Precursor Note: I really don't care. I need a fix-it. Right now.

[7/29/18] Please take note that I changed some dates! You'll know because it'll look like [this]. Those will go away after I post the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel and never will. This is just to make me, and maybe some of you, feel a little better after that emotional rollercoaster.

To Infinity But Not Beyond

It walked across the field of desolation. Pain and sorrow wailed in violent agony, crying out brokenly to any who might hear. Earlier – for now time had no meaning in this place, so simply earlier – there had once been trillions of souls who might have listened. Now, there was only one.

But it did not care to heed that echoing cry of raw emotion. It was not here for that. No, it was here for the one – that transgressor, defiler of balance, the Mad Titan – who had called it, who had offered billions upon billions of souls to appease it.

That insane fool had destroyed everything.

Death looked upon the destruction around her (because that was its personification in this universe, as it was referred to with titles such as "Mistress" and "Lady" by the Mad Titan). She looked and saw naught but Darkness. The Light of this universe flickered, a fading hope that threatened to be extinguished with barely a shift of air.

This universe had failed.

Not yet, but it may as well have been over. For, nothing had been able to stop Thanos. Not when he had all of the Infinity Stones placed within the Gauntlet. The Mad Titan had achieved a state of existence in which he was technically superior to her, to death itself. Even if she had any desire to return Thanos's… affections for her, Death could not – not so long as he wielded the full power of the Infinity Stones.

What a shame, Death thought to herself as she passed yet another decaying soul. There were many who were labeled as 'rotting' now. After all, the titan's wish had been to remove half of the entire universe's population. And as such, those souls-that-were faded into Nothing.

To be clear, while Death had no quarrel with Thanos's paltry attempts to court her, this was not the proper way to go about it. Death did not approve of how this had all played out. There was now a massive imbalance between Life and Death. The decaying souls couldn't move on to their respective afterlives or into their next reincarnations, which meant that the energy that fed the continuation of the universe would be vastly reduced. It also meant that there wouldn't be enough to restart Everything.

Simply put, it was very not good. This universe would just End.

Death turned her eyes away from the Empty and over to what was left, even as the Light flickered yet again. (It wouldn't be long now. It was only a matter of time until it was gone. Then there would truly be Nothing left.) The last of the Avengers and their allies stood worn and weary and full of loss. None said a word, but they still held each other up.

Death blinked. They would die soon enough… But she found it endearing that they hadn't quite given up yet. There were many different ways this could have turned out differently; however, in this Path, too many things had been lost – too many things had been broken or left behind or forgotten. It was over for them.

In another Path, a different Fate had awaited them.

But here, now, Thanos simply sat, watching the sunset on some isolated planet. He had won, and they had lost. Their time would come, and all would end with them. Death swept towards the last beings who kept the spark of hope in their hearts.

She remembered seeing them all before. Many times throughout their lives, Death had touched them in a way the Mad Titan would never know. Thanos was not able to comprehend the absolute level of feeling that filled these 'infinitesimal' beings in their desperation. Oh, he knew that they hurt (as he had, for he knew pain and loss), that they could be defiant to his plans (as his daughter had been, for he had raised her along with her unwavering strength), but he did not know the courage (for it was not bravery that drove him) and hope (for he had never needed it) and love (for now he had none) that they still carried.

Death slipped past the Asgardian, flitting around his vision – he would only be angered if he saw her; he would demand wishes she could not grant to him. She passed the man with two selves – as intelligent as one half of him was, the other would not be likely to help their cause. She continued past the two assassins as well – they were not suited for this task either.

She stopped at the feet of the heart-broken man and the soul-weary soldier.

"If you could change one thing, what would it have been?"

Anthony Edward Stark's eyes snapped up at her question. Confusion and fear and something else flashed through his being. Steven Grant Rogers turned, a similar set of emotions flashing through him as well. They were right to be wary of Death, especially now, but that was not why she appeared before them – and only them.

