The unthinkable has happened. The Avengers lost. Thanos used the Infinity Stones to bring the balance he felt was needed to the universe, resulting in the death of half of the universe's population. Fractured, the surviving Avengers struggle togethe...
After the Infinity Stones we're violently ripped from the gauntlet on his hand, Thanos fell to his knees. Helpless, he could only watch as someone else took what was his. Blood oozed from the stump that was once his hand, and his wounded eye throbbed. With the one good eye he possessed, he looked away from Dean and stared at his armies. With his children all dead, Sanctuary destroyed, and him subdued, the remnants of his armies were quickly being defeated by the opposition.
He looked back at Dean and snarled in frustration as he watched all seven- SEVEN!- of the Infinity Stones move to the Inhuman prince's right hand. A sudden hollow feeling consumed him as the realization slapped him- possessing the Stones was never his destiny.
A deafening crack erupted from Dean's fingers when they snapped and Thanos winced at the sound. Anger mingled with his disappointment. He wasn't supposed to be reduced to the likes of a quivering child, and yet he was. Helplessness didn't suit him and yet this was now his lot.
A radial overflow of multicolored power splashed out of Dean's hand and in that moment, Dean's eyes found him. Thanos lost himself in those glowing eyes, and in that instant the message they conveyed was loud and clear: this universe doesn't belong to you.
Thanos had thought he'd felt fear before. The witch had terrified him when her power had overwhelmed him. The glowing woman, too, had caused fear when she'd resisted his might. But he'd had a strategy both of those times. At the risk of decimating his own forces, he'd given the order for Sanctuary to unleash an air strike in order to break the witch's focus. He'd snatched the Power Stone up to match the other woman's might. But he had no defense against what Dean was now doing.
Looking down at himself, Thanos watched as his body began to dissolve into the air. He was being unmade, as were all of the survivors of his armies. Failure's bitter taste assailed him.
"It didn't have to end this way," Dean said to him.
Thanos looked up at him and this time there wasn't fear or rage or even hate. There was only acceptance and a begrudging respect. "It could only end this way," he replied before succumbing to his fate and fading from reality.
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With Thanos and his army gone, the Infinity Stones' work was complete. They ceased to glow and Dean's body slowly began to float back to the ground. Thor reached him immediately, pulling him into his arms and against his chest. He fearfully stared down into Dean's face and listened.
Dean let out a slow, soft exhale and Thor began to cry. "He's alive," he whimpered before burying his face in Dean's chest. "He's alive," he repeated, because it felt so good to say it.
"He's a hero," Carol said with a massive amount of respect in her voice. "I've only ever heard stories of Lumen. They didn't do him justice."
Jack nodded proudly and reached for Dean's hand. "You did it, son," he whispered.
The other heroes encircled Thor and Dean, each of them staring at the unconscious hero as he rested. Then, because a victory on such a scale demanded it, every single one of them began to loudly cheer.
Dean, who was so exhausted from wielding such powerful cosmic might, was completely oblivious as he slept in Thor's arms. Where he belonged.
