Aayala had no idea what was happening when she opened her eyes. No idea where she was either. Her hands felt the soft grass of a planet she knew, but how did she get here? Her mind was blurry about what had happened and it felt like she had been asleep for days.

Looking in front of her, she saw dozens of other people sitting on the ground in the same way she was, looking dazed and confused. The normally busy square was quiet, too quiet, that was until one of the inhabitants suddenly yelled a name. It echoed between the buildings, the only sound audible.

The man ran to a woman at the edge of the group, who had recognized her name. He was already crying before he pulled her into a tight hug, afraid of letting go. That was when everything suddenly clicked. The man's emotions unlocking something in her brain. Something about a beautiful blonde crying for her the same way. But that still didn't explain what the hell had happened here.

Was there an attack? Did she somehow die and come back just like these people in the square? All she knew was that her girlfriend wasn't here, the empty space around her told her enough. Carol would never leave her alone, so either something really bad happened to her too, or Aayala was the one being gone.

Yellow sparkles in front of her pulled her out of her head. Immediately jumping up, she was standing just in time to be ready for whatever threat this was.

She had seen a lot in her time in space, but something like this had never come across her path. A small portal, just enough for somebody to walk through, opened a few feet away from her. A tall, thin man came through and Aayala was even more confused now.

He had a weird beard, a weird cape, a weird necklace and weird magic flowed around his hands. Everything inside her told her to attack, that this was a threat. But something stopped her. Maybe it were his eyes. They looked at her sadly, like he was the bringer of bad news.

'Who are you?', she asked rudely.

'I am Doctor Stephen Strange, protector of the New York sanctum and the Time Stone.'

Time stone? 'What do you want? Do you know what happened here?'

Strange looked tired of having to explain this. Who knew how many people he already told this story to. 'It is a very long story, but I am here to take you back to Earth, where the Avengers are fighting Thanos again. They need your help.'

None of this made sense. Disappearing people, a big Titan, people of Earth fighting the Titan, Stones. Her head was spinning. 'Who are the Avengers? How do they know me?'

The man almost rolled his eyes, fed up with her questions and getting impatient. 'Listen, I don't have time to answer your questions. They are on the brink of losing again and they need us fast. So are you in or are you out?'

But Aayala wasn't giving in so quickly. Planting her feet solid on the ground, a sign that she wasn't going to move before he told her more, she crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. 'How did you find me?'

'Your girlfriend sent me. Carol, I believe?'

Her eyes widened and she pushed past him before he could even comprehend what was happening. 'You should have led with that.'

With those words, and a sigh from the Wizard, she walked through the portal. Her girlfriend needed her, he didn't have to say any more. But it would have been nice to have some kind of explanation as to what was going on when she stepped through. Smoke and dust filled the air, making it hard to breathe. Little fires burned everywhere and dozens of huge ships, canons and thousands of soldiers stood before her. It was a terrifying view.

On both sides of her, a dozen more portals were opened. It was a mesmerizing view. All sorts of different people ran, walked or flew through. She didn't know any of them, not familiar with Earth's heroes, but it was clear that these were her allies for this fight. And she had to admit, it was looking good.

At least, it did, until she looked at the enemy.

Of course she knew who Thanos was. That son of a bitch had destroyed whole worlds for his own gain. Nobody knew what his ultimate goal was and why he sent his two daughters Nebula and Gamora throughout the whole universe to collect things for him. But it was clear that it wasn't any good. That was only confirmed by the fact that hundreds of people had gathered here to take him out.

'Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me? On your left.' A sudden voice in her ear made her jump. Somehow, the Wizard had given her a communication device so everyone could talk to each other.

The single, lonely man who stood facing Thanos' whole army turned around to look at his left. A man with large wings flying through the sky. Yala immediately knew that the blond one was the leader. The way he held himself and the way everyone looked at him made that very clear. She also knew she liked him already. He was on his own against a whole army of aliens, but still he was ready to fight.

Goosebumps formed on her arms from the strength and emotions pulsing through her body, standing here between hundreds of heroes. A redhead came to stand next to her, her long hair in a braid down her back. She was tough, a fighter, that was immediately clear. Giving Yala a small nod, as if she knew who she was, she readied her batons for the fight.

Aayala's hands lit up with fire, ready to send some of these basterds to hell.

'Avengers!' Cap summoned the legendary hammer from the god Thor of Asgard in his hand, 'Assemble.'

Everyone let out battle cries, charging forward together. The flyers took to the sky and Yala decided she would too. There were enough people on the ground, the sky could need some extra help.

She couldn't make out Carol in the crowd, but knew she would find her after. The battle was where she had to focus on right now, knowing the blonde would want her to.

Thanos' army was massive, it was like a whole planet of people had come out to fight with him, but that didn't stop the heroes. Yala set dozens of aliens on fire at the time, but it felt like twice as much came back each time she did so. It was a never-ending supply of soldiers. She tired fast, the combination of using two elements at the same time to this extent wasn't good for her energy.

'Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?' A panicky voice filled her ear. Her eye fell on a man running around with a giant gauntlet under his arms, dodging attacks everywhere he went.

