I was woken up by a heavy shudder going through the plane. It was really quiet all of a sudden. The engines were off. Opening my eyes slowly, they looked out the window I was sitting in front off, still tugged into a little ball. The light from outside was strong, telling me it was still day, so we hadn't flown too long. Groaning a little and stretching my stiff limbs, I felt a lot more energized than before my little nap. It had done me some good.

'Welcome back, sleepyhead.' A voice interrupted my little waking ritual and I didn't even have to look to my left to know she had a little grin on her face.

'Did we make it?' The sleep still present in my words. My headache was almost gone and I felt the wound on my head was also almost healed.

'Yes, why? Did you doubt my flying?', Vers asked sharply, but I knew she meant it as a joke.

'A little. Would be typical you to drop us somewhere completely wrong.' I couldn't keep the smile away from my face at the reaction I got.

'Hey!', a little glare followed her exclamation and she gave me a nudge that almost made me fall out of my chair.

Fury sighed from behind us and when I turned around, I saw Goose had made his way over to him when I was in dreamland. 'Are you going to keep flirting the whole time, or do you want to go talk to this Maria person?'

Right. We were here on a mission.

Vers opened the ramp door with a push of a button and all three of us got out, Goose following behind.

The place Maria lived was beautiful. It was exactly like Atera. A little two-story home with lots of space around and grass everywhere. Big trees gave it a little protection from the heat of the sun and all we heard was birds singing. The deja vu to my childhood years hit me like a brick and for the hundrerth time today, emotions threatened to take me over.

We knocked on the front door but nobody answered, so we decided to check the back. The sound of music met my ears before I saw anyone, but this sign of life gave me hope there was somebody home.

A small aircraft was parked under a hanger, clearly being repaired or built. All the way in the back stood a woman with her back turned to us. But I didn't need to see her face to know she was the one we were looking for. Vers knew it too and nerves took over her body as she stepped forward. I stood back with Fury. This was her moment, her old life, old friend. I had no right to mingle with it.

She stopped a few feet before the hanger, insecurity projecting from her body. For a second I thought she might chicken out and say nothing, but the drive to finally figure out who she was, was bigger than her doubts. 'Excuse me, I am looking for Maria Rambeau.'

But an answer didn't come from the woman, it came in the form of a little girl who jumped out of the plane. I didn't see her before, so this came as a surprise. 'Aunty Carol? Mom, it's Aunty Carol!' Aunty Carol? Now I was just confused. But the child seemed incredibly happy and ran to Vers, throwing her arms around her middle, hugging her tightly. 'I knew it, everybody said you were dead but we knew they were lying.'

So it was true. Vers did die six years ago in that crash. Or at least, they had told everyone that she did, because here she stood, alive and well.

Vers didn't know how to react to the hug she got. Her whole body stiffened and there was no reaction to the big smile of the girl. It was clear that she didn't remember her.

'I'm not really who you think I am', she finally said sadly, half to the girl and half to Maria who had come forward with big eyes that didn't believe what they saw. There was a long pause as Vers waited for Maria to say something and it finally came in the form of three simple words: 'Let's go inside.'

She led us to the small kitchen, where she offered us some drinks and food, which I happily accepted, and waited for Vers to start explaining everything. So she did. She started right at the beginning. Her arrival on Hala, not remembering anything, her powers, the mission that went sideways, the Skrulls, Lawson, Fury, SHIELD and finally how we made our way here. She left me out again, knowing I would like to tell my own part myself.

All the while, Maria and what I assumed was her daughter just listened intently, eyes as big as watermelons. I had to admit, it sounded crazy and insane putting it all in one story.

'That is the craziest shit I've ever heard', Maria summarized her thoughts. I laughed at her words. She was without doubt a friend of Vers. My laugh caused her to turn her attention to me however, and so it died down quickly. 'And who is she?' She asked Vers, even though I was standing right here, probably trusting her friend's words more than mine.

Vers turned her head to me, silently questioning if she could tell her. I nodded. 'That's Aayala. Commander Aayala', she corrected herself. The little inside joke didn't go unnoticed by me. I used to correct her all the time back on Hala. 'My girlfriend.'

Maria's eyes grew even bigger at that word, if it was even possible. 'Girlfriend?'

