twenty two : all i feel is pain

      ELAINE COULD FEEL THE DARK PIT IN HER STOMACH GROWING WITH EACH MOVE SHE MADE. It felt like a toxic poison, slowly taking over her body no matter how hard she tried to resist. It was like she could see the soft green grass turning brown, the trees in the distance burning down, the water drying up. It felt like everything around her was dying.

      She watched Thor take down the retreating vessels one by one, not leaving a single alien animal to escape in them. Projecting herself back on the ground with her sister next to her, she watched Wanda kneel beside Vision.

      She let them have their moment before Vision let out a small, pained grunt.

      "He's here." Vision warned as Elaine and Wanda locked eyes. Wanda stood as the leaves began to break off the trees and the wind picked up.

      Not far away, Steve was there as well, also noticing the abrupt change. "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."

      The others weren't far behind, and Elaine could make out a small, "What the hell." From Natasha.

      Everyone's eyes were sharp, waiting for the intruder that was about to come. Looking ahead, dark clouds of black and blue swirled in the front of them, coming from seemingly nowhere as if it were a teleporter. Small streaks of sharp lighting laid within the clouds as a large creature stepped out.

      Thanos.

      He was large and purple, with a gauntlet on his left hand, holding all but one of the Infinity Stones. He wore armor, but it wasn't the kind you fight in, more like a leader's armor.

      Elaine and Wanda readied their glowing powers in their hands, everyone else soundlessly staring ahead at the still and silent alien.

      "Cap." Bruce stated in the suit after a long moment. "That's him."

      Steve made his shields sharp once more, a determined look cemented on his face. "Eyes up. Stay sharp."

      The moment Steve began running to Thanos, the purple alien calmly walked to meet him in the middle. Bruce began his flight at Thanos, only for him to use one of the Infinity Stones and make him fly straight through. Thanos turned and pushed Bruce into the rock wall with the stone, solidifying him inside.

      With a simple hand motion, Steve was also thrown aside. T'Challa jumped into the air next, vibranium claws extended and ready to attack before Thanos used his hand protected by the gauntlet and caught T'Challa by the throat. Using his unprotected hand, he punched T'Challa across the face, throwing the King to the ground.

      Sam came flying in with his guns, shooting relentlessly at the monster only to be thrown to the ground by the Power Stone like many of the others.

      "Elaine, Wanda." Vision breathed out from behind them. Elaine knew what Vision was about to ask for them to do, and her eyes teared up as she turned around with her sister. "It's time."

      "No." Wanda growled, turning back around as she wanted to see how close Thanos was.

      "They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can." Vision tried to convince as Elaine glanced over her shoulder as well, watching Thanos get closer with each calm step. He grabbed Wanda's hand and made her face him again. "Look at me. You and your sister have the power to destroy the stone."

      "Don't." Wanda warned.

      "You two must do it. Wanda, Elaine, please." Vision pleaded as he put Wanda's hand on his cheek. "We are out of time."

      Elaine's heart clenched at the sad moment. She couldn't even imagine what it would feel like if Bucky was begging for her to do the same thing Vision was asking.

      "I can't." Wanda shook her head, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

      "Yes, you can." Vision nodded, gently taking her hand and positioning it in front of the Mind Stone a foot away. "If he gets the stone, half the universe dies." Wanda began backing up, grabbing her sister's hand in some need of comfort. "It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me."

      Elaine also backed up, gracefully lifting up her hand and waiting for Wanda'a lead. Wanda scrunched her face up in anguish as Vision spoke his last words.

      "I just feel you."

      Elaine watched for a moment as Wanda's powers began to break through her palm before following suit. The cerulean glowing telekinesis merged powerfully with Wanda's before their power thrusted forward and reached the stone.

      Elaine pinched her eyes shut as she tried to avoid the look on Vision's face. She turned her head over her shoulder and saw Thanos blast Bucky back, her powers turning angry and vengeful.

      Elaine reached her left arm out along with Wanda, both of them allowing their power to flow through both hands as they quickly destroyed the stone. Elaine could feel Wanda's emotions from their mixed telekinesis, the force of it becoming stronger with each second.

      Looking over their shoulders for a second time, the sisters saw all of their friends scattered on the floor, unable to do anything. Elaine made the quick decision to turn her whole body around and use her telekinesis to keep Thanos away from them as Wanda continued to destroy the stone, essentially killing her boyfriend.

      Thanos tried using all of his strength to push against the telekinetic shield protecting Elaine, Wanda, and Vision, but it barely got him anywhere. As Thanos got closer, Elaine pulled one hand back and blasted the Mind Stone with one final, short scream, shattering the Mind Stone into pieces so Wanda knew that she didn't take the final breath from Vision.

      Elaine did.

