A Tale of Life and Death: Chapter II
Endless: Part VI
A Galaxy Far, Far Away...
The
ship hovered just above the atmosphere of a nearby planet in a system far, far away. The ship had been the domain of Thanos for many years, and upon its appearance in a system, fear gripped the races who resided in them and detected its presence. Now, the unexpected occurred: the ship was attacked.
The ship violently shook as it was struck by a powerful blast of energy from another ship. The ship looked almost identical to the Sanctuary II. This was no mere coincidence, as the "H" shape of the ship was well known throughout the universe and no one dared to imitate it. The Sanctuary II was bombard by further attacks and it was sent spiraling through the planet's atmosphere and crashed on the surface.
The side of the wrecked ship suddenly exploded, and a hole was formed. From this hole, emerged
Thanos alongside his five followers, the Black Order. Roughly a hundred yards away, a figure teleported in front of them. Its identity as unknown, as it was draped in a cloak that obscured its body and face. Still, it was clearly a threat, demonstrably so from its bulky and large frame as well as its mere presence being immensely intimidating.
The Black Order wasted no further time and decided to act. Black Dwarf, Corvus, and Proxima rushed forward to attack the enemy physically, while Supergiant reached into the enemy's mind with her telepathy and sought to take control of it. However, she quickly discovered that it would not be so simple, as she suddenly gripped her head and screamed in pain, then fell to the ground unconscious. "Supergiant's down, take him down, quick!" Corvus called out, now fearing the possibility of a psychic assault from the stranger that would incapacitate them.
Corvus and Proxima attacked from the right and the left, attacking the enemy with their weapons. Contrary to the stranger's bulky stature, he moved far faster than they had anticipated, and he caught the handle of Corvus' halberd and the tip of Proxima's spear. In a swift motion, he brought his arms together, slamming the two into each other and then throwing them away to the side. Black Dwarf roared and swung his right fist at the enemy's head. The stranger caught the fist and punched him in the face, then grabbed his head, and slammed him face first into the ground.
"Who are you?" Thanos grumbled, with Ebony Maw standing beside him. "How dare you not only replicate my ship but attack it, defeat my Black Order, and insult one such as I?"
"How dare I? Pathetic. It is I who should be saying that. How dare YOU..." The stranger pulled back his hood to reveal none other than Thanos. "How dare you impersonate me,
clone." Thanos scowled, baring his teeth.
"Did he just say what I think he said?" Black Dwarf asked, getting to his knees and gripping his head as both Corvus and Proxima did the same.
"Yes. You heard me correctly, Black Dwarf. You have been following a mere
clone all these years ever since my death during the climax of the Annihilation War. And you..." Thanos pointed at Ebony Maw. "
You knew the whole time, did you not? You assisted my clone in fooling not only the rest of the Black Order, but the rest of the universe."
"I..." Ebony Maw began. Then he sighed. "Oh, dear. I expect nothing less from you, Thanos."
"How DARE you betray our master?!" Proxima shouted, preparing to throw her spear at Ebony Maw.
"Stay your hand, Proxima." Thanos ordered. "So, what say you,
clone?"
Clone!Thanos smirked and began calmly walking up to Thanos. "How amusing you are. You die at the hands of a pathetic being such as Drax, come back to life, and apparently have been hiding somewhere in the darkest corners of the universe. Yet now, you have the
nerve to show your face before me, despite your failings. I suppose you simply cannot come to terms with the fact that I am
your superior. I--" He was cut off by a punch to the midsection from Thanos, which was followed by a punch across the skull, which sent Clone!Thanos tumbling to the ground 20 feet away.
"YOU are the failure!" Thanos shouted. "I did not
fail. I
died. I
accomplished my goal!" He snarled as he charged at Clone!Thanos. Clone!Thanos recovered in time to fire a blast of energy from his hands at Thanos. Thanos raised his hands in front of him and blocked the majority of the blast, though some of the energy wrapped around Thanos and ripped apart his cloak and tore much of his makeshift armor to shreds. "Is that all you've got?!" He taunted.
Clone!Thanos roared and poured even more energy into the blast. The beam grew wider and wider as energy built up further and further until it caused a powerful explosion, with Thanos as the epicenter, that shook the planet. Everyone watched in silence as the smoke and debris cleared to reveal Thanos still standing. His eyes glowed red and his teeth were bared as he frowned with contempt. "Pitiful." He spat.
Clone!Thanos once again fired cosmic energy from his hands at Thanos, and Thanos took the blast in full. "Why do you not die?!" Clone!Thanos bellowed.
"Only
one Thanos will die here today." Thanos growled. "AND IT WILL BE YOU!" He screamed, firing cosmic energy from his eyes that tunneled through Clone!Thanos's blast, piercing clean through his skull. Clone!Thanos dropped to the ground, dead, and Ebony Maw closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Thanos walked up to him and looked down at the thin alien. "Look at me." Thanos commanded. Ebony Maw ignored Thanos, keeping his eyes closed. Thanos stared down as though he was looking at an insect, and then simply grabbed his head and tore it off.
"M-master?" Supergiant groaned as she regained consciousness and sat up, gripping her head. Thanos turned to face her and the rest of the Black Order. "It
is you! I had sensed something wrong with that...other Thanos, but I could not place what exactly what off about him. As soon as I touched your mind however, I knew that it was you--the real Thanos."
"Apologies for rendering you unconscious, Supergiant. My mental defenses are robust and instinctive." Thanos said.
"Of course, Master." Supergiant said, as she knelt down, along with the rest of the Black Order who had walked up next to her and formed a line perpendicular to the Mad Titan.
"Master, what is our next course of action?" Corvus asked.
"Earth." Thanos's eyes glowed bright red.
"Forgive me--I do not mean to undermine the abilities of you nor my fellow embers of the Black Order--however, Earth's defenses has grown to a considerable degree as of late." Proxima said.
"Do not concern yourself with the planet itself. I have grown weary of Earth in its entirety. No. This is about
one human in
particular. We set out now." Thanos said, walking forward and through the kneeling general to his ship, Sanctuary III.
