'Okay, who here hasn't been to space?' Rocket's voice filled his ship. Apparently, the jet Carol found Tony and Nebula in, was owned by one of the people on Rocket's team, so he knew it well. That is also why she let him fly and didn't try to mingle.

Natasha, Steve and Rhodey slowly raised their hands as if they were in class. Again, if Yala was here, she would have chuckled or made a funny remark, but it looked like Rocket was capable of doing that all on his own. 'You better not throw up on my ship.'

'Approaching jump in 3... 2... 1.' The blue woman also in front announced. Bruce, Natasha and Steve all braced in their seats, not knowing what to expect. Natasha's fists were white from the pressure she put on the armrests. The jet sped up towards the jump-point. It was nothing new for Carol, she had done this a thousand times before. The planet emerged from behind it, everyone staring with big eyes.

Carol unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out the ship, announcing she would do some recon. It was easier and safer for her to do it on her own. Easier to be unnoticed. But it looked like she didn't need stealth or carefulness. There were no weapons, no defense-system, no people but Thanos. 'No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him', she said through her comms while hovering in front of the jet. 

The fact that Thanos was smart and didn't have any kind of defense at the ready, made everyone uneasy. He didn't care if they found him.

Nebula, clearly looking for some revenge at the man that had tortured her for years, looked satisfied it was just the Titan. 'And that's enough.'

The planet was beautiful. It actually looked a lot like Earth, which made Carol a little uneasy. Thanos' house stood in the middle of a large field, the mountains raising up behind it. It was peaceful, not at all what everyone associated with the giant. His armor was displayed on a pole, like a trophy, something he wanted everyone to see.

Carol reached the house first, blasting a hole through the roof that the man caught with his iron hand. She followed immediately after, knocking him over before they both got up quickly. She jumped on his back, her hands keeping him in a headlock. Rhodey and Bruce -in his Hulk Buster armor- raised up from under the wooden floor and grabbed both his arms before he could throw her off him. 

Thor raised Stormbreaker and chopped his left hand off with a swift cut. The Titan yelled in pain. That was when Natasha and Steve walked in, Rocket turning around the amputated hand with the molten gauntlet around it. He gasped when the sockets were empty, the Stones were gone. Natasha and Steve stared down at it, a little hope fading from their eyes. 'Where are they?', the Captain asked.

Thanos just grunted, so Carol applied more pressure to his throat as a threat. 'Answer the question', she said dangerously in his ear. She knew she was being way to emotional and angry. She could practically hear her purple-eyed girlfriend yell in her head to stay calm, that was the only way she could win this fight.

Thanos took a few shallow breaths, trying to get some air in his lungs. 'The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation.'

'You murdered trillions!', Bruce yelled and pushed the Titan over. Carol could jump from his back just in time not to get crushed under his weight.

'You should be grateful', Thanos said angrily. It was clear that he really thought he had done the right thing. But Bruce wouldn't hear any of it and punched him in his face hard. He wasn't the only one having trouble keeping his anger contained. Natasha looked down at him, angry tears in her eyes. 

'Where are the Stones?' It sounded way more dangerous and threatening than if she would have yelled it at him.

But he still wasn't impressed. 'Gone. Reduced to atoms.'

'You used them two days ago!'

'I used the Stones to destroy the Stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be.' He sat up straighter, the proud man who wouldn't go down without a fight, coming back. 'I am... inevitable.' Carol's heart sunk at his words. The Stones were gone, there was no way to get everyone back, to get Yala back. All hope was sucked out of her body, leaving nothing but pain and sadness.

But Rhodey wasn't ready to give up yet, trying to find another way desperately. 'We have to tear this place apart, he-he-he has to be lying.'

'My father is many things. A liar is not one of them.' Nebula spoke up for the first time, clearly not comfortable around the Titan that had hurt her so much. 

'Ah, thank you, daughter.' The blue woman looks down uncomfortably. 'Perhaps I treated you too harshly.' That was a little late to say, wasn't it.

Thor, angry and frustrated and done with this conversation, raised his axe again and cut Thanos' head off before anyone could even comprehend what was happening. Nabula casually wiped some blood of her face, not affected by his death at all. 

Everybody stared in shock, but also understanding, at the dead Titan and Thor. But Rocket didn't like it. 'What... What did you do?'

