling.

"If you're going to kill me, you better fucking try harder than that, asshole." valiantly dared Vesper, raising her eyebrow.

Thanos narrowed his eyes, "A Celestial."

"You're goddamn right I am."

Snarling, Thanos charged forward, fixed on ending Vesper, but Star-Lord - Peter one confronted him and began shooting Thanos with his Quad Blasters from behind. The mass murderer once again used the power stone to shoot balls of energy at Peter Quill, but the latter only maneuvered through all of their opponent's blasts with aid from Stephen who conjured platforms for him in the air to jump on. Successfully planting an electric mine on Thanos' back, which briefly stunned him, he spun around, and disengaged his helmet.

He raised his middle finger, grinning wildly as he remarked, "Boom!" then dove backwards into the inter-dimensional portal Strange created. The mine on his back goes off and this enraged the mass murderer.

When Thanos attempted to retaliate, Cassandra evoked several spells that utilized her dark magic. Until now, the sorceress refused to channel her dark dimension magic as she was still doubtful about it not corrupting her. For two years, she let it be dormant in her and struggled since it fought to be unrestrained. It screamed in her head to be summoned, pleaded even if she was correct, but she always hesitated.

But, not anymore. She wasn't going to hold back, especially with this murderer.

Shutting her eyes, she crossed her hands and pushed them forward, harnessing all of her frustration and dark magical energy. The ferocity of her sheer power was felt in the atmosphere that it was exhilarating. Her hands glowed gold and the pink sky gradually transformed into orange and yellow like flames that were about to consume the clouds.

Cassandra Mason had set fire to the sky.

Each cloud veiled a raging flame and the smell of thick smoke invaded her nostrils. Soon, flaming rocks - meteors rained down from the wide firmament with the goal of crushing Thanos and setting him on fire. Nothing was going to be left in the wake of her raging inferno, nothing.

However, Thanos had the reality stone. In order to defend himself, he transformed the meteors into dust, brushing them off of him. He smirked at Cassandra, his gaze fixed solely on her. There was something eerie in his stare, like he had already expected her.

The caster noted, standing up straighter. "You know who I am."

"Cassandra Mason." recited the Titan from memory. "Guardian of the Time Stone Keeper. The Dark Dimension's supposed Trojan Horse. The Balance between light and darkness. Yes, I know who you are. I've kept my eyes on you ever since."

The woman scowled.

"You're still afraid of your own darkness. Your raw power. You can control it, but you still hesitate. I can see it in your eyes."

"Fuck off, raisin."

And with that, the woman released a convulsion of pure dark magic while Thanos deflected this with the space stone. Their strong blasts collided, trying to overpower one another. Alas, Cassandra's magic couldn't match the strength of an infinity stone and she was thrown off her feet. Just as she was about to crash land against a rock, a red blue zoomed past her and it took her a couple of seconds to realize it was the Cloak of Levitation, wrapping itself around her to protect her. Once it had done so, she felt it let her go and proceeded to distract Thanos by enveloping itself around the gauntlet.

In the same moment, Stephen opened more portals using his sling ring and the superhumanly strong Spider-Man attacked Thanos through them, but it only served to irritate him.

"Magic with a kick!" Peter Parker kicked him in the head with his right leg. "Magic with a -- "

The Mad Titan swiftly pinned Spider-Man down and furiously roared, "Insect!" before flinging him at Stephen, knocking them down as Thanos tore the Cloak off the Gauntlet.

"Cloak! Get back to Stephen now!" she commanded the red garment that was trembling from what just happened. "It's okay, it's okay, cloak. You're okay. Stark! Where the hell are you?"

"Incoming! Hey, purple care bear! Right here!"

Returning to the battle, Iron Man caused a massive explosion around Thanos by shooting missiles from his Mark L Armor, although the enemy had once again remained uninjured and just simply used the infinity gauntlet to absorb and blast all the flames back at him. The genocidal warlord was once again attacked by Peter two, attaching a web to him and attempting to steal the gauntlet. But, Thanos easily broke out of his webbing and then used that to pull Spider-Man towards him, before ruthlessly striking him in the face. Cassandra nodded and let the Cloak return to its rightful owner when it had finally calmed down.

Once he had ripped all the webbing from his Gauntlet, the sorceress watched a spacecraft suddenly crash into him, dragging him across the battlefield. By then, she had already reached Stephen, allowing him to reach down once again to her magical core and summon all the energy he will need to strengthen his eldritch whips. Holding her hand tightly, he muttered an incantation just as Thanos got back on his feet as if nothing happened. He was then suddenly struck in the face by Nebula, the synthetic being she met earlier, one of Thanos' adopted daughters.

"Well, well."

Nebula growled, "You should have killed me."

"It would've been a waste of parts!" He dismissed her.

The blue-skinned android charged at Thanos, with her electroshock batons, demanding, "Where's Gamora?!"

Thanos refused to answer as he quickly overtook Nebula and delivered a powerful backhand punch that sent her flying.

"I got it." Stephen finally harnessed enough magical energy and Cassandra gasped when she felt it leave her body. Weakened from the drawing of energy, the Guardian clenched her fist and stepped back, choosing only to observe the rest of her plan unfold since her vision blurred and her head throbbed in pain.

A small price to pay for that type of channeling of her magic.

Stephen, using the magic he got from her, invoked the crimson bands of cyttorak to entrap the infinity gauntlet. Yet even while restrained, Thanos was still able to activate one of the stones to break free.

Drax and Vesper assaulted Thanos, knocking him back down onto his knees while Star-Lord fired one of his gravity mines which pulled his other arm down. To keep Thanos trapped, Spider-Man used his synthetic webbing to pull him backward as the opponent tried to fight.