Earth
Jamal, wake up! Jamal's eyes shot open upon hearing the telekinetic scream from Jessica. He immediately sensed that he wasn't alone in the room and quickly sat up. Upon doing so, his face was grabbed and he felt himself be flung across the room and through the wall in which the door to the bedroom was located. Jamal turned in the air and landed feet first on the wall on the other side of the hallway, and then dropped to the floor. He looked up and watched as his attacker slowly approached him from inside of his bedroom. "
Thanos." Jamal frowned. Allowing Thanos to escape back into this universe when he sacrificed himself in the Cancerverse was one of Jamal's biggest regrets of his life. And now, the source of that regret was standing in front of him. As angry as he was though, Jamal understood very well that he couldn't beat Thanos. And so, he ran.
Jamal ran down the hall and then jumped over the railing of the balcony that was above the living room, landing with a roll and facing the balcony. Thanos fell down in front of him. "I want you to call
Her here."
"Her? What are you talking about?" Jamal asked.
"Do not play dumb with me, human!" Thanos shouted and suddenly sprang forward, grabbing Jamal before he could react and throwing him to the left, through several walls until he burst through the wall at the front of the mansion entirely. Had Jamal been a normal human, he would have died. Thanos wasn't stupid, and if he wanted something from Jamal, he wouldn't kill him. Thus, Jamal realized that Thanos was very much aware that Jamal still had powers. Whether he thought that Jamal was still a Nova or knew about his current chi based powers, he wasn't entirely sure. He was forced to shove these questions to the back of his mind as he bounced off of the ground in front of the mansion a couple of times until he stopped.
Jamal groaned as he got to his knees and looked up to see Thanos already standing over him. "I can
smell Her on you, human. You have spent much time with Her. How is it possible for a mortal such as yourself to have felt Death's touch so much and yet still be living?" Thanos grabbed Jamal and picked him up, lifting him until their faces were level. "Summon Her." He demanded.
"L--look. Even if I
wanted to, I don't
know." Jamal said. "She just
shows up when ever she feels like it."
"Is that so?" Thanos brought Jamal closet and scowled in his face. "Then let us try to get Her attention then, shall we?" With his other hand, Thanos grabbed Jamal's right arm and then squeezed. The resulting
CRACK! from Jamal's arm being broken was immediately drowned out from Jamal's howl of pain. Thanos dropped him and smirked. "Yes, scream. Let Her hear your voice loud and clear." He reeled back his right leg and then kicked Jamal, sending him flying about 40 yards away.
Jamal groaned in pain as he rolled over onto his back. He knew that he now had several more broken bones, but he couldn't even begin to pinpoint where, specifically, as his entire body was aching. He coughed up blood as Thanos once again lumbered towards him. "Now now, we can't have you dying
just yet. Thanos raised his hand over Jamal and it began glowing with blue cosmic energy. Jamal then felt his bones and flesh being melded as he was healed. Once his body was pretty much fully healed, Thanos then raised his leg and stomped down on Jamal, holding back just enough to crush his body to the point where he didn't die instantly, but his body was nonetheless damaged to a significantly degree. Jamal released his loudest and most pained scream yet as he coughed up more blood.
Jamal's vision grew blurry, and he began shifting in an out of consciousness. His head rolled to the right, and he stared at the ground to his side. Two years ago, Jamal would have probably been begging to die. He had already given up. Now though, he couldn't do it. He closed his eyes and shed a tear. Then, he heard stirring to his side. He opened his eyes to see a pair of black boots. "Finally!" He heard Thanos shout, detecting a hint of disgust in his voice. "You finally show yourself. Yet you do so not for me, but for
him?!" No response came. "Well?!"
Jamal suddenly found himself looking down at his dying, physical body. He looked at Thanos facing away from Jamal's body and staring at Mistress Death in front of the mansion. Then, Jamal turned his head down to the left to see Death of the Endless beside him. She looked up at him and smiled. "So, we again meet at the final junction, Jamal. What will be your choice this time, I wonder?"
"You don't mean that, do you?" Jamal asked.
"No. Though I was a bit surprised when you chose last time. You see, I forgot to tell you something...I told you that you were in-between life and death. But, it was far more than that. We were in a place of
your creation. It was the result of your mind trying to conceptualize--to understand the concept of being trapped between life and death. Many people have various different conceptualizations of the idea of dying. Yours, however, was special. Never before had I seen one so...content. Not since
Thanos."
"...Be that as it may, I can't help but feel as though you knew all of this would happen." Jamal remarked.
"Oh no, that's my elder brother's job." Death grinned.
Jamal chuckled. "I see." Jamal looked up at Thanos, who appeared frozen in time screaming at Mistress Death in front of him. "Well, before I make my choice, I would like to ask two things."
Death smiled. "Shoot."
Jamal asked his two questions. Death appeared taken aback by them, and her eyes widened in surprise in reaction. Then she laughed. She answered the first question, and then it was Jamal's turn to be surprised. "Seriously?!" He exclaimed in utter disbelief. Then he pointed a Thanos. "
Him? You're joking, right?"
Death smiled and shook her head. "Nope. Funny, isn't it?"
"Not so much as funny as it is sad, honestly." Jamal said. "And my second question?"
"It's more of a request than a mere question." Death said. Then she tapped her chin with her index finger with an inquisitive look on her face. "Hmm. Ah, what the heck? I agree. Though, your request spoils the surprise behind your answer."
"You already know what my answer is. We just went over this." Jamal said.
"Yes, but I need to hear it from your own mouth. I ask you again...Which do you choose? Life, or Death?" She asked.
"Life, of course." Jamal said without a shred of hesitation.
"Yes,
of course. Oh, before I forget, I have a gift for you." Death held out her hand and a sphere of yellow-orange glowing energy appeared above her palm. Jamal immediately felt a sense of nostalgia, as he quickly recognized what was being presented to him. And then, he smiled.
