≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

TWENTY SIX | A WORLD IN PIECES

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"DON'T ABANDON ME!"

Cassandra awoke, panting in the dimly lit room. Her body was drenched with sweat. Her heart pounded, mind empty. A cold gust of air brushed against her face like she had just been splashed with a bucket full of ice. She could still hear her own pleading cries and screams in her ears and she almost jumped up from whatever she was in before a pair of hands pressed her shoulders from behind, stopping her from moving.

It was as if a hypodermic of adrenaline had been emptied into her carotid and instantly, she twisted the hand of the person who grabbed her, causing them to shriek in pain.

It was Tony.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" he groaned, wincing. "You'll break my hand!"

"Stark! Gods, I'm so sorry!" Cassandra dropped his hand immediately as she strained into her surroundings, breathing rate beginning to steady.

"I think you really broke it." flinched the genius billionaire, caressing his hand. "Damn, some strength you got there."

"Where are we?"

The room was silent, except for a soft hum coming out from their front. They were in some space vessel and she took notice of how it was roughly rectangular, its edges soft and crawling with tubes and pistons. Cassandra's eyes then flickered to the one who was causing the craft to propel smoothly onward, through the void between galaxies, Vesper Lynn. "We're somewhere near the Andoria system." She confidently announced, eyeing the navigation system. "Just three-hundred kilometers away from Titan."

Right, Titan.

The Guardian turned her gaze towards Tony, her voice croaky from suppressed sobs. "They're gone?" She asked, her eyes brimming with tears again as she was reminded of her last moments with Stephen. She vividly remembered the feeling of how his hands crumbled to dust, the dread as she waited for her turn to die, and the horror when she realized she was part of the other half who will live.

Tony nodded.

She shut her eyes, clenching her fists. Thanos won and had successfully eradicated half of life on Earth, just as what he said he would.

"We're getting you both home to Earth." Vesper's voice was thick with authority, but Cassandra could see the glint of sorrow in her eyes. She was trying to keep a strong façade, both she and Tony were, but she knew deep inside, they were grieving for their loss. After all, each of them lost someone dear to them.

"Coordinates have already been set, Vesper. We'll arrive on Earth approximately - "

That was when the ship stopped moving and remained immobile for seconds. Cassandra and Tony stood up from their positions, neck craned up as they observed the roof for any danger. Nebula, the blue skinned synthetic being, confronted them. "The ship's navigation system malfunctioned and our fuel cells cracked. We are now drifting aimlessly in space." informed her, concerning the two humans. Cassandra bowed her head and released a sigh, losing another sliver of hope. Tony immediately stepped forward and discussed with Vesper how to get to the ship's propulsion systems, letting Nebula assist him as the three of them removed a panel off the ground.

"Let me help." started Cassandra, slightly limping over to them due to her still fresh wound. Tony's nanite technology had really helped in healing and closing the stab wound, but the effect was still there. She could still feel and remember how her own sword was driven into her own abdomen. Her cloak, her sword, no relic was left after this. Not only did she lose Stephen, but she had also lost her most valuable items.

"No, no. You stay there." objected Tony, stopping her from getting near them. "We'll take care of it. I'll work on it, okay? Hey, Miss Kill Bill, can you look out for her for me?"

Vesper nodded, assisting Cassandra in getting back to the bed. "Cassandra, right?" She asked once they settled on its edge.

"Yeah."

"What you did back there on Titan..." She cleared her throat when her voice cracked. "That was so cool. You were awesome. Opening a portal."

Cassandra winced, remembering how she violated a rule. She knew under no circumstances, unless very dire, that the gates of the multiverse shall be opened, but she did it. Actually, she didn't think it would work since it required her drawing immense power from the Dark Dimension, something she didn't want to do again because it reminded her of the times she was under Dormammu's hold. "Yeah."

"Okay, I'm just going to talk about myself then." the blonde girl pursed her lips. "I'm Vesper Lynn. You already know that. I'm from Earth, Alaska - wait, Alaska, Earth." She snorted then slapped her face. The Guardian only listened to her, a faint smile creeping up on her lips. Vesper must've realized that Cassandra didn't want to talk more for now since they have just witnessed many deaths and diverted her attention to something else, herself. "Anyways, mother died giving birth to me, dad's a Celestial..."

"A Celestial? What is that, a god?"

