This work is a piece of fiction. While inspired by real events, cultures, and practices in human history, the story blends factual history with fictional characters, dramatizations, and creative interpretation.
It is not intended to promote, glorify, or encourage any illegal activities, substance use, or harmful behavior. All depictions of sensitive topics are included solely for narrative and historical context.
For the effects of the story, all characters are to be considered above the majority age.
Reader discretion is advised.
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Earth-199999, Earth.
Days Before the Emergence ~ 2023 CE (Current Era).
What would a world with half its population suddenly missing be like?
If a ship sailing across the Atlantic suddenly found itself without a captain, beyond a delay, nothing major would happen. But what about a plane losing its pilot and copilot? Would the flight attendants land the plane, or would a passenger do it with the help of flight control? But what if flight control suddenly found itself missing half of its people, too?
What about cars? Trains, at least, would continue running on their tracks, but what about buses?
What about doctors mid-operation?
What about babies becoming orphans from one second to the next?
What if suddenly half of their workers were missing from all essential jobs? What if there was no one to plow the land? Would nature retake over the farmland?
What if the half that is missing leans more towards the essential roles than those 'less important' ones?
Human society, despite almost ending recently to a hyperaware murderous AI, is such a complex organism that it's hard to divine what would happen if suddenly half of its cogs went missing. However, there was no need to run complex mathematical algorithms to find an answer... because half had already turned to dust.
The world had instantly fallen into a state of acute anomie—not just chaos, but the dissolution of all established laws and social norms—due to the simultaneous breakdown of every complex system.
Thanos was an idiot. Thanos didn't snap half of the universe's population. By indiscriminately taking one half away, he doomed the other.
Humanity lost hope rapidly. Hope in the system. Hope in their deities. Hope in Aquila sweeping down and magically undoing their tragedy.
When hope was lost, when belief was set aside, when trust in the system was broken, anarchy reigned free and rampant.
Chaos is a ladder, no? Maybe, but certainly not this much chaos. Every opportunist was out in the streets; those dominated by fear and 'common sense' tried to bunker down for as long as possible.
It was all coming undone, and quickly at that.
To alleviate, to try to snuff some of the fire burning the world, Aragorn projected a 'Millennium Message' almost an entire millennium ahead of time:
Those not interested in the undoing of civilization can find refuge in the nearest Obelisk.
It was a short message, one not very helpful, but it was one that filled their mortal hearts with hope.
Aragron wasn't the only one extending a hand.
Wakanda had no choice but to truly open its doors. Stark Industries headed the list of short but important list of the 1% who set profit aside. And the Imperium... For the first time ever, the Duskari actively moved in humanity's assistance.
For every empty position of importance in society, an overqualified Duskari stepped up to take over it.
Soon, Earth became truly diverse. Suddenly, not separated by two scales and a dome of isolation, found itself with a 50/50 mix of humans and Duskari.
Slowly, languidly, society started to take baby steps toward recovery.
While this was happening, the Statesman arrived on Earth.
It took almost a year.
The ship's life support systems had not been damaged; that much was a miracle of draconic proportions, but the propulsion and jump point systems had been thoroughly broken. In fact, since the ship was not packed with supplies for so many refugees, things were starting to look grim, with cannibalism becoming a recurring thought, and had it not been for Thanos suddenly halving the crew, it was doubtful the Asgardians would have arrived with such a 'healthy' mindset.
Well, as healthy a mind as they could have after seeing half of their people turn to dust...
Thor did not receive them in a desperate state of self-loathing and depression; Aragorn had been civil enough to drop a hint that he had seen the Asgardians in a vision; however, none of this stopped Thor from crying his tear ducts out in relief like he had never done even for his brother's death.
Another interesting reunion was Hulk's and Valkyrie's.
"... Big guy, can you let me down now?" Brunnhilde asked with an embarrassed blush.
"NO," was Hulk's concise reply.
With knowing gazes, and perhaps trying to see a silver lining in the destruction of their home, the death of half of their people, and the reduction of the royal family to one member, the Asgardians observed with warm gazes at Hulk lifting Brunnhilde in a hug several feet above the ground.
"It's good that you're alive," Aragorn commented.
"Sifu, how rare for you to be forthcoming with affectionate gestures," Brunnhilde remarked from the discomfort of Hulk's warm hug.
"You misunderstand, little valkyrie," Aragorn waved her off with his tail. "It's good that you're alive because the roudy remaining bunch of your people will need a leader and that snot-of-a-man is in no mental state to be one."
Brunnhilde turned to Thor, who cried every time he greeted a survivor. She pulled her eyes away from the shameful display and narrowed her gaze on Aragorn.
"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" she asked.
"How come?" Aragorn asked, emotionless as ever in Earth-199999.
"You taught me about managing people," Brunnhilde pointed out.
"I did," Aragorn nodded. "That doesn't prove anything. Even if it did, so what?"
"... You could have stopped it, couldn't you?" Brunnhilde did her best to lower her voice and not glare venomously.
"Most certainly, but that would not have served my planning," Aragorn admitted without shame or worry about his words making it to the public.
"..." Brunnhilde's glare became sharp like her sword.
"MEAN GIRL," Hulk interrupted her attempt to end Aragorn with her eyesight. "LET'S GO HOME. BANNER HELP PREPARE IT."
"What? What home?" Brunnhilde asked, confused.
Hulk provided no response and nodded at Aragorn. Aragorn snapped his fingers—Thor flinched at that with flashbacks and PTSD—and the Statesman and Asgardians were teleported to Tønsberg, Norway.
With the plenty of funds Hulk had made in the SPHERE as a professional virtual gamer—with a speciality in COD and similar first-person fighter games—he sought the help of Banner to prepare a place for the Asgardians—especially Brunnhilde.
Banner, after having assisted Hulk in his fight against Hela at the last moments, had grown to accept the Hulk part in him and had made great strides in their relationship.
Given Banner's lack of social life and interaction, he decided to yield the day to Hulk and sleep while he was out. During nights, Banner would work on his projects—mostly sponsored by Hulk—and Hulk would 'rest'.
It was an arrangement that worked for all.
