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

"Five years apart, and that's the first thing you have to say to me? You're unbelievable."

The Maximoff twins were never ones to show their emotions willingly or obviously. From a young age, they had learned to bottle up their feelings, knowing that the world was far too dark and cold to treat them as equals if they showed any humanity whatsoever.

This never wavered throughout their adult lives, serving them well in battles and war, never trusting anyone except the other. Slowly, with time and help from their respective partners, they both learned to open up, to care, and to love, though at different paces.

However, they tended to fall back into their old habits from time to him, hence their nonchalant greetings after five years of separation.

Pietro was rather annoyed at himself in that moment. His mind was screaming, 'I missed you! Every day I wanted you to come back, I felt like a piece of me was gone!', but his lips would never permit such a thing to pass through, instead only allowing a snarky comment to make its way out.

Wanda Maximoff looked just as she had back in Wakanda, like a day hadn't passed. Well, technically, for her, it hadn't.

Pain was evident in her eyes as well, but a different kind from her twin brothers'. For her, it was merely five minutes from when the love of her life was slaughtered, all to fuel a madman's idea of universal peace. But Wanda hated pity, despised the very idea. So, she covered up her aching heart with a smirk and a sarcastic remark, leaving her heartbreak to be dealt with when she was alone.

Pietro held out his hand for her to help him up, but was left hanging as Wanda saw Dahlia lying in the rubble.

The female Maximoff nearly squealed at the sight of her brother's girlfriend, and really, her best friend. "I see you're still with my douchebag of a brother."

Dahlia took Wanda's outstretched hand, pulling her into a hug. "My favorite Maximoff!"

Pietro climbed up out of the rubble they were buried underneath, dusting himself off with an offended look on his face. "So, my girlfriend prefers my sister, and my sister prefers my girlfriend... I'm honestly feeling so left out right now."

She patted him on the shoulder with a teasing smile. "You should, I'd leave you for Wanda in a heartbeat."

The aforementioned woman turned to her brother, proudly crossing her arms. "You hear that? Be careful next time you think of pissing me off."

He opened his mouth to respond, but found himself speechless after another glowing gold portal opened beside the one Wanda had appeared out of, and another, and another.

Pietro cleared his throat and managed to croak out another word before trailing off. "Holy..."

"Fuck." Dahlia finished, looking just as astounded as he did.

Echoes of a thousand soldier's footsteps could be heard and felt through the ground, the vibrations sending countless shudders through her spine. The two adjusted their posture, suddenly feeling very inadequate amongst these warriors.

Heroes from all corners of the universe stepped out of the various portals, armed and ready for battle.

Dahlia found herself in the midst of a powerful lineup, surrounded by Asgardians, Avengers, Wakandans, and Ravagers alike.

"Dahlia! Dahlia! Hey!"

A familiar, young voice called out to her. She spun around, looking for the source, and found Peter Parker standing there, trying to look determined but failing to hide the giddy grin peeking through.

She smiled to herself, wanting to go over and listen to him talk about everything, but the situation wouldn't permit it, so she could only spare him a wink.

Spiderboy could wait until this fiasco was over, surely. Dahlia made a mental note to talk to him after the battle, eager to know Midtown High's newest developments in the gossip arena.

Cap looked out over the sea of heroes, all together for one cause, and in desperate need of a leader.

His shield, the symbol of his beliefs and the fight for the people he loves, was torn in half, with only one of the pieces remaining strapped to his arm.

Steve set his jaw, struck up the most courage he could, and stood in front of the crowd.

"Avengers!"

His voice echoed and the crowd went silent as an familiar hammer was summoned into Captain America's grasp, a resounding thud following.

"Assemble."

The group didn't need any further encouragement because most, if not all, were desperate for a chance to take down the man who had taken so much from each and every one of them. They charged with a desperation that Dahlia firmly believed that Thanos, who was apparently not dead, much to her disappointment, could never match.

