Later that night, the sky had cleared, showing the stars.
It was beautiful.
Carol found herself with yet another restless night, so she drifted. Sitting on the rooftop of the complex, her eyes fixated on making patterns out of the stars.
She smiled, shaking her head. One formation almost looked like Goose, if she tilted her head a little and squinted.
"Oh Goose..."
She remembered her short time back on earth, wishing she could remember her former life in full. It is still in pieces, but they are slowly starting to come together. After all of this is said and done, she really wanted to go visit Maria, so they could catch up.
Maybe even become a family again.
If they were still around...
"Mind if I join you?"
Carol turned to look behind her, seeing Thor.
She nodded. "Not at all."
The God of Thunder came and sat down next to her, long legs dangling off the side of the building. "I must apologize again for my little episode, I-"
"Don't..." She laughed. "It ended up being rather funny...and everybody needs to blow off some steam every now and then."
"Yes, I suppose so..." Thor looked up to the sky, thinking about his family. "So..." he coughed, trying but failing to not make this awkward. "You know Fury?"
"Yeah...I kinda crashed into a building and got his attention."
"Sounds like something I would do."
"He and I teamed up and we fought..." She stopped, still not fully forgiving herself. "We had a little adventure together."
"Funny he never mentioned you..." Thor wondered.
"Well...I've been...a little busy..." Carol had promised she would not be a stranger. But she came back too late. "...fighting this war between the Kree, who were the only family I could remember. They tricked me into doing some terrible things. I feel like I owe it to all of the ones that I hurt and forgot to right my wrongs."
"That is very admirable of you." Thor smiled.
"You don't know the whole story..." Carol looked away.
"Everyone has done wrong. What matters is how we can learn from our mistakes and become better than we were before. And besides, if Fury trusts you, then you can't be all bad."
"Thanks...you guys don't seem too bad yourselves...the Avengers."
"It does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does..." Carol stiffened. "I promise you, we're going to end this...I'm just sorry I wasn't here to help sooner."
"We are all shook up from this defeat, but with your help and our team coming together again, I have no doubt that together we can stop Thanos. I know now I cannot do it alone."
You should have gone for the head...
Thunder rolled in the distance. Thor swallowed hard.
"Hey." Carol put her hand on his shoulder. "It's ok. We can do this. I understand you were all separated."
"We were everywhere...I thought I could just defeat him myself if I got a powerful enough weapon. But I underestimated him."
"And now, we can learn from it, come together, and win this war." She encouraged.
"You're right..." He laughed. "You make it sound so easy."
"I wish it would be..."
"Well, well...who do we have here?"
The Soul Stone shined brightly. A new face had interrupted his usual checkups on the Avengers.
Not that he was worried.
He did not even bother seeking them out to finish them off.
He had done what he set out to do.
And now, he could rest.
But his curiosity would spike every now and then. It was interesting to see how these humans reacted to something so devastating to them. They could not understand why he did what he did. In time, they would...
This new character was different. She used to be human, but now...
The Space Stone...it was connected to her somehow...no, it made her...just like that poor girl who sacrificed her love by destroying the Mind Stone...
"She's strong...but she doesn't quite realize how strong." Looking into her past, Thanos saw that she was tortured, conflicted, and confused.
Perhaps she was not that much of a threat after all. Like the girl and Thor, emotions can hinder one from succeeding. True power is learning self-control, regardless of the circumstances. Realizing this a long time ago, he himself learned to push down those pesky emotions and learn to think logically. That is why he is here today.
That is why he won.
The hardest choices require the strongest wills.
"Glad I'm not the only insomniac."
Thor and Carol turned to see Tony, who looked like he had been wrestling with the bed sheets.
"Yes, well, can you blame us?" Thor asked.
Tony shook his head. "Listen uh, Miss Danvers-"
"Please, you don't have to do that. I'm not that old..."
"Riiiiiiiiiiight...see, this is why I'm never polite because it comes off as offensive. Anyways, uh, I am known to not play well with others, and my very, very fragile ego gets threatened every time I am introduced to a new face, so uh, I..."
"Apologies are hard for you, aren't they?" Thor teased.
"Shut it, Point Break."
"I accept your heartfelt apology." Carol said. "And, I wasn't trying to steal your husband, I promise."
"Well, good. Now I can finally rest knowing that everything is ok..." He paused. She winked at him.
"He easily gets jealous." Thor whispered to Carol loud enough for Tony to hear.