After almost half a year of coexisting like so, Hulk requested help from Banner in purchasing a place for Brunnhilde and her people. Banner was initially beyond confused about Hulk's expectation for their return, but easily agreed after Hulk explained that Aragorn had confirmed they were alive and on their way to Earth.
Was purchasing Tønsberg expensive? Depending on who you ask.
The economy was so much in recession that the town was considerably cheap. Additionally, it was one of the towns affected the most by the snap; it had become a ghost town like many around the world. On the other hand, Hulk's earnings from his gaming were in Scales, and just a single Scale could make one a small millionaire outside the Isthmus, so it all worked in Hulk's favor to get Norway to sell the small town to Banner (Hulk).
A year later, after the Asgardians had taken to New Asgard, Aragorn received a wedding invitation.
'Noona, are you too busy with the spell to go to Hulk's wedding with me?' Aragorn asked through the layers of reality.
'Mmmmm, I think I can make some time for it,' Death replied.
And so, after a bit more than two years since the snap, Aragorn appeared with Death in hand in New Asgard.
"How nice, I haven't been to a wedding, outside of our kids' weddings, ever," Death commented.
It was a festive mood that filled the streets of New Asgard, the type that smelled of cinnamon and peppermint. All of New Asgard was on the streets, even the now chubby Thor, celebrating the joyous occasion of their one and only Valkyrie and the honorary Duke of New Asgard, Hulk.
"Is this the legendary—literally, in this case—Mrs. Aragorn?" Stark appeared with a baby in his arms and Virginia Potts behind him.
"I don't think anyone in the Multiverse has ever called me Mrs. Aragorn," Death commented with stars in her eyes towards Aragorn.
"This is my Noona," Aragorn introduced her with a warm smile and pink eyes. Stark, as usual, flinched at the show of emotion. "You mortals, the ones that know of her, call Noona Lady Death, or simply Death."
"... Okay," Stark voiced out. Pepper failed to provide a response, and the baby giggled and cooed.
Aragorn ignored the dumbfounded couple and turned his eyes down, towards Morgan Stark, with yellow and green stars for sclera. "I've always found it amusing how such bright souls can be produced from mared souls."
"Thank you, Mr. Abner," Pepper said.
To an outsider, as in from outside Earth-199999, it could have been a strange comment; however, to the locals, who had grown up learning about Aragorn's exploits throughout history, it was certainly a compliment.
"To you," Aragorn extended one of his nails towards the curious baby's forehead, "I bless you with health."
A small drop of light oozed out of the seam between his nail and finger and landed softly on her forehead. With a lovely giggle, the baby accepted the blessing, unaware of its meaning.
"To you," Death made a similar gesture as Aragorn's, "I bless you with a serene surcease."
Instead of light, it was a slow trickle of smoke that blessed baby Morgan.
This time, the couple didn't know what to say.
"Isn't this what any dying mortal desires the most?" Death asked.
"I believe so," Aragorn nodded.
"T-Thank you, my Lady," Stark bowed, uncomfortably. As it was normal, talking about the future death of a one-year-old was not an easy topic for a parent.
"We should be moving," Aragorn said, his eyes peering through walls and observing the pacing green lug of a groom. "Are you also a bestman?"
"Yes," Stark nodded. "You too? That's a first in ever, isn't it?"
"Weddings were different during Romulus and Remus' time," Aragorn nodded.
"This wedding is also considerably different, isn't it?" Death asked with a mischievous smirk.
"My Lady?" Pepper asked.
"Thor was made the maid of honor," Aragorn explained.
"... Pffft!" Stark laughed. "W-What?" he asked between laughter.
"The little valkyrie had no else to ask," Aragorn shrugged.
"Poor girl," Pepper commented.
"My Love, can't you do something about it?" Death asked with a knowing smile.
Aragorn looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded. "Okay," he said before disappearing.
"You came so close to reaching my realm," Death said to Stark as an icebreaker.
"Cough! Wha-Cough!" He asked in a coughing fit.
"You thought my name was a title?" Death asked curiously.
"But... How can you be Death?" Stark asked in confusion and disbelief.
"Some fundamental concepts of reality become 'Abstracts', like me," Death explained, her eyes following the coming and going of Asgardians. What she saw, just like how Aragorn saw reality differently, was different from what everybody else saw.
She saw times of death, causes of death, close encounters with death, and even the death of the microlife in every macroorganism.
"Like space and time?" Stark asked.
"Eternity and Infinity," Death replied.
"Life?" Pepper asked.
"Life," Death nodded. "Phoenix has a hand in the life cycle, too," she said in an afterthought.
"And Aragorn, what concept is he?" Stark asked.
"Oh? You caught on to that?" Death commented. "But you're slightly mistaken, my Love is not an abstract, he is... something else."
"Wh—"
Stark's question was interrupted when Aragorn's massive form broke through the overcast, the warm yellow rays of sunlight at his backdrop, followed by a flight of pegassi. The Valkyrior riding their steeds.
"Valkyries?" Pepper asked, and baby Morgan giggled and reached for the flying horsies.
"The little valkyrie's sisters," Death explained. "Brought from the great beyond, one of them at least."
Like a murmuration of starlings, the Valkyrior coordinated with Aragorn all the way to the landing near a tear-stricken bride.
Aragorn's massive body disappeared like motes of light to the wind, and he reappeared holding hands with Death.
"How do you think they'll do the whole two-minds-one-body-and-soul thing?" Aragorn asked.
"I don't know," Death replied with a thoughtful expression. "Do they share memories?"
"Yes," Aragorn nodded.
"Is it even a problem?" Death questioned. "I doubt the Asgardian will care, and Hulk assuredly doesn't."
"So the problem is Puny Banner," Aragorn nodded in agreement. "That guy's real genius is in becoming a problem."
"Poor Banner," Stark commented.
"If she plays her cards right," Death ignored Stark's comment and continued.
"She could get herself the best of both worlds, no?" Aragorn completed Death's sentence.
"Just like I did," Death nodded sagely.
"Excuse me, what?" Stark asked, Pepper eyed the cosmic couple with curiosity.
"On an easy day, I have about 4 personalities running," Aragorn explained.
"There's also Void-chan," Death added. "I still haven't met the dear."
"Well, I'm Void-chan's personality, so if you like me, you like her," Aragorn commented.
