Gamora and Nebula's anger boiled over into a bitter confrontation. Gamora accused Thanos of slaughtering her homeworld and wiping out her family. Nebula told how Thanos turned her into a cyborg, using her without mercy. Both spoke with conviction that they could never love Thanos — he was their tormentor, not a father.
Their fear was tangible. What Malrick had said unsettled them deeply. For the first time, they hesitated to push Thanos off the cliff. The idea that they could love him — their adoptive father, their enemy — was terrifying.
"You can deny it all you want," Malrick said softly, "but the truth remains. This happens in most parallel worlds; in many versions, this is exactly how things are."
His eyes glowed red for a moment, and a strange power passed through the sisters. Their protests faltered. Their expressions dimmed. It was as if they'd been puppets, suddenly aware of the strings.
When they blinked, they were back in their beds — Vormir was gone, Malrick was gone, and even Thanos was absent. Disoriented, Gamora and Nebula rose slowly. Before they understood what had happened, they received orders from Thanos, and soon they were whisked away to entirely different lives across star systems.
They lived through fragments of those lives: searching for the Orb with Star-Lord, forming the Guardians of the Galaxy, resisting Ronan, confronting Ego, battling in the Infinity War, and experiencing the horrors of Endgame. In Gamora's vision, she was sacrificed on Vormir; in Nebula's, she beheaded Thanos with other Avengers, and Thanos thanked her before he died. (These visions align with what we know from the MCU: Gamora revealed the Soul Stone's location on Vormir and Thanos paid its price by sacrificing her.)
Then, suddenly, they were back. They stood before Malrick, and an unconscious Thanos lay nearby.
"What… what did you do to us?" Gamora asked, trembling.
Malrick offered a calm shrug. "I just let you see what your lives could have been like — experiences from alternate universes."
Nebula, her voice cautious, asked, "So… all that was real in another universe?"
"Yes," Malrick replied. "They were real somewhere. And they can be real for you, too."
He gestured to Thanos. "Before, one of you was consumed by hatred and violence. The other was turned into a tool. But now, after seeing those lives, I believe you understand yourselves more clearly. Sometimes, the person we hate most is the one we love most."
He stepped back from the cliff's edge. "Now, I need you to throw Thanos off."
Gamora and Nebula exchanged conflicted glances. Everything had changed. The weight of what Malrick proposed pressed on them.
"And what do you intend to do with the Infinity Stones once you have them?" Gamora finally asked, wariness in her tone. "Destroy worlds like Thanos? Or rule them?"
Malrick replied casually, "I plan to stop Thanos. In other universes, there is a council of Thanos variants destroying existence."
Gamora frowned, her eyes narrowing. "A council of Thanos? How do you know this? Do you have proof?"
Malrick looked her in the eye. "Believe me or not — but you have thirty seconds. Throw Thanos down, or I will wake him."
Gamora's pupils shrank. She instinctively reached for Nebula, desperate to run. But Nebula, always sharp, moved faster. She strode to Thanos, her expression unreadable. With a deep breath, she bent down, lifted his legs, and began carrying him toward the cliff.
"Gamora," she called out softly, but did not turn her head.
Gamora hesitated, torn. Her gaze darted between Malrick, Nebula, and Thanos. Finally, with trembling resolve, she stepped beside Nebula, using both hands to support Thanos's torso.
"This time, I'm with you," Gamora said, her voice firm.
Nebula nodded ever so slightly.
Together, the two sisters carried Thanos to the cliff. Without looking back, they pressed their lips together, held their breath, and let go.
Thanos fell into the abyss.
In that moment, orange light bloomed like a sunrise from the void deep below. It enveloped Gamora and Nebula. Malrick rose into the air behind them, witnessing the glow.
Malrick's expression softened. Behind that fierce titan had always been something more complicated: fatherhood. Gamora and Nebula had suppressed it, but their sacrifice revealed it anyway.
The Soul Stone recognized their sacrifice — soul for soul.
When the light died down, the cliff and Red Skull had vanished. Gamora and Nebula lay unconscious in a shallow salt pool, their hands clasped. Between their palms rested the orange Soul Stone.
Malrick floated gently down, kneeling beside them. With care, he lifted the Stone from their hands and stored it within his inner world.
They stirred, their eyes opening. Tears glinted in both their gazes, mingled with sadness and something like acceptance.
"You said goodbye," Gamora whispered. "That was… complete."
Malrick rose, offering a soft smile. "You're free now. If you like… I can take you somewhere."
Nebula spoke first. "I want to go back to Earth… to the Small World. To keep doing the job I was doing."
Malrick froze a moment, surprised. "You mean… clean magical creature stuff again?"
Nebula nodded. "That was work, not humiliation."
"Of course you can go," Malrick said gently. He turned to Gamora. Her silence hung in the air for a moment.
Finally, she spoke: "I'll go, too. To the Small World."
A hint of warmth lit Malrick's face. "Then I wish you … happy poop shoveling." He chuckled softly. "And even though you're free, don't forget to finish today's work."
He swiped his hand, and a portal opened beneath the sisters. They dropped through with startled yelps. The portal closed behind them.
Vormir lay still in silence.
Malrick closed his eyes, focusing on the Soul Stone in his palm. He wrapped it into his inner world — his personal realm best suited for wielding the Stones. One by one, he embedded all six Stones into that internal space.
Ribbons of energy — red, orange, blue, green, purple, yellow — intertwined. The power pulsed, expanding his inner domain.
He channeled some of that energy into himself, and suddenly his consciousness soared. He saw not just his own universe but beyond — across multiverses.
From that exalted view, he glimpsed a bald figure draped in blue and purple robes, watching him through the cosmic barrier.
Malrick raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you can see me?"
The figure jerked back, startled.
"That's … the Observer," Malrick murmured. In his mind he recognized the cosmic voyeur who watches universes.
He dismissed the distraction. With the six Stones united in his inner world, he had full control. He could wield any Stone at will. If he tapped into all six simultaneously … his power would be limitless.
He whispered to himself: "With this, I could destroy any universe."
He stretched out his hand, creating a rift in the fabric of reality — a window through the barrier between his world and the next.