Chapter Text
In another part of the complex, unseen to human eyes, an iridescent being projected itself from Rory’s sleeping body, sat on the edge of the bed, stretched, and yawned. The glowing, semi-transparent, celestial-like being bore a striking resemblance to the Light Stone’s old form, but this one’s features were more defined, more human. Rory’s essence was the same shining white-hot light she had become known for, but now there were traces of the six vibrant colors of the other Infinity Stones flowing through her like blood in her veins creating a majestic sight to behold.
After she stretched and yawned, she sat still for a moment as memories of the battle and what she had done came flooding back, sending a shiver down her back, her essence shimmering with the movement. Her eyes caught sight of the shimmers, and she looked down at herself for the first time and released a small, silent gasp of wonder. She slowly lifted her hands up in front of her face, taking the time to study them as she turned them over more than once, mesmerized by what she saw. There was no way this stunning light was her. Was it real? Or was she still dreaming?
She turned around and gaped in surprise to see herself lying on the bed. This was just as surreal as when the Light Stone took on Rory’s own form to speak with her before the final battle, and it was just as crazy. Rory took stock of her physical self lying there and felt a strong emotion, either self compassion, self pity, or something in between, at what she saw.
She looked like hell. Her suit had been stripped from her, and she now wore a black tunic that went down to her knees. Burns, cuts, and bruises covered her body, especially her right side, and bandages covered and protected as many of the ailments as possible. Her right leg was bandaged from hip to ankle, and she could smell the strong scent of the salve used to combat the burns. She gasped and moved to the right side of the bed, eyes never leaving the spot on her arm two inches below her shoulder. Because that’s where her arm ended.
Rory absentmindedly wrapped her arms around herself at the sight of her bandaged, amputated limb and released a shaky breath. That was something she was going to have to get used to. Maybe she could get an arm similar to Bucky’s? Hopefully not all metal though, she thought as her glance rocked between what was left of her physical right arm and her celestial arm. Beggars couldn’t be choosers though. Maybe Tony or Scott could do something for her. Or both of them working together. That would be neat.
Something shifted in her peripheral vision, and Rory looked up from her physical form to find, lo and behold, one of the subjects of her thoughts curled up in some kind of fancy Wakandan recliner that he had pulled right up to her bed, looking exhausted despite being asleep. The sight tugged at her heartstrings.
A small smile spread across her face, and her celestial features turned soft at seeing Scott as she moved around the bed towards his chair. Unaware if she could be seen or felt in this state, she curiously yet warily reached a hand out and gently stroked his hair. His hair made no movement despite her actions, yet she could feel it as her fingers combed through it.
“Strange phenomenon,” she couldn’t help but mutter. “Oh, Scott,” she said quietly, “you look as tired as I feel. I’m so sorry about all this. How long have you been here? You didn’t have to stay for me.” She sighed. “I wish I knew what was going on. Why am I suddenly out of my body? I don’t think I’m dead. All those monitors say I’m not. I’ve never learned how to do the astral projection thing Stephen knows how to do. So why am I separate from my body?”
Rory froze when she saw Scott’s bloodshot eyes slowly, lazily flutter open. Her heart ached on his behalf. He looked half asleep and probably felt half dead as he slowly sat up, completely unaware he was being watched. Scott turned to Rory’s physical form, smiled sadly, and started talking to her. “Hey, Rory. Still asleep, huh? Boy, Doc’s sleeping magic must pack a punch for you to still be asleep. It’s been - what - five days since that fight?” He checked the time on the clock on the wall. “Yeah, this will be day s-six,” he confirmed as his voice cracked slightly.
Rory’s jaw dropped at the news. Five days since that battle? Stephen magically put her to sleep? Why? Is that why she’s like this now? To tell him to wake her up? She rolled her eyes at herself. Stop being stupid, Callahan. Nevertheless, she wondered if Stephen could see her like this. Scott clearly couldn’t. What did all this mean?
“It’s way too early for me to be awake,” Scott continued as he rubbed his eyes and yawned, “even after having a couple of days to adjust to Wakanda’s time zone.” He shrugged and sighed. “To be fair though, I really haven’t slept much since I got here. I’ve hardly done anything since I’ve been here. I wanna explore this place cause it looks awesome, but I wanna -” He paused as his shoulders drooped some. “I thought maybe you’d wanna explore too, so I was waiting before I did anything like that.”
