CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
❝ their greatest loss ❞
STRUGGLING TO BREATHE with the knife still embedded in her midsection, Aster's eyes went wide at Doctor Strange's words. He swore he wouldn't give up the stone to save any of them. And even though her life was on the line, she agreed. Aster would rather die than give Thanos the power to achieve his goal.
Behind Strange, Tony staggered to his feet, staring at Aster with a horrified look on his face. She had to resist the urge to close her eyes.
Above her, Thanos narrowed his eyes at the sorcerer. "No tricks."
Doctor Strange wordlessly shook his head.
After a moment of dubious hesitation, Thanos ripped the blade from Aster's stomach, earning a strained yell from the girl. He slowly stood and held his fist out, waiting for the Time Stone to join his three other Infinity Stones.
Covering her bleeding stomach with shaking hands, Aster stammered out, "D-don't."
Doctor Strange ignored her plea. He held one hand up, pinching the green stone between his pointer finger and thumb. When Thanos extended his free hand, the stone levitated through the air and right into his awaiting grasp.
Glancing down at Aster with a look of victory, Thanos placed the Time Stone in the empty spot over his thumb. His entire body was engulfed in a green aura, making him close his eyes to absorb the sheer power of the stone. "One to go," he taunted, casting a satisfied look at his near-full gauntlet.
Aster expected him to immediately use the Space Stone to portal away. But instead, he grabbed her by the front of her suit and hauled her up, holding her pliant body in front of his.
Both Tony and Strange began to lunge forward, but when Thanos placed one large hand over her neck, they froze. Behind them, Peter and the rest of the Guardians appeared. Aster felt lightheaded at the blood loss, but she was far too conscious to see the fearful expression on Peter's face.
She hoped he would stay back. And even more, she hoped she would bleed out before Thanos could possibly take her with him.
Forcing herself to tear her eyes away from Tony and Peter, Aster stared at Quill pleadingly. "Quill—" she choked out, followed by a bloody cough. Please, please, please.
Clearly, he knew what she meant by the way she uttered his name. He held his gun up with a shaking hand, pursing his lips together painfully. To everyone else, it looked like he was aiming at Thanos.
But Aster knew that the barrel of his gun was aimed right at her head.
"Oh," Thanos hummed behind her. "It didn't work last time. Do you think this one will be any different?"
Quill couldn't even try. His finger hadn't even brushed over the trigger before his entire gun faded into a flurry of bubbles. His teary eyes met Aster's, silently trying to convey his apology.
"You have the stone!" Tony yelled, holding both hands out. He was itching to get her back into the safety of his arms. "You promised to spare her!"
Thanos tightened his hold on her. "I did... but I never promised I would leave her be."
Peter's eyes blew wide with panic and he thrust an arm out, shooting a web at Aster in an attempt to pull her back to safety. But just before it reached her, Thanos had already opened a portal and stepped backward into it, tugging Aster with him.
───
From the moment they crossed through the portal, Aster knew exactly where Thanos had taken her.
One of her eyelids was nearly swollen shut and her ears were ringing so badly that her senses were numbed, but she could feel the moment they stepped onto Earth's soil.
The Titan had one arm wrapped around her bloody midsection, holding her as if she was a ragdoll. She knew he would be bringing her to wherever the remaining stone was, and that it would no doubt mean they were about to encounter the rest of the Avengers.
"Aster."
After hearing her name being breathed into the air, Aster struggled to pick her head up. But when she did, she almost wished she hadn't.
The first faces she saw were Natasha's and Steve's.
They looked different than the last time she had seen them. Steve had a full beard on his face and his hair had grown out quite a bit. He was wearing his Captain America suit, though the star emblem on the front had been ripped off, leaving a dark navy spot in lieu of where it once was. Natasha's hair was shoulder-length and dyed blonde, betraying her usual red roots. She was wearing an aged black tactical suit with a vest strapped over her chest.
They looked older. Tougher, even. But they looked tired.
Steve's lips were parted in surprise and his face paled a little as he scanned his eyes over Aster. Natasha had a similar look on her face, though she was holding her stomach in shock, almost as if she was going to be sick. She didn't seem to be breathing at all.
Aster thought she would feel relief when she saw them again. She thought it would be a reunion to celebrate, not one to dread.
