A/N & TW: Thank you all for reading I appreciate you all so much, this fic was just a little brain worm at the back of my mind that I thought why not?? That being said on too more serious stuff, lots of blood gore and violence in this chapter, so jump on in and enjoy. Thank you again all.

Bucky POV

To say I was furious would have been the understatement of the century. As the alarms blared, I shouted over to Steve who had an equally furious expression on his face. How the hell had I let this happen? I knew I shouldn't have left that fucking room. I knew that one of us should have stayed with her at all times, but the doctors had told us to walk away, to take a break, to let our minds and bodies take a moment away from staring at Evelyn's sleeping form. It had been three weeks; three weeks that she had laid there so very still. Three weeks I pleaded with her unconscious form to open her eyes, to move a muscle to something other than lay there like a corpse. I even pleaded for her to wake up and attack me, I'd have rather had her out of her mind with another vision than just this.

I had finally found the one person that I had felt a connection with, and now she was just fucking laying there.

We had been gone for less than an hour when the alarms sounded, and I had leapt to my feet running making fleeting eye contact with Steve my own fears reflected right back at me with his own glance. Without a single word we had run back towards her room only to find the hallway jammed with guards that I didn't even realize they had on the property. Her door was bowed outward the indentation of a fist clear for us to see, she had tried with all her strength to escape. I could only imagine what she thought had been happening. I pushed through the crowd of black clad shoulders and into the room, the cool wind brushing against my face from the shattered window before me, the glass gone. It was strewn both inside littering the floor and outside on the ground below. I leaned from the window where I could see the tracks, her bare feet had left indentations in the mud. Footprints that led into the thick forest beyond the borders of the compound.

I braced my hands on the windowsill moments from launching myself over the edge when Steve strode beside me, "Stop Buck." He spoke.

Always the voice of reason.

I shook my head, "I'm going after her."

"So am I." He replied, "but we can't just chase her down through the woods."

"Why not?" I grit my teeth.

"How do you think she would take it, the two of us tearing after her like that."

I could barely look at him, my anger still unresolved from weeks ago. I scoffed my voice raising in anger, "You and I both know we are the only ones who could keep up with her, no matter that she was here ten minutes ago, she is long gone."

Steve made to pull out his cell and I slapped it from his hand, it clattered loudly against the floor, "Since when have you become this careful Steve? You have always just done the right thing without question. This is the right thing, why now are you being cautious?"

Hs lips pressed together and for a minute I didn't think that he was going to reply. We had sat together all of these weeks barely talking barely acknowledging each other but now, now that I was ready to fight this all out in the open, he was tight lipped.

"I can't take risks." He said quietly, "not with her."

All the fight that had been within me dwindled. It was like I'd just been punched in the gut.

"I have fought every moment of my life Buck. I've rushed in and put my body between those I cared about and my enemies and look at how much we lost. How many did we lose in the end? I'm not willing to do that with her, not with Evelyn, not ever."

Jealousy flared in my chest like a grenade, "I can't just stand aside Steve," I ached awfully, I had every day she had just laid there, "I spent so long with all of my emotions locked away somewhere inside my head where I could never reach them. I can't just, stand here and wait. My whole body is screaming at me to go and find her and keep her safe."

We were at an impasse, neither of us willing to see what the other person needed, we could only see the end goal.

Evie.

Steve sighed his shoulders sagged in defeat, my words had made that new part of him, back down, his baser need to protect taking over, "Ok," he said, "let's go." And with that he vaulted through the window with me just at my heels as we barrelled into the trees following the footprints in the mud.

Mordo POV

The little soldier was brave I would give her that, I had been surprised and pleased when she launched herself out of that window and then came running towards me in the woods. She did not realize that in her haste to flee that she was leaving the confines of her safety and straight into imminent danger. For weeks she had been locked away in the place, a place where her two guard dogs had watched over her faithfully. Yet now, now was the time to strike.

I sensed that she was torn between two minds right now and what Strange had done, what I had led him towards doing, had perhaps broken something within her.

Something that I would exploit.

Happily.

She ran fast, but not fast enough.

I followed her though the trees and appeared in the path before her. She stumbled to a halt, her eyes wide and filled with fear. They widened further when she took me in. She made to veer to the right, but I lashed out with my magic and a whip of light surrounded her binding her arms to her chest and lifting her from the ground.

"Let me go." She urged as she struggled against her bonds.

