Requested by: Coolkid4547

Prompt: Self given

Warnings: None

Extra: As long as it took to make this story.

~*~

To say I'd had a hard life would be a massive understatement.

My parents died in front of me, but I was so little that their faces are blurry when I try to think about them. All I had was my angry siblings after that, angry at the world and the man they thought took our parents from us, angry that I'd grow up without them. Then we were pulled into the experiments for a group called Hydra. From that pain came power like no other. Then the Avengers showed up, we switched sides, and... I lost my brother.

Keep in mind that I was 5 at this point. I grew up fast. I had to.

After all of that pain and mourning came some stability. An education, permanent home, and a family to replace the one I had been losing in rapid succession.

But all families have problems. My sister made a mistake on a mission and because of it, the world was out for our blood. Wanda's for obvious reasons, and mine because my powers were so similar to hers and I was too young to handle them.

After the second worst week of my life, I was whisked off to a country called Wakanda to be hidden away and stay safe from the world sa they tried to hunt us down.

Half of my family wanted to arrest me- more likely, they just wanted me under their care again- and the other half had to leave me alone. Even Wanda changed her appearance and bid me goodbye. They didn't want to draw too much attention to themselves, and that meant splitting up.

Being honest my time in Wakanda was some of the best years of my life. I was well provided for in the palace, I was getting not only a general education, but an education in controlling my powers, and for the third time I found myself a family in the Udaku family. They were kind, and accepting, and everything I so desperately needed when I missed what I had. Especially Shuri. She was so different from Wanda, but even just calling her my sister made the hole in my heart feel exponentially smaller.

Those two years of peace led up to the day my sister returned, along with the rest of Team Cap. They were tired, bruised, and Vision couldn't even walk by himself, but they were back.

"Wanda!" I cried, sprinting out of the palace to tackle her in the tightest hug I could muster.

"(Y/n)," she kneeled down and hugged me back with the same fervor. She was drained, physically and emotionally, that much I could sense, but none of that seemed to matter because we were together again, "I missed you. I'm so sorry I had to leave."

"I understand," and I did. A lot of people took my age as a sign that I was too young to understand the world around me, but that was far from the truth, "But you aren't back here just to see me, are you?"

Slowly shaking her head, Wanda looked back to Vision. They were in love, and it was adorable and I couldn't bring myself to be jealous of it because I knew that nothing would ever stop Wanda from loving me like no one else. I knew that because we were the same, and that was how I felt.

"How big of an assault can we expect?" T'Challa asked, leading the way into the administrative building.

"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault," Bruce assured nervously.

"How we looking?"

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..."

"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man."

I followed after Wanda and Vision as they were led into the facility, skipping past the reunions. I'd already had my largest one. The rest could wait until whatever was happening had been resolved.

"Okay, what are we dealing with today?" Shuri asked, rushing into the lab and pointing at the observation table. She scanned Vision with her kimoyo beads, projecting a hologram of him on her palm, "Whoa. The structure is polymorphic."

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce entered with the rest of the group behind him.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

"Because, we didn't think of it."

"I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?"

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother."

"How long?"

"As long as you can give me."

"Something's entered the atmosphere."

The dome surrounding the city shook as something powerful slammed against it. Running to the window, I gasped at what I saw. Alien ships were landing just outside of the city's borders, taking out acres of forest in their wake. Strangely, not the weirdest thing I had ever seen.

"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now," Vision groaned in pain as he sat up.

"Vision, get your ass back on the table."

"We will hold them off."

"Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell."

"I will."

Everything was hectic after that. Wanda was left to guard Vision, and I was left with Wanda because I was 'too young' and 'inexperienced' to go into a battle that large on such short notice. True, but that didn't mean I wasn't itching to fight and protect my newest and most permanent home.

Stuck between watching Vision's operation and watching Wanda as she listened to what was happening through the com, my gaze was constantly wandering to the window to watch the scene unfold. It wasn't too long into the fight that they released the Threshers. Sets of massive, motorized spiked wheels. The carnage that followed was so brutal that Wanda had to pull me away from the window.

