Returning The Stones

2. Sanctum Sanctorum, 2012

Steve flew through the quantum realm, waiting for his first stop. He went and landed exactly where he needed to be: 2012.

Steve showed up exactly when he needed to, exactly where he needed to. He appeared on the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum right as Bruce disappeared with the time stone.

"You have the stone?" The Ancient One asked.

Steve nodded and opened the case, handing her the time stone. She took it and put it back into the Eye of Agamotto.

"It's a good thing you survived. If not, my reality would be doomed."

"Well, you're lucky the Avengers were there." Steve said. "I do have one question, how do I get this thing back into the scepter?" Steve asked the Ancient One, pointing to the mind stone.

"It appears you'll need to return many of their stones to their former selves." The Ancient One said. "Perhaps I could help you with that."

The Ancient One created a portal and stepped inside, motioning for Steve to follow. He was now standing inside the Sanctum Sanctorum.

"Do you have the scepter with you?" The Ancient One asked.

"No." Steve replied.

The Ancient One flipped through her books and began to perform magic, using the mind stone.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked.

"I'm reverting the stone back to it's former self." The Ancient One said. She continued with her magic until she had the scepter in her hands. "Here we are."

"Wow, thanks." Steve said.

"And we'll have to do something about the rest of these." The Ancient One went to a cupboard and grabbed a few things. She took a silver orb and put the power stone in it. Then, she grabbed the reality stone and began to perform more magic.

"What are you doing now?" Steve asked.

"The reality stone wasn't always a stone, it was liquid. The Aether." The Ancient One said. "I will put it into this device for you. That will mean that you have to put the Aether back into Miss Foster."

"I have to put that into a person?" Steve asked. The Ancient One nodded. "Golly."

"I'll take care of the tesseract for you, just wait here." The Ancient One took the space stone and left to another room.

Steve looked around the Sanctum Sanctorum. There were many strange objects, all holding some sort of magical aspect, so Steve thought.

Steve came upon a red cloak hanging in a case. "Looks a lot like Strange's." Steve whispered to himself. Steve remembered what Bruce had told the Avengers before he snapped everyone back.

"I didn't talk to Strange." Bruce said as they worked on getting all the stones ready for the gauntlet.

"You didn't? Then who did you get the stone from?" Tony asked.

"Some bald lady called the Ancient One." Bruce said. "She said we were five years too early if we wanted to talk to Strange."

"How would she know?" Steve asked.

"Who knows. She had been the keeper of the time stone, and Strange looked into the future with it as well." Bruce said. "She also said that after we use the stones, we have to return them to the exact moment they were taken from."

"Why? Can she not live a day without her precious time stone?" Tony asked.

"She said that the stones create the flow of time, and by removing one stone, the flow splits. That while taking the stone may help our reality, it would be dooming her new one."

"That sounds complicated." Steve said.

"I know, but she was being really stubborn. She wouldn't give it to me until I told her Strange gave ours away. The she gave it up."

"Why does it matter what Doc does?" Tony asked.

"She said he was meant to be the best of the sorcerers." Bruce said. "I don't know, I guess what I'm saying is once we bring everyone back, someone has to go and put all the stones back to the exact time they were taken from." Bruce said.

"I'll do it." Steve said.

"Of course you will, Rogers." Tony said.

"We'll discuss this later. Right now, we need to bring everyone back." Bruce said.

"So it is Strange's, at least in the future." Steve said.

"Here you are." The Ancient One said, handing Steve a breifcase. Steve opened it to see the Tesseract.

"That's crazy how you can do all this." Steve said.

"Well, I'm not the Sorceress Supreme for nothing, am I?"

"I guess not." Steve looked back at the cloak. "You told Banner that removing a stone from the timeline would split the flow of time. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Then how was Thanos able to destroy all the stones in my reality?"

"The stones had fulfilled their purpose. Plus, it's not like one just went mysteriously missing like the ones you've taken." The Ancient One answered.

Steve nodded. "Thank you for your help. I better go and put all these things back."

"You do that." The Ancient One said. "Remember, return them to the exact moment they were taken."

"I will." Steve said.

"Here's some help." The Ancient One said. She dropped Steve through a portal to an empty street, right as him and Tony disappeared.

"Of course, leave Ant-Man to do the easy work. No one cares about Ant-Man." Scott said, disappearing with the scepter.

Steve sighed. He knew exactly what he had to do.

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