"ANSWER ME!" Thanos roared at Mistress Death. All of a sudden, she vanished without a trace. "You dare ru--!" Thanos began, when suddenly a burst of energy exploded from behind him. He turned around, and scowled.
["Attention. I repeat: It is critical that you pay attention at this time. This is a message to all Nova Corps members in the universe. I am Worldmind. And I am here to joyously tell you that your Nova Prime has returned."]Jamal looked up at Thanos from his
crouching position. His Nova Prime suit was relatively the same--it maintained the same blue, yellow, and red color scheme, however, the
structure of the suit had been tweaked. The spikes in particular were more prominent, including that of the helmet, and the three lights on the chest plate were also hexagonal rather than circular. Lightning-like orange energy from the Nova Force sparked and leaked out of Jamal as he took a deep breath, reveling in the feeling of once more having the near limitless source of energy housed within him.
Thanos jumped into the air and plummeted down at Jamal, reeling back for a punch. Jamal stood up, raised his right hand, and fired a gravimetric beam at Thanos. The light from the beam flashed for a fraction of a second, and then when it was over, Thanos was gone. Jamal was silent for a second. "What the hell was
that?! I just wanted to knock him back and give him a warning shot, not send him across the damn
solar system!" He exclaimed, tracking Thanos' trajectory on his visor.
["It would appear that we have received an upgrade."]"Alright then, well, let's chase after him." Jamal said, and he rocketed off of the ground.
Within a microsecond, Thanos had suddenly found himself flung from Earth to the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt. "GRAHHH--!" Thanos began to shout when suddenly something rammed into him.
"Too fast,
too fast!" Jamal shouted as he and Thanos traveled through the Milky Way and crossed thousands of galaxies in a second until they crashed into a large star, which violently exploded. Within moments, the remains of the sun collapsed and formed a large black hole. Naturally, this was not a natural occurrence, and Jamal had been the one who had accelerated the formation of the star into a black hole. He also manipulated the black hole to spit the two of them out halfway across the universe in another system. "When will you learn? You cannot kill me, you naive human!" Thanos shouted as they flew at another planet at lightspeeds and crashed.
["Sorry about that. I've regained control. Mostly."] "Mostly? What does that mean?" Jamal said, both he and Thanos standing up--the two roughly 50 feet away from one another. " By the way, Thanos! I'm not trying to kill you. Just stall you." He said, grinning as two hundred stargates opened up in the sky, and out of each one, emerged a Nova Corps member. Suddenly, teleportation beams emerged in front of Thanos and from them emerged Thanos's Black Order.
"What are you doing? I told you, this is between me and the human." Thanos said.
"He has brought his Nova Corps
lackeys to gang up on you, Master." Corvus hissed, baring his fangs at Jamal.
"Enough. The human hopes this pathetic attempt to flex his authority over the Nova Corps will deter me from continuing this fight. He has no desire to actually involve them in this fight. Isn't that right,
Nova Prime?" Thanos growled.
"Oh man, you caught me." Jamal shrugged nonchalantly. "Frankly, I'd love nothing more than to have them kill all of you. And then when you come back to life, Thanos, we could just do it again. And again. And again. But I
won't. I just want to talk."
"Talk?" Thanos scoffed, walking through the Black Order, who parted and made an opening for the Mad Titan. "Does it seem like I am interesting in 'talking'?"
"No. I suppose not." Jamal simply said. Thanos made a sinister grin and then charged at Jamal. Jamal sighed and also charged. The two threw a punch at each other and their fists clashed, shaking the planet beneath them. Thanos brought down his fists and Jamal caught them with each individual hand. The two immediately began pouring energy into each other and their surroundings. Thanos's armor cracked a little and Jamal smirked.
Thanos bared his teeth. "You think this is enough to put me down? I can easily survive the destruction of this
galaxy if necessary." He snarled. Jamal knew very well that he wasn't bluffing and that he was entirely right. Jamal was pouring out enough energy to obliterate half the galaxy, and the crazy thing was that he was still not tapping entirely into the Nova Force. This was because he was afraid of his power. Jamal had absolutely no qualms with admitting that, as it meant that he
cared. His goal was not to harm the people around him, especially the Nova Corps members. Thankfully, Thanos failed to realize his plan. Thanos had assumed that Jamal was using his full power, however, in reality, he had formed an invisible force field around himself that was reflecting a substantial amount of Thanos's own power back at him.
"Worldmind,
do it now." Jamal said.
["Message relayed. Opening stargate."] Blue energy exploded outwards and quickly encapsulated Jamal and Thanos. The Nova Corps members formed a hemisphere around the two with a diameter of about 200 yards and outstretched their hands. The energy stopped upon reaching that distance, and formed a dome. "What are you doing?!" Thanos shouted as they became encased in a fiery inferno of blue energy that burned as bright as a blue star.
"Remember when I said that I'm not trying to kill you? I was
lying." Space itself warped around the two and Thanos was ripped apart on the atomic level. He didn't even have enough time to release one last defiant scream.
"What foolishness is this?" Thanos grumbled, looking down at the ash remains of his physical body. He looked around and saw everyone--from Jamal the Nova Corps to the Black Order all frozen in time. A bright light flashed to his right and Thanos looked to see Jamal appear, dressed in his typical civilian clothing of a white t-shirt and some jeans.
"Now, before you get all upset, don't bother, you're--" Jamal began.
"Dead." Thanos finished for him.
"...Yes." Jamal confirmed. "But, not exactly. You're trapped in between life and death.
Thanos was silent for a few seconds before his eyes glowed red. "Did
She give you this power?"
"She did." Jamal nodded. "She also let me borrow another ability." Jamal waved his hand and in front of them, a white light shined. "Now, let's take a look into your past." The two disappeared and they found themselves standing in the hallway of a hospital, just outside of a door. From inside of the room, they heard the screaming of a woman.
Jamal looked up at Thanos, seeing a dark shadow cast over his face. "Why have you brought me
here?"