"Wanda-"

"No, it's not something you need to see," Wanda kept me faced away, but peered over my shoulder. I recognized the look on her face, it was the same look I had been sporting for at least ten minutes.

"(Y/n), I'm going to go down there."

"I'll come too!"

"No!" Wanda gripped my shoulders a little tighter, sighed, and knelt down, "No. I want you to stay here and guard Vision. Your job is just as important as fighting down there, understand?"

Cheeks puffing out in anger, I nodded once. Wanda pulled me into a tight hug, whispering an 'I love you' and running from the room.

Mere minutes after Wanda left and helped turn the tides on the field, I heard pained grunting from the door. Turning my head, my heart dropped when I saw one of the aliens kill the guards.

"Shuri," I hissed.

"I see," she hastily disconnected her equipment from Vision's systems, grabbing one of her weapons and firing rapidly. The alien simply blocked it with his spear. When he finally reached her, he sent her through the balcony railing and onto the main lab floor.

It was my chance, my time to prove that I was powerful enough to be on the field with my sister and the rest of the Avengers. Stepping in front of the alien, I held up my hands when he swung his spear down. He recoiled when he was blocked by a shield, dark as night.

Strike after strike, I was fortunate enough to predict it and act in defense, but there were no chances to get any hits of my own in- he made sure of it.

"That's enough, (Y/n)," Vision charged past me and slammed into the alien, breaking through the window and hurling them to the battlefield below.

"Crap," I looked out the window, wincing. That wasn't the grand fight I envisioned myself having, but it was a perfect excuse to join the big one, "Three, two, one!"

I leapt out of the window, keeping my hands at my sides and sending out a burst of power when I was near the ground, preventing any broken bones. Immediately, three of the killer alien dogs were on me, teeth bared to kill.

Yelping, I sent out simultaneous burst of power that burnt right through them without a problem. Wanda couldn't do that... Shaking off my nerves, I ran into the field. Nine years old, and I was ready to go against an alien army

I was on an unguilty kill-streak when everything went silent. Even the dogs I was going against paused in their ministrations to kill me. Looking around, I spotted the main six Avengers running toward the forest. That's where the source of the silence was.

Following after them, I spotted my sister, and nothing else around me mattered because she was still safe.

"Wanda!" I ran to her, clutching the sleeve of her uniform jacket.

"(Y/n), you were supposed to stay at the castle," Wanda's eyes stayed trained behind me. When I turned to look, I gasped. A man, if he could even be called that, who was purple and towering over all of us, was taking the Avengers down one by one, "You need to get out of here."

"I'm not going to leave you."

"I wasn't asking," Wanda waved her hand, and my vision fogged over in red as my body moved without my brain telling it too. It sprinted into the treeline opposite the purple man, and kept going until my sister was hidden by the trees around me.

"No, no!" I fell to my knees as the power my sister had over me dissipated. Taking a 180, I took the trek back to the clearing, "Wanda?"

She was sobbing over a body, Vision's body. Placing a small hand on her shoulder, I gave her a side-hug. She held onto me tightly, like she lose me too if she did anything else. But it wasn't her that would lose me.

It started at her toes, which were hidden under her knees. Then it spread up and up, until I took notice of it at her torso.

"Wanda," eyes wide, I grabbed her hand and squeezed it frantically, "Wanda no, don't leave me too."

"I'll be with Pietro," Wanda replied, almost calmly.

"Wanda no! You can't leave me alone."

"Stay strong, as you always have."

And she was gone, a pile of ashes. I scooped them into my hands, screaming. Once, twice. I didn't stop screaming until someone scooped me up into their arms. I fought against their hold until they started whispering in my ear and I realized it was Nat.

"It's okay, it's okay. Shh. Everything will be alright," Nat soothed.

She was lying, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

Five Years Later

"Nat, Tony wanted to know if I could stay over this weekend, and I think I saw Steve's car-" I cut myself off when I walked in on her in the middle of a crying session, "Oh, Nat."

