Work Text:
The universe was strong, and she was eternal. She was endless cold and unforgiving heat, the pressure of matter and the emptiness of space. She was old, unimaginably old. The lifespans of stars were mere blinks to her. And yet, she held the brilliance of life.
When she was bored of existing solely amongst the gazes of asteroids and wormholes, she had shifted planets into the perfect zones, nurturing life and growing it from the seed. From protists and bacteria she raised algae, then plants. When they were grown, she experimented and created and eventually she cradled the mind. She threw the seeds which would birth the Asgardians, the humans, the races of intelligent beings from each planet. She watched them grow, and she watched them learn. She watched them explore their environments - making mistakes, hurting her worlds, hurting themselves. She watched them fight and kill, she watched them defend and conquer. She watched them make peace, and live in harmony amongst each other. She watched as they ventured cautiously into space, the infinite, following only their curiosity and hope.
The universe was fond of her creations, however fleeting their life was.
*
She felt the ripple before she knew what caused it. The wave of energy vibrated through the whole of her, intent and malevolent. She felt it ripple through her planets, and where it passed she felt emptiness. It concerned her, and so she turned her attention towards the center of the wave.
It was a plain on Earth, an advanced kingdom burning. Anguish and fear bittered the air. A battle, a siege, death and destruction. She had seen this many times before; it was a constant in the histories of her nations. But there was something more. There was something powerful here, something which had caused the ripple. Something familiar to her. Something deadly.
A memory surfaced. Her birth: in the big bang of matter and energy, she was born into the void. But she wasn’t alone. Alongside her was a gem. It burned and hissed and crackled, an energy that the universe instinctively feared. She broke it apart into six pieces and cast them as far away from her as she could manage. She had hoped they would never be brought together again. They shouldn’t have been. She had safeguarded them, setting traps and tests and giving them only to those she knew would protect them. And yet, here was the same energy that had scared her so many eons ago.
In horror, she watched as her children crumpled to dust and blew away. The grief of those left alive flooded her. She watched as a man collapsed to the grass beside the ashes of another. Too gently, he touched the ground where his friend had stood. His face was streaked with dirt and tears.
This isn’t right, the universe thought. This power is not meant to be wielded.
She cast around to locate the holder of the stones. The stones themselves had disappeared, their structure dispersed with the ripple of death. So she tracked the imprint of their energy to the last place where they had stood intact.
A large purple man stood, facing the horizon. As the sun rose above the sea, a small smile crossed his face. Satisfaction.
“I have saved the universe,” he whispered.
The universe recoiled. She was not saved. The pain she had felt - that was not gratitude. There was an emptiness inside of her now, the emptiness of half of the living beings in her being swept away into ash.
Her anger bubbled, small waves vibrating through her fabric. Thanos presumed to know what was best for her, for her creations… he had taken matters into his own hands. She remembered the face of the man from the battlefield. Broken, hopeless, all fight gone from his body.
The planet shuddered slightly as the anger of the universe strengthened. The pathstone under Thanos’ feet fractured in a thin line. Confused, he stepped back.
For a moment, the universe hesitated. If he still held the power he wielded before, she could be venturing into dangerous territory. The union of the stones was the only energy powerful enough to counteract hers. But the gauntlet was gone, and the stones were destroyed. He was powerless now. He could not stop her.
Slowly, infinitely slowly, with the patience that only the universe could have, she exacted her vengeance.
As Thanos stood, facing the sun, his body began to disintegrate. He raised his hand to the air and realized with a start what was happening. His fingertips crumbled and blew away. He looked at them in disbelief.
“No,” he rumbled, his breath quickening. “No, no, this cannot be right.”
Black lines ran up his hands, spreading out and criss-crossing as his skin ceased to exist. Thanos howled, falling to his knees. Horror lined his face as he watched his body slough away. His legs blackened and turned to dust. As the disintegration reached his torso, the universe drew away.
She cast her gaze back to the lives affected by Thanos. Those killed, those turned to dust. Those who she had cradled. Those whose lives had filled her, enriched her. Those who didn’t deserve to die. She gathered the dust in the wind and brought it back together. They breathed again.
She left the plain on Earth for last. She had a special plan for it.
The universe returned to Thanos. His shoulders and head were the only parts left of him now. He was growling, tears of frustration dripping onto the soil. The universe picked him up and spirited him to Earth.
She began repairing the plain. Warriors she conjured back, filled with life. Heroes burst back into the world, panting, confused. The man she had seen before wiped away his tears as he embraced the one he loved. She breathed her energy into a robot’s head, replacing the void that one of the stones had left. When his eyes opened, he looked straight at her.
Joy replaced the anguish in the air.
Thanos struggled as his neck crumbled away. He looked around, his worst fears realized. His mission had failed. The black lines had made his way up his face. His chin trembled, then started to dissolve.
You cannot presume to know what’s best for me, the universe whispered in his ear as it crumpled to dust. And now, all your work shall be for naught.
His eyes cast about wildly until the last of his face faded into the wind.