"On my next vacation, I'll try to meet her," Death added.
"She is, sadly, not compatible with [Creation], so she can't drop by before destroying the Multiverse," Aragorn revealed.
"I don't think I want to continue being part of this conversation," Stark quipped.
Soon, the wedding ceremony started, and Aragorn was there to officiate.
It was not the first time he had officiated a wedding, but it was the first time he had done so outside the Imperium.
Under the shadow of the local Obelisk, blessed by the warm illumination produced by the hole Aragorn opened in the overcast with his entry, under the warm gazes of the Asgardians, the Valkyrior, a depressed, chubby prince, and two cosmic beings, Brunnhilde and Hulk—and maybe Banner? Who knows?—joined in marriage.
With the same breakneck speed at which time always moves in Marvel, three years passed by in a flash.
A rat, which may or may not have slitted white pupils and space-like sclera, stumbled over a certain control panel inside a certain van, and Scott Lang returned from the past.
A few days later, a quinjet was seen orbiting around the Libralisk.
In the highest floor of the Libralisk, Aragorn was having an argument with Hestia.
"I'm just going to ask once," Aragorn said, beyond exasperated. "Could you not?"
"... It's... I don't want to leave," Hestia replied. "I'm the Goddess of the Hearth and Home... I never found a home in Olympus, and my Sacred Flame was used only to deliver sacrifices to my 'family', but here, these past centuries... I found a home."
"A home I built for you with my literal blood and bones," Aragorn stated reproachingly. "A place I created to serve you, not the other fucking way around, Hestia!"
"Things change, Aragorn," Hestia whispered with a pained expression. "I know I have a home in the Drachantheon Therion, but I also have one here, one I don't want to abandon. I'm beyond grateful to you, Aragorn, no amount of time will deny that, but... I don't want to leave and later regret it."
"... Why can't you just... come with me, Hestia? Humans are short-lived; in just a few years, you'll be dealing with a different generation. Why the attachment? If it's about the island, I'll take it with us!" Aragorn's eyes flickered between red, green, and blue stars.
"..." Hestia stared back silently. "You know that's not it?"
"This reality then?" Aragorn asked.
The hardlight construct door to the room opened, but neither of them paid attention to it.
"I'll unravel this reality if that's what it takes, Hestia," Aragorn spoke in a dangerously low voice.
"That would make me miserable, Aragorn," Hestia stepped closer and cupped his face, the red of his eyes casting a glow in her face. "You wouldn't want me to be miserable, would you?"
"..."
"..."
"... Fucking shit, Hestia!" Aragorn snarled. His face turned draconic sharp, his fangs protruded over his lips, and his nails leaned more to talons. "You waited until the last possible moment, didn't you?"
"You would have had enough time to convince me otherwise." Hestia smiled with a happy-sad smile. "I also know you won't abandon me. You'll come visit me from time to time, won't you?"
Aragorn turned to Selene, who had entered the room a few moments prior. "You knew of this, didn't you, Selene?"
Behind Selene were some terrified Avengers.
"Don't blame me," Selene said defensively. "I've been trying to convince that stubborn virgin for the past six decades. She even forced me into a vow of secrecy. I wanted to tell you about it a long time ago."
"..." Aragron's red eyes turned to Hestia and flickered between blue and red until they settled with blue nebulae. "... Just... I won't interfere."
Hestia leaned to hug him, but Aragorn flickered his tail, and she suddenly found herself in her room hugging the empty air.
Back in the highest level of the Libralisk, Aragorn's sharp features slowly receded until he was back into his usual self. He turned to the guests and said, "I guess you found a path to your past. Is that why you're here for?"
"... Mr. Abner," Natasha said. "It was not our intention to intrude at such a time."
"Don't mind it, I'm an expert in compartmentalizing my emotions," Aragorn dismissed her concern, though his eyes remained blue galaxies. "Are you seeking geniuses after Stark rejected your recklessness?"
"Yes, Sir," Rogers nodded. "Banner suggested we find experts on the subject of time in the Libralisk... Namely, Goddess Selene's servants."
"You want Newton's help?" Aragorn asked.
"Yes, Sir," Rogers replied.
"We would also like your blessing," Natasha added.
"... My blessing... Interesting that you're not asking for my help," Aragorn commented while observing Natasha curiously.
"Carol reports to me occasionally of the repercussions of Thanos' snap in the world beyond Earth," Natasha explained. "These past years haven't been easy on us, but that is nothing compared to what Carol has seen in other planets."
"We couldn't presume to ask more from Mr. Abner," Rogers added.
"How thoughtful of you," Aragorn commented. "In this case, however, I will provide my help."
"... You will?" Natasha asked, her eyes lit up with hope.
"Stark will come through," Aragorn said. "However, you will not be able to obtain the Soul Stones without a sacrifice."
"A sacrifice?" Rogers asked.
"The soul of one beloved for the Soul Stones, that's the deal," Aragorn revealed.
"... What?" Rogers asked, incredulous.
"... How did Thanos..." Natashe couldn't finish the question.
"It looks like Nebula hasn't been sharing much with you of her burdens," Aragorn commented. "She had a sister, one truly loved by the Mad Titan."
Natasha gasped.
"I'll take care of the Soul Stone," Aragorn repeated.
"..."
"..."
A few hours later, the quinjet was seen flying away from the Libraliks. Now left alone, Aragorn and Selene stared at the clouds shimmering with moonlight.
"You can always come visit her," Selene commented. "I would like it very much if you could bring me when you do... I love Hestia."
"I'm... I don't like that she chose humanity, or this Reality, over me," Aragorn said. "Time and Space are suggestions to me; I can return at the exact moment of our parting; however, that doesn't change that she prioritized this place as her home over me."
"Jealousy?" Selene asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm possessive of what's mine, Selene." His eyes flipped to red for a moment. "This feels like this place is NTR'ing me."
"... You're strange," Selene commented after her brain processed the irrationality of his statement.
Aragorn shrugged. To him, if it felt like reality was NTR'ing him, then it was.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Upstate New York.
The Avengers Compound had seen little activity in the past years. The Avengers were a peace-keeping organization, which, during a time of social anarchy as it had been, would have implied a busy schedule; however, since society had collapsed, unless they started playing police, jury, judge, and warden, there was no way they could have kept at it.