"Just follow." Jamal said. "If you don't, then I can just leave you here
permanently. Would you rather stay here and repeatedly watch the entirety of your life for all eternity, or do you want to just get it over?" Jamal didn't wait for a verbal response and he walked through the door as though it wasn't even there. After a moment's hesitation, Thanos followed him.
"What's wrong? Why does it hurt so much? Why isn't he crying?!" The same female voice shouted.
"The baby's tangled in the cord! Quickly!" Thanos and Jamal watched the doctor rush over to the side of the room and set something wrapped in a blanket down in a rectangular tray on the table against the wall.
"By all that's hole..." The nurse whispered, standing next to the doctor.
"Doctor, is the baby...?"
A man asked as he rushed up to between the nurse and the doctor.
"I'm sorry, A'Lars, but I'm afraid it's...it's going to live. We'll run every genetic test there is and we'll find out why this has happened." The doctor said.
A'Lars pushed the doctor aside angrily and picked up the newborn. "
Keep your hands off my child!" He shouted. I don't need your damn tests to tell me what I can see with my own two eyes. Look at him...! So perfect. So strong. The child who refused to die. My darling
Thanos."
"A'Lars, let me see my son." The woman lying in the medical bed stated.
"Of course, Sui-San. Go to your mother now, little one." A'Lars said,
handing the woman the newborn Thanos. "Let her see the
gift she has brought to the world." Sui-San looked down at
the newborn and her eyes widened in horror. "Wife? What's wrong?" Sui-San immediately reached for the medical scalpel housed on the tray next to her bed and tried to stab the newborn Thanos. "SUI-SAN, STOP!" A'Lars shouted as he grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me, A'Lars! We have to kill it before it grows! You must let me kill it!" Sui-San shouted.
"Doctor, sedate her, hurry!" A'Lars shouted. The doctor rushed over and stuck a needle into Sui-San's neck.
"Look at it's eyes! Can't you see the Death in its eyes?! If we don't kill it now, we're all going to..."Sui-San began shouting when she suddenly grew weak and her body slumped backwards. "...all going to die." She said weakly. "T--that thing isn't my son... that's a monster." Finally, she went unconscious, and Jamal glanced up at the present Thanos. On the outside, Thanos showed little sign of being phased, however, Jamal could feel it. He could feel Thanos shaking--ever so slightly--and the powerful murderous intent emanating from him.
"Let's move on." Jamal said. The world around them shifted, and the two found themselves in the middle of a small circular field. Around them, a number of pre-teens wearing school uniforms were running around and playing with a red ball. Others were sitting on the stairs to the right and left of the circle and talking. And sitting on the outskirts of the circle, was a
young Thanos who was looking down at a book and appeared to be writing something. Jamal was actually quite shocked to see the young Thanos, as his thin body and non-scowling face were a far cry from the current, older Thanos. Jamal watched as three students approached the sitting Thanos.
"You look weird." A redheaded student said. Thanos looked up from the book and at the students.
"My unusual appearance is merely the result of a simple genetic mutation. I assure you, it's nothing contagious." Young!Thanos replied.
"You're one of Mentor's sons, aren't you? We've heard about you." A blonde student said.
And then, Young!Thanos did something that Jamal never thought he'd ever see
any Thanos do. Young!Thanos held up his hands in front of him and said, "Please...I don't want any trouble."
"Everyone says you're the smartest kid in school, you know." The redheaded kid said. "It's supposed to be playtime right now, so why are you sitting here all by yourself?"
Young!Thanos hesitated for a second, still processing the statement the kid had said about everyone thinking he was the smartest student in the school. "I'm just...drawing. I like to draw sometimes."
"Well then, would you like to engage in frivolous childhood games with us, Thanos, son of Mentor?" The redheaded kid asked.
Young!Thanos's jaw dropped and then it slowly formed a small smile as his eyes lit up with excitement. "I...Why, yes. Yes, I suppose I
would." He set his book down and he and the other students ran off to play.
"Well that was...creepy." Jamal said. "Y'know, I don't get it. This doesn't seem like the story of a universal cosmic threat to me. Looks to me like you were
loved as a kid."
"Bah." Thanos spat. "That was not love. Further, what good is love if it does not come from those that are truly the most important?"
Their surroundings shifted once again and they found themselves in the lab of A'Lars, who was sitting at a computer and staring at a vial of orange liquid with Young!Thanos standing behind him. "So, for the annual Celebration of Science, I thought that I would prepare a report on my genetic makeup in order to explain the difference of my appearance compared to the other children. May I have access to our family files? Particularly the story of how you and mother met... Father?"
A'Lars turned around. "Thanos? Did you say something? Can't you see that I'm busy?"
Young!Thanos's eyes drooped down as a sad frown formed on his face. "It...it was nothing, father. I'll leave you to your work."
The surroundings again shifted and they found themselves in a white padded room. In the corner sat Sui-San, constrained in a straight jacket, and Young!Thanos, sitting on the other side of the room. "I have this strange recurring dream. In it, I'm a newborn, and I hear someone screaming and see someone trying to stab me with a knife." Young!Thanos smiled. "Thankfully it's only a dream. And besides, I've found that I can simply fix it by
not sleeping anymore. He stood up and walked over to his mother and knelt down in front of her. Tears immediately began streaming down her face and she looked down at the ground, avoiding looking at him. "I've been developing my own genus of flowers. I'll bring you some tomorrow. Maybe then you'll feel like coming home, mother." He smiled.
The surroundings shifted and they found themselves in a classroom that was relatively empty save for Young!Thanos, some other students, their professor, and a tray sitting on a thin energy table. In the tray lied the corpse of a lizard resembling an iguana the size of a dog. "We will begin with an incision along the stomach and your goal will be to identify the major organs. There will be some blood, but do not worry, these creatures all died of natural causes. We are, after all, scientists, not monsters. Young!Thanos looked down at the corpse and placed his hand over his mouth. Gagging, he rushed out of the room, with the professor calling after him asking if he was alright.