Thor just looks broken, staring at the lifeless man he had failed to kill before. He thought it would make him happy to kill Thanos this time, to fix his mistake. But it didn't bring him any satisfaction, only more pain. 'I went for the head', he promptly said, before pushing his way through his teammates and out of the house. 

Everyone was dead quiet. The only thing audible was breathing. Natasha looked devastated, the most emotion anyone has ever seen on her face. The others looked lost, broken even. All hope was lost, there was no way to get the Stones back. No way to get all the people back. They had failed again and the knowledge of that fact would weigh down on them for the rest of their lives. Overshadowing every good thing they had ever done, from the battle of New York to the fall of HYDRA. 

This loss overshadowed everything, but what they didn't know is that five years later, they would have another chance, one with a completely different ending.

Carol felt the wind blow through her short hair. She had cut it off not long after leaving the Avengers to go back to space, to help everyone who needed her help again and at the same time keeping an eye out for any sign of Thanos or the Stones. Her long hair had felt weird, out of place. It didn't suit the new person she had become. 

Brushing it in the morning and looking at it in the mirror just reminded her of how Aayala would run her fingers through the blonde locks every time they kissed or if she just felt like playing with it. Long-haired Carol was the old one, the happy one, the one that woke up every day with a smile because the first thing she saw was purple eyes.

Now her mornings held no more happiness, only more pain every time her hand reached out and found nothing but empty sheets. It was her laugh she missed the most. The wide, free, careless laugh she would only do if she found something really funny. And her eyes, how they sparkled when she would look at her.

Carol mostly kept herself busy, anything to get her off her mind. Every day, she woke up exhausted from the lack of sleep and the overuse of her powers and body. Nightmares plagued her at night, so if she slept, it was restless and filled with anxiety.

Her hands were always trembling, but she hid all this very well. To the outside world, it just looked like she was a little sad, keeping herself together really well. But whenever she was alone, the tears would come out.

Today, she had another meeting with Natasha. The redhead had become the leader of the Avengers and friends. With Steve taking time off, Tony never wanting to see his former teammates again and nobody else wanting to do this tiring, depressing work, Natasha had taken the role of leader on her shoulders. She was holding on, but that was it. 

Carol had become quite close with her actually, having gone through a traumatic experience together. They never actually talked about the people they had lost, and knew better than to ask each other, but Carol knew Natasha lost someone very close to her too. The woman actually reminded her of her girlfriend a little bit. The same strength and dry humor, same firey hair, same ability to hide pain.

Today, Rocket, Nabula, Okoye and Rhodey joined the conversation too, everyone appearing in Holo's in front of Natasha's desk. 'Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged', Rockets voice reached her ears. 

'It was an infectious garbage scowl.' Nebula did not look happy about that. 

'So, thanks for the hot tip', the Raccoon added.

'Well, you were closer.' To anyone paying very close attention, the tiniest smirk could be found on her face. That was all she could conjure up these days. 

Natasha, not caring about any of their banter, turned to Okoye. 'You get a reading on those tremors?'

'It was a mild subduction under the African plate.'

'Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?' Natasha wanted to do everything right these days, jumping at every opportunity to do some good. It was her own way of trying to make up for her failure.

'Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it', the Wakandan woman said sarcastically. Natasha stared at her for a second, before turning to the blonde woman.

'Carol, are we seeing you here next month?'

Not likely.' She didn't go back to Earth unless absolutely needed. Before leaving after the fight with Thanos, she had checked Maria's house. Nobody was there, but the piles of ash on the floor made it clear what had happened. Just the thought of coming back hurt her.

'What, you gonna get another haircut?' Rocket cut through her thoughts. 

She was pissed now, really not in the mood for his jokes. 'Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets.'

Regretting his joke, he murmured to the floor.'All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point.'

Now the blonde turned back to the redhead in front of her, tears always shining in her eyes. 'So you might not see me for a long time.'

'Alright. Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me.' 

Okoye agrees in Wakandan, Rocket with a simple 'okay', before they disappear from the room. Carol quickly looks to Rhodey beside her. 'Good luck', she wished the man, knowing he was also all over the world, trying to help people.

And with that, she cut herself off from the conversation, finding herself back in her ship. This has been going on for five years. Five very long years. But she never gave up, she could never do that. She had made a promise to her girl before she disappeared and she would never break that promise.

~~~~~~~~

Next up is the battle! Like I said, I changed the fate of both Natasha and Tony, so keep reading to see what will happen :)

Thanks for reading!

(1989 words)