"I'm fine, I'm good," she mumbled, wiping under her eyes frantically, "Um, yeah you can stay with Tony over the weekend. Did you say that Steve was-"

"Coming for a visit," Steve stepped up beside me, "(Y/n), can you give us a second?"

"Yeah, sure. Tony's gonna be here in ten, Nat, I'll see you later."

After the snap, I divided my time between Tony, Nat, and Steve because they stayed in New York City. When I could, I visited Wakanda and kept in contact with the other Avengers. They were all I had left, and I wasn't about to give any of them up because of the Snap.

~*~

I had a glorious day at Tony's before we were interrupted by a car pulling up at lunchtime. I stayed inside to help Pepper out when Tony went out to speak to whoever was there.

"Hey Morgan, you wanna go save your dad?" Pepper asked, pointing at the front porch where I could make out Nat and Steve and one other man.

"Sure, Mommy!"

When Tony came back in with Morgan, he was quieter than usual. And a quiet Tony Stark was a rare find. I called dish duty that night with him while Pepper put Morgan to bed so we could talk.

"What did they come here for?" I asked casually, wiping down the plates as he passed them to me.

"Time travel. They figured out time travel and they want to go back," Tony admitted. That was what I always loved about Tony. He told me like it was. After the Snap, when he came back from space, he was the first person to take me seriously and explained everything that had happened in detail. After that, he let me train at their house since they had so much land and no prying eyes belonging to a certain Natasha Romanoff.

"Like, go back and get everyone back?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, they needed my help, and I said no," as Tony said that, he moved his wrist at the wrong angle and shot a spray of water at the shelves next to me.

Taking the items off the shelf to dry them, I paused at a certain photograph. It was of Tony and Peter Parker, a kid that Tony considered to be his son. I heard enough stories about him to fill a book.

"Are you sure about that answer?" I handed him the photograph.

He remained silent while gazing at it, but I knew I had him.

~*~

It was two days later that we actually put our time travel plan into action. We sent out a call to all of the remaining Avengers and their space-based allies, putting together a good team to retrieve the stones.

I was paired with Nat and Clint, and we were being sent to retrieve the Soul Stone from a planet called Vormir. Because I had trained so much and come so far when it came to my powers in five years, I was allowed to go on the mission and I was ecstatic.

"Welcome," a red man with a billowing cloak greeted us, "Natasha, daughter of Ivan. Clint, son of Edith. (Y/n), daughter of Erik."

Nat and Clint drew their weapons, and I drew power to my hands.

"Who are you?" Nat asked.

"Consider me a guide. To you, and to all who seek the Soul Stone."

"Oh good. You tell us where it is. Then we'll be on our way."

"If only it were that easy," the man led us to the cliff's edge, "What you seek lies in front of you... as does what you fear."

"The stone is down there."

"For two of you. For the other... In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul."

That information was terrifying. Nat sighed loudly, and sat down on a nearby rock, chin on her hand. Running a hand over my face, I looked at the cliff edge again, more anxious than before.

"Maybe he's making this shit up," Clint suggested nervously.

"No. I don't think so."

"Nebula said that Thanos came here with her sister. He came back with the stone, but not her," I added, the reality of the situation crashing down.

"Whatever it takes," Nat mumbled.

"Whatever it takes."

Nat stood, "If we don't get that stone, billions of people stay dead."

"Then I guess we all know who it's gotta be."

"No, neither of you are going to- are you crazy," I hissed, "We need both of you for this to work. If anyone is going to do it, it's going to be me."

"You're too young for this (Y/n), and Wanda will be waiting for you when we get them back."

"Yeah, and you have a family too, Clint. How do you think they'd feel if you weren't there to explain things to them when they come back?"

"Both of you have people waiting. I don't," Nat cut us off when we started to argue, "Don't. You know I'm right. Clint, you've made mistakes, but I don't judge people on their worst mistakes. (Y/n), you're going to be the best hero this world has ever known. I love you both."

