After the tape ended, it became very quiet in the shed. Nobody knew how to react to this revelation, especially Carol, who stormed out immediately.

I was feeling too many emotions to describe them all, but most prominent were the anger and the betrayal. Yon-Rogg had lied to me and Carol and who knows who else lied to us. It must have been so funny to them, seeing me spending years doing research and coming up with nothing. Knowing I would never find what I was looking for.

I didn't know how to react, but I did know that Carol was my priority at the moment, my own emotions didn't matter if she felt awful. So for now, I pushed it all down as far as possible, something I was very good at, and followed her out of the shed, knowing she needed me right now.

Taking deep breaths, she turned around slowly, as if trying to keep her anger under control. 'He lied to me. Everything that I knew was a lie.' It came out sad and angry at the same time, something that made my heart break even more.

'Now you understand', Talos said carefully. It wasn't in an I-told-you-so way, he was aware of everything she had just lost.

But Carol was still angry and didn't want to hear anything he was saying. 'What? What do I understand now?'

'Yon-Rogg killed Mar-Vell. He killed her. Because she found out that she was on the wrong side of an unjust war.' What was it with this war? Everyone was telling us we were fighting on the wrong side, but we had seen the evidence. I had lived it. I had been fighting the Skrulls for years, I would know when I was fighting on the wrong side. But on the other hand, the Kree had kept information from me for four years, so maybe my judgement was off.

Carol, again, was thinking the same thing I did. Not simply swallowing anything Talos was saying either. 'No. Your people are terrorists. They kill innocents. I saw the ruins on Torfa.' Her last sentence was heated; she was fed up with the lies.

'Ruins that the Accusers are responsible for!' Talos couldn't keep the frustration out of his words, losing himself for a second. But knowing that yelling at her wasn't going to make it better, he took a deep breath and continued more calmly. 'My people lived as refugees on Torfa. Homeless, ever since we resisted Kree rule and they destroyed our planet.'

O, my... The destruction of a planet? Where else had I seen and lived that. Slowly, little things started to click. How nothing was wrong on Atera before the Kree came. How they had basically dragged me with them to Hala. How they had only cared about me because I was powerful and a weapon. How I had never seen the other rescued kids from Atera again after they refused to fight in the Starforce. How some conversations fell quiet when I entered, not wanting me to know I was fighting on the wrong side.

You know that phenomenon when you suddenly see everything you had missed before because you didn't pay attention to the right things? Or because you simply didn't want to see? Or because some new information suddenly changed everything? Talos kept coming with these pieces of information, turning my world upside down.

'Now the handful of us that are left will be slaughtered next. Unless you help me finish what Mar-Vell started.' He almost begged the last sentence. Carol was his people's only hope.

I didn't want to believe what he was saying, but it sounded so convincing and even Carol's eyes held a little doubt now. Probably thinking about everything else the Kree had lied to her about and trusting her old mentor, Doctor Lawson. She was after all the person she most admired in her life and had told her the same thing about the war.

'The coordinates you found, would've powered a lightspeed ship capable of carrying us to safety. A new home, where the Kree can't reach us.' I for a moment felt personally attacked by his mention of the Kree, but then realized I wasn't Kree and didn't want to be anymore.

Even though my hate for the Skrulls was deeply embedded in me, it was a fake hate, fueled by the Kree. If what Talos was saying is true, I had to change my whole view on everything. It would be a long road to forgiveness and redemption, but it would be worth it if it meant I was finally on the right side.

Maria saw that Carol didn't know what to say, so she joined in, giving her own objective opinion on the situation. 'Lawson always told us that her work at Pegasus wasn't to fight wars, but to end them.'

'She wanted you to help us find the core.' Talos added.

Carol's whole demeanor had changed from angry to tired. Tired with everything. 'Well, I already destroyed it.'

'No, you destroyed the engine. The core that powered it is in a remote location.' Talos cleared up. 'If you help us decode those coordinates, we can find it.'

Just when he thought he had convinced her, and I did too, a last spark of resistance against the truth made its way out. Her eyes shot to me for a second, not forgetting I was also at risk with the decision she made. 'You'll use it to destroy us.'

Talos sighed deeply, also tired of having this conversation and of years fighting a war. 'We just want a home. You and I lost everything at the hands of the Kree. Can't you see it now? You're not one of them.' Oh, no, those were the wrong words to say. I saw it on Carol's face that suddenly went cold.

'You don't know me. You have no idea who I am.' She said to him calmly with a dangerous voice. But it was only then she realized that she herself didn't have any idea who she was either. 'I don't even know who I am!'

If girlfriend-instinct was a thing, mine flared up right there. My whole body telling me that she was not alright and needed me. So I walked over to her quickly, hiding my own pain. Putting my hands on her cheeks, I forced her to look at me.

The effect it had on her was astonishing. The tension in her body lessening evidently and her facade dropped, leaving only a sad expression on her face. She was on the edge of tears and my whole being hurt for her.

'I know who you are. You are the woman who made me feel loved again. The woman I wake up for in the morning just to see her smile. The one who puts everyone's lives above her own, even though that scares me to death. The woman who hates war but finds herself in the middle of it every damn time, because she is protecting those who can't protect themselves.'

Maria, who was clearly inspired by my little speech, also entered the conversation, giving her description of the woman she used to know. 'You are Carol Danvers. You are the woman on that black box risking her life to do the right thing.' She teared up a little. 'My best friend. Who supported me as a mother, and a pilot when no one else did. You're smart and funny, and a huge pain in the ass.' I nodded at that with a smirk, which earned me a little glare from Carol.

'And you are the most powerful person I knew, way before you could shoot fire from your fists. You hear me?' Carol was nodding a little, but I wanted to hear her say it.