Additionally, after the Duskari joined society and they brought their 'culture' to human society, there was a massive decrease in crime rates, even when compared to the times before the snap. Hence, the Avengers Compound had seen little use.
Now, after the spark of hope had been lit, it was busy with activity.
Aragorn teleported to the main entrance. His arrival drew stares, as was usual, but he didn't let it bother him and walked inside like it was his place.
Inside the edifice, the Avengers were discussing the planning of the time heist. Aragorn's entry caused a silence.
"You can keep at it, don't mind me," Aragorn waved them off with his tail blade. "You can rest assured that obtaining the Soul Stone is not a problem for me."
"How are you planning to do that?" Nebula asked.
It wasn't in Terrans to doubt or question him, but Nebula was not from Earth.
"Yeah, blonde and serious said it needs a sacrifice," Rocket Raccoon added. He was also not from Earth. "Are you... You know... because if you are, then there's something seriously fucked up in your scaly head... for which I'm thankful because I have no one left to sacrifice... Yeah, I don't think mean and blue would count, would it?" Rocket turned to Nebula only to receive a disgusted glare.
"It's not the first time I've dealt with the Soul Stone," Aragorn informed while inching slowly toward Rocket with green eyes. "I gave it a million souls last time in exchange for its custodian."
"Hey, are we sure this horned freak is on the right side?" Rocket asked under his breath to Stark, who was next to him. He eyed the approaching dragon suspiciously.
"Whose souls were those?" Stark asked. Contrary to Rocket, he was not concerned about the origin of the souls, but he asked to put at ease the most prickly of the present.
"A million scum I collected over the years," Aragorn revealed, unencumbered with the momentary judgment he was getting from the more prude. "Mostly rapist, pedophiles, a few psychopaths, some cannibals, the usual scum."
"I'm cool with that," Rocket affirmed.
Nebula shrugged; she was not really concerned.
"Thank you, once again, Mr. Abner," Rogers said.
"Don't mind it," Aragorn replied. He was now a few feet away from Rocket. "If I had not done it, Natasha over there would have sacrificed herself."
"What?" Barton asked, his jaw tensed.
"Isn't it logical?" Aragorn questioned.
"Could you explain, Aragorn?" Stark asked.
"Out of everyone here, she and Barton are the only ones with a loved one present," Argorn revealed as if it were a logical conclusion.
"... Th—"
"AH! Put me down!" Rocket interrupted with an expressive shout. "What's happening? What are you doing to me?" Slowly, his cries of protest died down, and he began to unnaturally settle down.
Aragorn was petting him while using his biokinesis. Rocket Raccoon didn't even know what hit him before he was acting like a lazy house cat.
Nebula, not one to waste time, used her cybertronics to store the scene in her root memory.
The Avengers, wisely, decided to ignore Aragorn and the 'suffering' of Rocket and continue plotting a path to the Infinity Stones, all the while ignoring that the reality they were going to open a door to was nothing like theirs.
Leaving them to their useless planning, Aragorn turned to Thor. Thor was not fat, as was expected. Hulk, and by association Banner, were residents of New Asgard, and both Thor and Banner were friends of Thor. As the friends that they were, when Thor started to show signs of a deep depression, they took it upon themselves to pull him out of the rabbit hole.
Hulk may have tried to fix the depression out of him by forcing Thor's fight-or-flight instinct through sparring. Banner may have tried a more professional approach after he gained a PhD in psychology. And Valkyria, mad that Thor was taking her man's attention from her, might have threatened him with worse.
It was a three-front approach with results that spoke for themselves. Thor was an Asgardian of focus and sheer will after his resurgance. Like a phoenix, he rose from his ashes.
"I heard you say you would cut my arms and shove them down my butt," Aragorn said.
There was a pause, and slowly, they all turned towards Thor.
"T-ThaW-What are you talking ab.... NoobMaster69?!" Thor gasped.
Thor may have overcome depression, but he didn't overcome the gamer life...
"I'm just kidding," Aragorn chuckled.
A few veins popped here and there, but no one made a comment and returned to planning and plotting.
"Couldn't we just find all the stones right before he snapped to destroy the stones?" Rhodey suggested. "Mr. Abner had him cornered down at that moment, didn't he?"
Several heads turned towards him in questioning.
"The Time-Space Mesh was warped beyond recognition during our fight; you wouldn't survive getting close to The Garden." Aragorn crushed their hopes for an easy path.
"We arrived safely by the end," Rogers pointed out.
"I protected you, but if you return now, you would disappear from Reality," Aragorn explained.
Somewhat dejected, but with the light of hope firmly lit, they returned to finding a path.
The solution became apparent after an intense session of brainstorming. Mind, Space, and Time could be found in New York around 2012, they concluded. Reality could be found in Asgard in 2013. Soul and Power could be found at the same time in 2014, but on different planets.
And so, the Avengers prepared to jump.
Under the warm light of the morning Sun, they walked to the jump point.
"You don't need to waste a charge of Pym Particles with me," Aragorn declined while they all suited up in white with red accents.
"Then how do you plan to follow?" Rocket asked. He was hiding behind Thor; if one paid close attention, his fur was lustrous. Like a shampoo TV commercial.
"Part of the reason Thanos could not snap me out of existence has to do with how little hold [Time] and [Space] have on me," Aragorn revealed.
"... You could have jumped back and undone this all the whole time?" Stark asked.
"Yeah, wasn't that obvious? I didn't hide when I told you you should fix this. Doesn't that imply that I had a way of fixing it?" Aragorn asked.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Guys, let's not lose our focus," Natashe called out.
"I don't know, this feels like something important to talk about," Scott Lang murmured.
"Don't question the dragon," Rhodey muttered. "That's common sense, man!"
After an inspirational speech, they time-jumped.
Aragorn observed their shrinking forms with an expression quite difficult to read. Was it schadenfreude? Maybe some concern was mixed in it, maybe some mockery, all the same, there was no one to appreciate it.
He exited the Sacred Timeline and turned to look at the TVA. In the Null-Time Zone, he followed the tracks of the Loki-variant and his female self and nodded, pleased with it.
"Things are moving as they should," he commented.
