Chapter 78: Girl in the stone. 969 CE

A/N: I don't know about this one...

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I stared at the cube on Odin's hand. It's quite tempting to just take it… I could put it in a temple later on… but, would Arishem notice it?

"If you're worried about the celestial caring about the stone, they won't care," said Odin nonchalantly. "Unless you have all of them or you use it to halt the development on earth, they won't care at all. They have universes to create, and much better things to do."

"Like judging planets?" I scoffed, but Odin didn't answer, I kept staring at the cube on his hand. It's really tempting now…

"If I took this responsibility, what's in it for me?"

"You can use the stone, what else?" scoffed Odin.

"It'll draw powerful beings Odin, why can't you just keep it in Asgard?"

"Earth is a relatively remote planet," said Odin truthfully. "No one's going to notice the stone being here, and my Asgard would be safe from invaders."

"They have you in Asgard."

"Earth has you." refuted Odin. "And your other comrades…"

"I am not that powerful Odin." I said in annoyance. "Not as powerful as you."

"The sorcerer supreme already has the time stone here, right?" questioned Odin "Another stone on earth shouldn't be a problem."

This fucking old man… I sighed, you know what, fuck it.

I took the cube from his hand. "Fine, I'll take it."

"Now that's a responsible man!" Laughed Odin, patting my back.

"But I want some more things." I added.

"Sure, sure, say what you want."

"Some Uru metal." I said nonchalantly, making Odin frowned.

"Just the metal?" asked Odin. "You can't forge Uru using only a normal metal, Pluto."

"But I have this." I smirked, shaking the tesseract in front of him.

Odin came to a realisation. "You're smarter than you look!" Laughed Odin, clutching his belly. "Fine, Fine! I'll give you some! But make sure you guard it properly."

"I'm not promising anything." I said cheekily.

"Fine enough for me." shrugged Odin. "I will deliver the metal when my sons come of age, that will also be the time when I will bring them to you, for their coming of age journey."

"And when is that?"

"In a couple of decades," he smiled. "When the time comes, just make sure to teach them a really good lesson."

"You mean beating them up?"

Odin just smirked at me, and walked away. Before he truly disappears, he said one last thing. "It's been a short few years, but I am glad that I got to meet you, Eternal."

I smiled at him softly. "It's an honour to fight alongside you too, All-father."

He then walked away, entering the long house once again, leaving me alone.

I looked at the little cube on my palm… An actual infinity stone, on the palm of my hand… It could probably hurt Arishem a little, but I doubt it'll kill him…

When I thought about the energy that could be generated from this thing, I– wait… Energy?

Is the infinity stone's energy the same as cosmic energy? I mean, the stones are singularities right? They existed when the universe was first created… So does space energy connect with cosmic energy?

Welp, only one way to find out.

So I tried to absorb the energy that was radiating from the space stone, and I suddenly felt immense pain from my body, like my skin was being peeled slowly but surely.

"ARRRGGHHH!!!!"

My insides were shining blue, like a blue sun had just descended from the stars. I dropped the tesseract, but the pain didn't stop. I saw men running towards me, even Odin himself came back to see what was going on. I saw Thena, her face pale when she saw me screaming and glowing blue, and she rushed to me, panicking.

Eventually, I couldn't hold the pain anymore, and my consciousness was slowly fading.

And then, darkness.

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I was now standing on a black dimension, there was nothing in here, only darkness, only void. I looked around again, and still nothing, it kind of feels familiar…

I walked around, and still nothing, there was no sound, no movement, no light. One thing that I noticed though, is that the space around us seemed to not move at all, like I was standing still, even though I was walking.

A couple of minutes later, I eventually gave up. I sat down on the ground below me, and sighed. "Well, that was anticlimactic… Seems I died…"

I layed on the ground, looking at the darkness above me… or is it below me? This place feels weird…

I closed my eyes, looking for rest, but then, a voice sounded. The voice of a little girl.

"Who… are you?"

I opened my eyes instantly, and I saw a blue construct, in the shape of a little girl. She looked at me with curiosity, tilting her head to the side.

"Wow…" I exclaimed, then coughed. I stood up, and greeted the entity. "I am Pluto. An Eternal."

"Oh." she said casually. "Celestials?"

"Uhm… yes. They're my makers… I guess…"

She hummed. "You wanted to absorb me?"

"Uhm… who are you?"

"Oops, sorry, I am space.." she said casually.

"Oh…" shit, did the Space stone have sentience? "Um… I was just experimenting… sorry if I hurt you or anything…"

"It's… strange…" she murmured. "I never talked to another being before… Can I come with you?"

"What?" I was surprised.

"Your powers…" she said. "You could bring me with you, right?"

"T-Then, what about the stone?"

"What do you mean?" she questioned again.

"If you come with me… will the stone be useless?"

She was confused. "You only absorbed a tiny fraction of me… how come the stone became useless?"

"Oh…" I sighed in relief, then tensed again. "Wait, is this?"

"This is your domain." said the little girl, looking around. "I met your friends over there." she said, pointing at a corner of the place. And I saw Idemnon, walking towards us.

"Wait, why can't I sense you?" I asked Idemnon.

"This one blocks our communication my lord." said Idemnon, pointing at the little girl. "What did you do now?"

I chuckled nervously. "It's honestly nothing…"

"You didn't answer my question…" said the little girl suddenly. "Can I join you in your travels? It seems like fun…"

I don't know what to say… a part of the space stone? In me? "Why would you want to join me? You're the embodiment of space itself…"

"I can't go anywhere…" said the little girl sadly. "I am a stone after all…"

Oh yeah… that makes sense. "Um… sure, if you want to…"

The little girl's eyes shine more brightly. "Really?!"

"Sure." I shrugged. "From now on, you are me, and I am you."

The little girl nodded vigorously. "You are me, and I am you." she then stretched her hand, making a fist bumping gesture.

"Uh… what are you doing?"

"I want a fist bump." she said. "I saw it in your memories."

"Oh, okay." I said, fistbumping the girl. "Then what should I call you?"

"Call me space." she said.

"Uh… I don't know… could I call you something else?"

The little girl was confused. "Is that not good?"

"Well, it's just a bit awkward calling you Space…"

"Then, do you have a suggestion?' she questioned.

I then went to deep thinking, caressing my nonexistent beard. Then, I snapped my finger. "How about Juno?"

The little girl's eyes shine more brightly. "That's a great name! Call me Juno from now on!"

I nodded. "Then welcome to the team, Juno."

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A/N: I based this because in the wiki, the space stone had limited sentience.

"Remarks by Erik Selvig refer to the Tesseract as a "she", even before his domination by the Mind Stone. He frequently describes the Stone as exhibiting and performing sentient emotion and acts, such as "misbehaving", and wanting to "show [Earth] something.""

-Wiki

because he said the stone likes to misbehave, I don't know, I just thought of a little girl...

As you know, Pluto's power is to absorb a living being and made them his construct... this is just what he is doing now... albeit unintentionally... What he absorbed is just a small amount of the Space Stone's power, not even a tenth of it.

Anyway, let me know what you think... When I read that part of the space stone's entry in the wiki, I just had to somehow implement it in this story... I don't know if it's good or not.