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Yes, Hawk had decided. He would find the universe where Time sent Gwen and bring his wife back.
She was pregnant for God's sake.
He refused to let Gwen face childbirth alone in an unfamiliar universe. His decision was clear: he would be there for her.
Odin was surprised by how intense Hawk's question was and looked at him. "You will get her back. It's only a matter of time."
"I know." Hawk kept his calm as he looked at Odin. "But I don't want to wait."
Waiting always took too long. He focused on the present.
Sure, Odin was right. If he waited until he awakened the Ninth Sense and created the Phoenix Primary Multiverse using the Phoenix on top of the Parasol World Tree as a conduit, he could get Gwen back.
Hell, he wouldn't even have to look for her. Time itself would deliver her to his doorstep. But, he hadn't even mastered the Eighth Sense yet—and the Ninth was still far out of reach.
Odin saw Hawk's determination. He didn't try to talk him out of it. Instead, he thought about the problem and turned to the younger God.
"Can you sense which multiverse Time pulled her into?"
"That's the problem." Hawk frowned at Odin's question.
The barriers between the dimensions of the primary Marvel Multiverse were strong, but not impossible to cross.
Except, when Time had sent his best friend Peter Parker away, Hawk could still sense him. He used the Cygnus Bronze Cloth pendant he'd given his Godson—Ben Hawk Parker—as a beacon.
He didn't know which multiverse Peter had been dropped into. But he could sense him.
But Gwen?
"I can't sense her at all," Hawk said, turning to Odin. "Gwen is my Queen. Her existence is tied to my personal timeline."
Odin processed this. He became quiet for a moment. "It's not that you can't sense her..."
"Then what is it?"
"You're already exposed. Time knows what you're doing. Whenever you try to sense across the primary multiverse's temporal currents, Time steps in. It erases the path you're trying to follow, so you only sense emptiness." Odin offered this explanation, then met Hawk's stare and let out a dry giggle.
"I tried it myself."
"You did?"
"Of course." Odin shook his head and gave a small, sad smile. He explained that, in his search for answers, he had attempted to reach out to different versions of himself throughout the multiverse. However, he was met with only silence, as if he didn't exist in any other reality.
Hawk's eyebrow shot up. "Is it possible that you don't exist anywhere else?"
"At this point? Yes. Likely."
"What do you mean?"
"Time wasn't just targeting me—the Odin of this primary universe. It was targeting every iteration of the World Tree across the primary multiverse."
"Ragnarok happened here. It happened everywhere else, too."
"But I doubt any of my counterparts in other universes were as 'fortunate' as I am. Dead, supposedly retired, only to be brought back and forced to work again."
"Stick to the topic. Keep your personal grievances out of this." Hawk shot Odin a flat look. "Do you have a solution or not?"
Odin shook his head. "There are no good solutions."
Crossing into the multiverse wasn't difficult. The real challenge was reaching the right one.
If you didn't care where you ended up, it was easy.
Technology.
Magic.
Some species even had innate abilities that let them jump from the primary universe into the multiverse.
But once you made that jump, finding the right universe in an endless sea of possibilities was nearly impossible. And coming back?
"You could become lost in the multiverse forever. After all, we know this is the primary universe. But the inhabitants of every other universe believe theirs is the primary one, too."
"And the most critical issue..."
"Time is watching you. The moment you make a jump, the moment you leave this reality, Time will seize the opportunity to erase every trace of your existence from the primary universe's timeline."
"It might not be able to erase your past, but it can erase the memory of you from everyone you leave behind."
"Including the primary universe's own memory of you."
"Hawk." Odin's voice was filled with hard-earned wisdom. "You have to understand, this was Time's goal all along. Banish your wife to the multiverse to force your hand. It's trying to goad you into jumping into the unknown. Once you leave, you will never find your way back."
Hawk said nothing.
He knew Odin was right...
Hawk had played his trump card and taken the World Tree. Time was furious. Since it couldn't reach Hawk, it punished the person most connected to his timeline.
