What is worse? To run and hide, or to fight and die?
Victor Faust, who once befriended the Maximoff twins, moves back to Sokovia in hopes of finding solace and peace. Now older and alone, he reopens his grandmother's herbal shop and tries to help So...
Thanos opened his mouth, but at the same second, Thor descended from the sky and, with one fluid motion, cut off his arm. The Infinity Gauntlet rolled around the floor.
"Why does it look like it was burned?"
Rage was starting to disappear inside Victor. Now he was starting to feel something much worse: fear. As soon as the rest of the team entered the hovel, Banner's metallic voice came from his suit.
"There are no stones here." He kicked the broken gauntlet away.
"Where are they?" Thor demanded as lighting crackled around his body.
Rather than listening, Victor observed and think...
"Thanos looks barely alive, there are no stones in the gauntlet... There was an energy spike earlier..."
"He destroyed them." Victor whispered as his bands silently disappeared. "The stones are gone."
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"You are bright, young one." Thanos gave him a strained smile. "I've destroyed the stones so that no one will ever be tempted to undo what has been done. The prosperity of the universe is now secure." The mad titan breathed hard. Barely conscious, he held his small smirk as his burned body waved from left to right.
"No... That's not possible." Natasha whispered, stepping outside.
"YOU LIE." Thor's scream merged with thunder that pierced the sky outside.
"My father is guilty of many things, but lying is not among them." Nebula said. Her dark eyes were fixated on her boots.
"I am-" Thanos words, along with his head, were cut off by Thor. As his neck was sliced at blinding speed. As the heavy and disfigured body dropped to the ground, a grave silence engulfed the insides.
The blurry nothingness took control of Victor yet again.
"There is no way to bring back Wanda now. I'm alone."
Everyone on the ship must have felt that because, for once, his silent haze wasn't disturbed. They landed back on Earth. Some said goodbye, some didn't. Rocket, Nebula, and Danvers went back to space, and Thor silently disappeared in the clouds. Victor didn't pay any mind to Steve and the rest. He walked through the grassy fields of the compound until he stepped inside a cold shade. He sat cross-legged on the ground, rubbing his bare hands.
His disgustingly normal hands.
"I messed up, Pietro." His throat grew tight as the vision before him got blurry. "I've tried so hard to make it work, to make her happy." He started to feel a painful sting in his chest. "And now she is gone. Forever."
Victor pulled out the velvet box he had never let go of. The opened lid revealed a golden ring made entirely out of tiny diamonds. The painful sting continued to strangle his heart.
"I was supposed to propose. I've planned everything; I even asked Clint and Laura for some advice. Do you think she would've liked it?" Victor pointed the ring at the stone tablet. Bitter tears drilled through his cheeks.
"I think she would love it. As everything that came from you." Natasha said softly as she took a sit next to him.
"It's all right, Natasha. You don't need to be here." As Victor spoke, Natasha gently rubbed his shoulder.
"But I want to Victor. You shouldn't be alone in this."
Victor's mind went back to the time of Pietro's funeral. Back then, his hand, adorned with red veins, was rubbing Wanda's shoulder.
"It's funny... I said something like that to Wanda during the funeral." Their eyes meet and Victor saw the same sorrow and misery in her as he felt inside. "We all lost Nat. It's our choice how we learn to live with it."
There was another part to that, but he reserved that to the privacy of his mind. Natasha was now gently rubbing his back. Her small but strong hand moved in circles as she placed her head on his shoulder.
"When you were on your secret and ever-so-sudden training in Kamar-Taj I spent some time with her."
"I know. She mentioned it a couple of times." Victor tried to clean his face.
"During this whole thing, I knew her mind was solely focused on you." Natasha continued ignoring his words. "It was adorable, really. I wanted to show her a couple of my tricks. How to figure out if someone is lying, how to lie convincingly, and how to seduce people." "You really thought this was necessary?" "I didn't finish my story, Victor." Natasha nudged his ribs. "She said she already had a man she always wanted, and she never had to seduce him; she will never lie to him, and he will always be honest with her."
"Why are you telling me this, Nat?" The former Russian spy just kept smiling. She turned to look into his eyes.
"Even back there, you were her whole world, Victor. I know this isn't fair or doesn't change much, but you gave her everything she ever wanted." She put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer. "You made her happy."
Victor hid the ring back in the velvet box. The pair just sat there in the shade. The tree was gently rustling its green leaves. However, he still lacked his previous connection to nature. Tired as he might, nothing came to him.
He felt nothing.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading!
This chapter pushed us into the five-year break between the Infinity War and the Endgame.
There is a lot planned ahead, and I can't wait to show you the path Victor, filled with grief, will take.
