into flames as it hit an invisible barrier at full attack acceleration. Wakanda had a hidden defense: a force field. Shock waves were dispersed into the surrounding area as the alien ship was destroyed, simultaneously destroying acres of surrounding forest as well. The ship's debris began to boil against the dome.

Iris stood on the outside edge of the protective shield, facing the people that had once been her friends. Next to Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian, she ignored the pained look Natasha Romanoff gave her and the disapproving one she received from Steve Rogers. Proxima tested the strength of the barrier, drawing her sword across the translucent blue wall.

"I see you gained a friend," Natasha quipped, staring pointedly at Iris. "Where's your other friend?"

"You will pay for his life with yours. Thanos will have that stone."

"That's not gonna happen," Steve replied, his eyes glancing at the woman who once fought on his side.

"You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood."

"We have blood to spare," Proxima snarled. As she brandished her sword, the battleships behind her began to raise their outer hulls, allowing Thanos' pawns to disembark.

The three within the dome returned to their ranks while the three on the outside remained rooted in their spot. The Wakandans soon began a war chant, T'Challa leading and the others echoing.

"Are you prepared to spill the blood of your friends?" Proxima asked, her fingers tightening around the hilt of her blade.

"The blood of my enemies," Iris corrected.

With a drop of her sword arm, the Outriders began to barrel towards the force field in large numbers. The signal to attack had been given. The black creatures bombarded the dome, squeezing their limbs and body partially through, only to be bisected.

Among the suicides, a small number managed to get through the first line of defense. The force field began to crackle, slowly faltering. In droves, the Outriders began to circle the dome, prepared to find a way to break in.

Iris watched in pure awe as the opposing army readied themselves. T'Challa stepped in front of the militia group, his eyes trained on the incoming enemies.

"Wakanda forever!"

The heroes and leaders led the charge, jumping into the battle. This would be the greatest war ever fought. This would be the most important war ever fought.

hit the ground with a thud, her limp limbs rolling down a large ditch. Midnight had clobbered her with the pommel of her sword. Iris' fingers twitched, ready to defend her former teammate from Thanos' child.

The alien easily jumped into the ditch, landing dangerously close to the fallen woman's body. "He'll die alone. As will you." Iris wordlessly watched as Black Widow and one of the members of the Dora Milaje silently approached Proxima from either side.

"She's not alone."

"She never was." Lunging for the alien, Iris tackled her to the ground, both women rolling in the dirt as they fell. Sinking her nails into blue flesh, the life force began to transfer from one body to the other.

Proxima Midnight groaned, managing to overpower the traitor draining her of power. She grabbed at Iris' scalp, pulled at the roots of her hair, and proceeded to force her attacker's head into the ground several times. Blue fingers wrapped around a pale throat as the alien began to cut off the other's airway.

The Dora Milaje soldier and the Red Room soldier attacked the general, one using a spear and the other an electrical staff. Their combined effort freed Iris of Midnight long enough to catch her breath. Forcing herself off the ground, she ran to help her saviors.

Both were on the verge of unconsciousness at the hands of Proxima. Sprinting across the field, she tackled the alien once more. With her fingertips once again pressed into the blue flesh of her enemy, Iris yelled in frustration. She felt a surge of new life flood her body, her pupils expanding as it did. She had killed the general, leaving only a gray corpse to rot on the ground.

The power of the dead now belonged to the living.

in iridescent static, the energy surge of the completed gauntlet crowned with all six stones washing over him. Iris snapped her head around upon hearing the bellow of the Titan. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her body going limp. Bucky caught her falling body, holding her close as he protected her from the enemies surrounding them.

"It's your turn to save these people, this continent."

The screams of the dead grew louder.

"Show him your fear!"

Her mother's voice.

"We have no fear!"

The voice of her people.

"This is your legacy."

The screams of the living grew louder.

"Everything you've ever felt. Everything you've ever buried."

Her eyes shot open, a scream escaping her lips. It was the screams of the dead and the living, speaking through one mouth, giving their power to one person.

"Let your chaos explode."

Iris slowly walked towards Thanos, everyone's eyes on her. As she closed the gap between the Titan and her, a transformation took place. She walked the line between life and death, her hair returning to its natural color while gray strands of energy wound around her arms.

