Music is "Heroes Fall" by Hidden Citizens feat. Essa.
Picture is the Soul Stone Realm.
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INTERLUDE
I should be dead. I feel like I am. Just like all the other times I've looked death in the face, I shouldn't come back. Not after all that's happened. Not after the pain I just experienced.
But this time is different than all the others before it. This time, I'm not met with dreams or nightmares. I don't see my past. I don't see the shadow side of my mind. I'm not haunted or pursued.
This time, I see nothing.
I am...nothing.
Embers fill my vision, the orange glow of a hellish sunset rising over the horizon. Heat surrounds me, burning into my very being. The pain I felt before, the pain of being torn apart from the inside, returns. I fall to my knees, catching myself before I collapse.
But the ground isn't a solid piece. Through a pained gaze, I see I'm standing on a mountain of bodies. People. Animals. Humanoid and alien alike. They're a mountain of flesh and bone.
I jump up, backing up to get away from them. No matter where I walk, I'm surrounded by them. As the orange sun rises, I see the expanse unfold before me. For as far as my eyes can see, there's more of the same. Corpses.
One of them groans under my feet when I step backwards. It's only then that I realize these aren't corpses at all. They're not dead. They're paralyzed, frozen, still. Every single one of them is still alive.
Then I hear it, the collective groan of the bodies. It gets louder and louder, growing to a volume that makes me cover my ears. It's something between a scream and a moan, a sound of agony and anguish.
My breathing quickens, my heart pounds, and I try to get away from it all. The pain continues to grow, and I let out a sound of pain.
Gahena. Hades. Helheim. Purgagory. Lake of Fire. I dont care what you call it. This is what hell is.
Something behind me makes the same sound. I turn on my heel, eyes searching for the origin of the noise. What I see makes me nearly collapse.
Another pile of bodies, like the hundreds of others I'm standing on in this hell, but I recognize the bodies in this one. Some are friends, some acquaintances, and some I would give my life to save.
Sam and Wanda lie beside Fury, Maria, and Vision. T'Challa, Loki, and Galahad are crushed under their weight. On top of it all are Bucky and Grant. Beside them are other heroes of Earth; some I've met, like the young Spider-Man and the tree alien. Others I've read about or heard of, like Doctor Strange. Unlike the rest of the bodies around me, this group's eyes are open and locked on me.
I throw myself towards them, landing near Bucky and Grant. I place my hand on their pulse points, looking for a sign that they're still alive. Their chests are rising and falling, and their eyes are open, but there's little sign that they'll remain that way for much longer.
"Oh my god," I curse, tears forming in my eyes. I push away my own pain and fight to talk to them. "What happened to you? Where are we?"
Bucky and Grant start to make the same half moan, half cry as the rest of the bodies. Their eyes remain locked on me, as glazed over as if they were dead.
"Come on!" I exclaim, cupping Bucky's face between my palms. "Say something, Darling. Anything!"
The blue in his eyes fades, and he opens his mouth to utter one phrase. "Endgame."
Before I can respond, the agony in my chest builds once again. It knocks me to the ground, causing me to let out a scream. I claw desperately at the ground, trying to do anything to make it stop. I moves down my arms, and I start to see my fingers blow away with the wind. The line moves up my arms and starts at my feet.
I'm turning to dust once again.
"No!" I cry out, leaning against the pile of bodies where Bucky tops. "No, not again!"
Nothing I do helps. My body crumbles in on itself, and all I can do is watch. I look up at Bucky, seeing him stare down at me. Through watery eyes and trembling voice, I promise, "I will find you. I'll find you all. I'll come back! I promise! I lo--"
My sentence cuts off. I see everything in front of me float away like ash. The hellish sunset, the bodies, everyone I love: they're all gone. Darkness rises once again, and this time I'm unsure if it will ever end. I have no idea if that was a nightmare or reality. Maybe it was in my head. Maybe it was where we're going to end up when we die. The truth is, I know nothing.
I have no idea where I've been. I have no clue where I'm going. I have no concept as to how this is all going to end. Like the only word Bucky said, this is the endgame.
And I am terrified.
END INTERLUDE.
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