With a clash enemy and ally lines merged, viciously clawing at one another, limb from limb, ripping limbs and souls alike.

Pietro and Dahlia ran towards the enemy, not speaking a word aloud but knowing that the other needed them by their side.

Cull Obsidian brandished his weapons just before the two, his eyes hungry for blood and death, something that they were both far too stubborn to grant him.

She launched herself feet first at the giant-like figure of the alien. Dahlia soared through the air, kicking him square in the nose in passing, and flying over his head. Just as she was about to hit the ground, Pietro appeared beneath her, catching her in his hold just in time.

He couldn't conceal the smirk that formed on his features, liking the feeling of being needed by her, for she never seemed to need anyone. "You seem to like having me save you, huh, Dahls?"

She grinned at his cockiness, climbing out of his arms and kicking an alien in the gut as she responded, matching his energy without missing a beat. "Maybe. Or maybe I just like you."

In that moment, where she managed to flirt with him whilst knocking out several alien threats all in one pass, Pietro knew how deep he was in. He knew how desperately he needed to be with Dahlia for the rest of his life.

He had actually been mulling over this topic in his head for months now, trying to settle the ongoing conflict in his mind. His thoughts had always clashed with one another, trying to suppress and argue and fight and protect all at once.

It always felt too goddamn loud.

But Dahlia, she was like the calm in the storm that was his life. Her voice could break through the mindless noise, and pull him back into reality with no more than a word.

He had always believed that he was abnormal, all hopes of a regular life torn from him throughout every page of the winding story of his existence. He had learned to hate the world, and all the pain that it caused without an ounce of remorse. He was right to an extent, the world was far too cruel for its' own good, and he would never be like everyone else.

But he had been truly mistaken in his notions about the future. Because the woman in front of him, who was kicking ass and looking annoyingly perfect as she did so, she made it all come into perspective. She made him love every part of himself, simply because she loved them. They'd never be normal, neither of them could be, but by god did he want a family with her.

Adopted, biological, he didn't care. They'd be weird, and sarcastic, and probably make too many inappropriate jokes for their own well-being, but he wanted it all. More than he ever thought he did.

Dahlia paused, panting heavily and looking at Pietro, who had been staring at her, deep in thought, for the last five minutes. "You gonna help me or what, Speedy?"

His gaze didn't waver as he spoke. "I'm so in love with you, it's shouldn't be humanly possible."

She didn't even have time to flush, as their attention was drawn away from his comment. Clint raced past them, clutching a familiar gauntlet in his grasp.

He ran towards Steve, who was to the pair's right. "Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?"

The man paused, contemplating their options. "Get those stones as far away as possible."

"No! We need to get them back where they came from." Bruce yelled out, pummeling three alien-dogs that attempted to run at him.

Tony sounded analytical, when in reality he was more anxious than he would ever admit. "No way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel."

"Hold on!" Scott held up a hand, shrinking from his extremely large size into his normal one, pulling out a set of keys from his pocket. "That wasn't our only time machine."

After fumbling around with the control in his hand for a moment or so, he finally managed to click it, a horn playing out the tune of 'La Cucaracha' loudly across the battlefield.

Cap reached a hand up to his comms. "Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?"

"Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked." Valkyrie's voice spoke in their ears from above.

"Scott, how long do you need to get that thing working?" Tony grunted, blasting one of the fins of the Chitauri ship.

"Maybe ten minutes." Scott was attempting to make his way towards the van, running across the litter that was a result of the fight for their lives.

"Get it started. We'll get the stones to you." Steve sounded awfully confident for someone who was in the midst of fighting a shit ton of aliens, at least in Dahlia's opinion.

Clint ran off in the direction of the van/time machine, and Dahlia and Pietro watched in horror as a large Chitauri vessel plowed through their defenses with ease.

She looked at him, determination burning in her irises. "This is going to sound completely and utterly crazy."

"I love crazy," Pietro turned to her with a smile. "I fell in love with you, didn't I?"

"Fair enough."

