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The message has been a long time in coming, stretched out over the stars, and Xavin catches it purely by chance. It's warped, distorted from its time in space, but it it is unmistakeable. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is easily recognized, and even after all this time, it makes Xavin's heart skip a beat. She wonders who this song was meant for, so far from home.
Her heart probably should not be literally skipping beats, but she doesn't concern herself with that. It's not entirely necessary, after all. The human form she wears is an indulgence. It's easier to go through space unnoticed, too. A lone Skrull is vulnerable and disliked by most of the universe. She pretends that it was a decision based entirely on logic, and throws that onto the ever growing pile of lies she tells herself. It can go right next to 'we'll be home soon' and 'she'll welcome you back.'
"Los Angeles," she says, when people ask where she's from. "On Earth." A moment to gather her breath. "Are you by chance heading that way?"
She's got no money, and manual labour can only get her so far. So far it's mostly earned her short hops from planet to planet. Slow going. Like some child's game, dot-to-dot across the stars.
I drew hearts in the sky for you, love, Xavin thinks, listening to the song as it fights against static on her temporary home's broken radio. A love letter, if you're still looking.
She's staying in a hole in the wall, the cheapest hostel (if only) in this moon's port town, and she really only has enough money for one more night. Ideally, she finds a ride out of here tonight, saves the little change she's managed to hold onto. But the port is busier than she feels comfortable with, nowadays. Too many people make her borrowed lungs seize, makes holding her shape that much harder. There's words for this on Earth, she remembers the others mentioning them, but Skrulls don't have names for falling apart at the seams, not even after being help captive for longer than she cares to think about. And Skrulls who can't hold a shape... Those have names. People like her are thought to be worth less than the space they take up. She can't even think those words without feeling sick.
So she keeps an eye on the street through her small window, trying to talk herself up, trying to make her body move. She's a shapeshifter and a soldier. Her body not responding to her is unacceptable.
There's a tap on her window.
She looks up to meet the eyes of a smiling Kree, and she tenses. Playing at being a human or no, she does not trust the Kree.
He taps her window again, and says something she doesn't quite catch.
"What do you want?"
"I like the music! The Beatles are awesome."
She stares at him. She's holed up in some tiny room on some backwater moon, listening to some old Earth song, and a Kree boy just so happens to stop and listen?
Xavin was never one for believing, or so she was taught. But something led her to Karolina and the other Runaways, something had her meeting Dorrek, something had let the lights go out just as she was being led back to her cell. Karolina spoke of Karma, of the push and pull of the universe. Perhaps it is just her mind slowly leaving her, but Xavin likes to think she knows what the hand of Fate feels like, now.
"Wait," she says, and goes out to meet him.
His name is Noh Varr, and he has a ship. This isn't the first thing she finds out about him (he wants to talk music first, and only seems a little disappointed that Xavin's knowledge of Earth music is limited and quite specific), but it's the most important thing.
"Look," Xavin starts, knowing she sounds desperate, but Noh Varr interrupts.
"I can show you, if you want." He eyes her, jerks his head back at the window of her room. "Or are you on this moon on purpose?"
"No, I'm not." This is too good to be true, but he is just one Kree, and he thinks she's human. If worst comes to worst, she can take him, and then she'll have a ship she can aim straight home.
His face splits into a wide grin. "Excellent! I'm out of practice with the whole travelling alone, anyway."
She grabbed her small pack before headed outside, so she doesn't even have to risk going back to her lodgings and risk losing him. Instead she follows him to his ship, which is flashier than she expects. Who is this lone Kree, out this far?
Something crosses her mind as he gives her a quick tour, something that makes her stop in her tracks.
"I'm engaged," she says firmly, even though she has no idea if that is still true. "So if you were expecting something-"
Noh Varr holds up his hands, comforting. "No, don't worry! You're a guest. Nothing untoward, I promise."