“I’ve worked and talked with Tony though; that’s been good. We’ve been trying to come up with something for you for your arm and stuff, and we’ve got some options to talk about with you. Tony also brought in this doctor - what’s her name again? Heather Cho? No,” he shook his head,” that’s not right. Uhhhh, Helen! Yeah, Helen Cho; that’s it. Anyway, she and, uhh, Shuri are working on rebuilding something called the Cradle. I could go into detail about it, but something tells me you probably already know what that is. But anyway, we can only do so much without your input, ya know. Technically, we could go ahead and do it all, but we want you to have a say. I mean, it’s gonna be your arm.” He looked at her sadly as he took her still hand in his. “But you gotta wake up first, Rory. Please wake up.”
“Scott honey,” Rory said as she reached out for him, not even certain or caring if he couldn’t register her presence like this. “You need to get out of this room for a little while. Talk to someone who can talk back to you, and let me work on waking up. Come on,” she prodded gently as she tugged at his shirt. It was so strange how she could feel the material yet see no visible sign of her interaction with it. An idea crossed her mind, and she hesitated to try it. It felt like a breach on her part, but she knew it was the best if not the only option she had.
She gently pressed two fingers against his temple, and her forehead glowed sunshine yellow with Mind’s power. She whispered the suggestion to make it Scott’s own thought. “Maybe I should get out of this room for a bit. Stretch my legs and stuff. Just for a few minutes. Then I can come back.”
A faint yellow thread of energy slithered and crackled down from her mind, through her arm, into Scott’s mind, and settled there. As she dropped her fingers from his head, the yellow thought disappeared from her view, and Scott slowly nodded as he agreed to the thought. “Yeah, maybe.” He sighed as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and told her sleeping form, “I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Okay,” Rory answered gently with a small smile even though he couldn’t see or hear her. “Come on, honey. Let’s stretch your legs.”
They made their way through the corridor until they found a room with a long table either for conferences or dinners, and the walls were windows, exposing a gorgeous jungle landscape with the first traces of dawn slowly pouring over the horizon. Scott sat down in one of the chairs facing the world outside the windows, slouched, and rested his chin on his crossed arms which he placed on the table. “Pretty,” he muttered to himself. “Maybe Rory’d like to see this.”
Rory smiled at him, touched by him thinking of her this way, and pressed her fingers to his temple again before whispering, “Maybe she’d let me show her sometime after she wakes up.”
He sighed. “Gotta wake up first.”
“She will,” she assured him. “Doc said so, and since he’s an actual doctor too, he should know.”
“He better,” Scott grunted.
Suddenly, a voice interrupted and surprised them. “Scott,” Steve greeted sympathetically, “what are you doing up?” Scott and Rory looked to the right and found Steve, Tony, and Natasha walking into the room, each with a coffee cup in hand.
“You look like you should hibernate for a month,” Tony mumbled in agreement as he handed his mug to Natasha before walking back into the kitchen to get the poor guy a cup of coffee too.
“I’m fine,” the poor guy in question muttered unconvincingly as he sat up and leaned back in his chair.
“Scott,” Natasha said gently as she sat down across from him, “you haven’t been fine since you got here. She’s going to be okay.”
“You sure?”
“I’m convinced of it,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“So am I,” Steve said with a firm nod as he sat beside Scott. “It’s just like Tony told us in there, she’s tougher than even she probably thought she was. She’ll wake up.”
“Yeah, but what about after? That’s gonna be rough too. She lost an arm for one thing; they’re not sure if she’s gonna have a limp or not in her right leg; there’s a concern about her hearing and her vision; and let’s not forget any mental stuff from all of that. I mean, she was willing to die for us.” Then he added quietly as he crossed his arms and partially dropped his head in sadness, “She almost did.”
“I hate how really depressing this is gonna sound, but I think…” Tony said pensively as he walked back into the room and offered Scott the mug of coffee, which he accepted. “Lots of creamer and sugar, right?”
“Yup.” Scott takes a sip and nods. “Perfect. Thanks, Tony.”