The Captain answered quickly from the other side of the battlefield.'Get those Stones as far away as possible!'

'No! We need to get them back where they came from.' Another voice spoke. She couldn't make out where it came from, too focused now on dodging the huge canon shots fired at her.

'No way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel.' She wanted to help, but had no idea what they were talking about. She knew nothing of science or quantum stuff.

'Hold on!' The giant man in the red suit, who could shrink and grow, something she thought was very cool, shrunk down suddenly. 'That wasn't our only time machine.' Uhm, what? A time machine? To what lengths did these people go to fix the universe? Her respect grew more and more for them.

Suddenly, a loud tune that could be heard over the entire field, played out loud. Everyone not busy with defending themselves turned their head towards it. Aayala had no idea what she had to look for, but Cap cleared that up for her quickly.

'Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?'

Yala's sharp eyes fond the boxy vehicle immediately. Touching her ear, she spoke in the ears of hundreds of people at the same time. 'Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked.'

A metal sounding voice answered her, letting her know that whoever it was, he was wearing a metal suit. 'Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?'

'Maybe ten minutes.' She groaned inwardly. Ten more minutes of fighting and dodging and making sure she didn't die. She was drained, but giving up was not an option, not until she saw Carol again.

'Get it started. We'll get the stones to you.'

'We're on it, Cap.'

Since the van was now clearly of great importance, she decided to defend it from above. Killing any aliens that came too close and keeping the people inside safe so they could work on getting the Time Machine to work again.

The ground soldiers weren't prepared for attacks from the sky. She could pick them off one by one, just frying them, knocking them into each other or dropping huge blocks of rock on their heads. It felt so good to take them out. To get revenge for all the people who lost someone anywhere in the universe. Adrenaline filled her body, giving her a huge rush of strength and power.

A red burst of light and power got her attention, flickering in the corner of her eye. A woman with red hair, wearing all red too, stood in front of Thanos. She was yelling at him, clearly having personal issues with the Titan. Her powers were incredible, the strength and power actually reminded her a lot of Carol's powers. It wouldn't be a surprise if they had the same origin.

If anyone would have told Yala that a young, kind looking woman would be the one to bring the giant to his knees, she wouldn't have believed them. But there she was, seeing the fear in his eyes from where she hovered in the sky.

Thanos was being crushed by the magic, his armor breaking and tightening around his body. In agony, he screamed towards one of his minions. 'Rain fire!'

'But sire, our troops!', the ugly sidekick protested towards his master.

'Just do it!'

Oh, no. Yala's eyes ripped away from the Titan and looked op towards the sky. Every single canon and weapon on the ships came out, ready to fire down on everyone. This was going to be the end, she knew it.

Blue shots fired quickly from above, one after the other. She tried dodging them the best she could, but one hit her left thigh, burning a hole straight through. It hurt, that it definitely did. This was going to take a long few hours to heal. Now she was glad she could fly, not having to put pressure on it by running or walking. She gritted her teeth as she burned the wound close, not having anything to tie it off with and having to stop the blood flow.

The purple liquid dripped down her leg, falling on the ground down below. Her hands were stained with it too and smeared it all over her face while brushing her hair out of her eyes. She must look terrifying now.

A strong, female voice spoke over the shooting and noise of the battlefield. 'Uh, is anyone else seeing this?'

Yala looked up from her leg, deciding this is the best it was going to get for now, her eyes fell on the edge of the river, where a gunshot from the ship had destroyed a dam. Water was flooding out, onto the field below. If nobody was going to stop it, everyone would drown.

Knowing what she had to do, she joined Strange at the waterfall. He looked at her weirdly, not knowing what she could do and why she was here, but understanding filled his eyes when she blocked the water with her hands. Yala had never tested the reach of this element, but it looked like it was stronger than she thought.

Together with Strange, they combined their strength to turn the falling water around, up into a huge waterspout. It reached meters high, quite impressive. The sound of crashing water was deafening and Aayala was so focused on her task, that she almost missed the person she had wanted to see the whole time.

It became too quiet behind her, the ground stopped shaking and no more explosions rocked her body. The canons had focused their attention on something else, something in the sky.

Yala turned her head around. Strange, knowing who they were firing at, nodded his head in a gesture for her to go, he got this. She stumbled towards the first person she saw. It was the redhead who had nodded at her before. She looked at her leg worryingly, but Yala just shook her head, letting her know it was fine.

Together they looked up at the sky, the woman beside Aayala supporting her weight a little. Everyone else was confused too as to why the ships were suddenly firing upwards.

'What the hell is this?' The birdman asked while flying up. But Yala already knew who it was, a big smile on her face.

'F.R.I.D.A.Y., what are they firing at?', metal-man asked.

'Something just entered the upper atmosphere.'

A bright light of thundering energy comes surging down as it flies through the ship, destroying it completely. The canons powered down and explosions sounded loudly. The woman next to Yala looked at her face, seeing in her eyes that it was who she thought it was. 'That's my girl', the purple-haired woman muttered to herself.

'Oh, yeah!' Somebody else was clearly happy she was here too.

Everyone stared in wonder as the ship completely broke down and crashed into the river below. Thanos was visibly afraid, breathing heavily.