She scratched her head. "Funny, that's what I also asked him. Well, Celestials are these entities with vast matter and energy manipulation abilities. They bring planets and lifeforms into existence throughout the cosmos."

"So, they are like alien gods?"

"Well, if you kind of think about it like that, yeah. Anyways, my dad, Ego, who is a living planet... weird, yes, yes, I know, my mom fucked a planet literally." She shivered, disgusted. "But, don't worry, he made a humanoid extension of myself to perform the deed, and then boom na-dah, they had me. Dad left my mom before I was born and I was sent to my mother's sister. She's really a good pie-maker, by the way."

Cassandra smiled at Vesper's enthusiastic storytelling. Was this her way of coping up with the fact that she just lost her brother? She will never know.

"Twenty-seven years later, I was on my way to become a national Chess champion when I met the man who would be my fiancé, Dr. Louis Cho. Let me tell you, he was so amazing. I met him at this airport, a minute after my friend collapsed and choked, and he did this thing with his knife and I was like... left so amazed." She said. "So then, we became friends and eventually lovers. We were actually supposed to get married when my planet dad decided to kidnap me on the day of my wedding and activated these Celestial shit powers in me that were dormant. He actually planned to remake the entire universe into his own image by implanting thousands of extensions of his seeds on thousands of worlds. Dad wanted to be God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, crazy lunatic he is, I swear."

"He sure lives up to his name Ego." noted Cassandra. "What happened after that? If you don't mind me asking you, of course."

The blonde smirked. "Glad you're getting interested because we're about to get to the exciting part. So, he wanted to eradicate all other life in the universe but himself. He wanted everything to be covered with him. After he activated these powers of mine, I discovered that my shit of a father needed another Celestial like him to accomplish his goal and fucked thousands of women just to do that. Those children were kidnapped years after they were born like me, and none of them had the powers he needed." She brushed her hair back, making Cassandra curious and a bit confused. How was Vesper so casual about this? "So, he killed them all and used me as a battery, but our energies still weren't enough to cause an extinction event so he put me to sleep for many, many years and fucked another human, Meredith, my half-brother's, mother. I wasn't woken up until two decades later when my father finally found Peter."

"We discovered that our father murdered our mothers by planting tumors inside them and I'm cutting the fight scene short, we both beat his ass and he's now dead. So, yeah, the family I have left..." She paused, swallowing and her voice softened as if filled with the emotion of grief. "... is Peter and the rest of this team, Drax, Gamora, Mantis, Rocket, and Groot."

"Hey, are you okay?" asked the Guardian, scooting closer to comfort her.

Vesper grunted and wiped the tears that were threatening to spill. "Shit. This is not an emotion, I tell you. I'm not crying, okay? I wasn't crying. Why the fuck will I cry? I'm going to find that fucking purple yam son of a bitch and cut his heart out."

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Cassandra wrapped her arms around Vesper, rubbing her back to soothe her. "It's going to be okay. We're going to be okay."

Were they?

Were they really going to be okay?

"I don't even know if Rocket and Groot are alive, you know. I hope they are okay."

Cassandra continued to comfort her, while she herself gathered strength for her pain. They were going to be okay, she believed in that. She had hope in that. The brunette shut her eyes for a moment, wishing that hope would not run out. A few hours later, Tony informed them all that he at least partially succeeded in fixing the spacecraft by working around the damage and they could try again to make it back to Earth. Yet as luck would have it, the ship, which Vesper called the Benatar, ran of flight power after only two days and gradually began running out of air, the former of which stranded them before.

Tony and Nebula attempted to fix this as well, but they simply failed to do so, leaving them lost in space. Cassandra had even come up with an idea to open a portal to Earth using her Sling Ring, but she realized that she had lost it during the battle, saddening her even more.

Cassandra lost another sliver of hope because of that.

Were they even going to return home alive?

Exactly twenty-two days after Titan, the woman watched Tony and Nebula play a few rounds of Table Football in the bridge of the Benatar. Cassandra and Vesper were acting referees in their game since they lost to Tony and Nebula. They watched as Nebula
strike sharply the folded paper with the side of her hand. "Wrra!" Nebula, frustrated, put her hands in a fighting stance while looking at Tony, Cassandra, and Vesper.

"Okay, that was not counted." noted Cassandra, sitting up straighter. Thankfully, her wound had finally healed, having gotten treatment from.the first aid kit Vesper found a few days ago.