Jamal and Thanos followed Young!Thanos out of the building and watched as he violently threw up. Suddenly,
a girl appeared, walking up to the hacking Young!Thanos. "Yeah, dissection is always rough the first time. It gets easier though."
"I don't want it to get easier. I don't ever want to cut open another living thing." Young!Thanos said, wiping his mouth clean.
"Ha!" The girl laughed. "How can you possible follow in your father's footsteps and become a great scientist if you get all squeamish over one little green tail."
"I..." Young!Thanos looked away. "Then maybe that's not who I'm meant to be."
The girl grinned. "Follow me. I know a very special place--one that will help you get over your fears. Trust me, it's quite fascinating. You'll
never forget it." Jamal frowned. There was clearly something wrong with this girl, though he couldn't put his finger on it.
The surroundings shifted and they found themselves inside of a cave. Young!Thanos was leading a small group of fellow students into the cave, each holding flashlights. "Thanos, are you sure this is safe?"
Young!Thanos smiled. "Yes. The jeweled formations are said to be incredible. We might even find some gems. This way, just follow me."
"Erm, where did you say you heard about this place again, Thanos?" Suddenly, the cave began rumbling. The cave began shaking and the walls and ceiling collapsed around them.
The scenery shifted and Jamal and Thanos watched Young!Thanos digging through the chunks of rock in front of him. "Anyone there?" He sighed. "Three days of digging. I hope I find the others soon." He turned to see a bunch of large lizards, each the size of a large dog and a different color. He smiled. "It's okay, I promise I won't eat any of you, no matter how hungry I grow." He continued digging until he heard noise ahead, and broke through a crevice. Light shined through the opening. "Cythera? Guys? Is that you? Are you hu--" Young!Thanos's eyes widened as he saw the corpses of the other students lying on the ground and being eaten by six of the lizard creatures.
"Damn..." Jamal muttered as their surrounding shifted. Young!Thanos was sitting in front of the cave, staring at the ground.
"They blamed me, of course." Thanos spoke up. "Of course, they dared not admit it aloud, and they had not believed that I had done it intentionally. No, that came later. Only later after I became the being I am now did they come to believe that I had personally murdered them and that the monster hiding inside me had first emerged in those dark caves." Young!Thanos looked up to see one of the lizard creatures walk up to him. His eyes glowed slightly a dark, bloody red as he learned forward and reached his hands out to the creature. "They would only be
half right, of course."
"It's
okay." A voice said from behind Young!Thanos. "What you're feeling right now is natural. It's not wrong."
"Leave me alone. You know nothing about me." He grumbled as the girl from before had once again appeared and approached him.
She walked around and looked down at his face. "I know that if you really loved them, you'd let nothing hold you back." She smiled and threw a knife down at the ground in front of him. Young!Thanos looked up at the girl, his eyes filled with hatred and he picked up the knife. He stood up and began walking to the cave entrance. The girl, as well as Thanos and Jamal, followed him as he climbed and dug his way through the cave until he reached the dwelling of the lizard creatures. "Yes...show them who you are, Thanos of Titan." The girl grinned devilishly, watching Young!Thanos slaughter the creatures with the knife.
"Why is it always a girl?" Jamal sighed. The surroundings shifted again. They found themselves in a classroom. It was a sight Jamal knew all too well--save for the futuristic design of the room, the chairs, desks, etc. The students, including Young!Thanos, all had a tray before them--each containing the corpse of a lizard creature. "Final exam?" Jamal guessed.
"Alright students, your final examination will consist of a full dissection of your specimen and labeling of all major organs and organ systems, including the pus veins, breeding fangs, and... Thanos?" The professor frowned as Young!Thanos stood up and began walking towards the door. "Where are you going?"
"I'm finished." Young!Thanos said.
"W-what? How could you possibly be--"
"I filleted my specimen from tail to chin and labeled the entirety of its insides, including a dozen points of interest you failed to mention in your lectures. I also took the liberty of cataloging the stomach contents, extrapolating its life history, and determining the cause of death. Brain aneurysm. I men no disrespect, but I've absorbed all there is to learn from the feeble creature, and from you as well, professor. Good day." Alt!Thanos left the room and he was immediately greeted by the same girl from before, who was standing with her back against the hallway's left wall.
"Bit harsh, wasn't it?" She asked.
"Do you
ever go to class?" Young!Thanos asked her.
"Not if I can help it." She grinned. "You're bored, aren't you? I can see it in your eyes. Of course you are. You're the smartest person in the history of this school, and not even the
professors can keep up with you. Tell me...what do you do to stave off that boredom?"
Jamal and Thanos then found themselves in a facility on the surface of Titan that Young!Thanos had created. Various jars containing the remains of different animal species from the planet littered the room. In the center of the room was a large ape-like creature strapped to a bed and being held upright. "My, you have been quite busy." The girl said, looking around at the jaws. "And you've even managed to capture a cave ape." She grinned. "Quite the escalation from green tails and ice rats. Are you sure you are ready for this?"
"The incidence in the caves was a moment of weakness for me. I am not a mindless savage. I am a scientist. My hunger is for knowledge, not blood." Thanos said as he typed on the keyboard of the computer he was using. Then, he stood up and walked over to the ape, knife in hand, as the bed the ape was strapped to began leaning backwards until it was parallel to the ground. He then began meticulously dissecting the ape.
Jamal watched intensely as Young!Thanos worked. Then, Thanos spoke up. "I can sense it, you know. I can
feel the question being repeated in your mind. 'Why is he doing this?' Ironically, the desire for answers is
precisely the motivation for me at this point in time. By 12, I had explored every inch of Titan. By 13, I had walked upon the core of Saturn. By 15, I had mapped the stars of a thousand galaxies. All in the pursuit of answers. Who am I? Why am I here? Why am I different? What is my destiny? I
needed to know. In the end, I found nothing."