I shook my head and stepped closer to her, "I cannot do that Evelyn."

Her lower lip quivered.

The first time I remember seeing true fear on her face, "you have something I want." I said.

She shook her head from side to side, "I have nothing Mordo, let me go."

I smiled up at her, "I find it strange that you still do not have a single thread of an idea, your husband was better at keeping secrets than I thought."

Her brows came together.

I continued explaining, "After your battle with Thanos all those years ago, did you never question how you were still alive?" I walked around her in a circle as I explained, "How could it be that you survived a wound like that? No medical team, not even one from Wakanda would be capable of mending those type of wounds. You had help from something far more powerful."

"Stop," she begged, "You're lying to me to get what you want."

"I don't have to lie," the rage in me boiled because I was never anything other than truthful with her, "I have that on my side and soon you will see."

I snapped my fingers and the bonds tightened and I grinned before I took her through a portal.

Steve POV

The trail had gone cold. Her footsteps had just vanished.

Bucky's face was unreadable and when I turned to him, he just stared, his shoulders tense and his metal hand was balled into a fist.

He looked how I felt.

"We'll find her." I said.

He shook his head defeated, "No Steve, I don't think we will this time. I-I have a really bad feeling about this."

I grit my teeth, but I didn't reply.

We stood in silence for a moment before I spoke.

"I hate to say this pal," Bucky's voice cut though the silence like a knife, "but I think we need Strange."

The hate within me flared, hate for Strange and hate because I knew he was right.

"C'mon," I said over my shoulder as I turned back to the compound, "let's make that call."

Evelyn POV fifteen days later...

What it was that Mordo wanted it wasn't on a time constraint because I had been sitting in this cell for a long time. Meals came twice a day, fresh water was always available, but I spoke to no one. There was a metal bed built to the floor, and a sink and a toilet on the opposite side of the room, no door, no windows just a square metal box.

Through the years I had been in my share of cells and this one was quite small in comparison, but altogether very different, it was specifically made to contain me. I had spent the first forty-eight hours trying to escape, pounding on the walls, attempting to pull the bed from the floor the sink and toilet from their place, all to no avail. Somehow the more strength I used the less it seemed effective. So, I sat and attempted to still my mind. Attempted to quell each and every thought.

Mordo had portalled us into this room and with his feline grin portalled himself right out. Without a single explanation. Without another taunting word to lord his plan over me.

Yet it was his words from the forest that played over and over in my mind.

"After your battle with Thanos all those years ago, did you never question how you were still alive?"

I hadn't questioned it.

But I sure as hell did now.

My mind went back to the battle, dissecting each and every moment.

Over and over until I could see what I had missed.

Titan 5 years ago...

I groaned my eyes blinking to ebb the darkness, where I lay pinned beneath heavy rubble.

"All that for a drop of Blood?" Thanos spoke calmly though his presence was far from that, he was formidable. He stood tall before Toni, but she did not falter she only strengthened her attack, but it was all to no avail. Try as I might to free myself from beneath debris to aid her, I only managed to free myself slightly. Toni's face was set with grim determination as she attacked, a blade formed at her wrist and fear coursed through me because I knew she was no match for his strength no matter what tricks her suit held. I cried out as he easily snapped it free from her suit and in one fluid movement, he impaled it through her side.

She cried out in alarmed pain her eyes wide with fear.

Thanos spoke again as I fought harder freeing myself more from my prison. "You have my respect Stark," he held her down, "When I'm done half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you." I fought harder knowing I had to get to Toni, to help her, to help her unborn child.

I had just slipped free when Strange called out, "Stop!" All eyes shot to him, "Spare her life and I will give you the stone."

I stood now, as Strange spoke and my heart shattered at his words. He met my eyes briefly before shaking his head silently telling me to stop, but I couldn't. I couldn't just stand by and let him do this, Thanos could not get the stone, Toni could not die. I could not stand for this.

I took a silent step forward when Thanos spoke again, "No tricks." His eyes remained only on Strange the rest of us forgotten. His goal so close at hand.

I stepped even yet closer unbelieving that Strange would just hand over the stone like that.

"Don't." Toni gasped out weakly unable to stand, her eyes wide as she swallowed back her pain. She felt the same as I did, Thanos could not meet his goal.

The Time Stone shone brilliantly green amongst the rubble as it levitated in the air between them, and my body filled with pain. I raged with fury. I burned with betrayal.

