Twenty-Four - Celebration
Avengers Facility, Upstate New York - Earth
New 2018
As it turned out, the aftermath of Tony's snap left some surprises.
"Stark's snap acted as a timeline reset," Fury explained once this information had been discovered. "So now we're back in 2018, or, well, the new 2018. New 2018. We regained those five years, but also lost some people. Thing's aren't the same, and now we've lost different people. Gain something, lose something else."
The Avengers Facility was also never destroyed, so that saved them a lot of time and resources in having to rebuild it. They did build a memorial in the facility's front entrance to Tony as well as one to Nat, thanking them for their sacrifices and forever remembering them. They were placed in the front entrance hall, so no matter who entered the facility, they would see them and be able to pay their respects to the fallen heroes.
Looked like they were going to be dealing with a lot of surprises for the next little while - or the next long while, for new discoveries were being made every day.
"So your parents are alive?" Sascha asked.
"Yes - well I never really knew if they were dead or not, just disappeared," Nora explained. "But now, with this new reset timeline, they never disappeared. So that's big."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"Now I can finally meet them," said Carol.
"Oh gosh - I hadn't even thought about that yet!" cried Nora, making the two other women laugh.
A few days later came another surprise, this time for Sascha. She was still staying at the Facility, not really with anywhere else to go, and in no rush to leave. Plus she enjoyed the company of Nora and Carol who were also hanging out there. And in being there she felt closer to Natalia.
The front door buzzed when Nora was walking by, so she went to answer it. A young woman stood there on the doorstep. She seemed to do a double-take when she saw Nora. "S-Sascha?" she asked in a thick Russian accent.
"Oh, no. I'm Nora," Nora told her.
"Oh, I'm looking for someone. You just look at lot like her."
"Trust me, I understand. Been getting that a lot lately. But, luckily for you, I know Sascha. You're in the right place. Come on in."
"Oh-" The woman stepped inside and followed Nora through the facility to the kitchen where the woman who she sought was chatting with Carol.
"Hey Sascha, you have a guest," Nora notified her.
"Really?" the original Black Widow said. Who the hell would that be? She didn't exactly have a lot of connections - well, not alive ones, at least. "Who?"
"Sascha."
SMASH!
The glass of water that had been in Sascha's hand fell to the floor, smashing to bits when she saw just who her guest was. Her mouth fell open and her eyes instantly filled with tears. Could this really be happening?
"Y-Yelena?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was there.
"Sascha," Yelena repeated, stepping towards her.
Sascha stepped forward as well, closing the gap between them. "Y-you're alive." She reached out and cupped the blonde's cheeks in both hands, pulling her close and pressing their foreheads together, sobbing. "Боже мой... He brought you back! He brought you back!" Or maybe it hadn't been Stark, but Natalia. She wasn't sure who, but one of them had brought Yelena back to her, and she wished she could thank whoever it was. "I love you so much! Oh, Моя любовь-" She fell to her knees, taking Yelena with her, beginning to pepper the blonde's face in kisses and vowing to never let her go, never again.
Nora and Carol wrapped an arm around each other, smiling as they watched the happy reunion between their friend and her girlfriend.
Yup, these days were full of surprises. Full of surprises indeed.
"I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. Know what? You'd better throw a party, a big one! With music and dancing and all that. Just celebrate! Throw a big victory party! If all works out and all goes well, we're gonna need it..."
As requested by Tony himself in his final recording and recorded message, the surviving heroes threw a celebratory gathering, one of many that took place all across the world, and no doubt all across the universe.
After honouring Tony, they did what he had requested and threw a party to celebrate the victory and reversal of the Snap. All of the remaining team members gathered together, wanting to be part of the celebration.
It was a very open party, casual or formal, stay as long as you want.
"It reminds me of VE Day at the end of the war," remarked Karen to Bucky, Steve, and Sam. "People across the world celebrating victory, the world celebrating together."
"We could call it 'VU Day'," Steve suggested. "'Victory in the Universe Day.'"
Loki and Sigyn stood off to the side. Thor chuckled and approached them, arms outstretched.
"Oh no, we really don't have to - oh, okay-" Loki stiffened as Thor pulled him into a near-crushing embrace. He patted Thor's back awkwardly, but Thor felt him relax a little into the hug.
"The sun will shine on us again," Thor sighed happily.
"What?" asked Loki.
"Aww." The brothers parted and turned to the smiling Sigyn, observing their embrace.
Thor held out his arm. "Come here."
She chuckled and obliged, and Thor wrapped one arm around her and the other around Loki, pulling them close into a tight group hug.
"It's certainly very Tony," Rhodey remarked, nodding in approval as he took in the party surrounding them. He stood with Kass, Pepper, and Happy.
"And very Natalia," Sascha added, from where she stood with Yelena.
They had won this together, and now they would celebrate and move forward together into the new world.
After all, they had a whole new universe right there at their fingertips.
Translations:
Боже мой - Oh my God
Моя любовь - My Love
Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)