Young!Thanos slumped back into his chair, looking down at the floor disappointed. "It is clear that you have failed to find what you seek." The girl said, walking in front of him and looking down at him. He looked up at her. "Perhaps it is time for you to accept that when it comes to answers, you are still looking in the wrong place." Young!Thanos stared at her face and then leaned in closer. She pulled back. "No. I'm afraid you won't find what you're seeking there, either."
Young!Thanos frowned. "But I..." Then he roared and knocked the nearest set of jars next to him over. "I am tired of this. My
parents have failed me, my
school has failed me, and even
science fails me."
"Oh, Thanos. Come now, it's time to face reality. The truth is, you haven't even
begun looking." She said.
The scene shifted and Jamal and Thanos were still in the lab, however, they now saw Young!Thanos standing in front of two teenage Eternals strapped to surgical beds upright. He looked down at a surgical tray and then picked up a knife. "I want you both to know...that I will remember this moment forever." He said, looking at the two, his eyes glowing bright red.
"This was truly the turning point." Thanos said, glancing down at Jamal. "In the centuries between the founding of the underground city of my people and up to this point, there was not a single recorded instance of murder. No crimes of passion. No executions. No acts of war. It was said that in the city, there did not even exist the concept of murder. Until I
invented it."
The surroundings shifted and they found themselves at the dining table of Thanos's family. Sitting at the table was A'Lars, Sui-San, and Young!Thanos. Jamal raised an eyebrow at the fourth figure in the room, who was a blue humanoid being--wearing a blue cape and whose body was covered in what seemed to be stars--floating next to A'Lars. A'Lars called him father, and Jamal then realized the being to be Kronos. The two were arguing with each other over the two missing teenagers that Thanos had killed, with the blue being insisting that the two were abducted and most likely murdered while A'Lars argued that such a thing was impossible.
"Where the
hell is Eros?" A'Lars stood up with Kronos floating behind him and berating him about finding the murderer, leaving Young!Thanos alone with his mother.
"I know." Sui-San said, without looking up. "I know what you are."
"No, you don't." Young!Thanos said. "And neither do I."
The scene shifted and Jamal and Thanos found themselves on the surface of the moon, standing a couple of feet away from the girl and Young!Thanos, who was filling a hole with a shovel. Several other mounds littered the area, indicating that other holes had been made and then filled as well. "I should have never involved you. I brought you merely to tell you that it's over. All of this. The more I learn, the more I realize that some questions are best left unanswered."
The girl began laughing. "Oh please, are you trying to tell me that you didn't enjoy yourself? Sure looks to me like you did."
"How
DARE you!" He shouted. "I am not some common butcher! I am a scientist! This experiment has run its course. From this day forward, Thanos will
never kill again!"
The surroundings again shifted, and Young!Thanos was busy making a hole for a new body that was covered by a bodybag while the girl watched. Jamal looked up at Saturn and frowned. "Judging by the position of the planet, this can't have been even a
month later." He said, to which Thanos grunted in affirmation.
"You were right." Young!Thanos said, his voice shaking. "I enjoyed it."
"It is nothing to be ashamed of, Thanos." The girl said. "This is your true nature. This is what you were born to be."
"Run away with me." He said. "You're the only one who understands me. We can find our place in the stars together, far far away from here. Please, let me hold you just one ti--" Thanos said, approaching her with his arms outstretched. The girl slapped him and scowled.
"You think you deserve
love, Thanos? You think you deserve
my love? You are weak. You are mewling and hopelessly pathetic, Thanos of Titan. You are a child. You are a coward. You are a lonely little boy-god afraid of his own shadow. You are not worthy of
anyone's love. You have already found the only love you'll ever know." She pointed to the corpse. "Now
bury it."
The scene shifted and they found themselves back in Thanos's lab. Young!Thanos was sitting in a chair, staring at someone who was strapped upright in a surgical bed. "Damn it, Thanos." Jamal muttered with a frown. Young!Thanos looked over at the surgical tray beside him.
"I have killed 17 people so far. Mostly children. I convinced myself that I was looking for answers to the secrets of the cosmos. To my destiny. To the mysteries of my own DNA." He stood up and began putting on surgical gloves. "That was a lie. I killed them because I have too much love in my heart, and no place to put it, no one to give it to. I killed them because I liked it. Because the only time I don't feel alone is when I am killing someone." He picked up the surgical knife. "That makes me a monster, doesn't it? I never asked to be born this way. I just wanted someone to love. And for someone to love me back. There has to be an answer to why this happened. To why I am the way I am. There is, unfortunately, nowhere else left to look." He turned and walked up to the restrained person, pointing the tip of the blade at the person's chest. "I'm sorry, mother, but the key to who I am is somewhere inside of you. And once I have found it and cut it out of you,
I won't have to be a monster anymore."
Jamal watched the teenage Thanos meticulously dissect his mother, only walking away occasionally to change the tool he used. Thanos glanced down at Jamal and scoffed. "You witness the birth of a monster and yet you do not flinch. Is it perhaps that you
also enjoy the sight? Perhaps you are as depraved as even
I."
"Stop the lies, Thanos. You
don't enjoy watching this." Jamal said. "Why else would you go through the trouble of telling me this?"
Thanos scowled and simply continued watching until Young!Thanos was finished. He looked down at the surgical tools and sighed. "Sometimes I can remember the day I was born. I remember you holding me for the first time, and the look of horror that came to your face. Then you picked up a scalpel and tried to murder me. I am sorry, mother. I'm truly sorry they wouldn't
let you."
"If you were hoping for more visions of my adolescence, I'm afraid that there will likely be no more." Thanos said. "After this, I fled the city and Titan altogether. I made my way to the outer rim of the galaxy. Law was scare, and no one would notice one more murderer among many. This is where, for the very first time, instead of taking life, I
made it."
Their surroundings shifted and they found themselves in a hospital room where an alien woman was sitting upright in a mechanical medical bed. To her side, facing away from her, was a now older Thanos--who more resembled the current through his large and bulky frame--holding a blanket. "Oh Thanos, isn't he
beautiful? Our beautiful son." The alien woman smiled.
