04 — atoms

SOMETHING FELT OFF, FROM THE very moment the Avengers had stepped onto this planet. There was some kind of energy around it, fizzing and buzzing across Ava's skin. It felt weird, it felt like something was trying to unwrite her very being.

Ava had always been good at shaking things off — she'd had to do it her whole life... but something felt different. Maybe it was because it was a whole new planet, but she was willing to bet that it was something else entirely. Pietro had taught her a lot of things, love, control, happiness, instinct; and he'd always said to trust it.

She trusted him, and so as they walked towards a cabin, she let herself feel her surroundings. Her power touched everything, every single atom in the sky was electrified and reinforced with something.

Thinking about what it could be was scary, and deep in her chest, Ava knew what it meant. That didn't mean she had to admit it, though.

The plan was in place, and Ava was just in time to see the remaining Avengers hold Thanos down, Thor cutting down the alien's arm.

Her nose curled in disgust: this guy took away her family?

"Oh no..." said Rocket, after kicking over the disfigured infinity gauntlet. The spaces were empty, and the stones were gone. Something snapped in the Avengers, and Ava knew everything went downhill from here.

"Where are they?" asked Steve.

"Answer the question." Carol demanded, wrapping her arms even tighter around the alien, the threat remaining unsaid.

"The universe required connection," said Thanos, and Ava saw the hint of a smile on his face. "After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."

The sickening realisation rippled through the room, Ava's chest thudding painfully. She knew it. Everything she had felt, it was the stones.

"You murdered billions!" Bruce's voice came from the Hulkbuster, and he pushed Thanos down more, seething.

"You should be grateful." said Thanos, before being hit by Bruce's massive suit.

"Where are the stones?" asked Natasha, stepping forward and ignoring the squeeze in her chest. Billions included her friends, her family. And being grateful for those deaths? It was almost like being back in the Red Room, some deluded idiot conditioning her to believe or do something, and telling her she should be grateful for their 'help.'

"Gone, reduced to atoms."

Ava had never felt less grateful for her powers — she could feel the energy of the stones, sizzling the air around them. Every breath was full of power and space and time. Every time she exhaled, she breathed out souls and minds and reality.

How he had done it, Ava would never understand. Just like the why, she could never, would never get why.

"You used them two days ago!" said Bruce, a hint of Hulk leaking into his voice.

"I used the stones, to destroy the stones." confessed the alien, "It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable."

Something thundered against Ava's conscious then, like some warning bell before a fire. But even if she had the energy to think, she's not sure she could figure anything out anyway.

"We have to tear this place apart. He... he— he has to be lying." Rhodey stuttered, breathing harshly, whipping his head to look around the guy's home.

"My father is many things," said Nebula, a downtrodden expression on her face, "A liar is not one of them."

Ava looked up at the blue lady, frowning gently.

"Ah, thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Thanos said, although Ava didn't believe his words for a second. He didn't regret hurting Nebula, he regretted not finishing the job.

Before Nebula could even reply, Thor stepped forwards, summoning Stormbreaker and swinging through Thanos' neck, splattering blood all over everyone.

"What... what did you do?" asked Rocket, gaping at the scene in front of them. The Mad Titan, dead. After all of their fighting, it couldn't have been so simple.

Thor's eyes were foggy, his sight looking far beyond what was before him. He lowered Stormbreaker, and said,
"I went for the head."

At this, the God of Thunder turned and marched out of Thanos' hut, leaving the remnants of the Avengers to stare at the gruesome consequence of Thanos' own actions — he may have completed his mission, but he would never get to see the so-called utopia that followed.

Ava wasn't sure that was even a punishment.

They swallowed back their tears, and wiped the blood from their bodies. What more could they do?

༻✦༺

"THERE HAS TO BE MORE we can do!" Ava cried out, standing in front of the Benatar after the remaining Avengers had scoured the planet. Thanos wasn't lying — the stones were gone, and so, it seemed, were the chances of getting everybody back.

There had been silence amongst the planet before Ava spoke. A common feeling, a shared feeling of failure; of loss.

Everybody here had lost someone, many someones, and the opportunity to get them all back had been so close, Ava could almost feel her fingers brushing against the Infinity Stones.

And it hurt. It hurt because not even Ava's love for Pietro could bring him back this time. He was gone, just like her birth parents.

It hurt because she watched as he died both times, the first time, believing he could never be saved. And the second, believing he could. It was in his eyes, the hope, the faith, the belief that Ava could rescue him once more.

Would she have to live her whole life, knowing she failed him? Knowing that he believed in her as he fell, only to have his faith be for nothing?

"I'm sorry," said Steve, throat stuck on his words, "We'll keep looking, keep searching for a way to bring them back."

"And... and if there isn't one?" asked Rocket, looking over to Steve, eyes glossy. He had never been a hopeful person, never optimistic, but this was his family. And if they were gone forever, well, it was better to think about that now.

"Then, we'll deal with that when we get there." Steve replied after a short pause, clearly trying to keep spirits up — though Ava could easily say it wasn't working.

"Isn't that basically what you said when Tony warned you about these kinds of threats? Aren't the delayed reactions the reason we're in this mess to begin with?" hissed Ava, eyes white in a blinding sort of anger.

The pain in her chest was familiar, but she had never gotten used to it. It replaced her heart, filling the area between her ribs with corrupted power, empty space.

It was rotting, it was realising that she was surrounded by strangers. It was looking to her right and realising Pietro wasn't there — and he wouldn't be, maybe ever. It was an ache that settled in her bones, in her muscles, pulling and pulling until she fell.

How could she fix this?

She felt the fragments, the waves, the remnants of the stones in the very air around her, but what could she do? Ava was still a child. She wasn't a hero, she was just a little girl who couldn't hold on to what she loved. She wasn't strong enough, and each time they were snatched away from her.

Steve clearly had no words for her, and he also had no comfort to give. He could only watch as her eyes filled with glass, and see as they shattered, small droplets falling down her cheeks.

"We should have listened to Tony." said Ava, before she turned and walked as far away from the Avengers as she could.