      The Mind Stone created a large yellow blast, blowing back everyone. The trees were dangerously close to the ground, and the blast created a ringing in Elaine's ears. She was thrown further back than Wanda, and landed on her side. Her blurry vision allowed her to partially watch as Thanos walked up to Wanda, everything within Elaine burning with a rage as Thanos touched Wanda's head, muttering words that were incoherent to Elaine.

      She saw Thanos walk away from Wanda, giving her a wave a relief before she saw that the alien was using the Time Stone. A gasp left her lips as she reached out her arm, only it was too late.

      "No!" She screamed as everything began to reverse itself, also bringing Vision back to life as Wanda screamed as well, both sisters scrambling to get back up.

      Thanos simply threw Wanda back as he used the Power Stone to slam Elaine back into the ground. She watched as Thanos picked Vision up by the neck, taking his hand and prying the Mind Stone from Vision's forehead. When he plucked the last Infinity Stone from Vision's forehead — killing him — Vision's body turned gray and lifeless.

      Elaine wished so badly that this was the pit in her stomach. That the feeling would be gone now that Vision was unfortunately dead, but when the stone was in Thanos' palm, the pit only grew deeper and darker.

      Thanos threw the lifeless body of Vision to the ground and placed the Mind Stone on the last open slot on the gauntlet, a painful scream erupting from his lips as the power of all six stones flowed through his body.

      A blinding light of thunder suddenly beamed onto Thanos, and Elaine weakly watched as Thor threw his axe against the power of the stones, the weapon successfully lodging itself in Thanos' chest.

      When Thor landed back on the ground in front of Thanos, his eyes focused on the alien's. "I told you, you'd die for that." Elaine didn't know what Thor meant, but she watched the God push the axe deeper into his flesh.

      The screams of pain coming from Thanos was like music to her ears, knowing he was paying for all the pain he's caused. More than anything, Elaine wanted him to die, but she could barely make out the words coming from Thanos' mouth before it was too late.

      "You should have gone for the head."

      The sound of metal against metal and Thor's yell made it obvious of what was about to come. A light blinded her for a short moment as she stood, seeing the gauntlet burned, smoke lifting into the air as the smell of burning flesh entered Elaine's senses.

      "What'd you do?" Thor demanded before Thanos used the Space Stone to disappear, leaving behind Thor's axe.

      "Where'd he go?" Steve asked with a hand on his injured side, his head moving around to see where Thanos was. "Thor. Where'd he go?"

      "Steve, Elaine?" Bucky's voice came from behind them. Elaine turned around and saw Bucky with one hand holding his gun and the the other turning to dust.

      She ran to him, placing a hand on his cheek as his whole body turned to dust under her fingertips. A choked sob restrained itself in her throat as the tears in her eyes completely shattered and fell down her face.

      She dropped to her knees as Steve's body appeared in her peripheral vision. Steve knelt down in the ashes Bucky, his hand lying on the ground where Bucky once stood.

      "Oh, God," Elaine sobbed as she dug her hands into her hair, the unsaid message she needed to tell him in her mind. One hand placed itself over her abdomen, a sharp pain lingering there from her sobs as the pit in her stomach began disappearing.

      Steve gently pulled Elaine to her feet before she pushed away from him, turning around in stress before seeing her sister turn into dust only a few feet away.

      A hand reached over her mouth as pain began filling every inch of her body, the only thing holding her up being Steve. Looking past Steve's shoulder, she saw Sam dissipate as well, Rhodes unknowingly shouting out for him.

There was a moment where Elaine thought her world was going to end when Pietro had died. She thought she would never be able to survive his death, but Wanda made sure she did.

Bucky was gone, and Wanda wouldn't be there for her. Wanda was gone, and Elaine couldn't be there for her. Vision — he was actually dead, he could no longer bring up her sad moods by cracking a joke he might have thought to be inappropriate a few seconds later, only to be reassured by Elaine that it was okay.

Steve knelt next to Vision's gray body, flipping him from his side to his back as Natasha ran to them, looking over Steve's shoulder at Vision's body. She placed a hand over her stomach, and she looked like she was about to vomit.

Elaine couldn't blame her, and when Natasha turned back to Elaine, whose cheeks were still soaked with tears, Natasha ran over and engulfed the raven haired girl in a tight hug.

"What is this?" Rhodes questioned from behind, standing with Bruce, Rocket, and Thor. "What the hell is happening?"

The embrace Natasha and Elaine were in made everything feel so surreal. Elaine was really crying over loosing her triplet sister and the man she held deep feelings for — a man whose arms she died in. Pulling back, the two women kept their arms on each other's backs in a way of comfort.

There was a few long seconds where everything was silent, everything but the bristling trees and plants around them.

"Oh, God." Steve breathed out from his slumped sitting position on the ground. He remembered what Thanos promised, to erase half the population in the entire universe.

Half of the universe was being erased.