Dahlia used to love the lake.

Natasha used to take her down to it when she was a little girl , lifting her above the waves just before she would plunge underwater.

"Lia, darling, you have to hold on tight to me, okay?" Nat would say sternly, but with a smile on her face, every time Dahlia would jump under the water.

"I know, Nattie, I will!" The small child would call back, grabbing Nat by the hand and pulling her back into the lake's depths.

From the moment the sun would rise over the skyline until the moon took its' place above, the two would splash in the water, skip rocks across the lake, and tell stories of brave women who saved the world, over firelight.

Dahlia grew up to love the heroes in Nat's tales, wanting to save people like she did every single day.

And she did, training as best she could to be good enough, to even be comparable to the first person who had believed in her.

Eventually, she got there, learning to fight alongside her real mother and become one of those life-saving women in the stories of her childhood.

But then Vormir.

A goddamn planet and a goddamn stone ripped her only family from her grasp in one effortless move.

So, instead of throwing them with excitement, like she did all those years ago, Dahlia hurtled the pebbles from her hand with contempt, cursing all the stones in the fucking universe for taking someone she cared about.

Pietro Maximoff looked at the woman beside him, worry in his gaze. He never knew how to comfort anyone, for loss was an old friend of his. He had lost so much in his lifetime that his heart had simply become numb to the sensation, never learning to save himself or anyone else from the sinking feeling that accompanied the pain, because he just ignored it until he could feel it no more. So he did the only thing he knew.

He let her remain silent, intertwining his fingers with her own. He knew she didn't want to talk about it, and he wasn't going to force her to. She could be safe with him.

Dahlia rested her head on Pietro's shoulder, setting down the stone in her hand and looking out over the water.

There they sat, holding hands and staring off at the horizon of the water, clinging onto the only piece of their lives that weren't torn.

Five men were sat on the dock, a saddened silence enveloping them.

Tony spoke up quietly. "Do we know if she had a family?"

"Yeah. Her." Steve said stiffly, and the group looked over to the girl on the bay, her eyes red and puffy.

Thor raised his voice, his tone sharp. "What?"

"I just asked him a question-" Tony sighed but was cut off.

"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right?" Thor's tone was exasperated, unwilling to accept that Nat could be gone. "So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."

"We can't get her back." Clint hung his head between his knees.

"Wha- What?"

"It can't be undone. It can't." His voice was icy.

Thor laughed dryly. "I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive don't you think?"

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn't here, is she?" Clint stood from the bench he was sitting on.

"No, that's my point-" Thor rolled his eyes, trying to defend himself.

He was shaking as he spoke, his voice increasing in volume. "It can't- be undone. Or at least that's what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and talk to him!"

"It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it." Clint started to sob, his words becoming more and more unintelligible with every sentence.

Bruce, who hadn't spoken yet, had seemingly bottled up his anger, letting it out all at once by picking up the bench and throwing it into the lake, causing a splash that sent water flying into their faces. "She's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to."

"We will." Steve said definitively, standing and walking away from the scene, leaving the other four men to follow close after.

Only Dahlia and Pietro stayed outside for the next hour, saying nothing and holding each other close on the shore.

"Hey, Speedy?"

"Yeah, Dahls?"

"I love you."

She had said the three words to him before, many times in fact, but this time felt different. It felt real. It felt like her heart and soul were poured into the creation of the phrase. Like it was all that she could think of. Because it was.

"I love you too, idiot."

"Jerk."

"Suck-up."

"Bastard."

•

"Is there some sort of subspecies of smurf that's purple? Cause I think that might be what Thanos was."

The entire room of Avengers looked at Dahlia Anelace with a mixture of disgust and downright confusion.

Well, the entire room, that is, except for Pietro, who seemed to be taking this hypothesis extremely seriously.

He stroked his chin in thought. "No, no, no. He can only be part smurf. I think that his mom was a smurf, and his dad was Elmo, you know, cause red and blue make purple, so when they-"

Dahlia clapped her hand over his mouth. "Aaaand that's enough about primary colors from Pietro."

"How- Wha- Huh," Steve looked like his brain was buffering. "How did we even get on this topic?"

Clearly, the pair didn't seem to understand that this was a rhetorical question, launching into a full explanation.

"Well, we were looking at the stones in the gauntlet..." Dahlia trailed off, giving him the sign to pick up where she left off.

Pietro began to explain, very poorly, at that. "And Dahlia and I were arguing about which Infinity Stone would be the hottest, if they were people."

"And Pietro thought it would be red or blue-"

"Because it would be."

"Hush. And then I said it'd be purple cause it's a combination of red and blue, and then the purple made us think of Thanos..." Dahlia gestured with her hand.

"Which made us think of his mangled chin, which could be a result of inbreeding-"

"So we started wondering about his genetics. And I thought he was a smurf."