Strange had given him the stone.

After all this he just handed it over.

Toni gasped completely defeated. My eyes flashed to her with concern when she tried to stand but failed.

As though it was in slow motion Thanos put the stone onto the gauntlet and power resonated with a thrum in the air his voice a calm whisper, "One to go" he said with finality.

I couldn't stop my body from moving. I launched myself at him, a scream of utter rage on my lips. Peter and Quill mirroring my attack, but I was closer. I grabbed at him, I grasped onto the gauntlet and fought. I could not stand for this. I fought with all of my strength renewed by the betrayal and condemnation on Strange's behalf.

"Thaw!" Strange yelled, "Let go, don't do this!"

But I did not listen, I could not listen.

Thanos grasped for his weapon, but I could not remove my hands from the gauntlet to defend. With one mighty strike, he cleaved me from stem to stern, warm blood streamed from me, splattering the dirt my guts along with it.

Still, I did not let go.

Yet even without this mortal wound I was no match for his strength. I was not certain I even would be if he didn't wield the power stone yet now with it at his command, I had sealed my fate. He wrenched my hands from the gauntlet as he held me up by my throat, the metal of it pinching the flesh. With all of the strength I brought my fists down upon it over and over. If I could not remove the gauntlet from his grasp, I would do my best to destroy it. Over and over with strength that I had never before wielded I gave him and the gauntlet no mercy. I pummelled it, the metal denting beneath my fists, he took a step back slamming me into the ground his bare fist now at my throat as he pinned me down, he then slammed the gauntlet into my wound with all of his strength.

Pain.

More pain than I should be able to stand coursed through me, the time stone in his grasp I was certain he ensured I felt that pain for eons, alive, yet unable to move.

"You are nothing," he whispered in my ear, "You are at my mercy, and I will not give it to you." I could feel the metal of the gauntlet scrape against my spine. The power from the gauntlet seemed to melt my entrails.

"I don't want your mercy," I screamed my hands going to his face, "I want your death even if it means mine"

I pressed my fingers into his eyes, I could feel them giving beneath my strength, I felt the blood beneath my fingers as he cried out in rage. There was a flare of power from the gauntlet that pulsed through my entire body and though I held onto him with all of my might, the Infinity Stones were too much.

There was a cracking noise that I felt though my entire body, power lit through my eyes, and I felt an electric pulse radiate through me. I was unable to keep my hold on him. My hands fell and with all the strength I could muster I began to wail on the gauntlet even though it was still within me. Energy blasted from it and through my entire being but still he held me in his grasp, his eyes filled with an even more intense anger. He tried to remove the gauntlet from me, but I did not let him go. This time the energy that pulsed through the gauntlet where he held my still beating heart in grasp increased tenfold. Again, he allowed the power to pulse violently and again, that cracking noise was all I could hear the metal of the gauntlet was searing my flesh. As he lifted me from the ground my body screamed with agony but still I punched and flaked blood, ichor spewing from me in a torrent, his own cry of rage and pain melted with my own and power flared one more time and I was sent flying through the air and away from him.

His chest heaved and though I was thrown meters from him, I could see the smoke radiating from the gauntlet, from the glowing stones. My blood sizzled as it boiled against the metal.

Quill launched himself towards him but before he could fall into Starlord's grasp Thanos stepped backwards through a billowing blue portal.

"Where is he!" Quill shouted.

Black ebbed my vision.

"Did we just loose?" Quill said incredulously.

I heaved for a breath that I could just not seem to catch, and my eyes turned to Toni, then to Strange, filling with tears.

We had lost.

"Why did you do that?!" Stephen shouted barrelling towards me, falling to his knees beside me, his hands going to the wound blood bubbling out of me in a wash of dark red "Why?" His own eyes were filling with tears.

I spluttered words but instead of noise only blood bubbled from my lips as all those who could stand moved closer.

"It was all going to work out..." I caught the tremble in Stephen's voice.

They gathered around me Peter fell to his knees beside Strange, "You have to help her Ms. Stark," he looked up to Toni as though he just knew she would be able to fix this.

Toni stepped closer condemnation in her eyes as she looked to him, her mouth poised to speak.

It was Mantis who spoke next, her voice filled with fear, "Something is happening." I didn't have the strength to move my head.

"Toni," Stephen shook his head as he looked to Toni his voice filled with sadness, "There was no other way."

