Carol slowly walked over to Yon, the man pulling out his gun and his gravity gun. He would be no match to her now and he had nowhere to run, unlike before. Carol looked more confident than ever, knowing she had full control of her powers and could put the man on his ass within a couple seconds.

She lit up her fist, ready to blast him. Yon powered up his weapons, ready to do the same. The tension was almost unbearable as they stood there in the desert, a few feet away from each other. I held my breath, nervous to see what would happen next.

I think Yon surprised both me and Carol when he suddenly lowered his hands, holstering his guns. 'I'm so proud of you. You've come a long way since I found you that day by the lake.' What the hell? Those were completely different words than he just said to me before I tried to choke the life out of him. He knew it was a losing game for him with how powerful she had become. So he tried to take the coward's way out, convincing her he was still on her side.

'But can you keep your emotions in check long enough to take me on? Or will it get the better of you, as always? I always told you; you'll be ready, the day you can knock me down as yourself. This is that moment. This is that moment, Vers!' She was not impressed at all, just stood very still and waited for his ranting to stop.

'Turn off the light show, and prove, prove to me, you can beat me without...' Done with his little display, she casually blasted him back so far, I had trouble seeing where he landed. I snorted and chuckled, which caused her to give me an amused look, before walking to the man again.

She towered over him, looking down at her former Commander. 'I have nothing to prove to you', her calm voice said. She was right. He had lied to her and used her and she definitely didn't need to prove anything to him.

For a second I thought she was showing him mercy when she extended her hand for him to take, ready to pull him up from the floor. He reached for it and as soon as he had a good grip, Carol turned around and dragged him behind her, over the rough desert floor. Quickly understanding where she was going, I made my own way over to the pod.

She threw him in rather roughly, and started tapping on the controls, setting the course for Hala. I stood on the other side with the smug look on my face that he had displayed before.

We weren't rid of him. I know he would come back for us, the Kree would come back for us. But it would be at least a while before we saw his face again.

While he stared at me, he couldn't help but try to convince me to come with him, a last convulsion of a dead man. 'Aayala, it is not too late for you. Come back with me to Hala, we will act like nothing happened.'

Carol raised an amused eyebrow at me, knowing it was all bullshit now. The smile didn't disappear from my face, instead, it got even bigger. He was almost begging me and it felt good to have such power over him. 'I'm sorry, buddy', I said in a sickening sweet voice, 'but I don't think my girlfriend would like that very much', putting extra emphasis on the word to torment him some more.

It worked, he scrunched his nose like he had smelled something disgusting, but didn't say anything.

'I can't go back empty-handed', he finally spoke when the pod confirmed the destination.

'You won't be empty-handed', Carol said, making him look at her. 'I'm sending you with a message. Tell the Supreme Intelligence that we're coming to end it. The war, the lies, all of it.'

He studied her face, as if to determine she was bluffing. 'You can't do this.' Oh but she could, and she will.

Her answer came in the form of another tab on the controls, making the top of the pod close. We both took a few steps back, giving it some room to take off. The engine sputtered, clearly not able to lift off on its own, so Carol gave it a blast, powering it up enough for the trip back to Hala. It finally sped away and Yon disappeared from our sight, through the clouds. A seep sigh escaped me when I walked over to stand next to her, looking up at the sky, even though there was nothing to be seen anymore.

We stood there in a comfortable silence, the low sunrays falling on our faces and the soft breeze blowing through our hair. 'Think we scared him off?', the woman next to me eventually asked.

I faced her, this being the first time we could have a good conversation without the imminent threat of death. 'Well, I think you definitely did. What the hell are those powers?', an impressed, confused and questioning look on my face.

She laughed at me. 'Pretty cool huh? We should do a little match, see who's better', she teased, wiggling her eyebrows.

'We don't need that, I already know I'm better', I nudged right back.

She gave me a playful push, but didn't react otherwise. Sad eyes scanned my face carefully. Something else was bothering her.

My face turned serious, wanting to know what was going on. 'What's wrong?'

'Is it that obvious?', she chuckled.

'Kind of, yes.'

Sighing, her eyes flickered to the ground a bit before meeting my purple ones. 'I heard Ronan talk, the Kree will be back for me. Maybe you should-' I knew where this was going. She was afraid of putting me in danger and didn't want to see me get hurt. Thinking I was better off without her.

'Stop', I cut her off, 'I know what you are going to say, but no. No, I am not leaving. Whatever will come next, we will fight it together', I grabbed both her hands and stepped closer. 'This is my mess too, you know. I was lied to, too. I don't have a home anymore, too. Besides, where am I going to go without you?' A smile on my face now.

'But-', her stubbornness couldn't give up so easily, so I cut her off again.

'No, no buts. I am not letting you have all the fun on your own, kicking Kree butt.' A half-smile came on her face, not happy I wasn't letting her go, but at the same time glad I didn't.

I shook my head, chuckling. 'Man, you're so stubborn. Please just accept that you will never get rid of me.'

Now she finally laughed, giving in. For now at least. 'Fine.'

'Yay!' I threw my arms around her so fast she stumbled back a bit by the sudden force.

'You're really weird', she snickered in my hair.

'Makes two of us then.'

That earned me a little shock that went straight through my suit. I jumped back, pushing her away while she just laughed out loud at my reaction, the sound travelling over the empty land.

'Ow! Those newfound powers better not be a problem every time I give you affection.'

'Who knows what fun things I can do now', wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Heat rose to my cheeks, which made her laugh return even harder. She loved taunting me and getting the reaction she wanted.

'Where are you going?', she yelled after me when I turned around and walked away from her, the teasing still clearly audible in her voice.