“You’re welcome, buddy,” Tony replied as he patted his friend’s shoulder before continuing. “Anyway, I think there was a point after we all discovered what Rory was that she started believing she was going to die. I don’t know what brought it on or what made her think of it, but Rory actually thought she wasn’t supposed to survive all this.”
Rory sucked in a breath and stiffened. Tony found the video. How else would he come to such a conclusion? He wasn’t supposed to find the video unless she really did die, but leave it to Tony to find it. He must have an override for F.R.I.D.A.Y. that surpassed everything else, even the security protection she asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to put on the video.
“That’s an interesting development,” Natasha said quietly as she mulled over Tony’s theory while handing back to him his cup of coffee. “What makes you think that?”
Tony sat at the head of the table and took a quick sip of his coffee before he answered the question, “The most damning piece of evidence is the video I found tucked away pretty deep in F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s memory banks. It was made shortly before we pulled off the heist, and it was something I wasn’t supposed to find unless Rory actually did die. She put restraints on the video and everything. Pretty clever honestly, and I had to use my biggest override code I’ve got just to access it. Override You Know Who I Am. Works with everything as long as it’s my voice.”
“Of course, you’d have a code like that,” Rory muttered as she smacked her palm against her forehead.
“Anyway, Tony,” Natasha said with a slight eye roll as Steve nodded and Scott commented how funny his override code was. “The video?”
“I didn’t watch it except for the first five or six minutes just to know what it was. Guys,” Tony said sadly, “it was a last goodbye. It took a couple minutes for her to actually start the goodbye because she just couldn’t get herself going, as if starting her speech would be her admitting what she was afraid of.”
“My God,” Steve mumbled as he leaned back and crossed his arms. He knew any one of them would also have been willing to lay down his or her life for others, but to spend days suspecting, expecting to die for others, and wondering if an encounter with someone would be one’s last, would weigh so heavily on anyone’s mind. To leave a goodbye behind too… “What happened to the video?”
“I deleted it,” Tony stated with a shrug. “She’s alive, and she’s gonna wake up. There’s no need for that goodbye, and I didn’t have the heart to watch it all. If there’s anything she wants to tell us, she’s gonna have to tell us face to face now.”
Rory heaved a great sigh of relief. She’s going to have to remember to thank Tony later. “I owe you one, Tony.”
To her surprise, at the sound of his name, Tony shifted his gaze quickly and stared right at her, a confused look on his face. After a few seconds of the staring contest between Tony and Rory, he blinked and looked away, appearing unsure as if wondering if he saw a ghost. “Can you see me, Tony?” He didn’t make any other movement to indicate he heard her nor did he look at her again, but she saw a flicker of white light in him. “Of course,” she breathed. “My protection from earlier is still in him. That must be how he heard me, but I guess it’s not strong enough for him to fully see and hear me.”
The conversation shifted then, and it shifted to what Rory didn’t want to hear. “We won,” Natasha commented softly, “so why doesn’t it feel like we won?”
Tony sighed and shrugged. “Eh well, when you’ve been doing the dance for so long to the point where it becomes all you can focus on, it’s hard to separate yourself from it.”
“So how do we move past that?” Natasha looked at Steve and asked, “You were in those group sessions. Any suggestions?”
“For once,” Steve sighed, “no, I don’t have any. I feel the same way though. Like I’m in limbo between the need to fight and do my part or rest. There’s nothing to fight right now, thank goodness, but I don’t know how to tell myself that. But as we all know, war does things to you. We’ve been heavily affected.”
“Not just us,” Scott commented quietly.
Tony nodded. “He’s right. The world too. Universe, really. We changed the universe. I’m hoping for the better since we brought our loved ones back, but we’re all in the same boat. We’ve been heavily affected, and we have to somehow move forward. What we could use is a jumpstart in the right direction.”
They were all quiet for a moment before Scott softly asked, “So how do we give the universe a jumpstart to healing?”
“You can’t,” Rory answered though no one could hear as a crazy idea bloomed in her mind. It was one of those ‘crazy enough it just might work’ kind of ideas, but it was better than doing nothing right now. “But maybe I can.”
Before the final battle, Rory had hoped to be done with this place; she had seen enough of it to last for her lifetime. But a part of her had accepted the fact this mystical cliffside was connected to her in ways she could not overlook. After all, it was the birthplace of the Infinity Stones at the beginning of this world’s time, and in a way, it was her own birthplace as the living Infinity Stone. They were connected, this place and her, almost as much as the Light Stone was tethered to her soul. However, she was willing to give up all of it to access a power greater than any power she had ever held in her own hands. For the sake of her friends’ - and the rest of the universe’s - healing and true freedom from this war at last.
