Revising this chapter was incredibly difficult for me.
No matter how I revise it, I can't capture the feeling I want.
I'm speechless.
In the previous chapter, I asked everyone what kind of plot they wanted, but almost no one replied.
Is it that the timeline is too tight, or is there nothing I want to watch?
The vastness of the universe can never be easily described by language.
Having left the icy realm of Aethera, the small cruise ship glided smoothly through the dark interstellar corridor. Outside the porthole, there was no change of day and night, only an endless expanse of deep darkness, dotted with billions of eternally twinkling stars—distant, tranquil, and carrying a hint of cold detachment.
After spending several days in the Ice Crystal Forest, Lynn did not choose to return to Earth immediately.
Since Tony hasn't made any contact, there should be nothing wrong on Earth.
He took Natasha on a leisurely journey through this vast universe, presenting her with all the world's most beautiful sights, hidden by war, strife, and crisis.
The spaceship's interior was bathed in warm, soft white light, filling the minimalist cabin. There were no endless mission documents from the base, no missions and conflicts to come.
At this moment, all the noise of the world faded away, leaving only the two of them and the silent Milky Way.
Natasha leaned against the viewing window, her long, crimson hair casually draped over her shoulders, bathed in the soft light of the cabin with a gentle, warm hue.
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze quietly fixed on the Nebula drifting outside the window.
She had never imagined that her life would have such a period. No need for pretense, no need for bloodshed, no need for scheming, just quietly watching the scenery, accompanying the people around her, and feeling the purest peace.
Lynn carried two warm fruit drinks, walked slowly to her side, and handed her one.
"Where to next?" Natasha took the cup, her fingertips touching the warm rim. The warmth spread from her fingertips to her entire body. She spoke softly, her voice lazy and gentle, lacking the sharp and cold tone she usually displayed when carrying out missions.
Lynn leaned against the windowsill beside her, their gazes meeting as they looked towards the boundless starry sky. Her tone was casual and composed. "Not yet. The universe is vast, with countless sights to see. Take your time, there's no rush back. I left them a communicator; they'll contact me if anything happens."
Natasha had never truly lived for herself, and this long, relaxing journey was the most luxurious and precious gift of her life.
The spaceship slowly entered a region of crimson Nebula.
The entire star field was shrouded in a thick crimson glow, like the most intense sunset in the world, eternally unfading. Fine Stardust slowly swirled under the influence of gravity, colliding to produce faint fluorescence, layer upon layer, stretching endlessly, dyeing the pitch-black universe into a gentle crimson sea.
Natasha stared, slightly lost in thought.
"So beautiful," she murmured, her voice relaxed and genuine.
"I can't compare to you."
Natasha turned to look at him upon hearing this, a faint smile appearing in her eyes, the curve of her lips gentle and vibrant. She was already used to such straightforward favoritism, yet it still stirred her heart every time.
In the past, she never dared to dream about the future.
Life consists only of killing and missions.
After escaping her prison, her life consisted only of atonement, protection, and constant striving.
She thought her life would only be a life of constant danger and endless turmoil, and that peace and ordinariness were never meant for her.
But everything changed after she met Lynn.
She began to dare to look forward, to stay, and to dream about life after the smoke of war cleared.
Natasha remained silent for a long time, gazing at the Stardust drifting outside the window, before speaking softly, her voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of bewilderment and anticipation. " Lynn, you said... what will we be like after all the trouble is over?"
Upon hearing this, Lynn slowly withdrew her gaze from the starry river and looked down at the girl beside her.
He raised his hand and gently brushed away the stray hairs from her temples; his fingertips were warm, and his movements were extremely tender.
It looks quite ordinary.
Lynn's voice was deep and gentle, each word firm and clear in the quiet cabin. "Once the crisis is completely over, once the universe is at peace, once there is no more conflict, we will completely relinquish all our identities."
"No SSC, no Black Widow. We're just ordinary people."
Natasha stared at him blankly, the confusion in her eyes gradually filling with warmth, and a sudden pang of emotion welled up in her eyes.
An ordinary person.
These three words were the unattainable longing she had sought for half her life.