"Nat, no- Ah!" Clint stuck one of his stunning arrows on my back, sending me to the ground in pain.

"Go Nat," he whispered, tears falling from his eyes.

Nat didn't need anything else. She turned, and ran. Struggling to push myself to my hands and knees, I screamed again. A wave of dark energy spread out around me, and the arrow flew off my back. Clint was thrown to the ground behind me, but he wasn't who I cared about saving.

"Nat!" I caught her as she leapt with my powers, holding her in the air, "Please, don't leave me."

It was what I said to Wanda before she died, and she simply smiled when she saw how much I was struggling- still shaking from the pain of the electricity.

"Let me go. It's okay. Let go."

Nat kicked off the wall, and the shock made me drop my powers. Screaming, I couldn't bring myself to pull her back up. Suddenly, Clint was grabbing my shoulders and dragging me kicking and screaming away from the cliff edge-

I coughed and burst up in a lake. Clint was next to me, and when I looked over, the Soul Stone was in his hand. He slammed his fist into the water in anger, looking over to me.

"I'm sorry."

All I saw was red, but it was different from the rare time Wanda made me do something. It was pure anger, pure murder. If Thanos had never snapped his fingers in the first place, I would still have my family.

"It's not your fault."

We reprogrammed our watches and were sent back to the compound. Everyone seemed to be successful, each of them holding one of the stones.

"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked excitedly.

"You telling me this'll actually work?"

Everyone paused when they noticed who was missing, "Where's Nat?"

I sobbed, and that was enough for them to get the picture.

~*~

The Original Six went out by the lake to discuss what happened and mourn here there, I, on the other hand, locked myself in my room, growing more and more angry the longer I was alone. I wanted to destroy something, anything. It'd get my anger out, and it was help me control my powers as they built up inside of my due to my anger.

"(Y/n)," Tony knocked on my door around an hour later, "We're about to snap again. We want you to be there."

Stepping out of my room, I gave Tony a nod and followed him. The new gauntlet was sitting on a pedestal

"All right. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?" Rocket the raccoon asked.

"I'll do it," Thor offered. It wasn't smart.

"Excuse me?"

"It's okay."

"No, no, no, whoa. Stop. Stop. Wait a sec. Hey, hey..."

"Wait, wait, wait, Thor, just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

Thor persisted, and I finally sighed and stopped him with my powers. He looked at me with surprise and betrayal, but he stopped going for the gauntlet so that was a plus.

"We should discuss it, Thor," my tone was final, and no one seemed willing to argue with the fourteen-year-old.

"It's gotta be me," Bruce stated, and I agreed with it, "You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?"

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like I was made for this."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Thor backed off. Bruce stuck his hand into the gauntlet, and immediately began screaming in pain.

"Take it off! Take it off!"

"Now, wait. Bruce, are you okay?"

"I'm good," Bruce panted, lifting his arm with immense effort and snapping his fingers.

A bright light filled the room, and that was it. Bruce fainted, and gauntlet slid off his arm. Clint kicked it away. Scott left the room, and called, "Guys... I think it worked!"

Whoom!

A missile. My memory recalled the noise before my body could. The only other time I'd heard something like that was the day my parents died, too young to remember much, but traumatic enough to remember the sound.

"Get do-"

It struck. I threw my hands up to protect myself, but as the building came down, all of us were thrown around. I didn't know where I ended up, but I hit my head heard enough to pass out.

When I came to, everything was in ruins. Another home gone. Pushing myself up, I groaned in pain. My shield had protected me from the majority of the blast, but being thrown around after I passed out didn't help.

"Report," I called into my com. Static, "Guys, report!"

Looking up, I saw the great alien ship looming above us. Unsure of what everyone's statuses were, I wandered around the rubble, taking care to avoid the most dangerous spots. When I reached what had formerly been the forest, my eyes zeroed in on the tall purple man fighting Thor, Steve, and Tony.

Thanos had come back from the past to take everything from me again. But I'd be damned if I let him do it without a fight. I wasn't sure how long they'd been fighting, but the three on our side seemed tired already, and Thanos was acting as though he'd just finished a warm-up round.

