Chapter Text
They stepped onto the grey rock, surrounded by dunes and water. The cloudy purple sky with pink and orange twinges bore down on them, the beauty and the horror of the home of the soul stone shone through. The 1,000 foot twin rock towers jut out of the top of the mountain, a calm yet panicking feeling set into their bones. They looked at each other, and set off to the top.
“Welcome, Thor, son of Odin. Bruce, son of Rebecca,” the cloaked figure materialized from seemingly thin air, it’s face shrouded in shadow and darkness. It floated out, and they were met with a gruesome sight. His red skin, peeling and slimy, along with his sunken eyes and jut out cheekbones was a rather horrid contrast. The black cloak that surrounded him like a blanket seemed to move like water around him, floating and spiraling with his every movement.
“How do you know us?” Bruce inquired, still out of focus from hearing his mother’s name after all this time. It shook him to his core knowing that this… being… knew his dead mother's name. He was sure they had never met.
“It is my curse to know all who journey here,” the person said, almost sadly. There was a twinge in his voice that made it seem like a great tragedy had happened. “Be warned. The stone comes at a terrible price.”
Still, that same undertone of despair. Bruce couldn’t help but wonder why. He and Thor followed the figure to the top of the mountain. They could see for miles. The beautiful pinks of the sky, the enormous planet bordering Vormir, the rock spires reaching up into the sky, clawing at it, screaming at it. Beautiful but broken. Pretty but scratched. Perfect but flawed.
“The price… the stone is a hard one,” the hooded man looked out over the edge, a sorrow in his eyes. “To receive the stone, one must lose something of which they love. A sacrifice. A would for a soul.”
At those words both Avengers tensed. They took a deep breath, and Thor unhumorusly laughed.
“Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me. He’s bluffing. He’s gotta be!” Thor said, unbelieving of what the red man just stated. “I- Bruce, you okay?”
“How could he have known my mother’s name? Thor, I don’t think he’s joking,” Bruce turned and looked over at the Red Skull, who was watching them intently. Thor’s eyes searched Bruce’s, and found no sign of amusement. He quickly realized that Bruce was right. The red man was not joking.
Thor looked down at the ground, looked back up at Bruce, and sprinted to the edge. Bruce caught him by the arm before he could go over, and yanked him back, before taking off himself. He leaped over the cliff, expecting to fall, when something caught his belt and he stopped midair. He was suspended. Bruce looked up and saw stormbreaker embedded in the rock above, but no sign of Thor. Bruce was stuck between the ground and the top. He realized there was a hook attached to Thor’s axe that was keeping Bruce in place, and still, no sign of Thor. Then he felt the weight on his arm.
He looked down with terrified eyes, threatening to spill over with tears at any second. Thor held his hand, dangling from his arm. Just one arm. Not enough to pull Thor back up. He’d have to let go of stormbreaker to do that, but was afraid he’d drop them both. He held onto the axe handle and tried to pull up, but to no avail.
Thor’s face twisted into 10 emotions at once. Fear all the way to acceptance. He smiled up at Bruce, strained, but still, a smile. A sign he was okay with it. He was doing something good, instead of just sitting around wallowing in his own self pity. He did have Bruce through those bad times. But now, they needed to save the universe again.
“It’s okay. You could never hurt me, Bruce. Let me go,” Thor told him. Tears spilled over the god’s face, but he still smiled. “Whatever it takes.”
Thor killed off the side of the wall, out of Bruce’s grasp and fell to the rock below. He seemed to fall in slow motion, his eyes never leaving Bruce’s face. Thor thought of happy things. Loki, Heimdall, his mother. He would see them soon. Thor hit the ground with a thud, head splitting in sync to the sound of Bruce’s screams. His arms twisted like they were asking for a hug. A hug from the cold, unforgiving universe that they fought to protect.
-
Bruce awoke with a splash, regaining his bearings before the events crashed down at him at once. In one hand he had Stormbreaker, and in the other… the soul stone. A life for a life. Bruce stared at it, not realizing he was crying until he heard the soft plink of tears hitting the orange stone in his palm. He sat for what seemed like hours, before he collected himself to the best of his ability and punched his gps to the right time. As he was sucked through the vortex, he couldn’t help but reach out for Thor who was next to him on the way there.
He noticed no one grabbed his hand and closed his eyes, not caring when he hit the solid ground of the compound. He collapsed on his knees and stared at the wall in front of him, ignoring his teammates. He just lost the one most important to him.
-
Thor woke with glowing orange surrounding him with water underneath. He sat up, looking around, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned.
“Gamora?”