"What would life be like for ordinary people like us?" she asked softly, a cautious expectation hidden in her eyes.
Lynn lowered his head, his forehead gently touching hers, their breaths mingling, tender and affectionate.
"Find a quiet farm, nestled against the mountains and by the water."
"Work at sunrise, rest at sunset. No more staying up all night processing intelligence, no more bearing any guilt or responsibility."
He paused, a gentle smile playing on his lips, his eyes revealing undisguised affection. "Also, I will completely restore your health."
Natasha's body stiffened slightly.
This is her deepest regret, and a vulnerability she can never tell anyone.
But Lynn always remembered.
He silently kept all her regrets, her imperfections, and her resentment in his heart.
"Then, we'll have a bunch of kids."
He chuckled softly, his tone casual yet gentle, filled with the most beautiful expectations for the future. "To assemble a whole football team, and in our spare time, take them to play football and bask in the sun in the yard."
In an instant, an indescribable feeling of emotion welled up in Natasha's heart.
Having lived for so many years, she had witnessed the cruelest darkness and experienced the most desperate prison, thinking that her life was already ravaged and could never be fulfilled.
Unexpectedly, someone would soothe all her wounds and plan out all the tenderness and fulfillment for the rest of her life.
She just needs to be herself, a carefree ordinary person who is loved, protected, and happy.
Natasha couldn't resist; she tilted her head slightly and gently kissed Lynn's lips, tenderly and affectionately.
"Okay." Her eyes were slightly red, her voice soft, tinged with a warm sob, "I'll wait for that day."
When the smoke of war clears, when the catastrophe ends, when the land is safe and sound, when they finally achieve their happy ending.
The two embraced before the floor-to-ceiling window, outside which stretched the eternally flowing crimson Milky Way, while inside, their tender companionship remained unchanged year after year. Time seemed to stand still at this moment, all conflicts and destinies shut out of this small cabin.
The spaceship continued its slow journey through interstellar space, passing through the Nebula ahead and heading towards a clear sea of stars.
After an unknown amount of time, the previously smoothly flowing Milky Way suddenly trembled slightly.
The ripples were so subtle, like a gentle breeze across a lake, that ordinary people couldn't detect them at all, and even most advanced life forms in the universe couldn't perceive them.
But Lynn was different.
Almost the instant the fluctuations occurred, the relaxed aura around him suddenly froze.
The gently flowing Cosmic Energy fell completely silent at this moment. The entire vast galaxy seemed to freeze in that instant.
A cold, desolate, and hopeless stillness instantly enveloped the entire star field.
The warm lights inside the cabin remained bright, and the starry sky outside the window was still dazzling, but that silent sense of suffocation instantly pierced through all barriers and gripped Lynn's heart tightly.
His pupils contracted slightly, and a strong sense of unease suddenly rose in his heart.
The next second, Natasha's gentle voice came from beside him, still tender, filled with anticipation for the future, showing no sign of anything amiss. " Lynn, after everything is over, how about we settle down by the sea? Watch the sunrise in the morning, watch the tides in the evening, and live a peaceful life..."
Her words were abruptly cut off before she could finish speaking.
There was no warning, no sound, no pain, no struggle.
The girl, who had been nestled in his arms with gentle, bright eyes, suddenly became light and lithe.
Her eyes, brimming with starlight and tenderness, still held expectations for the future, and a faint smile lingered on her lips. Yet, at a speed visible to the naked eye, she transformed into countless tiny gray dust particles, slowly dissipating into the warm cabin.
The person who was planning the rest of their life with him and dreaming of the Pyro just a second ago has completely vanished a second later.
Only Lynn stood alone by the empty window.
The warm touch in his arms vanished completely, the faint scent of hair lingering on his nose disappeared abruptly, and all the tenderness and expectations turned to dust.
Lynn remained frozen in their embrace, the air around them chillingly cold.
He lowered his eyes, gazing at the empty embrace, the last trace of tenderness in his eyes completely Oblivion, leaving only boundless coldness and melancholy.
He glanced down at the communicator he always carried with him.
He knew better than anyone else what had happened.
The universe trembled, life vanished, and half of all living beings were silently Oblivion.
