I Am Soul - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [2]

Chapter Six - The Soul Stone's Plan

This is where its gets quite AU in that the Soul Stone's capabilities are widened greatly for my story.

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Soul Realm

"You can fix your mistake" the Keeper stated, pulling Maria out of her thoughts.

"How? I am dead, I can't make them find the message" Maria snapped back furiously wiping away the lone tear that had escaped. She was turning her grief into anger.

"You won't make them find the message. You will fight Thanos; you have been his destiny and he has been your doom but you are yet to be his doom nor him your destiny" the Keeper said simply infuriating Maria to no end. Maria groaned loudly as she ran her hands through her hair and gripped the strands tightly. He kept talking about her fighting Thanos, her fight not being over but she couldn't fathom how that was possible given the scenario before her. "Just because you died does not mean you cannot live again."

"Stop speaking in riddles. What good is it getting us?" Maria shouted throwing her hands out. Her eyes ablaze with anger. The Keeper just stared at Maria.

"The Stone knew of Thanos' plan, it knew it would die at his hands as well" the Keeper simply explained, her anger having no effect on him. With his words, the Keeper once more gestured to his side. Once again, the area around Maria was shimmering, the air shifting as she was transported to another place and time.

The Keeper and herself were stood outside, in a field surrounded by a crop Maria did not recognise at all. It was a tall crop, green stemmed with a large circular purple spiked bulb on top. The crop stretched for miles all around. It was a planet of life but there didn't seem to be anyone living nearby, or so she thought.

As she looked around, Maria found herself utterly confused. This place was like no place she had ever seen before. It held similarities to that of Earth but Maria knew for certain she was not on Earth. So, where was she? It turned out that question did not matter. As Maria scanned the area around her, she suddenly spotted a face she would rather have never seen again.

It had been the last face she had ever seen.

Thanos.

"What's he doing?" Maria mumbled as she noticed that he had the gauntlet still on his hand, the stones all in place. Thanos was gazing at the stones with an almost sadness. She watched as the warlord lifted his hand up, the gauntlet blackened and damaged after the first snap but still useable. The stones seemed to glow brighter against the smouldered metal. Maria quickly realised what he was about to do as he moved his fingers into position. "NO!"

Her call did nothing to stop him - after all she was a ghost viewing a spot in time. Thanos snapped his fingers once more. An explosion of energy ran out and with a bright flash of light it was over.

Suddenly, Thanos collapsed to the floor, his left arm that had the gauntlet on it hit the floor with a deafening thud before silence reigned. Maria stumbled forward in shock, her transparent body moving simply through the crops undisturbing the life all the while her eyes rested upon Thanos. Half of the Titan's body was burnt to a crisp, blackened and broken like the gauntlet had been - the amount of energy taking over his body had won this time and attacked his body, leaving behind a useless arm, a damaged leg and a permanently scarred body. It seemed the stones would always affect a person in the end. He had played with fire and had gotten burnt.

Maria found herself kneeling down beside the unconscious warlord. She reached out to lay a comforting hand on the being; he was a bad creature, who had done awful things but he had shown her kindness. He may of caused her death but he had made sure she hadn't died in pain or alone.

When Maria went to touch him, her hand fell through him reminding her she wasn't actually there, only an observing spirit. Sighing, Maria retracted her hand.

"What did he do?" Maria asked quietly as she stayed knelt down beside Thanos. He had snapped his finger for a reason but Maria couldn't fathom why. She looked towards the Keeper who merely lifted his arm and pointed towards Thanos' left hand. Following his directions, Maria looked at the gauntlet and gasped in utter shock. The stones that had been placed in designated spaces within the gauntlet had disappeared. There was nothing left, just small piles of ash. The stones were gone ... destroyed.

Now the Keeper's words made sense. Thanos had killed the Soul Stone.

"The Soul Stone purposefully latched onto you so it could live" the Keeper spoke causing Maria to frown in confusion. Pushing herself back to her feet, Maria turned around to face the Keeper, the space around her changing at the same time. More Realm magic taking her to a place she knew. Maria sighed as she began to study the space around her, trying to catch her bearings. It didn't take her long to remember.

Wakanda. One of Shuri's lab. Her final resting place.

Before her, among the high tech tables and computers, Maria saw herself dying upon the floor. She was lying up against a wall with Thanos before her. Her skin was growing a deathly pale, her eyes begging for life whilst her abdomen was coated red as were her fingers that were useless upon her wound. Maria automatically lifted her own hand to her abdomen where the wound had been - she remembered the pain before Thanos had taken it away, the fear of dying.

Pulling her eyes from her dying self she looked towards Thanos' gauntlet. The Keeper had spoken of the stone latching onto her though from her current position she could see no sign of such a thing. Moving closer, crouching down beside Thanos and her former self, Maria focused solely on the stone that sat in the golden unblemished gauntlet. She found that the Soul Stone was glowing upon Thanos' command - he had shown her mercy and had taken her pain. However, Maria noticed something else. Something she hadn't seen the first time.

Whilst the Soul Stone was glowing, there was also a near invisible stream of orange mist coming from the stone and heading straight towards her dying form. Maria followed the mist with her eyes and noticed how it wiggled its way around her dying self's hand into the wound that lay on her abdomen. The Soul Stone had escaped its own death by allowing a part of itself to enter her body. But that action made no sense.

"Why would it do that?" Maria questioned, "I was dying, it was entering a body that was dying."

"The Soul Stone didn't enter your body but your soul" the Keeper corrected, Maria stood up and looked towards the Keeper as his words revealed what Maria could never have known. "The Soul knows all and knew that you needed it as much as it needed you." Maria was now utterly lost but the Keeper continued nevertheless. "Your fight with Thanos is only partly complete. You need to return to your life, to earth to finish your fight but the only way that could happen was if your soul was saved." The Keeper never moved an inch despite the fact that he was revealing truths beyond Maria's wildest dreams - the stones knew more than she ever thought possible, they were superior to humans despite being objects and not living creatures. "The Soul Stone saved your soul by bringing you here, placing you in a Realm from where you can escape in return you became a vessel for a part of itself. You now carry and will always carry a part of the Soul Stone within you."

"What I'm now an Infinity Stone" Maria sarcastically remarked finding everything so far beyond anything she understood. She couldn't' help but laugh at the ludicrous of it, bringing her hand up to rub at her forehead in disbelief.

"Yes" the Keeper replied promptly with no ounce of sarcasm in his voice. He was deadly serious which caused Maria's jaw to drop open in shock, her hand to fall to her side and her face to pale. To hold the power of the Infinity Stone within oneself was unheard of; the power that person could possess was a scary thought to say the least. And yet the Keeper was hovering in front of Maria claiming that she possessed such a power. "You have the power of Soul inside you and now you will learn how to use it."