The Hulkbuster stood behind them, most likely harboring Bruce inside. Sam and T'Challa were gathered in the distance, along with a few of the Dora Milaje. All of them were still in their defensive stances, frozen in place.
Wakanda, Aster thought. That must have been where they were.
Tucked deeper in the woods were Wanda and Vision. Wanda had a hand over her mouth, staring at Aster in pure shock. Behind her, Vision was on the ground, propped up against a fallen tree, holding his stomach much like Aster was. He was clearly injured, but to Aster's relief, the Mind Stone was still in his head.
A gust of wind blew through the trees and Thanos dropped Aster on the ground, kicking her forward. She rolled on her side with a sharp groan, unable to do anything but clutch her stomach and try to breathe through the pain.
"Hand over the stone," Thanos demanded. He conjured a sword in his hand and traced it over the length of Aster's body. "And I will spare her life."
Aster shook her head, staring at Steve and Natasha pleadingly. "D-don't. He won't—"
Frustrated, Thanos' sunk his boot into her lower back, making her sob out in pain. Steve shuffled forward, his chest heaving up and down with labored breaths. "Stop! Just... just stop."
"The stone," Thanos repeated.
Aster and Vision were level on the ground. Eye-to-eye. Shaking her head, Aster hoped he would understand the message she was attempting to convey.
Vision pressed his lips together and he glanced up at Wanda. After a moment, he refocused on Aster and gave her one hesitant nod.
A dark chuckle came from behind her. "These are the Avengers you speak so highly of?" Thanos paused, waiting for the response he would never get. "You failed them, little one."
A tear dripped down the side of Aster's face. Her bottom lip quivered and she was glad her back was to him. She could practically hear him ridiculing her.
Weak. You feel too deeply.
"Fine," Thanos grumbled. The ground shook beneath her as he took another step forward. "I gave you a chance."
Natasha was the first to charge forward, immediately followed by Steve. Aster closed her eyes, unsure if Thanos was about to kill her or if she was about to watch him kill them.
She hoped it would be the former.
But right as she did, the ground beneath her vanished. And suddenly, she was falling.
Aster's eyes flew open. Familiar orange skies met her sight.
She was back on Titan.
She didn't fall for long. Her body was caught by two familiar arms, and a warm body curled protectively over her as she was eased to the ground. A soft chant met her ears that made her want to cry. "I got you, Ace. You're safe, I've got you."
Careful of her injuries, Tony cradled her in his arms and lowered the both of them to the ground until she was settled safely in his hold. He hovered a hand over her bleeding wound but hesitated. "Listen to me. This is gonna hurt, but I have to do it, okay?"
Aster gritted her teeth when he began spraying nanites over the wound in her stomach. Tony held her through it, apologizing profusely when he heard her cries of pain. She could hear how fast his heart was beating against her back, as well as how badly his voice shook as he talked to her.
"Aster!" Peter sprinted over to them, skidding onto his knees in front of her. His eyes were blown wide with panic and he held his hands out to her, retracting them as soon as he saw the extent of her injuries. "Oh..."
Even though she couldn't see herself, she assumed she looked as bad as she felt. Maybe even worse.
Aster reached out for him, despite the ache in her arm when she did so. Peter hurriedly met her in the middle, taking her hand and holding it as delicately as possible.
The Guardians ran up behind Peter, all stopping short when they saw her condition. Nebula's usual stoic expression was replaced with a look of horror that shook Aster deeply.
"Did we just lose?" Quill murmured, tearing his gaze away from Aster to glance to his left.
Aster tilted her head and followed his gaze. Doctor Strange was sitting against a pile of rocks, staring down at her knowingly. He brought her back.
"W-why?" Aster asked him. A wet cough followed her words and specks of blood stained her lips.
"You weren't supposed to be there," he muttered. Based on the way that Doctor Strange stared at her, he knew there were a million whys going through her head. Taking a deep breath, he said, "We're in the endgame now."
The arms around her stiffened.
───
On Titan, all they could do was sit and wait.
Tony didn't move. He stayed still as a statue behind Aster, holding her body propped up against his own. His arms were around her the whole time and every thirty seconds, she caught his fingers slipping down to her wrist, checking her pulse to make sure her heart was still beating as it should be. When she would get tired and her head would begin to lull against his chest, he would shake her a little and insist she needed to stay awake.