Thanos.
He still managed to collect all the Infinity Stones.
The Snap finally happened.
So silently, coldly, and cruelly, they took away the person he cherished most.
The promise of the rest of our lives, the imagined Pyro life, the vows of year after year—all have vanished into a fleeting dream.
It felt as if an invisible hand was gripping his heart tightly; anger, pain, and despair surged up, almost completely threatening to devour his reason.
He could accept the separation of war and bloodshed, the sacrifice of those who fought side by side, and the outcome of a desperate struggle.
But he couldn't accept this outcome.
Everyone is on Earth, and everyone has been enhanced by him.
He left behind a communicator, a backup plan, and a safeguard, laying the groundwork in advance so that they could stabilize the situation and contact him immediately when a crisis occurred.
But at the very moment Thanos snapped his the Snap, Oblivion half of all life in the universe and turning Natasha to dust...
There were no alarms, no calls for help, no messages, and no movement whatsoever.
Why not contact him?
Why was he not informed at the very beginning of the crisis?
Why did this tragedy still unfold as expected, even though everyone stayed on Earth and made all the necessary preparations?
Countless questions, anger, resentment, and grief intertwined and swirled, transforming into a bone-chilling cold that swept through his entire body.
Lynn slowly raised his head. His once gentle and peaceful eyes were now dark and deep, without a trace of light, and surging with a chilling and fierce aura.
Without the slightest hesitation, faint spatial ripples instantly emanated from his body, and terrifying spatial power, carrying suppressed rage, enveloped the entire spaceship in an instant.
The next second, the entire starry sky twisted violently, and the spaceship instantly disappeared into this galaxy.
Traversing billions of stars, ignoring spatial barriers, traveling thousands of miles in an instant, directly back to Earth.
Earth, New York, SSC Base.
The base was no longer the bustling and vibrant place it once was; it was now filled with a deathly silence, fear, and bewilderment.
Having just experienced a silent Oblivion, with half of humanity vanishing into thin air, the streets and alleys were filled with cries of despair and chaos, plunging the entire city into unprecedented turmoil.
The base was in complete disarray, with training equipment scattered everywhere, monitoring screens flickering erratically, and countless devices malfunctioning and crashing. The survivors stood in the empty hall, their faces pale and their eyes vacant, still reeling from the sudden disaster.
They had just experienced an apocalypse, watching their companions and familiar relatives disappear one by one, leaving them with only endless despair and helplessness.
Tony Stark stood at the front of the crowd, his face devoid of its usual confidence, arrogance, and cynicism; his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was weary and bewildered.
Everyone was immersed in the devastation and bewilderment brought about by the disaster; the vast base was filled only with the sound of breathing.
In the midst of this oppressive, deathly silence, the air in the center of the hall suddenly distorted violently.
Without any warning, a tall, slender figure appeared out of thin air before everyone's eyes.
Lynn appeared there quietly, and the chilling aura emanating from him instantly lowered the temperature of the entire hall to freezing point.
His face was eerily calm.
Those eyes, once gentle and composed, were now only filled with coldness.
A chill ran through everyone present.
Wanda huddled alone in a corner, surrounded by Steve, Banner, Ivan, Hawkeye, Rhodey, Sam...
Everyone instinctively tensed up; they had never seen Lynn like this before.
Tony looked up abruptly, meeting Lynn's cold eyes. His heart clenched, and a wave of extreme panic and guilt washed over him.
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain.
But he didn't have time to say a single word.
Lynn's gaze swept over everyone and locked onto Tony's face.
There were no questions, no rebukes, not a single superfluous word.
With a flash, a gust of wind arose.
Lynn appeared in front of Tony in an instant, his right fist suddenly clenched and smashed towards Tony's face!
"Bang!"
A dull, heavy impact resounded through the deathly silent hall, deafeningly loud.
Tony was instantly sent flying by the force of the punch, his body crashing into the hard alloy wall with a loud bang.
The wall instantly cracked, revealing a dense spiderweb pattern, and gravel crumbled off in a flurry.
Tony crashed to the ground, his chest heaving violently, a metallic taste rising in his throat, and he was completely stunned.