After witnessing the conversation over coffee, it was clear to her the effects of this war still had a tight grip on her friends, some more than others, and it upset her. Rory had gone too far and went through too much to know the Avengers, and who knows how much of the rest of this universe, were still plagued and couldn’t heal yet. Couldn’t move on yet. That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything she could do to help them move on. At least, that’s what she hoped.
Rory stood in the center circle of the ancient space and watched as the circumference of her circle glowed softly, and then the six other circles along the edge began to glow their respective colors. She sighed quietly as she turned her eyes upward at the stars for a moment as if calming herself enough to focus on the task at hand before bowing her head slightly and closing her eyes. She inhaled and exhaled deeply and slowly, and as she did so, she felt her power bloom and burst like a supernova, electrifying the air. The six other Infinity Stone powers flowed through her, feeling more energetic than before as if stronger somehow. Much stronger. Maybe it was just by being in this special place, but her wield over the other Infinity Stone powers never felt more easy and powerful.
That’s a good sign, she thought with some relief. Deep in her gut she suspected it was going to take every ounce of power she could muster to pull this off.
Growing up, she was taught that love, in its truest and purest form, was the most potent force in the universe. Nothing could match it, never mind top it. It’s wild and fierce and gentle and tender. It’s enduring, unconditional, and everlasting. Rory couldn’t help but think there was no Love Infinity Stone because it just could not be contained and wielded in such a way.
Since love is the most dynamic, most good, force in the universe, then Rory saw no reason why it couldn’t heal her friends and the rest of the universe, and free them from the last remnants of the Decimation, the war, and the resulting destruction. But since the impact was so widespread, Rory had no way to determine how much love could heal the universe. A little? A lot? There was no way for her to quantify that. So she decided it was better to be safe than sorry.
“Go big or go home,” she told herself with a dismissive shrug when she first thought of the plan. Her plan called for a lot of love simply because she didn’t know how much she actually would need. Thankfully, she was aware of a very large, untapped source of love specifically directed to this universe. She was a part of that source for most of her life. Still was. Where she came from, billions of people had fallen in love with such a universe, adoring and supporting its characters with some fierceness. It’s exactly what Rory needed to make this work. Syphon that love from that universe into this one, give the fans a chance to make a difference for these heroes and the universe they love so much, and let this universe heal.
It wouldn’t hurt anyone, of course. She was tired of people getting hurt. The fans would feel a sense of relief like pent up energies finally finding a catalyst for release. Their feelings would still remain with them. Rory wouldn’t dare strip those feelings from them; she wouldn’t want that at all if she were in their shoes. Those feelings would simply be shared with everyone in this universe, and everyone here would receive the benefits of knowing they’re loved. Perhaps then they could move on. It was bold; it was kind of crazy. And it just might work.
It would take all of the Stones, including herself, to make this work. The Mind Stone would determine what she wanted to happen. The Power Stone would instigate it. Time would make it work all at once. The Soul Stone would find every being with love for this universe. Space would find them all at once. Reality would be the siphoner, and Light would spread the love to everyone in this universe.
But it would come at a cost.
This wasn’t exactly the same thing as snapping her fingers, but all the Stones would be used at once. Wouldn’t that count as the supposed abuse of her powers she had warned the others about? Did it matter? She closed her eyes and sighed as her head dropped at the thought. If the cost for this was what she thought it was, she wished she could have more time. But she was willing to die for the Avengers and this universe more than once already, and if she was to die now for them, then this last act of love was the way to go.
Rory took a deep breath and let her powers flow and burn full force within her, the glow of them surpassing the stars above her head. Besides her iridescent white, the six other colors of the Infinity Stones glowed in the respective places on her body, and she began the process of opening a large portal to siphon the love from one universe to another. She looked straight up and extended her hands above her, ready to receive, as the portal opened above her. She didn’t have to wait long for her to see something cascade down upon her.
