Carol's been looking for home since she first woke up in Hala, her memories gone but with a duty to train for. Six long years she spends on the alien planet, searching fruitlessly for that feeling. That gut feeling, that she knows deep down will tell her that she belongs. That this is where she is meant to be, and is where she can always come back to.
But she never does.
And so she trains, working her way up under Yon-Rogg's tutelage, still wishing for that feeling of belonging to come. Nothing. She wonders for a time if she's just the picky sort, but she sees that look in her team's eyes when they return to Hala after a long mission, and she knows, she just knows that feeling is out there somewhere waiting to be found.
And then there's a flicker of memory.
A picture.
Maria. She can almost taste the familiarity on her tongue, which she chases after but falls short of. There's something else to this woman she once knew, and Carol knows that she has to meet her, at least for her own peace of mind. She remembered this woman for a reason, and she needs to know the why of it all. All those years of memories, and yet she came back to her out of all of them. Why?
And so she goes to meet her once again.
She's met with an overjoyed hug from Monica, and a wide-eyed look of wonder from the woman that not even the most advanced alien race ever known could erase from her mind.
Suddenly it all falls into place, and Carol knows at last that she's home once more.