"In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter... It was never personal. But I'll tell you now...  what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."

Thanos' entire army was summoned to the ground. Running up beside Steve, I put a weary hand on his shoulder.

"Find the others, recover."

"You can't take them all on your own."

Eyes flashing, I stared down my enemy, "You guys always debated who the strongest Avenger was. You, Thor, Bruce, Wanda. You got it wrong every time. It's me."

At that, I sprinted toward Thanos with the knowledge that he could full-well send his army after me. But he wouldn't do that, not when he thought he was fighting a young kid.

He swung his sword down, and I blocked it with a single hand, using the other to pull his sword away from him. He was without a weapon, and I had the advantage. He sent out a flurry of swings from his fist, and I blocked every single one, fueled by my rage.

Behind me, I heard armies rallying. Using both of my hands to detain him, I snuck a peek behind me and grinned. All of our dusted allies were rallying behind us, joining the fight as Thanos' army charged.

A fist grazed my side, and I jumped away from it, cursing at myself for getting distracted. He was desperate to beat me, and I was aware of that. Pulling two giant pieces of rubble towards me, I shot them towards him. He punched through one and ducked under the other, but I saw a drop of blood roll down his fist.

"And the gods will bleed," I hissed, a malicious smile on my face. It only took another thirty seconds before I had him pinned to the ground, hand in a tightening fist as I choked him, "Do you know why you're going to die? Who you killed? You're one death I'll never have to atone for."

"Open fire!" Thanos shouted.

I screamed in shock when a missile landed inches away from me, blowing Thanos and me away from each other. Ears ringing, I didn't hear the sound of another landing even closer than the first time and blowing me away again.

"Shit," I held a hand over my stomach. Broken ribs, I wasn't sure how many. Everything was bleeding and hurt like hell.

"(Y/n)?"

"Wanda?" I cried out, laughing in disbelief when she knelt down in front of me, "Oh my god!"

"You're so old," Wanda laughed tearfully, putting a hand on my cheek, "You're so powerful, (Y/n). Pietro would be proud."

"Did you see him?"

"I did. He misses you. Now come, we're going to fight as a family."

Grabbing her outstretched hand, I ignored my pain and pulled myself up, sticking by Wanda's side as we annihilated anyone who stood in our way. This was what I had dreamed of. Standing next to my sister through war, coming out victorious and moving on to heal and help others.

Thanos had left my sights until I saw Peter Parker soaring through the sky with the gauntlet. Tapping Wanda's arm and pointing him out, we shared a nod and ran after him.

By the time we reached him, Carol was already on top of things.

"I don't know how you're gonna get through all that."

"Don't worry," Okoye stepped up.

"She's got help."

Every female affiliated with the Avengers sprinted toward Thanos. Because Carol had the gauntlet, we took defense and spread out to keep her safe, getting sucked into the battle yet again.

The next time I was pulled out of it was when Thanos had retrieved the gauntlet again. My blood ran cold. Would it be the end for me that time? Or would the same people disappear again? We had been so close, only to have that hope taken away from us.

Only... nothing happened. Except-

"And I... Am... Iron Man."

I ran to him, already knowing what his fate would be. Peter was a little less knowledgeable.

"Mr. Stark? Hey... Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr. Stark... We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. You did it," Peter broke down, "I'm sorry Tony."

Pulling him aside to grieve, I pulled him into a hug. He most likely didn't know who I was, but that didn't matter. When it came to grieving, strangers became more than that.

~*~

"Hey kid. I left little messages here or there for everyone, I just made yours easier to find. I'm sorry, that I apparently died. I know life has been hard on you and you've lost too many people already, but this is to bring some of them back. You have such talent, and watching you grow, truly grow these past five years has been a privilege. Just... don't grow up too fast because the world makes you feel like you have to. Have fun, live a little. But I do have a bit of a selfish request, watch over Morgan and Pepper for me, and get to know Peter. They're my family, just like you. I love you, kid."