Her fingertips burned, gray undertones lighting up her pale skin. Skulls took shape in the ash-laden sky, the jaws of death opening. She had opened the door for the dead, invited them in. Swirls of black exited the mouths, creeping across the sky, touching the army of Thanos. With one touch, the enemy began to disappear. They simply became ash themselves.

The Titan watched his army fall to dust around him, life becoming death. He looked at Oblivion's apprentice, shock written on his face. "Child, what are you doing?"

She felt the souls of her ancestors in her blood. She felt the souls of the dead in her blood. She felt the souls of the living in her blood. She was a body of people demanding not to be forgotten.

"Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."

Ropes of black wound themselves around Thanos' purple skin, graying the area they touched. A ball of white energy began to form in her palm as black energy was transferred from him to her. His very soul was taking shape in the necromancer's hand.

"Traitor, Death will torture your soul for eternity."

"Haven't you heard? I'm Death's Mistress."

Lightning struck Thanos' dying body, the blast sending the girl flying back. With her concentration broken, the effects of her power faded, the skulls and black swirls fizzling out, the ropes of black falling from the Titan's arms. She watched the size of his soul grow smaller in her hand, eventually becoming nothing.

With all six stones and the blood of Titans coursing through his veins, Thanos had managed to recover his life force, stealing it back from the woman. She rolled over to look at the Titan, her limbs aching as she did. Thor stood over him, forcing his ax further into his enemy's chest.

"You should have gone for the head."

She yelled as Thanos raised his arm, "Thor!"

It was too late. The Mad Titan snapped his fingers and her vision was seared with white. She dug her fingers into the earth, trying to ground herself with the loss of her primary sense.

"What did you do? What did you do!" She heard Thor yell.

White faded to black.

his pupil, suspended her in the air. Her body shook with the power of his voice, the venom of his tone constricting her limbs.

"You. Where do I even begin with you?" He asked, his words shaking in anger. "I gave you a warning. One you did not heed. You will suffer the consequences now."

Iris' vision remained black, with no sense of where she was relative to the cosmic entity. She opened her mouth to speak but found she couldn't. Something crawled past her lips, down her throat, into her lungs, and was expelled through her body. Her organ began to sting, then burn, then scream.

She was screaming.

"I'm stripping you of your power, Iris. You don't deserve the power I have given you. It's a shame too, you were just learning to use it to the fullest extent."

"Show him your fear."

A new voice. A familiar voice.

"We have no fear!"

The souls of her ancestors were fighting back against whatever was invading her body. The blood that flowed through her veins was that of pure life. She fought back.

"Show him your fear."

The voice she hadn't heard since the genocide of her people, the slaughter of her planet.

"I have no fear!"

Iris stopped screaming.

The woman's vision slowly returned, her eyes adjusting to the light provided by the stars. Her master, upside down from her point of view, stared at her in utter shock, his mouth slightly ajar. "How!"

"You can't take away what you did not give her."

Oblivion whirled around, coming face to face with his own enemy. Infinity stood before him, a blaze of light and red hair. Her fingers, made from the dust of the ever-expanding universe, wrapped around her brother's throat.

"How dare you take a child of mine! It is the way of the universe for planets to collapse, the way of life for people to die, but it is inconceivable that you would dare devour her planet and people only to keep her alive!" Infinity stated, her skin turning yellow as she continued. "You will hand her over or die here and now."

Oblivion chuckled darkly, his own hand grabbing onto his sister's wrist. "You can't defeat me, sister. You and I are locked in a never-ending war, one neither of us can win. We are of equal power." Shakily, he began to remove her fingers from his throat with pure strength.

"Yes, we are. But I am not alone."

Iris stepped from behind Oblivion, her fingertips touching his temple. "As life turns to death, we close our eyes for eternity," she spoke into his ear. Oblivion's pupils dilated completely, no iris remaining. The equal power of his sister combined with the incantations of his pupil overwhelmed him. He fell into a trance, the cosmos left to hold his slack form upright.

Infinity stepped around her incapacitated brother and approached Iris. Placing her hands on the girl's cheeks, she smiled softly. "My darling child, I heard your cries. You are safe now."

