Hi everyone, in this chapter we're going to pretend Ronan survived his tangle with the Guardians of the Galaxy sorry not sorry

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"Are you certain you wish to be present for this, my liege? I would be happy to deliver the stone directly to you once the time arrives." Ronan said as Thanos stared from his massive ship to the planet before his eyes. Xandar. The planet which had no idea that he held its fate in his hands.

Thanos was growing tiresome of the Kree, he weighed the cost of letting his little bird burn him alive, or even better, kill him himself.

He sighed, before fixing his heavy gaze to Ronan. "So you may fail me once again, Accuser?" The Mad Titan demanded, turning toward him and away from his view of Xandar.

Ronan stiffened under his stare and Thanos' lips twitched with delight at watching his fear. "With all due re-"

"Where is my pet, Ronan? Is she ready?" Thanos interrupted the Kree, growing impatient with him. Ronan pursed his lips in hesitation. "Yes, my liege."

"Did the process work?" Thanos asked, directing his eyes back to the planet Xandar. The planet that held the power stone hostage. He could feel its power pulsing within its cities, could feel it crying to him.

"Um, well, yes-"

"Spit it out, Ronan." Thanos growled, patience wearing thin with him.

"Sir, I can execute this mission without her. The Chitauri are ready at any moment to strike and I'm sure it will be much more effe-"

"Ronan, do you ever have shut up?" The Mad Titan turned toward the new voice in the room, raising his brows in surprise when he saw his daughter, Nebula, entering the space with his prized possession in tow. The girl was toddling off behind Nebula, her movements were tired but anything but sloppy. Her bright blue eyes were now dull and emotionless, and her wrists were bound by the shackles they'd constructed to suppress her power.

"It didn't work?" Ronan asked promptly, Thanos resisted his glower at the hope in his voice. Nebula didn't, however. She glared at Ronan, "Don't sound so sad, Kree. But yes, it did work." she spat toward the blue-skinned Accuser.

"Why is she bound?" Thanos demanded, taking a step toward her. She blinked at him when he approached, hardly a reaction in her eyes. He smiled at his prize, so much destruction laid in her hands, and it belonged to him now.

"Merely a precaution. She nearly took off another limb of mine trying to get her into the mechanism," Nebula said, staring at the girl with distaste as she flexed her new metal arm. The girl had completely melted her old prosthetic and some skin as well their last tangle with her. His lips twitched at the thought.

"Little bird," Cooed the Mad Titan toward her, her eyes flashed and she looked toward him. Sinister delight sparked within him. "Smile for me,"

He only said this because he knew the girl would never smile for him, not in a million years. That is, if she was in charge of her movements. This was his sick game, find out how wrapped around his finger she really was. And then she did. Wide and unrelenting, flashing her straight teeth at him for the first time non-menacingly, without a snap or a growl. He grinned as well, before turning and glancing toward Ronan. "Excellent, now, kill the Kree."

Fear flashed in Ronan's eyes, and he drew his weapon and stared toward the shackled girl, whose dull eyes had come alive and fixed on Ronan.

Thanos wasn't worried about the curved, blunt rod in the Krees hand. And he was right to not be, within seconds she moved with the speed of an Asgardian warrior, disarming him with a blow from her shackles. Ronan the Accuser cried in pain as her heavy shackles fixed around her wrists slammed into the back of his hands, a sickening crack that brought a smile to Thanos' lips splitting through the air. The rod flew from the Kree's hands and he swung ferociously toward his bird. She ducked from his swing and got her arms hooked around his neck. It took less than a second for her to snap his bones. Those skills were not given to her by Thanos, no, he had Asgard to thank for that.

Thanos grinned in wicked delight, before glancing at his daughter. "Well done, Nebula." She looked horrified and impressed at the same time, but said nothing despite herself.

He may have lost his prized daughter Gamora, his one love, but if it was even possible, he found something deadlier.

"Perfect, release her restraints, daughter." Thanos demanded Nebula, who paled at the implication. He stalked toward his pet, whose chest heaved, not with fatigue, but perhaps with an emotion she couldn't feel. Thanos brushes the back of his finger to her cheek, watching her eyes flash inexplicably with interest. "It's time we pay The Nova Corps a visit."

"Father, it is worth mentioning that several distress signals were previously sent out by an organization in Xandar. Our position may be compromised." Nebula added, as if she'd forgotten about it. The lack of worry in her voice was pretty accurate. A smile curled Thanos' lips. "Good, let them call for help. They will burn nonetheless."

-

I don't recognize my hands.

That's a weird thing to say, let alone explain, but it was true.

I looked down at myself and I didn't know who I was, my mind didn't seem to fit inside my body, it felt out of place. Everything about me was,

empty

no, empty wasn't the word

absent, more like it

I couldn't remember if I'd forgotten my life or if I'd forgotten I never had a life to remember, never had anything to forget.

Two words I did have to forget, or at least haven't yet, were strange and random, yet so close to me.

Bird.

Fire.

"Little bird."

There, that was one of the words.

I peaked at the man from the hood of my cloak, drawing my attention from the busying street in front of me. "You know what to do," and I did. That's the thing, I did. I felt its programming in my bones. Get the stone. Burn anyone who stands in the way. And so I did. I began to walk forward through the street of Xandar.

I walked a few feet, people of different colors and forms pulling me into the sea of the city, and when I'd turned around the purple man was gone. I turned back around.