(And, oh, how she had missed this form, too – especially the black, hooded cloak that shrouded her in shadow. The only thing she didn't miss was the young, girlish voice that came with it.)

"Who are you?" the soldier-out-of-time questioned, tired eyes narrowed at her.

"Forgive my poor manners, I don't interact with living beings very often… Well, no, I don't converse with them all that often," Death began to answer in a roundabout way.

"Answer the question," the man-who-had-everything-and-nothing said with a hard voice.

She refrained from smiling. It wouldn't have been very appropriate of her. (But they had the sensibility to not simply accept things. That was good.) "I am the one Thanos sought to court with the annihilation of half the universe."

Stark flinched, blanching at her with that new tidbit of knowledge shining in his haunted eyes. "Death," he whispered.

"And I ask again: If you could change one thing, what would it have been?"

"What does it matter?" Rogers snapped, tone harsh and torn with grief. "No matter what we do now, we can't stop him. We already lost."

"Who said anything about changing something now?" Death asked with a tilt of her head.

She maybe have been shorter than him in this form (by a whole five inches… and since she was floating about five inches off the ground, make that ten whole inches), but that didn't affect the presence of her aura. She was actually somewhat surprised that soldier was still willing to go toe to toe with her. Not that they were fighting (of course, whether or not he realized that was another matter). To her, this was closer to negotiation. Though, Death wasn't one to negotiate, so maybe it would have been better to say that this was… an agreement firmly made on her terms and on her terms alone.

Stark caught on to the full scope of her offer first. "You want to change the past?"

"To be fair, I find Thanos to be an obsessive creep, and I'd rather not be stuck with him as the last one left when the universe finally gives out," Death answered flippantly, even adding a wave of her pale hand to add a bit of emphasis to the fleeting notion.

Rogers was already shaking his head. "It still won't make a difference. Once Thanos got ahold of the Infinity Stones, he was too powerful to stop."

"Wanda destroyed the Mind Stone," Stark pointed out, an idea forming.

"But then Vision—" Rogers tried to argue.

"It doesn't have to be the Mind Stone. It doesn't even have to be any of them. Thanos can't wield the Stones without the Gauntlet, can he?" Stark asked, directing the question to her.

She let a small twitch of a smile touch her lips, barely visible from under the shadow of her hood. "It would make things rather difficult for him, yes. But you know not where the Gauntlet was nor where it was forged, only the locations of the Infinity Stones."

"So get rid of the Space, Reality, Power. Protect Gamora so Thanos can't get Soul. Strange could keep Time, and Vision would have the Mind Stone," he reasoned.

"That still doesn't account for how we would defeat Thanos," Rogers cut in, sighing. "His Black Order would be tough to beat again, too."

Stark paused at that – mind swirling with ideas, constantly changing and reshaping the plan that was forming. "If everyone was ready? If we had all of us united and prepared to take them on? All of us— Earth, Asgard, and everyone else?"

Death's smile grew a fraction of an inch more and then faded. The Balance was falling out of order faster than she'd thought it would. They didn't have much time to talk left.

"I ask one last time: If you could change one thing, what would it have been?"

"Ultron," they answered as one.

And just like that the universe stopped – not ended, just stopped. It had been a long, long time since it had called upon its siblings. Separate from one another, they were simply parts that made up the Whole; together, they were the embodiment of Everything. Normally, its siblings would not have been pleased or willing to answer its call, but even they knew that something had to be done.

Eternity, specifically, could not get mad at Death for wanting the universe to have one last chance before its ultimate demise. And if that chance happened to keep the worlds spinning for another billion years instead of ending here and now, then Eternity had no quarrels with Death's plan. (For though these entities were abstract embodiments of fundamental aspects of the universe, even they still found themselves bound to a base survival instinct.)

Chaos chuckled, his distorted face warping and reshaping to make a semblance of the motions. "I'd clap my hands if had any," he proclaimed gleefully. This was more fun than he'd had in centuries.