Fear like none I had ever felt pulsed through me, momentarily abiding the pain as Dr. Strange turned to ash before my eyes and fluttered away on an invisible wind.

I had played it over and over in my mind but still I could not see what I was missing. I had seen the video from Tony Stark's suit from this world and it had not gone much differently. What had I done that was so different, my fight with Thanos had been fruitless. He had still managed to go to Wakanda and take the mind stone from Vision. He had still managed to snap, but after that in this world Thanos had left earth. He had not stayed to ensure my damnation. The damnation of those that were left behind, but why?

Had I truly damaged the gauntlet?

The Infinity Stones?

Bucky POV

Strange rubbed me the wrong way, he always had. I could handle, super soldiers, hydra robots and aliens even, but fucking wizards...

I didn't trust him.

The way he looked at me. Like he was better than me, smarter than me, and maybe he was but he didn't need to rub it in my fucking face. The Winter soldier would have torn his arms off, making it so that he couldn't do any of that fucking creepy magic. But me, Bucky on the either hand, had to just sit here and let him look at me like that.

I couldn't say what Steve felt, but if it was half of what I fucking did, Strange needed to tread carefully. I will say that the asshole was hard to track down. We had camped outside of Bleeker Street for days before someone came to open the fucking door and when it was opened it wasn't Strange that had done so.

A teenaged girl opened it telling us that she would get the message to Strange and that he would get back to us as soon as he could as long as we left.

I was practically dragged back to the repaired apartment by Steve who wanted to stay close, but I had never felt more secluded. Steve and I didn't talk, we barely looked at each other and the only words muttered between each other was to share the things we had learned from our contacts.

Which was a whole lot of nothing.

It was a sweltering day when a damn burst inside of me and my arm came down on the glass table of the kitchen sending shards scattering all around us. Steve jumped back to avoid the spray of glass, "What the hell Bucky?!"

"How can you just sit here?!" I yelled, I could feel my blood pressure rise, and the rage boiling over from within.

"I'm not just fucking sitting here." His brows came together as he brushed the glass out of his hair.

"Then what the hell are we doing?" I stood from the chair and moved to the exit Steve following, "I'm not sitting here anymore, I'm going to find Mordo myself, fuck Strange and his bullshit, who the hell knows what he is doing to her."

Steve grasped my elbow in his steel grip, and I could not pull away as I turned back at him a snarl on my lips, "Let me fucking go now."

He did not let go.

"What do you want me to do?" His voice was soft, filled with something broken.

"I want you to come with me, I want you to find her."

"That's what I'm doing!" He yelled, he finally fucking yelled after all of these weeks of the mild-mannered soldier the Captain had finally emerged. "I'm barely holding myself together, do you not think I want to go down to the sanctum and start smashing things until they give me what I want!?"

"That was my plan." I said dryly finally shoving off his grip and striding through the door.

"You can't."

"Why?" I didn't turn around as I slammed my finger down onto the button of the elevator, "It will get their attention."

He sighed and looked at me as though I were just a petulant child. Anger rose and I had to move. I had to move so I didn't slam Steve's head through a wall. I moved to the stairwell and banged the door open taking the stair down two at a time. I couldn't get down fast enough, I needed to get to Evelyn faster.

"Wait!" I could hear him shout from behind me as he tried to keep up. I had done things his way but now I was done.

I shook my head and just kept moving. I couldn't even tell you how fast I got to the sanctum with Steve at my heels. I found myself at the doors, and before I even took a breath, I was pounding on that door with my metal arm, splinters of wood flying violently though the air. The screams of passersby filtered into my ears, but I ignored them shouting for Strange at the top of my lungs, "Open the fucking door!!!"

Finally, the door burst open under my fists, and I rushed into the building to be met with at least a dozen wizards waiting, magic like sparks spiralling at their fingertips, ready for the battle I was eager to give them.

Steve stood at my right, all too ready to tear down anyone who would attack us. Evie was the priority. We needed to find Evie.

We had to.

I had to.

I stepped closer, my boots echoed loudly in the otherwise silent room as I approached the enemy. A voice shouted from the top of the staircase.

"Enough!" It was not Strange like I had expected. It was another man, a man I recognized as one who had fought at the final battle with Thanos, but a man that I did not know, but as soon as the words left his mouth the Sorcerers dropped their magic. A shiver fell over my flesh as though I could just feel his power radiate through the room.

