Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 33~
Goodbyes

Maria was standing outside the HQ, staring out over the forest surrounding the complex. To her, it looked like the building was positioned out in the middle of nowhere which, from the long car-ride back from the morgue (this sentence still freaked her out), she figured it also was. A couple of former SHIELD agents jogged past her, each of them saluting her. The salute was simply a formal thing to do; a gesture filled with respect and honor. Though she felt uncomfortable knowing that to them, she was still an Avenger while she on the inside did not feel like one.

"-coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us," the voice of Thor reverberated as he, Steve and Tony walked outside as well. "And once all these pieces are in position…"

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony commented, looking a bit smug about his comment even though no one laughed.

The three men stopped by Maria, the four of them forming a circle out on the grass, looking at each other seriously.

"The, uh, infinity stones?" asked Maria, wondering what they had been talking about.

Thor nodded, a flash of worry passing over his face as she mentioned the stones, which only worried Maria more. Though her mind was set. She was leaving the Avengers.

"You think you can find out what is coming?" asked Steve, looking at Thor.

Although Maria knew why the three of them were out there seeing as it had been the reason behind why Maria had been waiting for them, the fact that Thor was fully dressed in his armor, holding Mjölnir in his hand, only proved to Maria that Thor indeed was leaving. She felt rather saddened by it, her heart hurting slightly at the thought that her friend was leaving once more. She remembered the first time Thor had left Earth and how it had not felt as painful. Though she figured it was because their bond had gotten stronger once more, which helped her to feel a little bit better.

"I do," said Thor confidentially before placing his hand harshly on Tony's shoulder, causing him to huff out some air at the sudden heavy hand pressing down on his shoulder. "Besides this one, there is nothing that can't be explained."

Maria smiled at that, watching as Thor walked away from them a little bit before turning back towards them. A sudden wave of grief washed over Maria, emotions bubbling up to the surface.

"Thor?" she said, her voice cracking which caused both Steve and Tony to look over at her. "Remember our promise?"

"Of course!" he boomed, smiling widely. "We will train the next time I return!"

At his words, the grief over having to leave the Avengers hit her so badly, she was pushed forwards towards Thor, tears rolling down her cheeks. She threw herself at Thor, holding onto his torso tightly as she sobbed into his chest. There was a long silence as the three men took in what had just happened, before Thor's arms embraced her back.

"I do not understand…"

She shook her head, taking a step back from Thor, using the sleeve of her cardigan to dry her tears up, forcing herself to calm down.

"I'm not returning, Thor," said Maria. "I'm leaving the Avengers."

Thor smiled.

"Why are you smiling?"

"I find it rather... adorable that you believe that," he said before placing a hand on her shoulder, the gentle touch of his hand surprising her slightly as this was Thor after all. "I will see you the next time I return to Midgard, lady Maria."

She stepped back as Thor let go of her again, still holding in the tears. She felt a hand on her arm and recognized it immediately as Steve's, not even having to look to confirm it. Quickly, she placed hers on top of his, feeling comforted immediately.

Raising Mjölnir over his head and nodding once more towards his friends with a respectful and happy smile on his face, light came down onto Thor in waves, glittering around him before suddenly disappearing along with Thor, leaving nothing but an Asgardian mark in the grass.

"That man as no regard for law maintenance," commented Tony, his sunglasses back on as the three of them looked down at the mark in the grass which still sizzled slightly.

The three of them turned around, Steve's and Maria's hands lowering until they were simply holding each other's hands while Tony was walking next to them with his hands in his pockets, the usual strut in his walk back again. Close by where they had said goodbye to Thor, a gravel path leading away from the HQ's giant garage existed, and the three of them were walking towards it.

"I'm gonna miss him, though. And you two will miss me – there's gonna be a lot of manful tears coming from me, just so you all know," he said with his usual sarcastic voice, a car beginning to drive towards them on the gravel road.

"I will miss you," said Steve, he and Maria stopped beside the path while Tony continued on a little longer, the pebbles of the path crunching underneath of his shoes before he stopped, the car stopping in front of him.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around to face them.

"Me too," said Maria with a soft smile, a single tear falling down her cheek once more.

He watched the tear a little while; at least he did from underneath of his sunglasses, before he continued to speak; "Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up."

"Do you see Pepper on a farm?" asked Maria with a soft smirk.

Tony smirked back, shaking his head. "No, but I honestly don't think she'll stay with me if another house of ours gets destroyed. She's a bit picky like that."

"What about you? Do you see yourself having the simple life?" asked Steve.

"Do you?" Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve who sighed, looking back at the facility once.

"I don't know. Family, stability… The guy who wanted all that died when in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out," said Steve, his eyes trailing over at Maria who had been watching him intently.

His words struck her hard. It had been his fear to not be able to give her what she wanted; a family life. While in return, it had been her fear to not be able to give him what she thought he wanted; a family. Their break-up had been so unnecessary and destructive… Perhaps, if she had decided to stay and face her fears like an actual hero would do, the two might be able to find each other again…

"You alright?" asked Tony, opening his car door.