'Away from you!', I yelled back over my shoulder before I took off to fly back to Maria's. Her loud laugh following me as I did so. She caught up with me quickly, though, speeding past so fast I almost fell out of the sky because of the sudden change in air pressure. 'Showoff!'

I'm not gonna lie and say we didn't do a little competition to see who would be at the house quickest. I'm not gonna tell who won either, because I will never speak of this competition again.

My face held an unamused look and dark clouds hang above my head when I stepped through the front door of the house. Carol followed me with a victorious look and couldn't stop teasing me with her win.

'What happened to you?' Fury knew something funny was going on and couldn't help but torment me too. I ignored him and took a seat at the table that allowed me to be as far away from Carol as possible, my own childish protest about losing.

She answered for me, letting everyone know why I was so pissed. 'Oh, nothing. Yala lost the race back to the house, that's all.'

I pouted, sliding down in my chair a bit. Fury and Maria now laughed at me too and soon, everyone was, making it impossible to keep my straight face. It felt good to laugh with these new friends we had made. Emotions are a universal thing and so even though we had three different species sitting in this room, everyone felt as one when we laughed.

Monica and Talos' child played Uno on the stairs together. It made me smile, knowing how races and species didn't matter to children. They only saw a person, not their skin or origin.

Carol and I changed into some normal clothes she still had lying around in her old room, fitting me pretty good, before joining the fun downstairs. The dog tags I had worn under my uniform were now on full display. Maria and Fury noticed, but didn't say anything about it.

The woman had made some delicious food that I probably ate a little too fast for it to still be civilized, but nobody judged me, not after the day we just had. I shamelessly ate a second serving, staying away from the alcohol she had also offered me. I had some bad memories that involved booze and did not want to think about that. Luckily, she understood and gave me some more of her famous iced tea that I knew I would miss.

'I can't believe you got into the raddest dogfight ever and I wasn't there', I followed Maria and Carol's conversation as I ate. Maria had already done some serious damage to Minn-Erva's pod before I even reached them and apparently, she really enjoyed that.

'I'd say this one arrived just in time', Maria jabbed her thumb to me, who was sitting next to her. I smiled when the two woman looked at me.

'My pleasure.'

Fury, being the loyal soldier he was, tried to recruit Maria. 'That's some nifty flying you did out there. SHIELD could always use a good pilot like you.'

'I'll consider it. As long as you don't call my flying nifty again', she warned him. 'How's your eye?'

The Flerken had apparently scratched him on the plane. His eye was red and swollen and it didn't look good. But Fury wasn't about to admit that. 'Getting better every second.'

Carol, playing with the beer in her hand, turned to Talos, who was sitting on my right side. 'Just so I'm clear, you were Soh-Larr, and the SHIELD agent?'

'Keller', Fury clarified. 'Tied my boss up and stole his identity.'

Talos, clearly not liking the way his actions were described, corrected him. 'I borrowed his likeness. I'm no thief.'

But his wife didn't agree, teasing him. 'It's a little like stealing.' I chuckled at her.

'Whose side are you on?' Talos said, offended by his wife turning against him. It was adorable to see and so thought Carol, a smile appearing on her lips.

'You're good to go here till you recover, but you and your family will need a new look.' Fury interrupted the fun.

'I could go back to being your boss.'

Fury, not happy with that thought, replied quickly. 'Please don't.'

'Come on. I love sporting his beautiful blue eyes.' This earned him some more chuckles until Monica spoke up for the first time, interrupting her game to give her opinion.

'No way, you guys have the best eyes. Don't ever change your eyes.' She warned the little girl sitting on the steps next to her.

The conversation continued, but Carol didn't pay attention anymore, staring at the table, her mind far away. I knew what she was going to say so I immediately nodded when she first looked at me before speaking up. 'We'll help you find a home. Finish what Mar-Vell started.' Talos looked from Carol to me, wanting to see if we really meant it.

'They can stay here with us, can't they, Mom?' Monica spoke up again. She had believed that they would stay with them in this house. She walked down the stairs, the game forgotten, and climbed on her mother's lap.

'They won't be safe here, baby. Auntie Carol is right. They need their own home.' Monica looked to me for confirmation and her face turned sad when I nodded.

Carol saw her niece turn sad. 'I'll be back before you know it', she reassured her.

The girl's big eyes fell on my face again. 'You too?'

I patted her knee. 'I just told your Auntie there was no way she could get rid of me. So yes, I will be back too.' Her eyes flashed between us rapidly and finally decided this was the best reassurance she would get.

'Good, because I like you', she smiled at me.

A big smile found its way on my face. 'You do?'

'Yes. You are good for Auntie Carol and she clearly loves you, so I do too.' Fury and Carol immediately laughed when my cheeks heated up. This little girl got game. She was oblivious to what her words had caused and just continued her story. 'Maybe I can fly up and meet you halfway when you come back!'

'Only if you learn to glow, like your Auntie Carol', Fury gestured to where she was sitting next to him.

But Monica had something else in mind. 'Or maybe I'll build a spaceship. You don't know.'

Carol nodded. 'He doesn't.' Fury looked at her offended, not liked being played.

I think this right here is the happiest I had ever been, despite everything we had uncovered lately and the events of today. This cosy homey setting with pointless teasing and fun was everything I had wanted since I had lost my home all those years ago. The people around me were free and happy and I had never felt safer and more at ease than now. So for a moment, I forgot all my worries and the rough years ahead of us and just enjoyed the here and now.

~~~~~~~~

I just realized that Aayala technically wouldn't blush red, because her blood is purple, but let's just ignore that, shall we?

Hope you enjoyed again!

(2533 words)