Work Text:
All it took was a snap. It echoed throughout your body and shook you down to your core, your bones rattling against each other and you just knew. You knew you lost people close to you, knew that things weren’t going to be the same after this.
You were young, having just turned 20, but you wanted nothing more than to be able to help the Avengers in their fight against Thanos. Your ability allowed you to shift into a dark matter that presented itself as your shadow to normal humans. When called upon, your ‘shadow’ would release itself from the ground behind you to seep into your skin, turning it into a darker-than-black form, your hair falling like dripping ink down your back and around your shoulders. The only semblance of you that was present was the white holes in the face that was supposed to take place as your eyes. While in this form, you could twist the shadows of your enemies into minions of sorts, the dark matter of the seemingly harmless addition to a person coming to life and leaking into their body like poison. Practice proved to show that you were also able to summon shards of this dark matter to rip through the ground, piercing through your enemies and turning them into a crystal-like form that would shatter. Thor had stumbled upon you during one of his journeys, and he had brought you back to his friends, introducing you proudly. While there, you had ended up becoming very close to the youngest member, Peter. He was a doofus, and you couldn’t help but adore his nerdy nature and odd pop culture references. Somehow, he reminded you of the brother you lost too many years back.
You hadn’t stayed around long with the team, seeing as Thor insisted you come with him back to Asgard as a means to properly watch over you and teach you a few things himself. You were there when Hela attacked. You were there when Thanos took Loki away from the God of Thunder. You were there when you saw something break behind that bright blue eye that was still left in his person. You vowed to do all you could to avenge Loki, to aid Thor, and to aid those on Earth suffering at the hands of Thanos and his stupid followers.
You followed Thor back to Wakanda. You fought next to him, next to Wanda, next to Steve and Natasha. You, Wanda, and Thor proved to be the biggest threat against your enemies on that battlefield, but victory was very short lived. The snap seemed to stop the Earth from its normal rotation, and something deep inside you stopped along with it. You could smell the salt of tears, hear the cries of anguish, all rushing at you like a train on its tracks. You found yourself wondering how Peter was holding up during all of this.
It was like losing your brother all over again; seeing his small body twist and writhe in pain at the hands of an unknown enemy that you were too young and too small to fight against. His cries, his blood, his cold body in your hands. Something inside you broke and never healed that day. Something inside you broke all over again when you saw Tony return from God only knows where. His eyes were dull, distant, and you just knew. Your feet carried you to his hunched over form, and before you could even register what was happening, your fist flew up and landed a hard punch to his jaw. He stumbled backwards, eyes widening in disbelief.
“You promised you would watch over him. You promised nothing would happen to him.” There were no tears, no anguish, just this familiar rush of cold freezing your heart. Tony said nothing to you. He knew. He knew you were right. He promised you while he was on that ship with Strange and Peter that nothing would happen to the kid, he wasn’t going anywhere, much to his dismay. You had heard over Tony’s call that he deemed Peter as an Avenger. You knew Peter was beaming with excitement. He was too young, it happened too fast. Did he suffer? Did he cry? In a sudden display of anger, you spun on your heel and whipped your right hand upwards, the ground forcefully ripping open to allow a blast of dark energy to hit a cluster of trees. The plant life sagged and withered quickly. Any other time, you would have marveled in the newfound capability in your power, but there was no time for that. You needed to bring Peter back. You needed to bring Bucky back, and Wanda, and T’Challa. Your friends weren’t dead, they couldn’t be. Not like that. Tony was still silent, Dr. Stephen Strange stepping out of a portal near him. He sensed the tension and also remained quiet. The remaining team was in the same park that Peter had shown up to protect Tony from that large beast that threatened to crush the Iron Man. No one said anything. No one had to say anything. You all were coming up with different plans, different ideas. You were the only one to look up as a blonde woman began approaching you, a tall, confident woman dressed in a suit of red, blue, and gold. She directed her steady gaze to you and tilted her head, smiling warmly.
“My name is Carol Danvers. I’m here to help.”