Vers nodded, so Maria's eyes finally went to me, studying me, as if she was approving me. 'You are not human, are you?' I was taken aback by her question, but she didn't ask it in an unfriendly way, she was just curious. She gestured to her own eyes. 'The eyes-'

'-And the hair. Yeah.' I interrupted her. 'I'm from a planet called Atera, a border planet of Hala. My people had bright colored hair and matching eyes, but we are not much different from the humans. Aterans originally decent from them, we just mutated over the centuries.'

My usage of past tense didn't go unnoticed by Maria. 'Had?'

My eyes flickered from hers to the wooden floor, my arms crossing to create a sense of safety. I hated talking about this.

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that', she quickly said when she saw the way I reacted.

'No, it's fine. It was a long time ago, don't worry about it.' Now I felt guilty about making her feel guilty.

'Just because it was a long time ago doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore.' Man, she was really sweet. I could see why Vers used to be friends with this woman.

My eyes found hers again and I decided to tell her. Any friend of Vers was a friend of mine (except Yon) and I wanted her to like me. I was a big part of Vers' life, whether she liked to or not, and she was also a big part of it. I wanted us to get along and for that, she needed to know about me.

'I was sixteen when the Skrulls invaded my planet and bombed it to the ground. I lost everything that day, my parents, my home, my people. The Kree took me in as their own and gave me a new life, hope, a way to get revenge. I joined the Starforce officially when I was eighteen and I have been slowly working my way up to Commander, anything to redeem my parents by helping the Kree with the war against the Skrulls.' I left out little parts, but I think she got the gist of it.

Nobody knew what to say to my story, the sad atmosphere didn't fit the happy situation we were in. Vers had just found her long-lost friend, we should be happy.

Luckily, the child seemed to sense the tension and came with another unexpected exclamation. 'Green-transforming aliens? There is no such thing!'

Everyone laughed at her, even me. I liked her, she was everything I used to be. Carefree, young, unaware of all the pain and hate in the universe.

Fury spoke up for the first time since he had set foot in this house. 'You're absolutely right, young lady. There is no such thing. 'Cause if there were, we would want to keep that to ourselves.' He turned around slowly at the last part, looking accusingly at me and Vers. Oops, I guess he was right. Humans didn't know of aliens, but the fact that I was standing here with my purple eyes was already proof enough.

A big smirk came on Vers' face. She clearly thought the same thing, ignoring Fury's statement completely and deciding to make things even worse. 'You don't believe me.' It wasn't a question, it was an observation.

Moving to the stove where a kettle filled with water stood, she put her hand on it and let it burn orange with heat. Soon, the thing started to whistle, letting us know the water inside was boiling.

The little girl got up to see it from up close, while Maria sat up straight in her chair, her eyes big again. But they also held some trace of sadness, like she didn't recognize the woman who used to be her best friend.

'Oh, ho. She can do a lot more than just make tea with those hands.' Fury said to the girl when she declared how cool it was that her Aunty could do that.

'Like what? Show us!' She practically jumped up and down from excitement, but Maria's sad eyes didn't go unnoticed by Vers. That was impossible. She had a sensor that told her when someone was feeling sad or down.

'Maybe later.'

If the kid felt any disappointment, she did a good job hiding it. 'I kept all your stuff, I'll go get it.' And she was gone to get whatever she had kept.

'You want to give her a hand with that?' Vers asked Fury with a nod to the door. She wanted some time alone with Maria, I could understand that and Fury would too.

'Mmm??', he pointed to himself, questionably. He was sipping on some iced tea I had already drank up minutes ago. But like I predicted, he got the suggestion to leave them alone for a while and walked after the girl.

I uncrossed my arms, getting ready to leave too. 'I'll go too, give you some time to catch up.' My body was already halfway out the kitchen when Vers' voice called me back.

'No. I want you to hear this. I need you to hear this, too.' When I turned around questionably, she added, 'You spent two years trying to figure this out', gesturing around her. 'You deserve to hear this as much as I do.'

'Alright, if you're sure?' I really didn't want to take this moment between them away from her. I didn't want to interrupt or be unwanted.

'Yes, idiot. Come on', she joked, motioning for me to sit next to her on the chair opposite Maria.