"Wong." Steve greeted stiffly, dropping his guard but only slightly.

I did not.

"What is the meaning of this?" Wong said as he stepped down the remaining stairs towards us.

Steve moved closer meeting him halfway, but my feet still remained planted, "We are here to see Strange."

Wong sighed deeply as though he'd expected nothing less, "I take it he has been avoiding your calls." Steve nodded confirming the sorcerers words. "I'm not surprised." He sighed again and Wong then motioned for the others to disperse. He waited until they had all departed before he spoke again, "I take it this has something to do with the Infinity Stones."

I felt my blood boil, "It has to do with Evelyn." I corrected. Fuck the stones, I just wanted Evie back.

Wong narrowed his eyes at me, "The woman that Strange has been researching then." He placed his hands on his hips. He was silent for so long I wondered what might be going through his head, but in an instant, he dropped his hands to his side and turned around, "Well you'd better come with me then, he has not left the library since the night he took her to the hospital."

Steve followed but for the life of me I couldn't get my feet to move to follow them. This place left me uneasy, and as much as I wanted to help Evelyn, I could not seem to let myself move closer, "I'll wait here." I said stiffly folding my arms across my chest.

Wong looked at his shoulder and waved a hand the door behind me, "I think that would be best, we don't need anything else broken."

I watched the door repair itself over my shoulder before I turned back and glared at his retreating form. Steve offered me a stern look as they disappeared up the stairs.

Evelyn POV

I would lose my mind if I had to stay sequestered like this much longer, the solitude was making my mind work overtime. So many memories permeating my thoughts. Memories of what I'd endured under Hydra's thumb. Memories of the last battle with Thanos and the ruination of my entire life, my entire world... Memories, of jumping through the portal and arriving here. More awful memories than good ones.

I missed them.

I missed James.

I missed Steve.

"Mordo!" I screamed for what felt like the thousandth time, my throat ruined, "Mordo," I called again, "You need to either shit or turn to page two, because I need to get out of here." At this point I was so desperate to be released I may have agreed to nearly anything. "I don't even care how at this point!"

With a sizzle a portal erupted into the room and outstepped the man himself. "Awfully noisy today." He chided, "what can I do for you my dear?"

I forced myself to stay still rather than lunging for him. The calmness in his tone driving under my skin like nails.

"Let me out of here. Now."

That fucking feline grin appeared on his face and he began to pace in front of me, slowly tauntingly like a predator before his prey, "Why should I do that? You are perfectly safe here."

"Let me out." I repeated.

"Or what?" He mocked, "you don't have the upper hand here. There is no way for you to escape."

He was right, I was a prisoner, at his whim. "What do you want from me? What is the point of keeping me here?"

He angled his head to the side as he stopped his pacing moving towards me. His clothes rustled as he moved, they were a mockery of what Strange and the other sorcerers wore. They were all black, golden runes jingled where they jingled against his body, his sling ring on display across his knuckles. I was tempted to reach for it, wondering if I too would be able to wield the magic, he and strange shared. I had seen it done so many times. I had watched ever so carefully, when Strange and I were running from Thanos' army all those years. When he taught me the protection spell, I'd never tried to portal, I'd wondered if I could.

He watched me carefully before he finally spoke moving to clasp his hands behind his back as though he could read my thoughts. Perhaps he just read my hunger glare it the ring. He spoke, "Like I said before, you have something that I want."

I sighed in frustration, "Then tell me what it is," my voice was like ice, my body tense ready for an attack, perhaps ready to attack, "I will give it to you." I urged, "If you tell me what it is."

"Would you?" He countered that grin still on his face ever so taunting. He studied me carefully, "For what it's worth, I believe that you would have, before you came here."

"Tell me." I fought down every instinct in my body to fight, to flee, to never give in. Bold trepidation slid down my spine like fingers of ice.

"I want the Stones."

My expression remained hard, but I felt the muscles pull together between my brows, could he mean what I had suspected? My whole body felt like it was on the verge of collapse as the tension ebbed through me, "Explain it to me Mordo, and stop being so fucking vague."

He pursed his lips and moved closer, "Maybe it would be better if I showed you."

Before I could even brace myself, he reached out and tapped the centre of my forehead and the world around me shifted and swirled like a hurricane. Gales of colour and sound disoriented me, and I grasped onto his forearm to steady myself. I felt his muscles go taught beneath my grip, but he did not push me away.