Then he found the second timeline the Avengers' jump had created and moved to it.
The Avengers forgot to account for the Multiverse in their calculations, and more importantly, they never considered that the past might be lacking Aragorn.
He took a dip into the timeline and appeared in Vormir.
"Aragorn, Progeny of the Outside," Schmidt greeted.
"Schmidt, son of your mother and father," Aragorn greeted back.
"..." Schmidt had a feeling that Aragorn knew his parents' names but chose not to reveal them.
"You don't need to give the whole spiel," Aragorn hovered past him. "Soul, I have a million souls for you."
|...?|
"Yeah, you can say I love these souls very much." Aragorn's eyes twisted with pink.
|...|
"I'm giving you a million, what else do you want?" Aragron snarled. "Overextend and I might rip you out of your cozy seal for no soul at all."
|...#!... O|
"Good Soul," Aragorn patronized it. His tail made a swaying motion, and a million souls' transaction was completed.
Vormir's skies pulsed with the amber of Soul, and Aragorn became the possessor of Soul, again.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
New York, 2012. Alternate Timeline.
"Alright, we all have our assignments," Rogers said in his classic starspangled suit. "Two stones uptown, one stone do—"
The words died in his throat, and no one asked him what had happened, because they all lost their words.
They were on Earth, alright, and the Chitauri were certainly invading; needless to say, there were humans around them. Chaos and destruction? Checked! However, it was all wrong.
The vehicles, the street lights, the architecture, even the small details like the clothing, it was all wrong, but what was most wrong was the skies.
"Ehm... Are we in a retro-Earth timeline?" Scott Lang asked. "I'm sure my father drove one of those bikes in his younger days." He pointed at a motorcycle downed among the rubble.
To Rogers, it was even more startling because it made him feel somewhat back in his time.
"Where's the New York Obelisk?" Stark asked.
"RAAAAAWGHHHHHHH!!!" Hulk appeared and started to pummel a Chitauri with car like a savage gorilla.
"RAAAAAWGHHHHHHH!!!" It was animalistic, it was... savagery and no technique at all, which didn't match at all the image they had of their Hulk.
Something is wrong, they all thought that.
"Will the stones even be where we thought they would be?" Scott asked.
"Aragorn should have the staff in his hands," Stark assured, though it was partly to assure his wavering heart. "He said that if we approached him, he would read our minds and know what we need. Same for the Tesseract."
"..."
"..."
"..."
None of them was so assured by Stark's words because they could easily see through them. Something was wrong.
↓Part 2━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 2↓
Undescribed Planet.
Fighting against an advanced race of Aliens—not advanced enough to avoid overcrowding their planet and bringing the Mad Titan to their gravity well—Gamora and Nebula from 2014 found themselves. It was bloody. It was cruel. Half the planet was burning. The Chitauri Leviathans were menacingly cutting through the skies. It was the standard procedure for those associated with Thanos. Nothing new. Nothing different.
After returning to the ship the sisters called home, they awaited their father's arrival.
It was standard procedure, nothing new, nothing different, the usual.
It stopped being the usual when Nebula's projector showed Warmachine and Natasha; that was the first mistake.
It wasn't long before Ebony Maw and Thanos discovered duplicate memories in the entangled memory files of Nebula. It took even less for them to connect the dots and think about the absurd idea that one Nebula came from the and when they went over the recent memories, they found one particular file.
"Terrans," Gamora pointed.
"Avengers," Thanos spat with disgust. "Unruly wretches."
"Who is that?" he pointed at Aragorn. "Amplify this, Maw."
In the memory file, he was looking straight at the recording lens, as if he were observing them.
"Set course for Morag. Scan the duplicate memories," Thanos commanded. "I want to see everything."
Back on Earth, 2012, Scott, Stark, Rogers, and Banner found themselves drinking tea in front of the Ancient One.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"You bear the face of defeated men," the Ancient One pointed out.
The only thing they achieved was handing the Tesseract to Loki. The staff was not where it should have been, and neither when it was supposed to be. Even the Tesseract, they were only able to track it because of its eye-catching handling.
"We could try New Jersey, 1967," Stark suggested.
"I can confirm the Tesseract was not in New Jersey in 1967," the Ancient One said with a slight, almost imperceptible, smirk.
"Lady," Scott called out. "If you know, why don't you tell us? You seem the type."
"And what type could you be referring to?" The Ancient One asked.
"You know, the type! The mysterious-and-knowing-stuff-that-others-don't type!," Scott declared.
"As I have explained to Bruce," the Ancient One made a representation of the timeline in orange archane light. "Your... time heist, created a timeline based on your timeline. If you move to the past of my timeline, the further you'll stray from the past that you know. How will you even navigate the past of my timeline when this past, my present, is already unrecognizable to you?"
"What are we going to do?" Scott asked.
"The remaining charge was left with Natasha's team; in 2014," Bruce said. "We could wait and meet them in two years in Morag, then we can try a second time for a time before Loki uses the Tesseract... We just need to build a spaceship."
"At this point, the question is, are they even in the same timeline as us?" Stark asked. "This is clearly not our past. No Obelisks, no Imperium, no Libralisk, no Sages, no... Aragorn. We don't even know if, after waiting two years, we'll find them in Morag."
"..."
"..."
"..."
It was hopeless, that was the conclusion they reached.
Amidst that hopelessness, something shone in Banner's chest.
"What is that, Bruce?" Rogers pointed at his chest.
"... My P-Link," Bruce reached for it and tapped it. A three-dimensional projection of Argaorn appeared.
"So? How is an Earth without me treating you?" Aragorn asked.
"You're here?!" Stark exclaimed.
"I'm in 2014, if that's what you're asking; however, I must inform you, this is a recording," Argaorn smirked triumphantly.
"... Of course, he knew," Stark said before collapsing to his seat.
"Anyway, if my calculations are right, by now you should be either crying to Yao or sacrificing one of you and leaving them in the past," Aragorn said. "My money is on the former."
"Why would we leave one of us in the past?" Scott asked.
"To use their charge in another attempt at getting the Tesseract," Banner explained.
"So, I just wanted to tell you that in fact the others are in the same timeline, so you could reunite in two years in Morag," Aragorn informed them. "There's always the option of trying to join Thor, Rocket, and Barton in Asgard, but they don't have an extra charge."