Young!Thanos looked down at the newborn covered in the blanket. "Is there a monster inside you as well, little one?" He grumbled low enough so that no one else in the room could hear him. "Or is it just in
me?"
"Let me guess, you didn't stick around." Jamal said, crossing his arms.
"No. I left, and took a menial job on a pirate ship called the Horkos. I saw galaxies I never knew existed and encountered alien species he'd never imagined." Thanos said.
Their surroundings changed and they found themselves in the middle of Young!Thanos and the pirates he was working for raiding a Shi'ar ship. Young!Thanos merely watched as the Shi'ar were slaughtered.
"Are you going to just stand there and watch?" A shirtless man snarled, walking up to Young!Thanos. His outward appearance was very much human, and he had a large unkempt beard and a scar down his left eye. In his right hand he held a sword and in his left he held an axe. "Every man on my crew kills, boy. I haven't seen you kill a single damn thing."
"If you recall captain, had I not jammed their signal capabilities, you would not be standing on his vessel." Young!Thanos said.
"Hear that, crew?! Thanos here doesn't have the heart for killing!"
"No. And I never will." Young!Thanos said as he walked away.
"I quickly grew weary of being a pirate." Thanos said. "I also grew weary of being a father. And yet, I could not bear to tear myself away from either pursuit. I bed many women from many different species. I produced countless offspring. Perhaps initially, I did these acts to simply force myself to
feel. But it wasn't enough. It was never enough to make me
care. I found myself struggling to put the thought of my homeworld and my mother away from my mind. Most especially
her."
"The girl." Jamal said.
They next found themselves watching the pirate captain violently beat on Young!Thanos. He pointed at the sword next to Young!Thanos, who had been knocked to the ground. "Coward!" He showed. "Pick up that sword and die like a man!"
Young!Thanos smirked. "Oh, please. I came here knowing very well what you had in store for me. You know I'm no coward. It's not cowards you're afraid of. It's anyone with half a brain. Which is exponentially more than you posses." The captain roared and ran his sword through Young!Thanos's midsection.
"Let's see how smart you are with no damn head, boy." He raised his sword above him and Young!Thanos closed his eyes, seeming to accept death. Young!Thanos opened his eyes mere moments later and looked down, seemingly in complete shock at the fact that he was now holding the captain's sword in his right hand and the captain had been chopped to pieces in front of him with the crew all around him chanting "captain!" repeatedly.
The scene changed and the two looked upon Young!Thanos back in the city of the Eternals, and looking down at a gravestone that read:
Here lies Sui-San. Wife. Mother. Most beautiful of Eternals. "Back home, huh? I have a good idea of what's about to happen next." Jamal said.
"Yes.
She appeared." Thanos said. Young!Thanos turned to see the girl from before, but now aged into a woman and wearing a dark green cloak. "Once again, I confessed my love for her after she had informed me that she could
smell the
scent of the various women I had been with over the years as well as my offspring. Once again, she
teased me, telling me that she needed to know that I would belong only to her. I understood immediately. And so, I began systematically slaughtering every woman I had lied with as well as every child I had created. Of course, the trail of
death had not ended there."
The surroundings shifted and they found themselves in the remains of a destroyed city. Young!Thanos, dressed in armor virtually identical in design to his current armor, stood and watched his pirate crew salvage anything of use. Suddenly, a male native of the planet charged at him with a knife. "Die, you monster!" Young!Thanos simply smacked the man away. "How could you?! You took everyone from me!"
"If it's any consolation, I chose this world at random. The deaths of your family meant nothing to me. I did this because of
love."
"Liar! If there is justice to be had in this wretched existence, you will suffer for the wrongs you've done!"
"I do suffer.
She makes sure of that." Young!Thanos said, glancing back at the ship. "If you wish to see an end to the suffering, she is the one to whom you should be sobbing. Go to her and tell her what I have done and ask if it's finally enough. She's just inside of the ship in the captain's chambers. She lies in bed and listens to the screams. GO ASK HER IF THIS IS ENOUGH!" He shouted. The man nervously walked over to the ship and went inside. After about five minutes, he came back out, fell to his knees, and vomited. "Well? What did she say?"
"She...she said nothing." The man said.
"Then it's not enough."
"She said nothing because she--" The man screamed out in pain as Thanos fired a beam of energy at him, incinerating him instantly.
Jamal frowned and began walking to the ship himself. He made his way to the captain's chambers and his eyes widened to see on the bed not the woman, but a mangled corpse. His eyebrows furrowed as a frown formed on his face. Realization dawned upon him and he whipped around. "THANOS!" He shouted, and he then found himself in a void of whiteness and standing in front of Thanos. "Explain." Jamal demanded. Thanos's eyes merely glowed slightly, and their surroundings shifted again.
They found themselves in Young!Thanos's lab on the pirate ship and the woman walked in. "The climax is approaching." Thanos said, watching his younger self and the woman begin to speak to each other. "Again, she teased me. Again, I asked her when it would be enough. She berated me, stating that she could not love me as long as I was interested in asking that question in the first place. She wanted become a God. She claimed that I was afraid. Afraid of myself, and the world where I was born. I broke down."
"Guards!" Young!Thanos roared. When the guards came into the lab, he pointed at the woman. "Take her away and lock her in the darkest, coldest cell you can find! Maybe then she'll warm to my touch!" The guards looked at each other, confusion plastered on their faces. "Don't just stand there!"
"With all due respect, captain..." One of the guards spoke up. "Her
who?" The woman began laughing, and Young!Thanos rushed over, grabbing her arm.
"Why can't they see you? What have you done, woman?" He asked.
"You know very well why, Thanos." She smiled. "Because no one can. No one ever has. No one but
you, Thanos."
Young!Thanos's mouth gaped open as he looked down at the woman in disbelief. "But my men..."
"They believe you to be mad. They see you arguing with thin air, or dragging rotting corpses into your bed chambers, only to sob and beg them to touch you."
"No...this can't..."