I blinked.

I was in a different room, no longer was I in the cell that I had been confined to all these weeks, but I was in a hospital, one that was strangely familiar. Mordo came to stand beside me his lips set into a delighted smile.

Then I heard the voices.

"I don't believe what you are telling me." A voice. My pulse hammered. The pained voice of Steve Rogers.

Slowly blurred figures mere feet from us materialized and snapped into focus.

There stood Steve.

The Steve Rogers from my world, scarred and wizened, exhausted and ever ready for battle. His haunted blue eyes were so different from the man that I had come to know in this world. Before him stood Toni, beautiful, brilliant Toni Stark. Her long chocolate hair waving down past her petite shoulders. My heart jackknifed. I thought she had been long gone before I'd awoken in that hospital, or so I was told. It was Steve who had told me that.

He had never mentioned that he had spoken to her.

Fear and rage welled within me, but I swallowed it down.

I took a step forward, but Mordo grasped the back of my shirt halting me, "They cannot see you. You cannot interact with them."

I hazarded a glance to him, to find that his dark eyes were not on mine but firmly on the figures before us. So, I too allowed my eyes to see what he gazed at so fervently.

Toni's face was grim, her signature red lipstick garish upon her pale face. Her form was dangerously thin no doubt from the voyage back to earth, telling me without explanation this must have been not long after our return. Her newly manicured nails rested lightly against her abdomen silently revealing her secret. "Believe it Rogers, I have no reason to lie to you." Her honey eyes didn't hold any of the venom her words did.

"The hell you don't Toni." Steve's eyes were hard however, they were also filled with silent accusation, dancing to where she had her hand placed protectively before they darted back up to her face.

She pressed her lips together, her face now hard she dropped her hand. "Steve, I was there and so was Nebula. She was the one who did the initial scans." Her voice was flat filled with the gravity of the grim news she was offering.

"I won't believe it." Steve countered shaking his head running his hand down his bearded face. He had dark circles under his eyes, his shoulders were hunched, and I could see the tremor in his hand as he let it fall back down to his side.

"It doesn't matter to me if you don't believe it's true or not. Whatever it is that Thanos did to her, we all felt the thrum of power in the air. We all felt the cracking, like the entire universe was rending," she looked over Steve's shoulder into the room behind him. I followed her gaze and my stomach lurched as I saw the vision of my prone form so still on the bed, "Whatever she did while wailing away on the gauntlet in that childish way of hers, she damaged it. She damaged the Stones."

"That's impossible." He followed her gaze too. 'She is not that strong."

That stung.

I had always felt like I was a weak link, and now I realized he had thought it too.

She shook her head then reached out and gently put her hand against his chest, and he stilled placing his hand over hers his thumb caressing the back of her hand in a soft-hearted circular motion. My body twitched in jealous rage.

Mordo hissed at me, "Calm yourself."

I took a deep breath my mind still reeling from the information Toni had just presented Steve and the way they touched each other, so tender, so familiar filled with emotion that made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Steve," her voice was soft, a tone I'd never heard from her before. A gentle, kind, loving way that she saved perhaps for only him. Slowly he turned his head back to look down at her his eyes filled with sadness, there was so much unspoken emotion there as she continued speaking, "I'm not telling you this as her rival, I'm telling this to you as someone who cares for you very, very much." I swallowed thickly. I could feel the traitorous tears welling in my eyes, "Whatever Thanos did to her, I'm sure it was unintentional, but the scans prove that there are indeed shards of the Infinity Stones imbedded in every part of her."

My stomach dropped.

Steve continued to shake his head in disbelief, "Then we will just have to get rid of them, they will kill her she won't be able to stand the power of them. They will kill her."

Toni's eyes hardened just like her tone did ripping her hand out from beneath his, "You can't."

"Why?" He shot back hurt clearly in his eyes. Also, I noted the accusation as though he thought she didn't want to find a way to help me.

Her eyes flared in anger, "Because we tried, and it nearly killed her."

"What?!" His eyes too bursting with an anger of his own. He took a step back away from her, and I could see the tension in the air between them like some sort of vibrant cloud of distrust.

"Nebula and I both agree. The Stones are the only thing that is keeping her alive now." The room went silent, and my ears went hollow, I could feel the blood in my veins turn to ice. "If we remove them, she will die."