"Why is this bastard being so unhelpful?" Stark cursed.
"If you're wondering why I am not handing you the answer on a silver plate, then you could ask Rogers," Aragorn said as if he was listening.
In synch, they all turned to Rogers, who shook his head in denial. "I don't know," Rogers said.
"For so long, I've done so much for you," Aragorn continued. "Isn't it time you stand up for yourselves and drag your sorry asses out of this hole? Normally, I'm not this cold towards humanity, but well, that happened, and now I'm a bit resentful of you."
That wording did it for Rogers. He understood what Aragorn was referring to.
"It's about Goddess Hestia," Rogers revealed.
"Do you still have Olympians on your Earth?" The Ancient One asked. She didn't bother to mask her curiosity.
"Only Goddess Hestia," Scott replied. "She is a sweetheart. After the Isthmus, she runs the largest welfare NGO on our Earth."
"What about Goddess Hestia?" Banner asked. "Did something happen to her?" The green of wrath crept to his neck. Hestia was so beloved that even Banner, who had never met her, would get angry at the prospect of her being harmed.
"We overheard them when we visited the Libralisk last," Rogers said. "Mr. Abner was going somewhere, and he was mad that Goddess Hestia chose to stay instead of going with him."
"Oh, god fucking dragonlord," Stark scrunched his face in frustration. "This petty dragon!"
"Tony. Anthony. Stark. Mr. Iron-Man," Scott awkwardly called out. "Can you explain to us, the ignorant, what's going on?"
"... This is classified beyond the X-Files," Stark said. "Aragorn, the Isthmus, the restricted floors, the Sages, and the Halo are leaving this year... 2023. They are leaving to not return."
"WHAT?!" HULK forced the transformation and asked.
"That... That's the end of the world! We barely made it past the last five years!" Scott exclaimed. He had been catching up with the past five years, and he understood that society was working because the Sages were keeping it afloat.
"The Libralisk and Hestia were supposed to go with them," Stark revealed.
"What does that have to do with his attitude?" Rogers asked, anxious.
"ARAGORN BLAMES HUMANITY," Hulk explained. The ones who knew Aragorn the best were Hulk and Banner, so they easily understood what was going through his mind.
"That sounds like the dimensional lords I know," the Ancient One added. "Vindictiveness runs in their veins."
"So, well, that's that!" The projection continued. "I will have Soul waiting for you in 2023, as I promised, but I won't help you make it there... Well, maybe I'll help you a little. Whoever makes it to Vormir will get a free ride with me to 2023. But just that, just the return journey. Also, for the peace of mind of Yao, I can confirm that you won't be able to create another timeline if you jump to the past; this one was an exception. That was all. Have a nice adventure, greedy creatures!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"He is quite something," the Ancient One said. "I can feel something from that message, even from here (2012)."
"Can't we go to Hank Pym for more Pym particles?" Scott asked. "I bet we can Google his location."
"Hank Pym won't have a stash of Pym particles until the early days of 2015, when he starts to plot against Darren Cross," the Ancient One crushed their hopes again.
"Technically, we could wait until then," Rogers said. "Right?"
"The longer we stay," Stark replied.
"The further you'll deviate my timeline from its intended path," the Ancient One completed the idea for him.
"A year more, a year less, it can't be that bad, can it?" Scott asked.
Banner—Hulk had given the reins back—Stark, and the Ancient One looked at him with an exasperated gaze.
"There's a reason we're limiting our actions," Stark explained. "Otherwise, we could have just visited Titan in 2018 and gang up on Thanos with the assistance of our past selves."
"Thanos without the Mind and Time Stone is manageable," Banner added. "Tony, Strange, and Parker, along with Rocket's friends, almost had him. If consequences were not a concern, we could have ambushed him there and then, gotten the Mind Stone from somewhere around this time from Loki, and returned to 2023 to snap our fingers."
"I believe Mr. Abner knew we would fail, so he provided us with this address as a backup plan," Rogers said while looking at the Ancient One with a questioning look.
She nodded in reply, "Yes, while you're here, while I have this," she gestured at the Eye of Agamotto, "I can contain the ripple effect of your actions."
"So what are our options?" Scott asked.
"We stay here and build a spaceship in two years, then fly to Morag for that extra charge, jump back to today, a few minutes before we arrived, and pocket the Mind and Space stone, now that we know for certain where and when they'll be, and then return," Stark replied.
"There's something that's been bothering me," Banner added. The others gave a look of encouragement. "Why did Aragorn say he would bring whoever made it to Vomir back with him?"
With that extra charge, they should have had enough to successfully achieve their goal; hence the question: why did Aragorn say that?
"In my experience dealing with its kind, they observe the world from a higher vantage point," the Ancient One added. "If he implied he would carry any that made it to this planet back, then it means that is the most likely scenario."
"So, we'll fail?" Scott asked.
"The future is a river of possibilities," the Ancient One explained. "While many creeks might take scenic routes through mountains and forests, in the end, they'll all join the main flow."
"..."
"... Don't think too deeply about it," Stark said. "When dealing with Aragorn, you'd better just try your best and hope he'll be there to catch you when things turn truly egregious."
"Is it all right for us to stay here, Ma'am?" Rogers asked. "Won't we intrude?"
"Opening a pocket dimension for you and your work is no bother," the Ancient One replied. "At worst, there's the empty Mirror Dimension."
There were some smaller matters to discuss, for example, the purchase of material for the spaceship and such.
Luckily, Stark's armor was more than just armor. His armor was the product of Earth-199999's humanity's wisdom, all safely secured in a swarm of nanites.
"We need matter," Stark said in his, Banner's, and Scott's workshop.
"With atomic restructuring, we won't lack materials, but I would recommend some form of metal that we could acquire without bringing the government to the kind witch lady's door," Scott added.
"Iron should be common enough," Banner said. "We could also mix some aggregate in the orders."
"How about we purchase scrap metal?" Scott suggested. The other geniuses looked at each other and agreed.
"We should buy a scrapyard," Banner and Stark said at the same time.
While they were working on it, Rogers, to not feel like a burden, decided to pick up some of the mystical arts sorcery basics.