"I cried out for you?"

The cosmic entity easily dwarfed the mortal being in size, looking down on her as a mother would a child. "Yes, Iris. The blood of your ancestors still courses through you," her yellow finger tenderly caressed the girl's veined skin. "Their souls screamed my name for you. The children of Infinity called out for their mother."

Iris' eyes shifted back and forth, processing the idea that the mother of her people was standing before her. Before her planet was destroyed, the warriors worshipped Infinity. They gained their power from her, their very being from her. They were her children.

"It's time to come home."

of her planet, home had always been a foreign concept to Iris. She had stayed with Oblivion in the Outer Void after he stole the only survivor but the abyss had always been a prison. Each planet he had reincarnated her on was a temporary lodging until her assigned chaos had been executed. Home simply didn't exist anymore.

Even for the past six years, under the watchful guidance of Infinity, Overspace didn't feel like home. While her cosmic mother taught her the true powers she possessed, trained her in the true abilities she had, Iris thought of Earth.

"Earth-616 is no place to be right now," the entity would tell her. Over and over she would repeat this phrase. For six years she would tell the last surviving member of the ancient warrior race this.

Infinity's statement was the partial truth. The world had been left in complete disarray after Thanos' snapped his fingers. Half the population disappeared and the structure of Earth crumbled into chaos. Oblivion had won another battle of the never-ending war.

However, the cosmic entity had another reason for repeating those words so often. She was reluctant to let Iris leave. She had children on planets scattered through the universe in a multitude of galaxies that had a small portion of her power flowing through them. Technically, Iris' planet was no more special than the others. But there was something special about Iris. Of all of her children that she had met, Iris was the strongest.

Oblivion had tried multiple times to steal his former pupil back from his sister. While his attempts had been thwarted for the past six years, Infinity knew it was because she had been there to stop her brother. If she was to send Iris back into the universe alone, Oblivion would try and succeed.

The only reason he wanted Iris was because of the powers the girl possessed. As a cosmic entity, he has the ability to use proxies to carry out his plans. With a powerful pupil who willingly did his work, he could focus on other ventures of chaos instead of focusing his efforts on manipulating various proxies.

The only way to permanently stop Oblivion from storming the universe to find Iris was to make her less valuable. Infinity would have to make the girl weaker.

for Earth. Earth had been where she had found friendship. Earth had been where she met Bucky, Clint, Steve, and Nat. Earth had been where she met Zemo. Earth had been where she found something worth living for.

"Even after six years, Overspace is not your home," Infinity spoke, bringing her mortal daughter out of her thoughts.

"No, no it isn't."

"Where do you suppose is home?"

"The place my soul longs for. Earth."

Infinity sighed, taking a seat on the grand staircase next to the girl. She rested her elbow on her knees, her chin in the palm of her hand. "Perhaps it is time for you to go home." She said this with reluctance, not wanting to let her go. However, like a true mother, she only wanted the best for her daughter.

Iris looked up at the woman made of cosmos, a smile spreading across her face. Infinity continued before the girl could say anything. "The only way I can allow you to leave Overspace is by taking back some of my power that courses through you. If I do so, you will be nothing more than a mortal with the blood of ancient warriors and special abilities. You will no longer be able to reincarnate. This means you no longer have an endless source of power. Each time you use your abilities, you will be draining your life source. If you drain it too much, your physical being will die. Permanently. Forever."

"Momento mori."

Iris was no longer immortal, could no longer be reincarnated. Infinity has led her through an ancient ritual that completely destroyed her ability to physically be born again. The ritual was irreversible. Even if Oblivion succeeded in his efforts to get his old pupil back, she would be useless to him. There would be no way to use her over and over, as there would be no way to remake her in his own image once again.

Infinity stared lovingly at the girl she had adored for the past six years. It broke her heart to send Iris off into the universe after six years by her side. But it mended her heart knowing Iris would be content in the universe, a soul able to know peace, able to feel at home.

"Remember what I told you," Infinity spoke to Iris for the final time.

"I do," Iris replied.

"Show me your fear."

Her answer echoed the voices of her people during their final battle before the planet was completely annihilated. Her answer echoed the voice of Infinity.

"I have no fear."

*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*