"You don't need to do that. Because uh... you're just holding position." Tony added, positioning his fingers to look like a football goal. Vesper went by Nebula's side and coached her on how to play the game.

Cassandra watched as Nebula flick a paper football towards Tony. "Oh yeah, that was close." He observed. The blue-skinned synthetic being once again flicked a paper football towards Tony and it went inside the goal. "That's a goal! We're now one piece."

"I would like to try again." admitted Nebula and Tony allowed it. The woman flicked another paper football towards Tony, but it didn't get inside.

"We're tied up. Feel the tension? It's fun." articulated Tony, as if trying to lighten their situation. He poorly flicked a paper football towards Nebula. "That was terrible. Now you have a chance to win."

Nebula flicks the paper football towards Tony... and it went inside, making her the winner.

"And... you've won. Congratulations." Tony reached his hand out to shake Nebula's hand. "Fair game. Good sport." He added, just as his opponent shook his hand. "Have fun?'"

"It was fun."

Tony beamed, nodding. He stood up from his seat and walked towards the other side of the bridge. Nebula, before her, continued to stare at her hand as if she had just the most atrocious thing in the thing. "I have never won." confessed Nebula, catching Cassandra's undivided attention. "Against my sister, my father... Gamora, she is always perceived to be greater than me. My father always replaced parts of me to make me stronger." The woman let Nebula speak her heart out, and she and Vesper, in the end, comforted the blue-skinned individual, letting her know that they were there for her. That from now on, they were friends. It may have been just twenty-two days, but Cassandra had grown attached to them already.

Hours must've passed again and the Guardian along with Vesper found it difficult to breathe, throwing up a little. They were losing so much oxygen because of the damage that Tony informed them that they only have forty-eight hours left and after that, they will pass away. Cassandra stayed with Nebula and Vesper for the rest of the day, thinking of a plan to get them to Earth. If only she didn't lose her Sling Ring, they could've just opened a portal to Earth. She could perform the Runes she evoked in Titan again, but she didn't want to channel any more dark energy. The more she did, the more she felt the darkness reigning more in her mind.

The woman sauntered over to Tony, who was at the back of the Benatar. Their lack of proper food, water, and oxygen had really changed them all. They were thinner and pale as if anytime they may collapse and just die. Pushing her feet forward, she heard Tony narrate the events of the past days to his helmet. It seemed to be recording what he was saying. It was like he was giving a final message to his fianceé, Pepper. "... and then move on with enormous guilt. I should probably lie down. Please know that, when I drift off, I will think about you. Because it's always you."

It was as if he had noticed her presence because he inclined his smile and shrugged, patting the space beside him. "Planner," he acknowledged. "Come, join me. You wanna give a last message?"

Cassandra sat down and leant against the wall, eyeing his helmet. Does she have any last message for the ones she left on Earth? Yes, she has a message, but the woman believed it was not the last one because she was going to see them. She was going to still see Moon-Young, Jae-Hyuk, Wong, and her mother, Olivia. She believed that and so, she shook her head.

With that, Tony turned his helmet off, looking once again at her. "We all tried our best, right? We did everything?"

"That we did, Stark. That we did."

He nodded, rubbing his thumb over his left eye. That's when Vesper and Nebula came in and joined them on the floor, staring at the vast nothingness outside of the Benatar. Cassandra felt fear again because once they sleep now, they might never open their eyes again due to the oxygen finally running out, but she felt comforted when Vesper held her hand, her warmth gave her hope despite the bleakness of their future. Breathing once again, the four of them then leaned down, to what would be their last sleep.

Hours must've passed again and a distant light dazzled Cassandra's pallid face. It felt so hot that she was forced to open her eyes. She squinted, blinded by the bright light that shone before her. She noticed that she was in the Captain's chair and an incandescent wave of light was seeping through the window. The brunette put her arm above her sight as Vesper and Tony started to wake up and the light source began to fade slowly, revealing a short blonde hair woman wearing a blue and red uniform. She had a gold star in the middle of her chest and details throughout her whole uniform. Was she their savior?

Not even seconds later, she tilted her head and Vesper jumped up from her seat, albeit weak, and breathed to create a fog on the glass. Lifting her finger, she wrote the word EARTH backwards to give their savior an idea where they must go. The red and blue uniformed woman nodded and flew under, surprising them all when they felt the spacecraft move at light speed.

They were finally going home.

But, was there really a home left for them?