The Ancient One, partly curious and partly bored, accepted Rogers as her secret disciple and trained him in the mastery of the mystical arts.
His talent wasn't anything to write home about, like she felt Stark's was, but it was enough to make her believe that in two years, he would have gained a few tricks for his arsenal besides frisbee throwing and CQC.
And so... Two years passed in a flash.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Vormir, 2014.
While the 2012 team was stranded in the past, building a spaceship from scrap, Aragorn was hovering a few feet from the edge of a cliff in Vormir, adjacent to him was Schmidt, silent and solemn as only a wraith could be, observing with curiosity as the nebulae-filled eyes of Aragorn switched through the visible spectrum while always returning to blue.
Aragorn, with eyesight more broken than a reincarnator's golden finger, observed the 2013 team sneak its way into the golden palace of Asgard. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly with that team. Thor was not a weakling of a man, Barton was there to assist, and Rocket was a mission-driven Raccoon. In fact, by the chronology of the time for completion, they were the first to finish their mission and return.
On the Morag team's side, well... Aragorn patiently observed Nebula scolding Natasha for forgetting the backup charges in the pod, instead of taking the charges with them. Nebula grabbed the charges and walked after Rodey and Natasha.
"Second mistake," Aragorn muttered.
His eyes shifted slightly and soon her was observing 2012.
"Do you think I'm being petty, Schmidt?" Aragorn asked.
"I can't presume to know," he replied. "I don't know the slightest of what motivates an entity like you."
"There's someone I hold very dear to me, and she chose them over me," Aragorn explained. "I wanted to undo humanity right then and there, but I know that would have only made her sad. I hate seeing those I love sad!"
"For a being of your might, couldn't you fulfill your wish and hers?" Schmidt asked.
The Soul Stone had changed Schmidt considerably. In the past, his question would have been, 'For a being of your might, couldn't you fulfill your wish anyway?'
"I'm going somewhere far away, far from this Reality," Aragorn said. "I wanted her to come with me and mine, but she chose humanity, she chose this Reality." His eyes flickered between red, blue, and green stars.
"... Can't you bring humanity with you?" Schmidt asked.
"No," Aragorn shook his tail in denial. "While that is within the realm of possibility, it would be pointless, annoying beyond measure, and ultimately the equivalent of snuffing out the sun to turn off the lights."
"So now... What are you being petty about?" Schmidt questioned. He still was missing the entire picture.
"Because of my actions—or, inaction if we're being technical—something bad is going to happen to them," Aragorn revealed. "In the end, it won't be a problem, a few things are for beings like me, but still... Maybe my definition of problem is not the same as theirs... I can still remember what problems besieged mortals, I think, even if I can't no longer empathize with them...
"You know, when I used to be a mortal, near the last decade of my life, my hair was white," Aragorn said. "I was not an old man; I was close to thirty, and my whole hair was white. It wasn't even an uncommon thing among us soldiers of Earth. That much was the stress we endured.
"The ones that made it that far, the ones that survived that long, we all started fairly young. The war was so fucking hard... suicide was a real problem, so real that the bunks had dedicated personnel assigned to stop us from taking our lives.
"It was a hellish environment; I never blamed any of my brothers who took the 'easy' way out. Sometimes, we would go months without talking outside of combat because we would often lose the drive to speak. On occasions, we would have to cut deep into the enemy territory, and the higher-ups counted our fallen bodies for provisions.
"My brothers were fucking delicious. Food from back home rarely made it in the depths we ventured, and the hateful insects, aside from being venomous, were poisonous. Even on their planets, we could find nothing to eat.
"Death, and not Noona, was our day-to-day companion. It was a situation beyond situations, and we had no one to blame but the bugs. Back then, I concluded that if hell existed, that was it. What I'm trying to say is that I would never forget the feeling of mortality. I can understand their definition of problems," Aragorn muttered just loud enough for Schmidt to hear.
"If you do, then why are you walking this path?" Schmidt asked.
"After the war, after hell, when we returned home, we experienced Elysium. To us, it was literally going from hell to heaven. Our minds were broken, our hearts were hollow, we were barely any different from the bugs we so hated... I was one of the lucky ones, though.
"My skill reinforced my spirit and body. I managed to overcome the trauma supernaturally fast. But then, it was all taken away from me. That day, when I absorbed my multiverse, when my soul was torn apart after eating at The Void, I truly comprehended that there could always be a hell beyond hell. All that I could call mine was taken away in an instant. Not even the sanctity of my ego was spared. My body, my mind, my soul, my ego, sense of self, and anything else mine was gone.
"That day, I lost what made me mortal, both in body, mind, and soul. I lost it all, the all outside my sense of self, and the all inside my sense of self, and I became this, what I am today... I understand their problems, but could they understand mine?
"Could they comprehend how important my property is to me? Could they understand how much I love my property and how much I dread losing them? Could they understand... me?
"I don't think I really want them to understand me, though. I don't care that deeply for them. I'm just wondering why I should bother understanding them when they'll never understand me," Aragorn said.
"You sound just like me before this," he pointed at his smoky body and wraith state.
"Oh, I know," Aragorn turned to look at him straight into his soul. "Because I can understand you."
Schmidt shivered at that.
"Can you understand me, though?" Aragorn asked, his face expressionless, his eyes blue galaxies. "I don't think you can."
"I-I," Schmidt stammered out before he ceased to exist.
"If you had understood me, you would have known to get out of my sight," Aragorn said before turning back to observe the 2012 team. "Maybe humanity should also understand to get out of my sight."
With eyes flickering between red and blue celestial bodies, Aragorn kept track of the massive endeavor of building a spacecraft in two years.
If someone had said that because they had Stark's nanites and the Ancient One's patronage, building a spaceship from scrap would be easy, they would have been mistaken.
If the objective were escaping Earth's gravitational well, then a rocket could have been built in a month or two; the real challenge was building one capable of reaching Morag. Not only that, but the longer they took in its construction, the less travel time they'd have available.
Even so, these were two of the smartest men alive in 2023, three very resourceful men, if Scott is included... and a very disciplined soldier who was making strides in the world of sorcery.
About three months before the deadline, they were ready to depart.