Order's right eyebrow twitched as he tried to keep his own face passive – he still looked far more human than the other three entities, which was quite the feat considering he was only a head like his twin brother, Chaos. And though these two entities were exact opposites, they could agree with each other that the definite end of the universe would not be good for business, so to say. Eternity had similar reasons for coming, but at the same time, he'd rather not be here at all.

Death looked upon them and sighed. She knew it wouldn't take much to convince them to help, and yet it would take a lot to make sure it stayed that way. It didn't help that she wasn't in any particular high standing with any of them. Not since… well, that was a story for another time (or maybe not ever).

Eternity spoke next. "We know why you called us. We know what you plan. You know we will agree. The question is should we?"

"Everything will die in the end," Death replied carefully. "I simply would rather not wink out of existence because of Thanos's obsession with me."

"The Mad Titan still seeks to woo you? I thought he would have realized by now that he can't even come near you now that he has all of the Infinity Stones on that Gauntlet," Order murmured.

Chaos laughed mirthlessly. "Let me emphasize obsession, dear brother. Not to mention that titan's mad. He won't know what hit him after we're done. He'd paid a price too high for something that could have been corrected all too easily."

"This is no simple matter—"

Eternity cast his watchful eyes over the two entities, leaving them to their bickering in favor to turning to his sibling. "It is not a common occurrence that we find our roles switched. You're so often active in the machinations of this universe while I stand afar. Will you do nothing else to stay the course of this Path?" he asked her.

"I have done enough for now, but I will do much more while on the new Path," she told him.

He nodded his ever-knowing head. "This new Path will have great potential. I recommend keeping a constant eye on even the subtle events that take place, for those are often the most important."

"You know me better than that, sibling," Death said, reaching out to take Eternity's hand. "If we see each other here again, you can tell me I was wrong."

"And risk being proven wrong myself? I think not," Eternity responded with a teasing smile full of galaxies.

Death rolled her eyes. "Say hello to Infinity for me then. She better appreciate all the work I'm about to put into this. It's not everyday I do something for Life after all."

Eternity looked down at Death's outstretched hand. He knew his sibling was mostly doing this for herself, but at the same time, it benefited the universe and everything in it. She wasn't losing anything either way. There would be a few discrepancies in some individual's deaths, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed within a century or two. Death only had everything to gain.

"Be careful in the game you play, sibling," he finally replied, taking Death's cold and pale hand with his right hand, lifting up his left and twisting counterclockwise.

Slowly, time stuttered into movement again, though not in the proper direction. Order and Chaos paused their bickering to watch Eternity turn back all of time. This would be one long haul indeed.

— Sokovia, May 2015 —

Deep within Strucker's base, Tony Stark stared at Loki's scepter. Weaving past the tables and boxes of things he didn't want to think about, Tony made his way up to the glow stick of destiny, as he'd once referred to it by. Right now, it looked a lot more deadly surrounded by the electromagnetic field that was keeping it upright without touching it.

"Thor," Tony called over the comms. "I've got eyes on the prize."

Behind him, Wanda Maximoff drifted forward to plant a 'vision' in his mind – a nightmare of his greatest fears.

It was here that Time stopped once more. Well, paused might have been a more accurate term as it restarted in the correct direction not a second later.

Death reached into Stark's mind before the younger Maximoff could. A solid black covered his eyes, blocking out the red. Death showed him not a dream but reality. She showed him what had happened (what would happen), and then after staying just long enough to make sure the little witch saw her own horrific end, Death left to do the same to Rogers.

Later, when Tony was making his way out of the HYDRA base, Steve caught up to him, looking just as shaken as Tony felt – every movement set him off, barely keeping back a flinch at even the smallest of things. Wanda and her brother could have still been around for all he knew.

Tony just kept walking towards the Quinjet when he took notice of Steve, who was quickly gaining ground on him. He needed to talk to Steve – he knew he did. But something had set them apart in that vision, or whatever the hell it was. He didn't know what, just that it had to have been big. And they had lost everything because of that split.

