The Seventh Infinity Stone

Family Reunions are Better With Swords, Don't You Think?

We stood like this for a few seconds then I asked, "War or loco?"

He answered by sheathing his weapon, "Loco. War or loco?"

I sheathed my own sword, "Loco."

Then he tackled me in a giant bear hug. I mean that thing defied all logic of hug size and rules of hugs. I thought I was going to die. I was grateful to breathe again when he let go. You may be asking who this person was and why he would hug me right after threatening me by sword point? Well, things are not always what they seem. He was my cousin.

There is a reason why my cousin greeted me the way he did. Our family is dangerous, very dangerous and the children of the different husbands of Cien did not always get along. It's a pride issue. She loved Poseidon more, Set is more powerful, Horus became king! Blah, blah, blah, stuff like that (cough, Poseidon is better, cough cough).

So when we know that someone is a child of Cien, we give them the chance to state who their enemies and allies are. (We are not literal children of Cien they died ages ago, obviously, it is just easier to say.) It has changed over the years but if one or both say 'war' we have a certain amount of time to prepare a defense, run, or attack. Hey, we may sometimes hate each other's guts, but that does not mean we cannot be polite. If it is 'loco' we are not looking for conflict. We chose loco because we are crazy to be working together and others are loco to attack or hurt our family when we are together.

It is not perfect, but no family is, especially ones that have powers and are descended from those who are considered gods (though the term god is debatable).

"I can answer that question," my cousin told Loki. "The reason why you didn't know about the Emotion Stone is that her dimension was supposed to be impossible to get to."

"How do you know this and why haven't you told me there was a seventh?" Loki asked.

He shrugged, "As I said that dimension was supposed to be impossible to get to, even with the Tesseract. I didn't think it would be important since you can accomplish what you wish with just the six. And I know about it because my many great grandmother was the first Emotion Stone, or at least that we know of, no one knows where she came from, she was adopted by Ra."

"Then how was I able to get in?"

"The TVA is slacking," I deduced. "The Time Variance Authority, they are basically time cops. They're the reason no one gets in or out."

"Why are they the reason your dimension was cut off?"

"They got fed up with Cien jumping timelines and dimensions, sometimes leaving her kids to protect them from her exes. So they made it impossible to leave or get into my dimension so that time wasn't messed with further. That's why he's here. He's my cousin. The sword gave it away," I pointed to the guy who hugged me. "I guess they're busy with something bigger than making sure the living Infinity Stone stays put."

"How was Cien the Infinity Stone and yet you are the stone? Is the actual stone inside you, like you're the host? I don't understand," Loki asked.

"No, that's the Ether's or the Reality Stone's thing. I'm not possessed though I could have a host if I wanted to. Like putting a sliver of my soul into someone or something, but I mean come on, who does that any more? It's not 3100 BC. When she had a kid, not via a host, part of Cien's soul merged with her child when they were born. After that she was no longer the stone, could be killed, aged though very slowly, and no longer had the powers of the stone. After Cien there were eight more who became the stone, I'm the ninth and the last."

"Um cousin, how do you know you're the last? I mean you are going to live a long time, you're going to eventually meet someone..." my cousin said.

"Because it's physically impossible. I was born unable to have children. I could if I get a host, but they wouldn't become the next stone. That's how I know."

There was a bit of a pause. Loki studied me for a while during the pause.

"I'm not what you expected, am I?" I remarked.

"Well...not exactly," Loki replied.

"Sir! We found another one," a man at the computer/machine called out.

"Hold that thought," Loki said.

He walked over to the machine with my cousin and I behind him. On the screen, coordinates started to appear. Once they had, I was not thrilled with what they showed.

Loki looked toward my cousin, "Titus, do you know which stone this is?"

Titus shook his head, "I've never heard of Vormir before, though I do have a bad feeling about it there's something tragic about that place. Too much chaos energy even for me and you know how much I love chaos."

"Tragic is an understatement," I said. "Are you sure you need all seven Stones? Isn't six enough?"

"Alita, you know what stone this is?" Loki asked me.

"Unfortunately I do, that is the Soul Stone. To get it you need to lose that which you love, a soul for a soul. I can tell you right now from everyone's emotions none here would be able to do it no matter how many spells or other influences you try. I am definitely not going to do it. I already lost someone I care about because of the stones. I'm not going to lose anyone else. I guess Thanos would do it, but you don't want him to have contact with any of the stones trust me. Since you can't get Thanos to do it there's no way you're going to get that stone there."

"I need them all. Is there any way to get it without trading souls?"

I smiled, "Well that's why I said you couldn't get it there. I know for a fact that a prisoner of the TVA has it, but I don't know who. I also know where and how to obtain all the rest."

"Cousin, you just saved us a great deal of time and guesswork," Titus said with a gleam in his eye. "But how are we going to find out which prisoner has the Soul Stone?"

"Leave that to me. I need a clean self-sustaining power source and a little bit of magic to find that out. We all know where one of those is. I could go to New York, get the Time Stone first, and then find a way for the Avengers to let me into Stark Tower. Lucky for us, I look like a female version of Loki if not a little darker, but it's enough to fool their computers trying to find him. I just need to dress the part. Also, one other thing, do you still have my grandmother's broach?" I asked Loki.

Loki pulled it out of the air and gave it to me, "How did you find out?"

I smiled, "You were surprised when I used my powers, which Grandpapa wouldn't have been shocked about, and you called me sweetie. He would have called me duckling. The broach was stuck on fabric, so it must've still been on his jacket. Grandpapa never loses grandma's broach; it would've killed him. I'm guessing that someone told you that the stone was with Jeffrey Renate and that he'd be at the museum for the dedication and his granddaughter's eighteenth birthday. Their information is two generations out of date. When you knocked him out and realized that the stone wasn't in or upon his person, you took his appearance thinking that it must be with the artifacts that we gave to the museum. Then I practically told you that I was the stone when I found out about the ankh thinking you were him."

He smirked, "Well, I think we're going to get along quite well," Then turning to my cousin, he said. "Titus, you know what to do."