After explaining her plan, with a shit ton of whining from Pietro, might I add, they were ready to go, even if it might not work and get them killed in the process.

Dahlia nodded to Pietro, and the two launched themselves off the ground simultaneously, latching onto the large spikes and gripping with all the force they could muster. Her knuckles turned white with the tension, invisible fire burning up underneath her skin.

The air resistance from their spot on the Chitauri was less than pleasant. They had to hold on to the spine of the beast for dear life, routinely diverting their eyes towards the other to make sure they were both still there.

Slow and steady, and oddly familiar to surfing a wave, they were able to make their way to their feet, carefully stepping closer and closer to the head of the creature.

"So, back to the crazy part of my plan." Dahlia said calmly, as if she wasn't riding an alien being of death.

He looked at her, his mouth agape, wondering if she registered the place they were in at that exact moment. "This isn't the crazy part?"

Pietro was less than enthusiastic about this idea once it had been set in motion, but it was quite literally the expression 'so crazy it might work' as a plan, so he had to give it a chance.

"Not even close." She smiled and shook her head.

"For god's sake."

Not giving herself a moment to think, and inevitably freak out, Dahlia pulled out her matching swords and plunged them straight into the place where she hoped the creature's brain was.

She cringed a bit at the putrid smell of the alien blood, and glanced at her swords with a look that one might give to a lost loved one. "I've had those since my first day at S.H.I.E.L.D. Now they're all gross."

"Hate to burst your bubble, but there's no way those swords are gonna kill this thing. They're not long enough," Pietro snorted. "Funnily enough, I never seem to have that problem, but you knew that already."

Dahlia rolled her eyes. "First of all, remember our deal back in Wakanda? No inappropriate innuendos unless we're steering wheels of mass destruction."

"I mean, we're riding yet another death machine, so I think it should count." Pietro countered.

"Fine, whatever," She smiled cheekily as she continued. "And secondly, I wasn't trying to kill it."

To demonstrate her obvious genius, she grabbed the handles of the swords and turned them ninety degrees to the right. She squinted her eyes for a moment, chewing on her lip and hoping it would work.

Just as she had hoped, the creature gave a lurch to the right, following the motion of the blades.

Pietro fell to his knees and grabbed the neared spine on the beast's back, narrowly avoiding falling off. "You couldn't have warned me?"

She shrugged. "This was more fun."

He stood to his feet once more. "Alright, seems that you've got this handled, what do you need from me?"

Her mischievous smile spoke more than words ever could, and he knew what to do.

With a swift jump and a wink, Pietro launched himself off of the creature and started to run as soon as his feet made contact with the ground.

Using his speed, he pulled everyone from their side out of the giant's warpath, and moved some of the other side's more nasty competitors right in front of the oncoming beast, leaving them no time to flee from their imminent death.

Dahlia was having the time of her life, for when that first creature was about to pass out, she steered it into another, taking down the two simultaneously. Evidently, she hadn't reached her fill of fun just yet, because she grabbed her swords out of the Chitauri's skull and climbed

onto yet another one, repeating the process yet again.

Steve, who would normally disapprove of her unorthodox methods of combat, looked up at the girl, who was now doing a terrible impression of a cowboy, with an astounded expression. He'd never imagined that her insane ideas could save so many people. He made a mental note to let her handle some battle strategies when this was all over.

With an explosion of the last Chitauri, Dahlia hopped off it and Pietro raced to her side, offering her a high five, which she readily accepted.

"We make a pretty good team, huh?" Pietro grinned.

She shook her head. "Oh, please. It was basically all me."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

A metallic glove was thrust into Dahlia's hands, effectively shutting her up. Well, not for long.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?"

T'Challa didn't answer, racing away from her. Dahlia looked at Pietro, who only shrugged, not sure what to say.

They didn't have much time to contemplate why it was given to them, because an alien, who looked like if Squidward was left in a plastic bag to get old and moldy for twenty years, attacked them, using powers that weren't visible, at least to them.