He had brushed off Time's retaliation as powerless anger, and for good reason.
As long as Hawk held his ground and didn't panic, Time's actions were a clown show. It couldn't hurt him, and it couldn't hurt Gwen.
"..."
Hawk looked at Odin, surprised by the phrase. "Gwen told me the same thing."
Odin smiled softly. "My wife, Frigga, told me that before she died. Even though she knew she couldn't enter Valhalla, in her final moments, she chose to comfort me. She told me not to let the anger of our separation blind me. She told me to stay calm and hold onto optimism for the future."
Hawk understood. He looked down at the valley, where Frigga, now wearing the dark robes of the Goddess of Darkness, still moved with gentleness and compassion.
"Gwen is a lot like Frigga."
"Indeed." Odin nodded. "A successful God King can take many forms—a wise ruler, a foolish king, or a tyrant. As long as he protects his realm, he is competent. But a true Queen... a true Queen is always gentle. Always kind."
Frigga embodied that.
And so did Gwen.
Looking at Frigga, Hawk recalled the most recent conversation he had with Gwen before he left Earth to confront Time.
"Hawk, a temporary separation is just the price we pay for an eternity together."
"So, go. Take back the World Tree. Don't let that terrible thing steal it from you."
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Hawk recalled wanting to stay, but Gwen had urged him to leave. He chuckled softly, then shifted back to the current moment, took a deep breath, and focused on Odin.
"I'm leaving."
"Into the multiverse?"
"Time took Gwen. I'm going to make sure it delivers her right back to me."
Under Hawk's calm surface, anger was building. He made his promise to Odin, then disappeared in a flash of bright light.
When he reappeared, he was sitting cross-legged at the peak of the World Tree, resting his back against the towering phantom form of the Phoenix Gold Cloth.
He looked down at the vacant space where Asgard had formerly been.
The Parasol Divine Realm, a flat disk-shaped world under a domed sky made to repair the hole Surtur had torn in reality, was taking shape quickly.
Driven by the Four Elements of Creation, the evolution of the new realm was nearing completion.
The Parasol World Tree was participating too, funneling energy into the nascent realm to speed its birth.
But no matter how quickly things moved, it couldn't be rushed. The realm still needed more time to become stable.
A day or two, at least.
Leaning against his Golden Armor, Hawk estimated the time required for the Parasol Divine Realm to form, then closed his eyes.
The moment his eyes shut, the golden wings of the Phoenix Cloth folded forward, wrapping Hawk in a protective embrace.
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The next day.
On Earth.
Tony Stark and his new wife, Pepper Potts, were taking a morning walk through Central Park.
Yes, Tony and Pepper were married.
They had tied the knot a few days ago.
The original plan had been a big June wedding. But a few days prior, they'd had a minor argument—mostly over the endless details of planning a huge event. In a moment of shared impulse, they had scrapped the whole thing, opting for a private ceremony with a handful of guests.
Gwen had attended. She explained that Hawk was off-planet, unreachable, and sorry that he couldn't make it back in time.
Tony and Pepper hadn't been disappointed by Hawk's absence.
They were the ones who had changed the date and the scale of the wedding, after all.
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Tony and Pepper walked together, already bickering like a long-married couple.
Just then, a shower of golden sparking energy flared in the air before them, spinning and tearing a circular hole in the fabric of reality. The next second, Doctor Strange, wearing his blue robes and the red Cloak of Levitation, stepped out of the portal.
"Tony Stark, you need to come with me."
He paused, registering the woman next to Tony. "Oh, and congratulations on the wedding, by the way."
Pepper stared at the intruder, confused.
Tony stepped in front of her. "I'm sorry, who the hell are you?"
"I am Dr. Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me. The universe is at risk. We don't have much time."
"We? Who's we?"
"TONY!"
As Tony was starting to defend himself, a voice—familiar but oddly off—sounded from within the portal behind Strange. Immediately after, a visibly shaken Bruce Banner, seemingly from a different multiverse, tumbled out of the portal, his face pale with terror.
"THANOS IS COMING!"
"..."
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