Xandarians gave me weird glances when I walked past them, frowning at anything from my almost completely bare skin to my dark cloak, I forced myself to keep my gaze level and fixed in front of me.

I felt like my skin should tremble with their glances, maybe I should be afraid, maybe I should ask for help, but even my thoughts were drowned out by the need to fulfill my purpose.

Get the stone. Burn anyone who stands in my way.

I walked until I found the Nova Corps, walked until I saw the building. Teleporting in. I walked until I found the vaults, I walked until I'd come across someone who tried to stop me. I'd leave ash in their wake and continue to walk.

I walked until I found it.

A vault guarded by four different guards, who all raised foreign weaponry to me and ordered me to halt.

I walked forward.

They all fired, but I burned them before they got the chance. Blue flame lashed out and swarmed them, making an awful burning smell fill my nose.

I burned through the vault, melting the metal away and barely batting an eye as I stepped through.

On a podium of some sort in front of me, there it was. A glittering, purple stone that I came for.

I paused when I saw it, the mere reality of it being there in front of me made me blink.

Then, it was clenched in my fist.

I gasped as a smothering intensity pushed itself through my veins, a searing heat unlike my fire pierced through me and I yelped and doubled over.

I could only describe it as power, smothering me, burning me, drowning me,
Bringing me to life.
The stone awoke in my chest and it became a part of me, infused in my palm with a pulsing heart beat in tune with my own. I did not let its power drown me, instead, I drank it. I let it fuse with my bones.

The well of fire within my stomach stirred with excitement, and I delved in that well, swimming in fire and power and feeling awake.

Ecstasy pounded through me, the burning pain and intensity turning euphoric in a matter of seconds. I barely could comprehend the fear in the back of my mind- the realization-

that I would burn through this world

and any other that stood in my way

-

Thor's duty was to the nine realms, that's why he stayed away from Asgard. He traveled the Realms, on a wild goose chase trying to find the infinity stones, a year now he'd searched for them tirelessly with no luck. Every once in a while he'd find a lead and snatch it in his fist, only for it to slip through his fingers. And somehow set him back at square one.

Of course, the only person on Asgard who knew the location of the stones was dead.

No. He scolded himself. Do not think of that now.

But now, he was sure he'd finally gotten somewhere. This time, he wasn't chasing a rumor or a fairy tale he'd heard from some giggly kid on Vanaheim, this time it was real. A distress call from a planet outside of the Nine Realms called Xandar claimed they spotted Chitauri ships in their orbit and risked losing custody an actual infinity stone. Sure, he was skeptical at first, but he'd had tangles with the Nova Corps before and had no reason to believe they would lie to him.

It took him a few seconds to long to get outside the Nine Realms and to this planet since it was so far away, he no longer at the luxury of the Bifrost.

When he did make it there, however, his breath knocked right out of him.

Xandar was in flames.

He froze in shock, not really believing what was before him. When Thor had heard of the attack he'd pictured Chituari in the streets causing mayhem, weaponry firing and not holding back as was Loki's attack on Midgard. Instead, he could see no one in his line of sight. What he did see was unholy blue flame ravaging the streets of Xandar. Thor stopped dead in his tracks, not believing what was before his eyes. Heat kissed his cheeks and sweltered his skin as this fire burned its way through pavement, buildings, homes, everything.

It burned without kindling, without fuel to keep it going, without any reasoning of how it started. It was just there. As sweat dribbled down Thor's forehead, the wetness sprung him to his senses and finally the ringing in his ears subsided. That's when he heard screams.

By the Gods-

There were so many people on this planet. The stone disappeared from Thor's mind and he began to swing Mjolnir, making a wind to blow away the wall of flames that blocked him and-

whatever waited.

Amongst the flames people screamed and ran. Children leapt into the arms of their mothers who hugged their kids and tried to find some safety. Thor had seen death before, but he'd not seen cruelty to this extent. Smoke filled and smothered his lungs, he covered his mouth and looked all around for the source of this fire, for whatever ungodly force was after the stone.

When he saw no one, his first inclination was to keep looking, but the screams of the Xandarians made him jump to action. He couldn't let them die. He whipped around and spun his hammer, directing the flames away from families and grabbing the waists of those who stood close. Some of those who grabbed fought him, not knowing of his good intentions, and many ran to him when they saw his intent.

Many ran from him, and never stood a chance in the flames. He yelled for them to come to him, but it was no use. Many died painless deaths.

A woman carrying a baby in her arms with splotchy, blue skin ducked away from him in fear, and when he yelled after her she whipped around, like a second thought. When her eyes landed on him, he yelled at her again. "Stay close to me!" She gave him a panicked, uneasy look as she clutched her squirming and crying baby to her chest.

She took a step toward him, glancing all around at the blue flames that ravaged her planet, before stopping. She screamed and took off the other way, and Thor would've thought she was scared of him, had he not seen her look behind him like a demon loomed there. Had he not heard the footsteps behind him that seemed to drown out all the screams and all the running.

People who'd found safety with him ran, and he slowly turned around.

Standing there was a woman who moved like death.

Time stood still with her presence, blue flames rolled from her skin and from her tongue, singed brown hair cascaded barely down her shoulders and onto her revealing, threadbare clothing, covering only by a midnight black cloak.

One of her fists was clenched tight, and purple veins of light poked from her skin. All around her cheeks, arms, and her eyes blazed with power.

If he didn't know any better, he would've called her the Devil.