'You hear us?', I asked, her eyes flickering from Maria back to my purple ones. She nodded more furiously now, a happy smile slowly forming on her face, showing she was thankful for us.

'Come here', opening my arms for her to pull her into a hug and she gratefully did so. Her tears stained my shirt but I couldn't care less because mine were doing the same to hers. We needed each other to not crumble like our worlds just did. The only thing making sense right now was me and her. So I held her tightly, until I was sure she didn't get any air, but she didn't complain, just hugged me even tighter. All the while she whispered a quiet 'Thank you' in my ear.

We stood there for what felt like ages until our crying stopped and she carefully let me go. I smiled at her and wiped the tears from her face. She kissed me very quickly and then looked over to Maria. Knowing what she wanted to do, I took a step back to give them a chance to hug.

After they pulled apart, all of us walked to the house, ready to sit down and talk about everything calmly now that the words were out. The sound of all those feet on the steps to the porch made me feel at home. Not only the place, but also the people. I felt a little better after my little cry, but a heavy feeling still lay somewhere in my stomach. It was hard to describe, a combination of shame, anger, betrayal and sadness.

I hoped it would just go away if I ignored it long enough, so I acted like everything didn't really affect me. But, of course, Carol saw right through me, so before I could set my first foot on the steps, her hand grabbed my arm to stop me. The others noticed we didn't follow and turned around in question. 'You guys go on, we will be there in a minute', Carol told them. Their eyes flew to where she had caught me and then to my face. Apparently, I didn't do a good job keeping it emotionless, because understanding filled their own.

Nodding, Maria spoke up. 'Of course, take your time.' They turned around and closed the front door behind them, giving us some privacy.

I immediately turned to Carol but didn't look in her eyes, trying to hide what I was thinking. 'I really don't want to talk about it', I struggled to get away from this conversation.

But she knew me better than anyone and recognized my attempt to fool her. 'Well that's too bad because we are', she said in a cheerful voice, as if she was talking to a child. I was kind of acting like one, so she had every right to. She sat down on the steps and dragged me down by my arm to make me sit next to her.

Fleeing didn't work, so now I tried humor. 'Maria was right, you are a pain in the ass.' My smirk didn't feel convincing and I think it looked even less so.

'Yes, but I'm your pain in the ass.' She joked back. For a minute I thought she might let me go, but no. 'I see what you are doing here, but you are not getting away from this.'

My eyes immediately went to the floor again, my intentions found out.

'Talk to me.' She was too sweet. I wanted to be yelled at. Yelled at for being so blind, so stupid. For believing everything they told me so easily. I deserved it. I had hurt so many innocent people, killed them. And for what?

'What do you want me to say Carol?' I said to her loudly, almost screaming it. It sounded like I was angry at her, but I wasn't. I was frustrated and tired and angry at the Kree. I just needed to let it out and she was my victim.

'I failed everyone! I failed the Skrulls, the one I believed for years were my enemy, when in fact I was the enemy. I failed my parents because I killed hundreds of innocent people. I failed you because I couldn't protect you from all this pain and figure it out earlier! I don't deserve you and the way you look at me.' I whispered the last sentence at the floor, hoping she wouldn't hear it. But she did and she was not happy.

'Look at me.' Her voice was strong and demanding, clearly pissed I said I didn't deserve her. I obeyed her, her eyes holding the same emotion her voice had. A fire burning behind them. 'Don't ever say that. They lied to you even more than to me. Feeding you lies for years. You were just a kid when you came to Hala. A kid in pain, who had just lost her parents and needed something to fight for to keep going. So you accepted what the Kree told you and who would blame you? You had no reason to second guess it, no chance to. Nobody blames you for any of this, Yala. It was your fault and you could never have known.'

'But I did know! There was always something off, something that didn't feel right. Maybe if I hadn't ignored those feelings, all this wouldn't have happened.' I tried to convince her of my guilt and failures, but it seemed no matter what I said, her opinion would never change.

'There is no point thinking about what could have happened, Yala. We can't go back and change anything. And to be honest, I don't want to. Because who knows what would change. Maybe you and I would've never met and would've never found each other like we did.' Her hands grabbed mine in her own tightly, emphasizing her point. 'I know this is hard, and it will take a lot of time for both of us to be okay again. But know that you won't have to go through this alone. I will always be here, for as long as you will have me.'

'I don't know where to start', I said quietly through my tears. They had started flowing somewhere throughout her speech again. I have never cried so much in my whole life as I have in the past day.

'Neither do I, but we will figure it out. Together. Okay?' I nodded, my vision all blurred but I didn't have to see her face to know what it looked like now.

Throwing my arms around her neck and pulling me closer to my body, I whispered in her ear, almost as if it was a secret. 'I would like that'

She answered my hug by putting her hands on my back and pulling me even closer. I could feel her smile against my neck. 'Then let's do that', her voice even quieter than mine.

'I love you, V', I muttered after a short silence. Her hair muffled my words, but she heard them loud and clear.

'I love you too, silly.' She laughed her light airy laugh I loved so much. Suddenly, she pulled back a little so she could look at my face. 'Huh, I guess you can't call me 'V' anymore now', she joked, referring to the nickname I always used for her.

'Hmm, you're right. What about... C?' She seemed to think about it for a while. Rolling it through her mind to see if she liked it. 'It sounds like 'V'', I tried again.

'C', I like it', she finally said, nodding her head.

'Then 'C' it is.' We both laughed at the goofiness of the conversation before she stood up, holding her hand out for me. Grabbing it, she pulled me up from the stairs. 'Thank you for listening', I said.

'Always'

~~~~~~~~

I love them.

Thanks for reading again!

(2638 words)