"Master," Rogers bowed respectfully to the Ancient One. "I promise not to misuse your teachings and to always wield them for the benefit of humanity."
"You may not be my most talented student, Steve, but you certainly are my most dedicated to our cause," she said, pleased with her student's goodbyes.
"Thank you for everything, Ancient One," Scott said and approached her for a hug.
"Please don't," the Ancient One stepped back. "Safe travels, child," she said with a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure those runes will keep us hidden?" Stark asked, eyeing suspiciously the 'graffiti' on his ship.
"Always so skeptical, Stark," the Ancient One chided. "No one will see you until you exit the planet's atmosphere."
"I'll take your word for it," Stark said before walking inside the ship.
The ship bore a striking resemblance to Quill's Benatar. It was one of the few spaceships Stark had schematics for. Although similar in appearance, on the inside it housed Chitauri, Kree, Nova, Dark Elven, and several other types of components. Knowledge product of all the spaceships humanity had studied for years.
"Thank you for entrusting us with the Time Stone," Banner said. "I promise to return it to the exact moment we took it from and immediately after to your hands."
"I know you will, Bruce," the Ancient One nodded.
Like so, right under the noses of New York, they departed from Earth.
Humanity hadn't begun exploring the next frontier by 2023. It was not a matter of lacking knowledge or engineering; it was because they were barely making it out of the crisis the Snap left in. As such, they lacked information about the Jump Point Network and barely knew of the accessible jump points. Which was why it took so long for them to make it to Morag.
"We are cutting it close," Stark informed. They could already make out the shimmer of Morag's sun.
"Don't worry, Tony," Banner commented. "If we don't make it in time, I'll stay behind with Scott."
"Yeah, man," Scott nodded. "Between our charges, you should have enough to make the trip to 2012, and back. Just leave the ship with us and we'll make it to Vormir."
"And who knows how long that would take?" Stark replied. "You'll have to find someplace to refuel, and only Aragorn knows where such a place is located. You'd be looking at years' worth of travel, and we don't know how long that petty dragon we'll wait."
"Tony, Hulk already said that if Aragorn says he'll wait, then he will," Rogers said, trying to calm Stark's nerves.
"I already have this, too." Scott lifted his hand and pointed at the bracelet in the classical colors of Stark's Iron-Man suit. "Even if we are stuck in the past, with this baby we'll be able to build a time machine in a few years."
"Don't worry, Tony," Banner reassured him. "You know you're needed to create the gauntlet. Scott and I can stay. Just make sure Thor wields it, I don't think any of you would survive its energy load."
"Just don't forget the Mind and Space Stones, very important," Scott reminded.
"It's the best option. Trust them, Tony," Rogers added, "just as they trusted us with the future."
Reluctantly, Stark nodded.
As Stark feared, by the time they arrived at Morag, it was a few minutes too late.
"... Is that..." Scott didn't get to finish his question.
"Thanos," Stark muttered.
Banner and Rogers fixedly observed with cold sweat on their backs as a retractor beam pulled the Benatar's pod to Thanos' ship.
They arrived just in time to hear Nebula's rushed communications.
"Aragorn! Aragorn! Come in! We have a problem!... Thanos knows about the Stones and you!"
"We have to rescue her!" Rogers exclaimed, breaking out of his freeze.
"No," Stark denied. "We have to escape! Their sensors got us!"
The holographic projections flashed red, and the ship's thrusters went full throttle.
Like wasps flying out of their nest, fighter ships emerged from the Sanctuary II in pursuit.
"Faster, faster, faster!" Scott shouted.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Stark yelled.
The ship sank into Morag's armosphere, trying to use the alien terrain to take cover from the raining fire. It swerved under a rock arch, it skidded around a sharp rock protrusion, it skimmed over the surface of Morag's planetary ocean, but even so, it was not enough.
"Tony!" Banner shouted. "You have to leave!"
"No!" Stark denied. "You'll die!"
"If you die with us, everyone will die for real!" Scott impatiently shouted.
"We will not leave you to your deaths!" Rogers declared.
"We won't die!" Hulk said.
"I still have my Ant-Man suit's charges, I'll hide in Hulk's hair," Scott said.
"Hulk will protect us," Banner said.
Stark and Rogers looked torn. In the end, logic triumphed.
"I don't want to mourn you," Stark said before accepting Banner and Scott's charges.
"I'll be waiting for you," Rogers said solemnly.
"You won't have to wait, Cap," Scott said. "If we pull this off, we'll be there with you when we return."
Stark and Rogers nodded and jumped through time.
"... Okay, now tell me the real plan," Scott said before taking the copilot seat next to Banner.
"The real plan is sinking or downing the ship," Banner revealed.
"What?!" Scott asked.
Boom! Something hit the ship hard.
"Even if we survive, if the ship doesn't, we'll be stranded," Banner explained. "We need the ship to survive mostly intact."
"... So we'll draw their fire and then fake our deaths?" Scott asked, connecting the dots.
"It's the only way," Hulk nodded.
"... Fuck it!" Scott exclaimed.
The fighterships followed the ship like hunters to a cliff. The ship flew parallel to the cliff and the ocean, swerving in three dimensions to avoid the rain of fire; however, it was hit on one of its main thrusters, and it ripped a wing almost entirely against the cliff's wall. The ship skidded over the water a few times, and then it landed near a rocky beach.
"RAAAAAAGHHH!" Hulk burst from the cockpit and roared like a mindless beast.
It charged at the fighter ships and leaped to their height. One ship went down, then the next, and so on. However, Hulk could only leap high; he could not fly, so on his way down, the ships picked him like target practice all the way down until the crash site.
The ships hovered in place, shot at the same spot until they ran out of ammunition. When the wind cleared the smoke, there was nothing but a smouldering crater.
From Vormir, Aragorn observed this and lifted not a finger. His eyes were cycling between blue and red.
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
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{A/N:
Please check out my P@treon account! There are already 10 chapters ahead for premium members, which is at least 100,000 words. Premium members also gain access to a new chapter every week.
[email protected]/ExistentialVoid
Free Members get access to all free chapters, and I upload free chapters about 12 hours earlier on P@atreon.
P.S: I've been offline for a few weeks, so there's currently only 9 advanced chapters in p@atreon. More will come.}
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