Likewise, Peter was next to them, still holding onto Aster's hand. He kept glancing over at her worriedly, to which she would shake her head and insist she would be fine once her healing kicked in.
Mere minutes after Aster was brought back to Titan, Mantis stood up, peering up at the sky wearily.
Quill placed a comforting hand on the empath's back. "Mantis?"
With fearful eyes, Mantis breathed, "Something is happening."
The clouds above them grew dark, booming with thunder. Before anyone could say anything else, Mantis' body slowly turned to dust, blowing away in the wind.
"No, no, no..." Aster murmured, gritting her teeth and weakly pushing herself up to her feet. She swayed a little, but Tony and Peter got up right after her, making sure she was steady before releasing her. Everyone had matching looks of horror on their faces, staring at one another in silent shock. Waiting.
Drax was next. It started at his fingertips and spread over his entire body, turning his gray skin to ashes. "Quill?" he breathed, disappearing with one final sigh of fear.
Quill stumbled back after watching his teammates disappear. Tony took one step forward, holding one hand out to him. "Steady, Quill."
"Oh, man," Quill whispered, turning to ashes in front of their eyes.
Aster's eyes snapped over to Doctor Strange. He was still propped against a pile of rocks, looking far more defeated than she had ever seen him before. "How... what did we do wrong?"
Shaking his head, Strange softly insisted, "There was no other way."
And with that, he turned to dust.
Aster's chest was heaving up and down with panicked breaths. She was too scared to look at those who remained with her.
"A-Aster? Mr. Stark?"
The way Peter's voice trembled made Aster's heart sink into the pit of her stomach. Aster whirled around, staring at him with wide eyes. Beads of sweat were running down his face and he was clearly unsteady on his feet. Peter met her gaze, stumbling back as he told her, "I don't feel so good."
"You're alright," Tony insisted, taking one long stride toward him. Aster couldn't move, no matter how badly her mind screamed at her to. She felt paralyzed.
"I don't... I-I don't know what's happening."
Tony caught Peter before he could fall, slowly easing him to the ground. Clinging to Tony, Peter's eyes grew red and glossy. "I don't wanna go... I don't wanna go, sir, please. Please, I don't wanna go."
When she saw Peter's hand begin to fade away, Aster finally snapped out of her terror. She stumbled forward and dropped to her knees next to Peter, resting a hand over the spider emblem on his chest. Memorizing what he felt like as she watched him fade away. "Peter," she uttered.
She didn't even notice Tony fall back, giving them a moment to themselves. She didn't pay any mind to Nebula doing the same. Her mind was racing with the millions of things she wanted to say to him, things she would never have enough time for.
With the hand that hadn't turned to ashes yet, Peter grabbed hers and held onto it tightly. "Aster."
"I-I'm right here," Aster choked out, pursing her lips to bite back a sob. "You're okay."
Despite the weight of the situation, Peter looked her in the eye and his hand left hers, only for a moment so that he could lay it on her bruised cheek. Aster leaned into his touch, unable to choke back a sob when his thumb brushed against her skin and he told her, "I... I love you, and I'm sorry."
Love.
Love. Love. Love
Aster's heart broke, right then and there. Her lips parted and her words got lost in her throat as the weight of his words settled within her.
But before she could say anything back, he turned to dust. Right in her arms.
She sat there, keeping her shaking palms upright. His ashes were scattered across her skin, the only piece of him she had left.
I love you.
She was loved. By Peter.
And she loved him too.
Suddenly, two rigid hands grabbed at her shoulders, spinning her around. Aster cried when she came face to face with Tony, whose hands moved from her arms to both of her pale cheeks. He then crushed her to his chest, holding her tightly as if she was his lifeline. "Don't you disappear on me too," he told her, his voice shaking. "Y-you stay right here, you hear me?"
Aster wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing her face into his neck with a sob. "Dad."
"I'm here. I'm here, okay?" Chapped lips kissed the top of her head. "Just stay here with me."
Glancing over Tony's shoulder, Aster caught Nebula looking down at them. After meeting her sister's eye, Nebula murmured, "He did it."
Aster waited for herself to turn to dust, but she never did. Instead, Doctor Strange's words echoed in her head, over and over again.
"We're in the endgame now."
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
pain.
i'm sorry.
that's all i have to say for myself.
<3 mal