Steve was the first to break out of his staring. 'Danvers, we need an assist here.' These people even knew her last name? How well did she know them? How long had she worked with them. Yala knew time had passed since she had disappeared, but no idea how much.

Carol landed somewhere on the other side of the field, clearly focusing on the mission too. It was obvious that she would need help getting the gauntlet to the van, but Aayala had no more energy left to fly. Blocking the water had drained the last of her power, leaving her with nothing but her guns to defend herself. She couldn't do much but kill any aliens close to her.

But the woman next to her had energy left and looked at Aayala with questioning eyes, wanting to know if she could keep going. 'Go on, I'm out.' With the adrenaline slowly fading too, her leg hurt more and more.

The redhead gave a quick nod and ran off, towards the direction Carol had disappeared in.

All Yala could hear were explosions, shooting, fighting, yelling. All she saw was fire, smoke and blinding lights. She just slowly made her way towards the van in the middle of the field, way too slowly for her liking. It felt like she was crawling, like every step forwards followed with two steps backwards. It was frustrating, knowing she could have done so much more but simply not having enough energy to.

Her leg was on fire by now, that was also taking a lot of energy for her body to heal itself. Every step was more painful than the last. It didn't help that one of the leftover aliens cut her with his sword, her right arm now sporting a deep cut. It made shooting even more difficult, being righthanded.

She had no idea what was going on with the Stones and Thanos, but a sudden surge of bright white light flashed in her eyes, coming from the center of the field. When she looked around, every single alien thing turned to dust. Slowly crumbling down, only leaving ash behind. The soldiers, canons, even the ships in the air disappeared. Now she knew what had happened to her.

It was so quiet, only the sound of the wind and crackling of fire could be heard. They did it, they had won, but at what cost? Speeding up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her leg every time she put weight on it, she finally made it to the center of the action. Her eye immediately fell on the purple Titan sitting in the middle, slowly disappearing too. They did it, they had beaten him.

It made everything worth it, the pain, the exhaustion, the wounds. Just when a small smile appeared on her face, her purple eyes saw the one responsible for ending the fight. 'Babe?', she said loudly, the anxiety and fear clearly audible. Everyone's attention shifted from the empty rock Thanos had disappeared from, to the purple-haired Ateran, who limped over to her girlfriend as swiftly as she could.

She sat on the ground, her back against a rock. The gauntlet with the Stones still on her left hand, although they weren't shining anymore. Small lines of bright energy ran up her arm and neck, but despite that, she looked fine. It was no surprise she could handle the force of the stones, having gotten her powers from the Space Stone.

'I'm okay', Carol said in a soothing voice, but the pain was still audible. Yala fell on her knees in front of her, cupping her face carefully. 'You're here. It's really you', the blonde whispered. Tears trickled down her cheeks, relieved and happy to see the woman she had missed to much in the last five years.

Yala was crying too, but she didn't care. They had survived this hellhole and reunited with each other. 'Yeah, it's really me', she murmured, before pulling Carol into the tightest hug she could manage. The Avengers watched with smiles on their faces as the two women hugged. Natasha with maybe the biggest smile, knowing how much her blonde friend had missed Yala.

'I missed you so much', Carol breathed in Yala's ear.

'I'm here, it's okay', she reassured her. Eventually, she pulled back, wanting to look at her face.

'You look like a mess', the blonde said, seeing the purple blood smeared all over her face and her hair all tangled. She tried wiping the blood off with her free hand, but that didn't do much.

Aayala chuckled. 'Well, Miss, you don't look so good yourself.' Only then she noticed the shorter hair, examining it, tilting her head to the side as if not sure what to think, she finally put Carol out of her misery when she answered. 'I dig the hair.'

'You do?'

'I do', the woman answered with a smirk, running her fingers through the short blonde locks. They both laughed out loud, which was a sign for Natasha to step forward and interrupt the moment.

Looking at the gauntlet still around Carol's hand, she spoke gently, not wanting to change the vibe too much. 'We should get that thing off.'

'Right, good idea.' Yala wanted to get up, but her leg wasn't functioning anymore. 'Uhm, little help?', she asked the redhead whose name she still didn't know.

She quickly made her way over, grabbing both her upper arms and lifting the Ateran off the ground, back on her legs. Or- leg. Yala almost fell over, was it not for the woman catching her just in time. 'Thanks...' trailing off in the end, a secret question what the other's name was.

'Natasha.'

She nodded, giving her a smile. 'Natasha. Thanks for looking out for this one here while I was gone.' Her head gesturing to her girlfriend sitting on the ground, Cap pulling on the gauntlet carefully to get it off.

'Well, it wasn't always easy. She is really stubborn.'

Yala laughed out loud. 'I like you.'

'Hey! I heard that!' A voice came from the ground, clearly having heard the conversation between them.

This caused everyone around them to laugh, too. Relief filling everyone's chests that the battle was over, that they had finally won. And that above all, everyone was still alive. A couple scratches here and there, some bigger wounds, but also healed ones. The broken hearts were all healed. People were reuniting everywhere now. Lost lovers, friends or family.