"And I know he's a smurf/elmo."

Rhodey rubbed his temples, freeing one of his hands from the suit to do so. "Oh god, my brain hurts."

"If it didn't, I'd be concerned." Tony clapped him on the back.

The group was huddled around a table that held a makeshift gauntlet, containing the six infinity stones. Just the presence of all six made the air on the room feel tense, the power circulating the atmosphere.

Rocket spoke up, and everyone's eyes darted from the gauntlet over to him. "All right. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?"

Dahlia raised her hand. "First, question: how exactly does it work? When you snap, is it what you're thinking of, or your deepest desire? Cause I don't wanna do it and make a shit ton of popcorn rain from the sky."

Or bring Nat back...

"Yeah, I shouldn't do it either," Pietro shrugged. "Cause if it's my deepest desire, Dahlia's already right there."

She pinched his cheek and smiled. "Aw, that's sweet. Mine's still the popcorn."

"I'll do it."

They all turned to look at Thor, who had stood from his seat and spoke proudly.

Scott scoffed. "Excuse me?"

"It's okay."

Everyone jumped to stop him, yelling out and keeping him away from the table where the gauntlet was resting.

Steve held up a hand. "Wait, wait, Thor, just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor laughed sarcastically.

"We should at least discuss it." Scott shrugged.

"No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."

Dahlia and Pietro started laughing simultaneously, doubling over at the thought of Thor being the strongest of all of them.

"Wha- Stop laughing! It's true!" Thor spluttered.

Tony held up a hand. "It's not about that-"

Thor started to tear up. "Stop it! Just let me! Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right."

"Look- It's not just the fact that the glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition." Tony crossed his arms.

He looked at the group seriously. "What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"

"Cheez-Whiz?" Rhodey asked, fist-bumping Dahlia.

"Lightning."

Bruce came up behind him, a solemn look on his face. "Lightning won't help you, pal. It's gotta be me."

Everyone looked at him with surprise, all except Dahlia and Pietro, who were exchanging crumpled dollar bills, for they had bet on who would end up doing it.

"You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive." He spoke quietly, but with purpose.

"How do we know you will?" Steve asked the question they were all thinking.

"We don't," He admitted. "But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like... I was made for this."

Dahlia shrugged. "Or it's a complete coincidence, but you know, whatever, don't listen to me."

"You're really stepping on my moment here, Dahlia."

"Sorry, sorry."

With a few tweaks and ten minutes of work, the glove was ready. All that was left to do was snap.

"Good go go, yeah?" Tony set down his wrench on the table, gesturing to let them all know that it was time.

Bruce was downright terrified, that much was obvious, but he put on a brave face. "Let's do it."

"Remember- Everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years." Tony warned.

He nodded. "Got it."

Everyone left the room, suiting up in their gear and readying as if they were heading into battle.

Dahlia pulled on her dark purple suit, buckling her belt around it and pulling on her holsters. She relished in the quiet, sure that it would be gone before she knew it.

Grabbing her favorite dagger, she polished it with the material of her suit and placed it into a sheath hanging from her belt.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. Dahlia spun around and held the perpetrator at dagger point, but she lowered it when she saw Pietro, looking scared for his life, as any sane person would be.

"For fucks sake, Pietro. You should know not to sneak up on me by now."

He raised his hands in surrender, a smile making its way to his face. "I thought it would be funny, jeez."

Dahlia rolled her eyes and looked over to the man. "Dude, you need some sort of weapon. You know, just in case."

Pietro puffed out his chest. "I'm the only weapon I need."

"Yeah, well, you said that in Sokovia, and look where that got you." She scoffed, handing him a gun and a knife from the weaponry table.

"Fine," He sighed. "Why don't I get a cool dagger, like you?"

"Oh, what happened to Mr. 'I'm the only weapon I need', huh?" Dahlia teased, flipping the dagger blade back into the handle and into its sheath.

The two made their way back into the main room, arguing about who deserves customized weapons all the way.

"I'm the one who's trained with weaponry, here. You have super speed, I have my dagger."

"But how cool would I look with a custom dagger with like blue lightning bolts on the handle?"

"No one would be able to see it, idiot. You run so fast it's a blur."

"I may be fast on my feet, but you know what I'm not fast in-"

"Oh god. How do you make everything into an inappropriate joke?" Dahlia hid her face in her hands.

Pietro grinned at her embarrassment. "You love it, just like you love me."

She crossed her arms. "Yeah, well, you're lucky I do or I'd punch you in the face."

"Alright, kids, enough of whatever the hell that is. Time to save the universe," Tony grinned at the two of them and spoke to his helmet. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol. Will you?"

"Yes, boss."