Minutes later, Cassandra began to breathe oxygen again as they reached Earth's atmosphere, making her almost cry in relief. Vesper embraced her and patted her shoulder. Tony led Carol through the speakers to land them in the Avengers compound. The woman heard the landing gears deploy as they touched down. Their entry hatch opened, and Tony and Cassandra wrapped their arms on each of their shoulders and waist, supporting each other out of the Benatar while Nebula assisted the exhausted Vesper. A man with sandy blond hair and crystal blue eyes jogged up to them and caught Tony, helping him to stand up. Cassandra was kind of familiar with him as she had always seen his face in advertisements and videos. This was Steve Rogers, Captain America.

Before Cassandra fully let go of Tony, two pairs of arms circled around her waist and shoulder and she realized that she was being gently assisted by a blonde haired woman and a very tall man. "You got her, Paul?"

"I got her, you go get the other one, Nat."

"Couldn't stop him." Tony expressed, glancing at Cassandra. "We couldn't stop him."

"Neither could I."

"I lost the kid."

"Tony, we lost."

"Is, uh...?"

At that, Pepper came to them and tearfully embraced Tony. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

"It's okay."

The towering man beside Cassandra stared at each of them just as her eyes fluttered closed due to fatigue. "Come on, let's all get you inside."

CASSANDRA FOUND HERSELF sitting down in a chair when she regained consciousness. An IV drip was attached on her arm, replenishing her of the nutrients she lost when they got stranded in space. She noticed that she was in a living room area, surrounded by the heroes of their planet. She knew some of them like Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Col. James Rhodes, and Thor since she had mostly seen them in the news. Only this man and the woman who saved them were the people she was unfamiliar with. The brunette tried to move upwards, groaning as she did so and was immediately held back by Vesper and the man from earlier, Paul Vernon. "Hey, hey, don't push yourself too much." he talked, helping her up. "You just woke up."

"Thank you."

He nodded. "I'm sorry, but I, uh... didn't get your name earlier."

"Cassandra. Cassandra Mason."

"Nice to meet you, Cassandra. Well, not really nice because of the circumstances, but yeah. I'm Paul. Paul Vernon."

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." declared James Rhodes, his arms crossed. A holographic casualty report popped up before them all, listing the names and faces of those lost to the decimation including Stephen. Her heart shattered once again at the memory and thought of her partner and associate gone. Her mind then wandered to the people she left in Kamar-Taj. Was Moon-Young, Jae-Hyuk, Wong, and her mother okay? Were they among the casualties?

"World governments are in pieces." informed the redhead. "The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. And it looks like he did, he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures."

"Where is he now? Where?" inquired Tony who also had an IV drip restoring his lost strength.

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through."

"What's wrong with him?"

Cassandra gazed upon the god she met two years ago, Thor. He no longer sported the shoulder-length hair she was once very fond of seeing and looked disturbed, sullen as he sat on the bench, deep in thought.

"Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed." articulated a... racoon. The woman furrowed her eyebrows. Did the animal just talk comprehensibly? She blinked, thinking it should've been weird to hear a racoon talk, but she had encountered weirder things before. "Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?"

Tony remarked, "Honestly, until this exact second, I literally thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

The racoon shrugged. "Maybe I am."

Steve spoke up again, catching all of their attention. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing." He glanced at the exhausted man who had an arc reactor in his chest. "Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that?" Tony retorted, clicking his tongue. He pressed a hand to his chest. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store. He even stabbed Miss Morgana - my wedding planner back there in the stomach and she almost died. That's what happened. There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."

"Okay." Steve calmly enunciated. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything? You, miss... Miss Mason? Anything?"

Cassandra looked up, feeling everyone's stare at her. She was a bit confused as to how they got her name, but then remembered she was in a room full of people who have access to every individual's information in the planet. It wasn't that hard to look her up in Google, Facebook, and Instagram. "Well, Stephen..." she swallowed, fighting not to have her voice crack at her mention of his name. "Stephen Strange and I were able to talk to him before everything and he just said to us that he would finally rest after he accomplished his goal."

"Rest? What else did he say?"

Tony Stark sputtered. "Uh... you know what, I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus. Miss Mason, can you - "

"And I needed you." Tony snapped, seething. "As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" He aggressively stood up from his seat, pushing things off his table with a clatter. Cassandra winced at the noise and continued to watch as he tried to remove his IV needle. "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse... "

James Rhodes quickly came in front of him, trying to stop him whatever he was doing. "Tony, Tony, Tony!"

"... Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not, that's what we needed!"

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said, "we'd lose". You said, "We'll do that together too." And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact?" Tony Stark started to confront Steve Rogers, but James Rhodes and Paul Vernon held him back. "We're the Avengers, we're the Avengers. Not the Pre-vengers."

"Okay."

"Right?"

"You made your point, Stark. Just sit down, okay?" asserted Paul, stopping him.

"Okay..." Tony glanced at Rhodes and Vernon and Cassandra thought that would be end of it, but he contended once again. "Nah, nah. Here's my point. You know what?"

"Tony, you're sick."

Tony pointed his finger to Cassandra, Vesper the blonde woman who saved them. "They're great, by the way."

"Sit down. Sit."

"We need you here. You're all new blood. Bunch of tired old mules!" Tony pushed Vernon and Rhodes away, walking right up to Steve's face as his voice hushing down to a venomous whisper. Cassandra shook her head, shutting her eyes. Discerning that this talk will not end well, she stood up and got rid of her dextrose. "I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."

The Guardian left the room after that, not even caring to look around the lobby of the Compound and continued to step out of the building. "Hey, hey! Where are you going?" She heard a deep voice ask her, their footsteps loud as they trudge against the gravel.

"Home, Mr. Vernon. I need to go home." tiredly vocalized Cassandra, feeling so dejected after the day's event.

He nodded, fishing out his car keys out his back pocket. Cassandra had only noticed that he was wearing a white long sleeve and business slacks. "Please, at least, let me drive you there."

"No, no, it's okay - "

"No, I insist. You just got back to Earth after... what happened out there in space, Miss Mason. Let me be assured that you'll get home safely, please."

Cassandra was about to decline his offer, but relented after the man insisted for one last time. He assisted her in getting across the parking lot and getting inside his car. If this was any ordinary day, she would be marvelled by how amazing and expensive his sports car looked. Their whole car ride was silent, just like the streets outside them. Many cars were abandoned and the whole city looked like a ghost town, all gloomy and quiet. Thanos really did what he said he would, wipe out fifty percent of all living creatures. They reached their destination in a couple of minutes and Paul once again aided her to the doors of the New York Sanctum.

"Thank you, Mr. Vernon."

"Please call me Paul, and please don't bother. It's okay. You sure you don't want me to help you inside?"

She shook her head.

"Okay. Well, here's my card if you want to give me a call or need a ride back to the Compound." He offered his card which Cassandra accepted, smiling a bit. Releasing a breath, she stepped foot inside the Sanctum, dreadful of what she might discover inside. The foyer was silent and Cassandra cleared her throat. There was no one inside. The quiet was too deafening. The lack of life brought ragged breaths and wild beatings to Cassandra's heart. Where were they?

"Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing into the nothingness.

"Cassandra?"

She spun around instantly, relieved by the sight of her friend Wong, alive and well. It was as if she was invigorated and sparked to life when she saw him that she sprinted towards him. Her arms wrapped around him and he embraced her back tightly, a small cry of relief escaping his lips. "Thank the gods, you're okay!" He uttered then pulled away, smiling.

"Yeah, a bit, yes. How about you? How's everyone? Where's Moon-Young and Jae-Hyuk? My mom? Are they here?"

Wong sucked in a breath as if he was trying to find words for the thoughts inside his head. Cassandra feared the worst. "Wong?"

"They're gone, Cass. Olivia, Moon-Young, Jae-Hyuk, half of the students here, they're gone... dusted away."

The woman stumbled back, refusing to believe what she heard. Her mother, the twins, their students, they were among those who were dusted. A solemn tear fell down her cheek; her body looked calm compared to how tangled her mind was. Thanos took away almost everyone from her.

"Cassandra... where's Strange?"

Cassandra's shoulder slumped down as her knees buckled and she felt a great pain in her chest. Everything in her body hurt. She couldn't even find the words to speak and so she shook her head. Wong immediately understood what she meant. Stephen wasn't around and she came back alone which only meant one thing. Her friend knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder gently.

"Cassandra, with him gone, you know what this means..."

The Guardian took a moment and turning her head to Wong, she looked straight into his eyes. "I am now the Sorceress Supreme."

so, what y'all think? me finally starting the first chapter? yay! so, they're gone and now, the role falls on to cassandra. what will she do now?