So I sat down and she immediately grabbed my hand under the table. Normally she wasn't a big fan of PDA, but it looked like she needed my support right now, so I said nothing, just gave it a little squeeze. 'You don't remember anything?', Maria asked after a short silence. She had a hard time believing that Vers didn't know anything anymore.

'I see... flashes. Little moments, but I can't tell what's real. If I could just piece together what happened that morning, maybe it'll all make sense?' The end of her sentence sounded hopeful. If Maria didn't have the answers we needed, I had a feeling we were going to have a hard time continuing this mission. I know I would. Giving up wasn't in my dictionary, but it looked more and more alluring.

Luckily, Maria's eyes lit up with a memory and knew we were finally close to placing the pieces into the puzzle. 'You woke me up, banging on my door at dawn. Your usual move. Back then we had to get up so early, the Air Force still wasn't letting women fly combat, so testing Lawson's planes was our only shot at doing something that mattered. And you wanted to race to base, in your old Mustang, and I wasn't about to argue, 'cause I knew my Camaro would dominate.' Vers smiled sadly at the memory she couldn't remember herself but clearly made Maria very happy. My heart hurt for her, if I could take her pain, I would.

'But you cheated, took a shortcut.' Maria referred to the race in their cars to base.

'Since when is a shortcut cheating?' Vers smirked, back to her old annoying self.

'Since it violates the pre-determined rules of engagement.' The way Maria said it was in a duh-tone.

'I definitely don't remember those.' Yup, she was still joking. And it came so natural with this woman in front of her, which made me believe the bond they had, had been very strong.

'Mmm, of course you don't.' Maria joked back and they both laughed. But their faces turned serious again very quick, the tears reappearing in Vers' eyes when Maria continued. 'When I got to the hanger, Lawson was agitated, she said 'she had lives to save'. She was trying to take the ASIS up herself, but you said...'

''If there were lives at stake, I would fly the plane.'' Vers quoted herself from six years back. My eyes shot to her face, she remembered something. She took in a shuddering breath when Maria continued.

'Yup. Biiiigg hero moment. The kind of moment we've both been waiting for. The Doc was always unique. That's why we liked her.' She smiled at the thought of the older woman. 'But now you're saying she's from another planet.'

'I know this must be hard for you', Vers tried to understand what the woman in front of her must be feeling right now.

'What, this part right here? No, no.' Maria shook her head lightly, but sure.

'Know what's hard? Is losing my best friend, in a mission so secret they act like it never even happened.' I didn't even want to think about losing her, but this woman had lived it and the tears that formed in her eyes told me that it really sucked. Her voice shook when she continued and it had an angry tone to it. But I knew she wasn't really angry at Vers, she was upset that she had lost her and the woman she got back was a different one. A stronger one, but different.

'Hard... is knowing you were out there somewhere, too damn stubborn to die. And now you come up in here after six years... with your super-charged fire-hands and your alien girlfriend' Her eyes shot to me and back quickly. I knew she didn't mean it in a bad way, her emotions took over her words. 'And you expect me to call you... I don't even know what... 'Vers'? Is that really who you are now?'

Vers shook her head. 'I don't know.' It almost came out as a whisper, a breath. She didn't know who she was, not yet at least.

They looked at each other sadly after Maria let out a quiet sigh, not knowing what to think about all this. A long silence followed until the child's voice interrupted our little moment. I had totally forgotten about the two other people in this house and by the way the women around me were shocked out of their thoughts told me they had too.

'Come look!'

Maria stood up hesistant, but walked to her daughter anyway.

'Hey. Will you be okay?' I whispered to Vers as we both stood up from the chair. I touched her cheek quickly, making her look me in my eyes so I could see if she would give me an honest answer.

She nodded a little. 'I think so.'

'Good', I smiled.

'Will you?', she retorted the question with a little smile herself.

'I think so', she chuckled at my answer. Not missing the joke. 'Let's see what dirty secrets the child has found about you.' A mischievous smile on my face as I dragged her to the dining room by her arm. She was laughing out loud as I did so.

~~~~~~~~

I love this little family.

I was doubting whether to make Aayala join the conversation in the end, but I think she deserved to be there, so I did.

Thank you for reading again!

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