CHAPTER 253

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I continued watching the events unfold following a similar path to that of the movie, while counting the seconds to have what I had come for.

"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love." At this, Thanos turned to face my illusion, shock bearing on his face as the price became clear within his mind. "A soul for a soul."

Without a word, Thanos turned to the edge of the mountain, gazing at the bottom grimly, as Gamora started to laugh in the back.

"I kept this place a secret for nothing," Gamora chuckled, "All my life I dreamed of a day, a moment, when you got what you deserved, I dreamed of it, every single day."

Thanos stood still, his eyes still gazing at the bottom of the mountain, as tears started to fall down his face, one after the other.

I scoffed. The sight of him crying out of… his sick understanding, his sick view of love, disgusted me.

"But, no matter how much I dreamed, I would always wake up in the same hell you put me through. But now, the universe has judged you," Gamora smiled, gazing at him, "You asked it for a prize, and it told you no. You failed. And you wanna know why? Because you love nothing. No one."

"I'm sorry," Thanos muttered, turning around. Tears streaking down his face.

"Really? Tears?" Gamora scoffed, grinning at him.

"They're not for him," My illusion stated.

At this, Gamora glanced at my illusion, her smile evaporating in a matter of seconds, before she dropped her gaze in a look of realization. Taking a step back, her eyes flick to Thanos, who starts to walk towards her.

"No," Gamora muttered, her voice broken, as she glared at Thanos in rage, "This isn't love."

"I ignored my destiny once. I cannot do that again." Thanos replied, gazing at Gamora with pain, with each word coming out of his mouth seeming to hurt him, "Even for you."

Taking another step back, snowflakes starked Gamora's face, the mist of Vomir crashing ever so slightly against her, almost as if welcoming her, sending a shiver down her spine as she stared at Thanos with a blank expression.

"Never," Gamora muttered, staring into Thanos' eyes, pulling a dagger from her belt, before attempting to end her life, before he could.

However, Thanos managed to stop her, grabbing both of her hands, thanks to me, as I had used my powers to slow her down just enough for Thanos to be able to react.

"No," Gamora muttered, as a resigned expression settled on her face, her eyes glassy.

Pulling her into a hug, Thanos closed his eyes, as he muttered, "I'm sorry, little one."

"Go to hell!" Gamora barked, tears streaming down her face as Thanos broke the hug, holding both of her hands tight with one of his, as he walked towards the edge, dragging her.

After all of this ends, I will try to bring her back. After all, she's the one giving me the stone, her life paying the price I refuse to, I owe her that much, I owe her at the very least trying.

"No!" Gamora cried, struggling as Thanos dragged her, kicking him, biting him, doing everything in her power to stop him, his face clenching in anguish, not from her attacks, but of what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry," Thanos muttered one last time, throwing the one he claimed to love into the abysm. Her screams echoing across the mountain for a brief moment, before they came to an end with her helpless body finally reaching the bottom of the mountain, ending her agony.

Seconds after this, I felt a pulse of cosmic energy, followed by a blinding flash of light that illuminated the entire sky briefly, with the soul stone slowly descending towards Thanos.

"It had to be done," Thanos muttered, his hand extending towards the stone in agony.

"Sadly, it had," I replied, putting a hand over his shoulder to make my presence known.

Startled by my sudden appearance, Thanos turned around as fast as he could, stone at hand, staring at me before asking, "Who are you?"

"Alex my name is, hmmm. Yrrss," I replied, using my powers to alter my voice to sound just like Yoda. "Or, most recently, him…" I chuckled, pointing at my illusion, who waved at Thanos as I did, "But, I suppose, more importantly, at least to you. I am the one holding the stones you are missing."

At this, I extended my right hand forward, summoning the stones out of my inventory, for him to see.

At this, Thanos glanced at my illusion for a brief moment, before turning to face me, his eyes dropping in a look of realization.

"You needed me to collect the last stone," Thanos muttered, the hand holding the soul stone clenching so hard, his knuckles were changing colors, "You knew of my mission, and used me to bring you the last stone."

"Yes, the truth is. I would've never paid the price, so, I needed someone who could do what I couldn't, an idiot with a cause," I nodded, chuckling under my breath, "You played your role exceptionally well, be proud of that."

Without a word, Thanos lunged at me, his massive fist landing on my face with earth shattering strength, before he threw another punch, and another, each one stronger than the last.

Sighing, I flicked the purple giant in the forehead with a finger, sending his body flying towards the mountain in front of the one we were standing, a few miles away, creating a crater upon impact, before jumping towards him and asking, "Did you get that out of your system?"

Bleeding, and unable to move, Thanos simply stared at me in anger, before a look of resignation took over, "Get it over with, but know you have doomed the universe."

I rolled my eyes at him, using [Apport] to take the stones from him, "Please, you were never the hero, so drop out of that high horse. I mean, really? Killing half of all life to solve starvation? What kind of nonsense, malthusian bullshit is that? Let me guess, you thought, with half the people gone, and the finite resources remaining the same, there would be more to go around. Surprise, surprise, your stupid-sounding idea, was stupid, I mean, that shit would never work!" I paused, taking a deep breath.

"You know nothing," Thanos muttered in pain, coughing a huge amount of blood.

"Yes, yes I do, but your IQ is so goddamn low, you couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the fucking heel, heck! You would probably erase half of the boot!" I sighed, "Your solution was destined to fail because of how stupid it was. Your plan would have disrupted every major supply chain in the universe, you know, those things that bring the food to those who need it? Therefore, creating more starvation than there was before, to begin with! All because you woke up one day and decided, why not fuck the universe even more!" I sighed, taking a deep breath, "But enough about that, time to end this."

[You have killed Thanos.]

I blinked, poking Thanos with my foot, "Hmm, well, I guess that's that. I really thought he had a few minutes left, but I guess I flicked him too hard."