Tony spun to face Steve the moment the other man grabbed his arm. Before that moment, Tony hadn't taken care to realize just how young Steve was compared to the rest of them, and remembering how old and tired Steve had looked in that vision scared him all the more. He didn't want that to happen. He couldn't let it happen.

No more secrets.

"Did you see?" he demanded – gripping the scepter until his knuckles were white, if only to ground himself a little. "Did you see what happened?!"

A tight frown came over Steve's face before he gave a slow nod. "Was it real?" he asked in a small voice that Tony never wanted to hear come from him ever again.

"I don't know, but if it is? If we just blow it off, whatever it was, and it comes true… I don't think I could live with myself, knowing we could have stopped it," Tony said, ending in a whisper.

Steve put his other hand on Tony's other arm, the warmth radiating from his hands reminding Tony why he wasn't in his suit – this confrontation was meant to be face to face, everything laid out in the open for them to see in a way neither could ignore. "Well, this is a start, isn't it? We made a plan, together, that we would stay together."

"At least you don't have to make a killer AI in order to create the Vision," Tony grumbled, looking down at the scepter and giving it a wary look.

"Just how much did you see?" Steve asked, squeezing Tony's arms in a reassuring grip. "I only saw a few things about Vision and Wanda, some stuff involving accords, us fighting, and... well, losing to Thanos. And then the whole plan we made with Death."

Tony nodded, not that a nod could answer Steve's question. "We know what's coming. We can change things. Fix it, all of it."

"We sure as hell will try, and I'll be damned if we don't die trying."

"Language, Cap."

Steve just smiled at him.

— New York Sanctum/Kamar-Taj, 2 Years Later (November 2017) —

"What? You don't believe me?"

"Oh, I believe you, but your source is a bit worrisome."

"I'm pretty sure that getting my head hijacked by Death was significantly more worrisome for me than it is for you."

Doctor Stephen Strange rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored the comment. "You said his name is Thanos?"

"Yes, and as I said before, he wants to 'balance the universe' by wiping out half the living population of everywhere, using all six Infinity Stones," Stark reiterated.

They still had time, though how much they had left was a different matter entirely. The Time Stone was safe here with Stephen in Kamar-Taj, but that couldn't be said for the other five. Stark insisted that the Mind Stone was in good hands (or rather in a good forehead) and that Thor was supposedly making sure the Space Stone was well protected on Asgard. Word had also been sent out to the Guardians of the Galaxy – or whatever that band of space vigilantes called themselves – of Thanos's dangerously possible future movements.

Stephen had actually been rather surprised when Stark showed up outside his door at the New York Sanctum. The following discussion of Thanos's threat (interwoven with snide remarks aimed at each other, like the humble egotists they were) had sent Stephen practically running to Kamar-Taj's library for more information on the Mad Titan and the Infinity Stones. By the end of Stark's story, Stephen was more than convinced about the coming battle (though it sounded more like a war).

"And remind me again how many others know about this," Stephen murmured as he consulted a rather ancient tome that may or may not have the answers he wanted. Nope. He closed the book, put it back and moved on to another one.

Oh, he knew exactly how many people knew about Stark's 'vision'. There was Captain Rogers, who apparently had shared the information dump from a extremely desolate future – except the Captain's version had centered more around himself and what happened on his side of the coming war while Stark's had focused on what he'd experienced. The rest of the Avengers (both old and new) had been told – Rogers and Stark had refused to keep such a large secret to themselves, not if it meant the end of the world – but they had tried to keep who else knew localized in order to stay any potential public panic.

Stephen could speculate who Thor told – more than likely 'Odin' (because the real Odin wasn't actually in Asgard) since any help from the Asgardians against the Mad Titan's armies would be a tremendous help. From there, the rest of Nine Realms might have been alerted of Thanos's plans (emphasis on might). The Guardians of the Galaxy had obviously been told, and Gamora (who supposedly knew the location of the Soul Stone and was the key to Thanos getting it) had been told to stay far away from her adoptive father. Rogers was currently away to the third-world country of Wakanda to gain their official support (except Wakanda wasn't a third-world country, now was it?). And Stephen was the next on the list of people Stark and Rogers had sought out in an attempt to prevent that future they saw from happening.