He sent several pieces of debris from the ground flying at them, trying to wrap around them with the metal sheets.

"Hey, asswipe!" Dahlia tore through the metal, Pietro right beside her. "You really thought you could get this glove of death with a metal sheet?"

"Foolish humans. You all believe that you're superior, that you are the god, but you are nothing but-"

Pietro interrupted, not caring the least bit for what he was saying. "No offense, wait- scratch that, lots of offense, but all you 'Thanos Worshippers' sound like you just copied the exact same speech and changed a few words so it wouldn't look like you did."

"How dare you speak to me that way? I've been serving Thanos for-"

"Sorry, can't take you seriously with a face like that, Moldy Squidward." Dahlia interrupted this time.

"Your death will be long and painful and-"

The third time he was interrupted, you might imagine he would be entirely infuriated, but luckily he didn't have it in his power to be, since he was dead.

Dahlia wiped her sword on the fallen alien's robes, his head severed from his body. "He was annoying."

Pietro wiped some sweat from his brow."Thank you for that, one more minute of his voice and I would've been the one to do it."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I did it first," She nudged him with her shoulder. "I like to steal your thunder."

"You can steal it as many times as you like, if it makes you smile like that."

"Shut up, dork."

"Make me."

Across the battlefield, Wanda was facing off against Thanos, using every ounce of pain and suffering inside her to attack the maniac who had torn her life apart.

"You took everything from me." Wanda's voice was deadly, red rage sparking in her eyes.

Thanos narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't even know who you are."

A smile came to her face, but it was not one of joy, but one of pain and revenge. "You will."

She picked up some remnants of the building that were lying around them and used her powers to crush them around Thanos's figure, rendering him useless.

He tried to force his double-bladed sword down on her, but the rage that was fueling her desperate fight was not one that could be matched, and she pushed it back towards him with ease.

With the blade at his throat, and the degree beginning to suffocate him, Thanos had nothing he could do.

He cried out, calling to his ships. "Rain fire!"

"But sure, our troops!" A voice in his ear said.

"Just do it!"

The cannons on the ship overhead turned downwards, firing on the battlefield, quite similar to what one would imagine actual hellfire being like.

One of the blasts caught Wanda by surprise, sending her flying and making the sword and debris around Thanos drop to the dirt.

As Wanda fell to the ground, Pietro could feel it in his bones all the way from across the field, like a rip in his heart. His face paled, and his breath halted, causing Dahlia to freeze and look over at him.

He glanced over at her, asking her the question with his eyes that couldn't leave his lips.

"It's okay, Pietro. I've got this. Go help her." She smiled comfortingly before pushing him in the direction of his sister.

He didn't leave immediately then, however, pressing a kiss to her cheek before he ran off to find Wanda.

Evidently, Thanos had noticed Dahlia's presence and felt threatened by it, since he sent a swarm of his soldiers towards her, charging and looking stupid as hell while doing it.

Tony landed beside her just as Pietro left, so there wasn't a split second where she was alone. "Need a hand?"

She slashed through the first wave of them, sending sickly green alien blood flying through the air. "I think I'm good."

"Yeah well, I know I phrased it like a question, but it wasn't. I'm helping anyway," Tony shot back, firing at the next swarm of the aliens. "How did you manage to piss of Thanos this badly?"

"Just by being my, charming, natural self." Dahlia grinned back.

"Sounds about right," A more serious look crossed his face. "Listen, kid. I wanted to talk to you about something."

She kicked an alien in the face and did a backflip to land on another. "Does this have to happen right now?"

"Hush, I'm trying to be sentimental," He chastised slightly. "I just... I realized that I never actually apologized to you for the thing back at Clint's house like... years ago."

Dahlia stopped for a moment. Was he really going to apologize? Finally?

"I know it's long overdue, but I was being stubborn and I didn't want to admit I was wrong." Tony looked like it was physically paining him to say it.

"And?"