The facility moved into lockdown, a wall of steel covering the windows and doors, locking them in with what Dahlia was calling 'The Death Glove'.

"Everybody comes home." Bruce muttered to himself, stepping towards the gauntlet.

Dahlia and Pietro were stood in the back of the room, their weapons and powers on standby, ready for what might be to come.

He grabbed her hand unconsciously, and they watched as the gauntlet began to nanobiotically expand to fit his hand.

As soon as his hand made contact with the glove, his arm began to surge with bright lights of every color, unable to contain the power of the stones.

Bruce began to grunt, crying out in pain.

The whole team's eyes widened, not sure what to do.

Thor took action first, yelling loudly. "Take it off! Take it off!"

Steve stepped in front of him, bringing them all to a halt. "No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?"

"Talk to me, Banner." Tony said calmly.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Bruce panted, his eyes wrenched shut.

Somehow, through all the pain, Bruce began to fight back, gaining control of his hand.

With one last grunt, he finally managed to snap, falling to the ground in exhaustion. The gauntlet slid off his arm and onto the floor. Clint kicked it across the ground and towards Dahlia, who yelped and leapt onto Pietro's back to get away from it.

Steve ran up to the fallen man, shaking him roughly. "Bruce!"

"Don't move him." Tony said sternly, spraying something onto Bruce's mangled arm.

Everyone was silent, afraid to move or ask what it was that they all wanted to know.

"Did it work?" Bruce staggered, cradling his fried limb.

"Worth a shot," Thor grimaced but contributed to try and comfort the man. "It's over. It's okay."

The steel over the windows lifted as Tony clicked something on his wrist.

Dahlia, who was still perched on Pietro's back, craned her neck to look out the window.

Clint nearly dropped to the floor when his phone started ringing, an image of a woman, the woman he'd been missing more than life itself, popped up on the screen.

He scrambled to pick it up, and if he hadn't had such good reflexes he would've shattered the screen.

"Honey. Honey." His voice was hoarse, and filled with disbelief.

Scott walked over towards the glass panels, smiling as he was met with birds chirping and sunshine. "Guys- I think it worked!"

Pietro began to walk over to him with Dahlia on his back, a look of confusion on his face. "How do you kno-"

He was cut off as the glass window shattered, sending shards flying at the two of them, the entirety of the building, walls, glass, cement, and all went flying.

Dahlia gripped harder onto Pietro's shoulders, desperate to stay close to him as the building started collapsing around them.

The walls started to crumble, and a large array of missiles began firing at the base, not ceasing until the compound was sunk into the ground.

The rubble finally settled, and Dahlia coughed as the dust surrounded her. She winced in pain when she tried to move her arm, finding that her left wrist was buried under a large rock.

"Pietro?" She wheezed out, opening her eyes to search the rock for the man she was previously latched onto.

A pile of stone to the right of her moved, revealing the man she was looking for, with a large gash on his forehead. "Heya, Dahls. Did you miss me?"

Somehow he managed to smile through the pain, winking at her, even though his vision was being blurred by the blood gushing into his eye.

She desperately wanted to rush forward to him, to hold him in her arms, and never let go, but two goddamn pieces of rock were keeping them apart by force.

Dahlia wasn't coming around on the topic of stones anytime soon.

Pietro watched her eyes fill with desperation and worry. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm fine, you're fine, we're both gonna be okay."

"I know. I know. But-"

He stretched an arm out towards her, nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process, but it didn't matter to him, not when Dahlia was right there and needed him.

His hand wrapped around hers, their fingers intertwining. It was far from comfortable for both of them, having to crane their necks and arms, but they didn't care in the slightest.

After a few moments of silence, Pietro spoke up. "Do you think it really worked?"

"I guess we can't know until... we know?" Dahlia smiled in embarrassment as he started to laugh. "That sounded dumb, I'm sorry."

"No, no, I get it," He shook his head in amusement but quieted down a bit, a serious look on his face. "It's just- It sounds stupid and selfish, but I don't know if I'm even ready to see my sister. What if we're out of sync? Would we even know what to talk about? We've been attached at the hip since we were born, but with five years apart, her relationship with Vision, and mine with you, we've been further than ever."

Dahlia didn't know what to say. His worries made complete sense, she couldn't imagine having a twin that you were forcefully separated from.

So, instead, just as he did for her earlier, she simply stroked his hand with her thumb, letting him be upset in silence, not trying to get rid of it, just letting it be.

They had no idea how much time had passed since they had been down there when a voice crackled over the entire groups comms.

"On your left."

Dahlia's jaw went slack at the voice.

Sam fucking Wilson.

They looked at each other, and just as they were about to ask if they had both just heard what they thought they had heard, when a scarlet energy lifted the slab of concrete above them.

"Damn, Pietro. You're looking old."