With Thanos unable to move, the last parts of Cassandra's plan unraveled. Tony then flew back in and attempted to pull the gauntlet away from him, while Strange opened another interdimensional portal over his head, which allowed Mantis to drop on his shoulders, her hands on his temples. He screamed as used her powers to put him in a trance-like state.

Stark struggled, "Is he under? Don't let up."

Mantis gasped, her eyes black eyes wide and gleaming with tears. "Be quick..." her lips violently trembled. "He is very strong!"

"Parker, help! Get over here!"

Peter Parker withdrew his web, and hurried to help Tony with the gauntlet. "She can't hold him much longer. Let's go. We gotta open his fingers to get it off."

With all them working together, Thanos was trapped even if he was using all his might in his attempts to break himself free from their hold.

It was at this time that Vesper forced herself between the two, raising her glowing sword above her head. "Get out of my way! I'm going to chop his hand off!"

Stephen stopped her by wrapping a whip made of eldritch magic. "No, no!"

"Why do you fucking mean no, Gandalf?" screeched Vesper, pulling against the tight grasp. "Look, we cut it, we get the gauntlet, we ask where Gamora is, we chop his head off, we win. Done, na-da! The end! Boom! Universe saved!"

"You can't do that, you'll ruin Cassandra's plan. Just -- "

"Oh, bullshit -- "

"Alright, miss Kill Bill," Tony interjected, his voice tight. "We get it. You and your guys all have a vendetta with this guy, but we have to trust Merlin here. He has seen the one future where we won. We can't mess with this chance."

"You can settle your issues with him when Stephen has told us it's safe to do so, Vesper. For now, step... aside." Cassandra limped lightly, holding her side.

Vesper was still hesitant about it, but after a couple of seconds, finally relented and raised her arms in surrender. "Fine, your call."

Landing in front of them was Star-Lord who looked relieved and cocky in Thanos' restrained state. "I'll admit, I thought you'd be harder to catch. For the record, I contributed a little to miss Glinda, the good witch's plan here." He expressed, shrugging casually. "So, not so strong now, huh, Thanos? Where's Gamora?

Despite being under Mantis' control, Thanos was still able to communicate a few words. "My... Gamora...?"

"Oh, bullshit!" thundered Peter Quill, a fresh swell of rage rising in him. "Where is she?"

Mantis panted, her antennas glowing brighter than ever before as if she had just made a discovery. "He is in anguish!"

"Good."

The empath shed hot tears as she continued, her breathing growing choppy. "He..." her voice cracked with sorrow. "he... he mourns!"

Drax roared, infuriated by what he just heard. "What does this monster have to mourn?!"

"Gamora." murmured Nebula in desolation and dread, swallowing hard.

Almost immediately, Cassandra pieced everything together and took a step back in shock. She shared a glance with Nebula and the horror and grief in her eyes was enough to confirm what she had just thought.

Whoever was this Gamora, Thanos had definitely killed her. There was no doubt about it.

"What?"

"Oh, gods." Cassandra mumbled, hanging her head low.

"He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul Stone..." Nebula expounded, her face contorted with sorrow and pain. "but she didn't."

At this, Tony advised Peter to calm down, "Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, understand?"

"Peter, Peter..." Vesper stepped forward, attempting to grab ahold of him. "You should take a step back now."

But, he ignored her, raising his hand to stop her from talking him out of the confrontation.

"Don't, don't, don't engage, Quill, we've almost got this off!"

"Tell me she's lying." Star-Lord demanded, trembling violently from the rage that swelled in him. "Asshole! Tell me you didn't do it!"

"I... had... to."

Peter shook his head, eyes welling with tears. "No, you didn't..." he sobbed, heartbroken by the news and Vesper wrapped her arm around his shoulders to comfort her younger brother. "No, you didn't." At this, Star-Lord struck Thanos with his blaster, causing Mantis to lose her control over him for a moment as Stark desperately tried to hold Quill back but with little success. Peter Parker was left alone to pull the gauntlet and Cassandra rushed over to help him by releasing ropes of dark dimension magic. "No, you didn't!"

The Guardian watched in horror as Peter shot Tony with his blaster, driven mad by the revelation that his girlfriend was dead. Having had enough of Peter Quill's emotional outburst, she restrained his hands with golden strands of arcane magic, but he tugged it forward and shot in her direction.

Yet, before the blast could even reach her, a mandala shield that covered her entire front, deflecting it. It came from Stephen who was struggling to hold Thanos' arm back with one hand. It was almost as if he was expecting it to happen.

"It's coming! It's coming! I got it! I got it!" yelled Peter, catching their attention.

The Guardian didn't have time to think anymore if he had seen it happen in one of those millions of futures because Quill pounded Thanos in the face, twice causing him to wake, and finally break free from the forced slumber he was put in.

He butted Mantis from his shoulders, grabbed the cuff of the gauntlet just as it slid off his hand, causing Parker to stumble back, and Mantis to go flying.

Shit.

The Titan knocked back Tony and Cassandra, taking down the others as well by kicking Drax into the Guardians and beating them all down with a powerful shockwave from the Gauntlet. Having now subdued them, he hovered over Cassandra and grabbed her by her neck with one hand, and lifted her off of her feet. With his large palm pressing against her throat, she felt her esophagus closing, no air was reaching her lungs.

"You all should've tried harder to stop me."

The Guardian could feel her life going away. All that was dear to her began to slip out of grasp and possibility.

"Now... perish."

Spoiler: She dies.

Just kidding.

Maybe..