It had no color. Well, at first glance, it had no color, but then once it hit her, the only description she could think of to describe it was fireworks. Even then, it wasn’t completely accurate. It was so much more than she could comprehend. It was bright and powerful and loud, warm and soothing like a balm, fierce and sharp as a weapon. It tingled and filled her bones with electricity. It covered her and shielded her like a blanket yet stripped her and exposed her in the deepest way. She’d never felt this much joy and pain all at once, and it stole her breath and brought tears to her eyes.
Thousands of voices flooded her ears all at once, making it difficult to grasp everything she could hear, but she didn’t have to hear every word clearly to know what was being said. Statements of awe and excitement over a favorite hero. Statements in defense of favorites against haters, and discussions over who was better. Statements expressing how much these people mean to their fans. Flashes of art and snippets of fiction consumed her vision, millions of them, one right after the other, blurring by so quickly she couldn’t make out any details of them, but she knew what they were. Tributes. Labors of love and support for people who meant the world to them.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she could hear her own voice and see her own meager artwork and fictional words in the mix of all the millions of others. And why not? She too celebrated and defended her favorites like everyone else did. But after living with them and working with them and becoming friends with them, her love for these friends of hers had deepened significantly, and she could feel her feelings for them flow and combine with the feelings of the others.
Rory’s eyes burned with tears, overwhelmed by such a powerful emotion in such a large quantity. She couldn’t hold anymore, but the flood kept rushing through the portal and crashing on top of her. She finally collapsed to the ground, slamming her palms against the stone surface beneath her, and a great wave of light exploded from her and rippled out into the universe with intense speed and strength, and the love energy surfed the wave, effectively reaching every corner of the universe.
The only thing Rory was not aware of in that moment was the results of her efforts. Every being experienced her efforts but in their own ways.
She didn’t know Natasha collapsed in the nearest chair, curled up, and smiled warmly, feeling safe and happy and understood so completely that it was the most comfortable she’d ever felt in her life.
She didn’t know Stephen closed his eyes and tilted his face upward like he was basking in sunlight, feeling at peace and secure for the first time in ages.
She didn’t know Bruce could do nothing but sit in dumbfounded, speechless awe. Having some fans was one thing, but feeling something like this was another.
She didn’t know Nebula stiffened and froze at first, unfamiliar with the sensation especially in such an overwhelming amount, but despite herself, Nebula actually smiled.
She didn’t know Scott couldn’t keep all the joy and energy bubbling inside him contained, and it sprung forth in pure and happy laughter, like nothing in the world could be wrong. Like every bad thing he’s ever endured in his life never occurred.
She didn’t know Tony was so overcome with such feelings of love, understanding, and acceptance that he collapsed against the wall in his room, sunk to the floor, and sobbed. But these were good tears, the release of years of pent-up worries, questions, betrayals, and failures that have eaten away at him for far too long, and at last he felt free.
This act of love shall not end in a sacrifice of life. In exchange, the Stones will be returned to spare the soul.
Was that a voice or a thought? Rory didn’t know and was too dazed to comprehend any of it, but no sooner were the words formed did she feel something siphoned out of her this time, pulled out from her upper back as she remained on her hands and knees, recovering from being overwhelmed with emotion. For a moment, she thought her life was being drained away, but in a matter of seconds it was over.
And Rory remained.
Something felt different within her. She felt lighter somehow, but she was too worn out to care about how or why. That was a mystery for another time.
For now she slowly adjusted her position so she could sit and pull her knees close to her chest. She felt drained but content and hopeful she was successful in her task. As the portal above her closed, Rory looked up to find droplets of the essence trickling down, and as they landed on her forehead, she couldn’t help but squeak in surprise. This was certainly unexpected.
The love she siphoned was not for her, and she knew it. As far as everyone in that universe was concerned, she didn’t exist here. She was a nobody, yet the last remnants of her work that fell upon her were solely just for her. Mom. Dad. Brother. Other family members. Friends. She felt their love for her in that moment, and she serenely smiled at the sensation. Maybe she wasn’t quite the nobody she thought she was after all.
Just in front of her, out over the ocean’s horizon, the sky began to turn shades. A warmth flooded the sky, and Rory stared in awe at it. Dawn. It felt like it had been so long since she’d seen the sun in this place. What a comforting and hopeful sight. Rory sighed heavily yet peacefully as she watched the sun rise over a grateful universe.