"Go ahead, Thanos dear. Tell me my
name. Surely you must know it. Oh, what the heck." She pulled at her scalp and chest, and her flesh was torn from her body, leaving herself as merely a skeleton. "I'm Death, you idiot boy. The only being in creation you've ever loved and who could possibly love you back. And I will love you, Thanos. What's the matter, my love?" She asked, watching as he reeled back in horror and took a step backwards. "Am I not more
beautiful than ever?" He fired a blast of energy through her skull and then ran away. "Thanos? Where are you going, dear?"
Jamal and Thanos then found themselves standing on a platform. Behind them was an inferno of flames and in front of them was Young!Thanos, fighting off his own crew members who appeared to be trying to stop him from going into the fire behind them. He walked forward, with one of the crewmates on his back. Thanos and Jamal turned as he walked through them and to the edge of the platform, directly in front of the inferno. "Captain! The combustion chamber's flames wi--" was all he could muster as he was then burned alive. Young!Thanos stared down at the flames before him.
"One step. Just one step, and I would have died." Thanos said. "I had not hesitated when I murdered my own children and every one of my lovers. Nor when I razed world after world. Nor when eviscerating my own mother. It was at this point that I had finally found someone I could not kill." Young!Thanos fell to his knees and buries his face in his hands. "Myself." Jamal and Thanos followed his younger self out of the chamber, and watched him meet Death.
"Foolish Thanos. Suicide is never the answer. Only murder is."
"
You did this to me. You
made me a monster." Young!Thanos said, looking at the ground in defeat.
"Ha! You were born a monster, Dear. Even your mother saw that. I just helped you along. Thanos, I promise you, I will love you." She placed a bony hand on his chest. "Just say the words and make it so."
Thanos looked up and faced one of his crew members. "Take us to Titan." He growled.
Thanos and Jamal then found themselves standing beside Young!Thanos standing over the last Eternal alive in the obliterated city underneath Titan: A'Lars. "Wedding? What madness do you speak of?"
"Death will be my bride, father."
"You mock me and the thousands you've slaughtered here today. You truly believe you can see Death and wish to wed her?
This is why you kill?"
"Is he really your blood? Not seeing the resemblance." Death smiled, staring down at A'Lars.
"She's standing right next to you, father. Mocking you."
A'Lars suddenly stood up and ran to a computer across the room. After pressing some buttons, a large number of circular screens filling the room's walls lit up and showed the outlines of himself and Young!Thanos. "Look at this, boy! I'm scanning on every wavelength possible. I see only a troubled boy and his father. I am a scientist, Thanos. Nothing can hide from my science. If a thing truly exists, it's energy can be detected in one form or another. You are a scientist, my son. There is no one here but us. This woman you feel you love does not exist except in your broken mind. Thanos, you can't blame your sins on an imaginary friend because you choose to kill. You don't love Death. You've only love
yourself."
"No." Thanos said, gripping his head.
"He lies, Thanos! Look at me, I'm right here! Kiss me and feel for yourself that I'm real!" Death exclaimed.
"Enough!" Young!Thanos shouted, knocking his father away. "Death is too good for you, Mentor of Titan. You will watch your son defile the cosmos." With that, he walked away.
"Wait!" Death shouted, chasing after him. "You don't seriously believe your father's lies, do you?" She asked, grabbed his hand and stopping him.
"How do I know... I'm not mad?" Thanos asked.
"Because you know love when you
feel it." Death said, leaning closer to him. And then, they kissed. "Come now, there are more worlds to burn!" She smiled and walked away.
Young!Thanos touched his lips. "Cold. Her kiss...so cold and..."
Suddenly, Jamal and Thanos found themselves back on the planet where Jamal had killed him, time still appeared frozen. "Thanos..." Jamal said. "You have to stop. S
urely you've realized it by now."
"And if I have?" Thanos asked. "What would it change, exactly? Do you believe I can simply
change? Do you truly understand what it means for me to 'understand'? DO YOU?!" Thanos shouted.
Jamal frowned. "Thanos, don't play games with me. I know what you're doing. You're asking me if I believe that all of this is in your
nature. You're asking me if I believe that you were
destined to become this way. You're asking me that if I'm
right, whether that means that you made these decisions yourself. Well, you know what? I don't know. And I don't fucking care, to be frank. None of those questions are
the important question. What. Do. You. Feel?"
Thanos hesitated. "I feel...alone." He grumbled.
"
STILL? You STILL beat around the bush?!" Jamal shouted. "Face it. The Death you fell in love with
doesn't exist. She
never has and she never will. You're a
child, Thanos. A scared, lonely child who was obsessed with Life, not Death. You were obsessed with
your life. You didn't want to die alone. You wanted to be loved, and the inability for anyone to truly love you
forced you to face your own mortality. You want to know how I know that? Because I
understand. When Xandar was destroyed right in front of me, I was forced to face my own mortality. Ever since then, I've been chasing an obsession with Life. Every day, I've been haunted by the question of 'Why me?' Why the hell did
I have to survive? Why did
I have to live with that? Why did the cosmos choose
me? The answer? It fucking didn't. And I came to terms with that. Now
you need to. Give me your answer, Thanos. ANSWER ME!" Thanos stared down at Jamal for a few seconds with a neutral expression in an attempt to mask his thoughts. And then, he spoke.
Time resumed once more, and Thanos's ashen remains began swirling around, like a twister, and a bright light shined. Moments later, Thanos was reformed completely. The Black Order began rushing forward, when Thanos suddenly raised his hand. "Stop. We are done here."
"But--" Corvus began.
"I SAID STOP!" Thanos snarled. He looked up into the sky and watched as the Sanctuary III descended down and landed behind them. The members of the Black Order, each with a scowl on their face, turned and began walking to the ship. Suddenly, Mistress Death appeared in front of Thanos, though she could only be seen by himself and Jamal. Thanos looked down at her and raised his hand towards her cheek. He stopped his hand mere inches away from her face, and then he lowered it. Then, he simply turned and walked away.