All in all, Stark and Rogers weren't doing half bad – Stephen did have to admit that much – if the plan they'd outlined was anything to go by.

But the Eye of Agamotto – the Time Stone, really – impressed the validity of the plan. (It was the only way.) The forgotten memory from a distant future refused to be pushed from his mind. Whatever the master plan had been, surely it was working, he assured himself. Of course, that plan must have meant pissing off Death enough to alert them of the End. (It had also involved saving Stark; he was important – he had to have been in those final moments. His own death hadn't been in vain.)

"Look, if you're just going to criticize me all day—"

"No, no. I'm in," Stephen interrupted before Stark got the wrong idea. He pulled out the next book of relevance. "Just checking some details."

Stark let out a huff that was closer to a scoff than anything. "Right. You do that, and I'll just leave you to your hocus pocus."

If Wong wouldn't have throttled him for throwing a book, Stephen would have given in to the very strong urge to hit Stark in the face with it. "It's—"

"I know what it is, Doc. Just— You stick with the magic, and I'll stay with my very real science."

"You met Death," Stephen pointed out exasperatedly, setting the book down on the closest table. Wong would get it later (and then proceed to hunt Stephen down and lecture him about proper book care, but again, later). "What is it going to take for you to accept that magic isn't—"

"I don't have anything against magic—"

"And yet you still—"

"—no offense but really—"

"—refuse to believe that—"

"—I mean, sparkly orange circles and whips—"

Someone knocked on the New York Sanctum's door.

"You've got to be kidding me," Stephen muttered under his breath as he made he way back to and then through the doorway from Kamar-Taj to New York, heading towards the main door to open it. He didn't wait to see if Stark followed him.

But Stark had, in fact, followed him and greeted the person on the other side of the rather enthusiastically until he saw who else his friend was with. "I thought you said he'd died," he blurted out after a solid minute of everyone staring at each other.

Wearing street clothes and carrying Mjolnir disguised as an umbrella of all things on an otherwise sunny day, Thor (who was looking worse for wear) glanced over his shoulder to Loki (who looked just as, if not more, ragged and ruffled as Thor) and then looked back to give Stark an awkward smile. "Well, you see, this is where it gets complicated. We've come looking for our father."

A/N: Seriously though, I personally think that Thanos would have gotten his butt whooped if the Avengers had it together and were teamed up with Doctor Strange (at least by the time Thanos was collecting Infinity Stones), not to mention Black Panther + the rest of Wakanda – especially if had even the slightest in-linking that Thanos was a problem. Civil War happened for a reason, and it would still happen in this fix-it AU if I were to extend it – the main difference would be a lesser fallout among the Avengers (in other words, they don't break up like the Beatles).

Kudos to Marvel for another amazing movie, but my heart needed some healing. It couldn't wait until 2019... make that 2020.

Hailey-Stone: I'm glad you loved it! XD

Guest: I don't plan on continuing it, but who knows? I might get inspired to write like a bonus scene and add it as a short chapter or something.

PhoenixFantasic: I like to think that Death is neutral. Like, death is her thing, but she also knows that there's a natural order to everything. So half of the universe getting wiped out all at once is equivalent to coming home to find half the house completely destroyed (and maybe she likes to be a bit lazy and not have to deal with that kind of mess, so just going back to a time when the house is fine and then living in the house until the time it was destroyed is okay for her even if the house looks a bit different, because at least the house is still there).

mfaerie32: I imagine that the fight itself isn't going to be particularly easier for the good guys, but at the same time, it wouldn't be a bunch of groups/individuals who don't really know each other teaming up at the last minute. They would have a plan and contingencies and stuff with the main goal of stopping Thanos from being able to use the full power of the Infinity Stones. And even if I did try and write out what would happen, it wouldn't be very long because I am trash at writing fight scenes so most of it would end up being an account of who fought who and who won and the different battlegrounds and stuff like that.