"I'm home," said Steve, squeezing Maria's hand slightly and nodding reassuringly at Tony.

"Very well then," said Tony, taking off his glasses to look at each of them in turn, nodding his head at them. "Rogers. Dalton."

"Goodbye Tony," said Maria with a soft smile.

He was about to sit down when he suddenly seemed to remember something; "Here."

Throwing something at Maria, she caught it easily with her free hand. Though before she could ask him what he was doing, he had already sat down in front of the wheel and sped away from them. Looking down at her hand, she saw the keys to one of his cars.

"Clint left earlier, didn't he?" asked Maria quietly, placing the keys in the pocket of her cardigan before turning to Steve.

"He did," he replied. "He said he didn't want to feel the pain."

"Neither do I," she replied quietly. "I'm still not over the fact that he has a family…"

"I'm not surprised though," said Steve with a soft smile. "He's that sort of man."

"There are more on the team that are," said Maria softly, gazing up into Steve's eyes.

The contrast between the dark blue of his suit and the soft, light blue of his eyes made her heart beat quicken. When she grabbed his other hand as well and held them against her chest, raveling in the feeling of his body warmth being close to her one last time, the flutters of love filled her entire body, making her feel as though she weighed absolutely nothing and could easily fly off all the way towards Asgard. Though when the familiar feeling of floating felt familiar to her, she returned to the darkness of what she had been through the past week and the flutters disappeared. That was the exact reason why she had to leave. She was damaged and afraid of dying. Not exactly hero-material.

"Man tears, he called them," said Steve, causing Maria to snap out of her thoughts, shock taking over her as she saw Steve's eyes filled with tears.

Letting go of his hands, she placed hers on either side of his face, frowning at his sadness. "You still have the others-"

"It's not them that I need," sighed Steve, grasping onto her waist and pulling her into a firm hug.

She placed her face in the familiar curl of his neck, smelling his cologne and shampoo which she had missed tremendously, her arms around his neck. The hug lasted a long time though for the two of them, it felt as though it had lasted only a second when they were forced to part again. Had they not parted, they would have been stood there for the remaining afternoon.

They were still holding onto each other when they had broken the hug, their faces only inches apart. She wanted to kiss him so badly, to return to how it was before. And when Steve leaned in slightly, she saw the opportunity to indeed go back there – it was like an open door ready for her to go through. Though she could not. If she returned, she would have to stay and bring down the entire team. She would have to face her fears and overcome them and only that was enough for her to turn her face and plant a longing kiss onto his cheek instead.

The disappointment over her actions could be seen in his eyes when she stepped away from him.

"I can't…" she said simply, shaking her head. "But I'm sure we'll see each other again. Just not as teammates or… Well…"

There were no more tears present in Steve's eyes. Instead, he looked rather empty, the twinkle she used to see in his eyes not being visible anymore. Guilt overcame her, though she did not know what to do about it.

"'Till we meet again," he said curtly.

She turned around, beginning to walk away from him, following the gravel path towards the garage. Though something caught her sight to her right. The large windows through which one could see both the living room area and the kitchen, were filled with people. Natasha, Vision, War Machine, Wanda, Nick, Hill, Martin and Sam, all standing there with their faces nearly pressed against the window. She could see them shouting at her, gesturing back towards Steve and she froze on the spot. They were telling her how to make that empty look disappear from Steve's eyes. They were telling her to simply go for it one last time.

Without thinking more about it, she turned around and ran back to Steve who was staring down at the grass in front of his feet. When he noticed her approaching him once more, she threw herself at him, attacking his lips with kisses and wrapping her arms around his neck. It took a mere second for him to comprehend and return the kisses, wrapping his arms around her waist. When she looked back up into his eyes, the twinkle in them had returned and she smiled widely.

"Maybe Thor was right…" said Maria, her heavy heart lifting slightly with her words. "Maybe I won't leave for good."

"Good, but I wasn't going to let you anyway," said Steve with a smirk before he let her go. "Stay in touch."

"I will," said Maria before placing one last kiss to his lips.

Knowing Steve understood her and knowing that Steve was hers once more, she turned and began to, once more, walk towards the garage. As she passed the windows, she saw most of the team waving and smiling, some applauding and some looking rather sad about her leaving. Natasha and Sam were the two who looked sad about her leaving, though they still nodded their heads at her understandingly and with everyone's support, Maria drove off in a very fancy, black Lamborghini given to her by Tony.

It was the beginning of her journey of understanding who she was; what her powers were, and the beginning of the true form of Mater Mortis. Would she return to the Avengers any time soon? Most certainly not. And even when they did need her help, she knew she would hesitate. Though if she was in luck, the Avengers would not need her until she had come over the trauma she had been through and learned from it.

But then again, was she ever lucky?

Just a few more filler chapters left after this one. Don't forget to comment about stuff you want to see in the next 'book'! So far I've gotten:

1) Have Maria and Wanda become best friends.

2) Maria and Wolverine bonding and getting along

3) And Steve and Maria getting back together :P

Which is a lot and I want to thank you all who commented. Onwards to the next chapter that will be up this week for sure :)