"Will you ever learn the art of whispering and not gossiping in front of the subject of said gossip?"
"What if I was just being a smart ass?" Thor pointed out.
"Then TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" Tony threw his arms out, as if addressing a huge arena of people, spinning around dramatically.
"I don't get that one."
"Of course you don't." Tony looked defeated. "So, I heard you were buddy-buddy with Fury. Tell me, has he always been a grouch?"
"Grouch? Fury?" Carol laughed. "What did you do to him?"
"Why blame me?" Tony asked, almost offended.
"You catch on quick." Thor congratulated Carol.
"I came out here to have a good time, and honestly, I feel so attacked right now..." Tony pouted.
"I guess we're even then." Carol said.
"Whatever." Tony turned to walk off. "I'm going back to bed."
"You just got here..." Carol was confused.
"I'm cold." Tony whined.
"Go on, then, snuggle up with your 'capcicle' as you have so graciously dubbed your very hot husband."
"Thor, I swear to you, you keep your freakishly muscled arms off my man or I'm going to knock you into the next century." Tony pointed to Thor, glaring daggers into him, albeit in a joking way.
Carol tried to keep her composure.
"See? I told you he gets super jealous." Thor laughed. "I was merely complimenting him, and now I am a, what do you call yourself, Stark? A playboy?"
"Well, yeah, you got the blonde hair down...oooooooooh, wait, you don't anymore. You have no right."
"Stop mocking my hair!" Thor defensively rubbed his hand through his very short hair as a clap of thunder went off in the distance.
"You guys are fun." Carol shook her head. "I can't imagine what Tony did to Fury to make him, as you say, grouchy."
"I think it's because he never shuts up."
"He was like that when I met him!" Tony defended. "Besides, he's old now. Age can do that to people..." He looked to Thor, who is well over 1000 years old. "...most people."
"I myself seem to have always had fun all my life." Thor bragged.
"You are fun to hang out with." Tony agreed. He shivered. "Seriously, can you tone down the wind? I'm freezing."
"I do not control wind."
"No, just the lightening, which comes from clouds, which are shifting in the sky, which sometimes makes it rain, thus movement tends to make the wind blow, and since the sun is not out, there is no heat, making it automatically colder at night, which inevitably, in a roundabout way, is all your fault that I'm cold and miserable."
"I do apologize for causing you any discomfort."
Another crack of thunder made Tony almost jump out of his skin. Thor and Carol laughed.
"Carol, I hope you have a chance to get back inside before he drenches you in rain or zaps you." Tony walks off. "Night, kids."
"Goodnight, Dad." Carol joked.
Tony's heart ached as he made his way back to his room, where Steve was up waiting for him.
Goodnight, Dad.
Night, Pete.
"Tony, are you ok?" Steve got out of bed and rubbed Tony's shoulders.
Tony shivered a little. "I'm fine. There's just...so many triggers, I just...I'm fine."
"It's ok to not be."
"Try telling yourself that."
Steve was silent.
"I know I've got issues a mile wide, but don't think I don't know that you don't have it all together every day either. I know you're trying to be strong for me. But you don't have to, Steve. I want to support you the same way you do me. Cause at the end of the day, I know I can always count on you."
Steve turned to look at his shield propped up against the bed and sighed. "It's just..." He looked back to Tony. "It's hard sometimes." He choked. "Especially now, with, everything that's happened."
"You haven't had it easy. I always think about all the shit-"
"Language." Steve said sarcastically.
"I've been through all my life, but you're no better off. Just because you used to be a soldier, doesn't mean you have to live the rest of your life like one. I mean..." Tony took a shaky breath. "How you opened up around me and how...you became a father to Peter. You became one of those perfect little suburban housewives to us. And you immediately take full responsibility for this team. Sure, we have our disagreements, and I'm a big pain in the ass." They both laughed. "But Steve..." Tony reached up to the back of Steve's head, and pulled it down where their foreheads were touching. "You don't have to be alone in this. I will always be there..."
Steve tried to contain his emotions, but failed. "Tony...I'm scared."
Tony looked up to see those big puppy dog eyes, and could confirm that his husband was indeed terrified.
"I don't know what's going to happen. And if we figure out a plan...I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't work..."
"I'm scared too." Tony assured him. "But I promise you, we are going to find this son of a bitch..." Tony put a finger on Steve's lips. "And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure nobody I love ever gets hurt again. Ok?"
Steve took a deep breath. "Ok..."