She's not sure how much a promise is worth, from a Kree, but her little bedroom has a lock on the inside, so she pushes it from her mind.
Noh Varr holds to his word. He is nothing but friendly to her. In fact, this ends up being the biggest problem. Noh Varr has obviously spent quite a bit of time on Earth, and Xavin finds herself worried about being caught in a lie. She tells Noh Varr she has been away from Earth for a long time, and not by her own will, which excuses her from knowing any current events, but sooner or later he's going to notice that she just doesn't know enough Earth culture to be telling the truth.
Then they are boarded, and her lie falls apart like a shot to the stomach, because she hesitates a moment too long when deciding whether to run for where Noh Varr keeps his weapons or using her powers and passing herself off as a mutant. The hesitation in itself is embarrassing, because it's a new thing, because for a moment when the bounty hunters burst in all she could see were her captors, and she froze, and now she's got a hole in her stomach, hissing in pain as she watches Noh Varr take on all five of the enemy crew, almost getting hit himself as he sneaks a glance over at her in horror.
"Dean!"
She should respond, say she's alright, but that's not true, because any human would be dead already. The idiots have already written her off, and she is suddenly burning hot with anger, that temper of hers that so often got her in trouble, something that became ashes in her tiny cell. She stands up, feels her body quickly repairing itself, and throws herself at the closest target. One hit and his helmet crumples, and the next one comes at her gets her fire in his face. He screams, and then all eyes are on her, shock and fear in every set of eyes.
"Boss, that's gotta be him, the prince-"
Xavin feels alive like she hasn't since she was last with her beloved. Noh Varr recovers faster than their attackers, and they make quick look of them. As she drags them back to their ship, Noh Varr chats with the only one still conscious. After they are all gone and their ship is speeding away again, Xavin finds Noh Varr sitting at the controls. His usual carefree face is clouded, and Xavin doesn't want to have this conversation, she really doesn't.
"What did they want?"
Noh Varr shrugs. "A friend. I was travelling with him, a few months ago." He turns to look at her, and his eyes are dark. For all of his dancing to strange Earth music and taking in strangers, he handled that fight with a finesse that shouldn't have surprised Xavin, but did. He's a Kree, he travels alone through space. Of course he's dangerous.
"So." And there's a gun in his hand, not pointed at her yet, but the meaning is clear. "I would like the truth, please."
Xavin has nothing left to give. Maybe she could fight him, but after spending weeks with him on this ship, she doesn't want to. So the truth, then. She stumbles over the beginning, shortens her imprisonment down to a sentence, but it's all there. She doesn't look at Noh Varr until she's finished, afraid of what she'll see. But when she finally does, she sees no disbelief or suspicion. The gun is gone, and he's grinning up at her.
The silence goes on too long for her nerves. "What?"
He laughs, like the fight and its consequences never happened. "Nothing, nothing. We're just changing course."
Xavin takes a step backwards involuntarily. At best, that means she won't get as close to Earth as she was hoping. At worst, he means to turn her in. "Why?"
He turns back from reprogramming the controls to raise an eyebrow. "Well, it sounds like you've been away from home for long enough. Anyway, I need to tell Teddy there's a bounty on-"
"Teddy?" He cannot possibly mean who she thinks he means. She's going home, she's going home.
Noh Varr nods, types something into the communicator to his left. "Yes." There's a ringing, and then a familiar voice echoes through the room.
"Hello?"
Billy Kaplan. The witch. Dorr- Teddy's partner. The Young Avengers.
"Billy, hello. This is that warning about coming back that you wanted." Noh Varr has turned to face her again, and this time she can't help but match his grin. "Also, I found an old friend of yours, apparently."
She's not sure if she deserves that title, but at Billy's 'Oh?' she licks her lips and tries to make her voice not shake.
"Hello." There's silence. He might not recognize her voice, it was a long time ago they met, and she's sure her voice has changed.
"...Xavin?" Billy's voice is louder than it was, and in the background of the call, Xavin can hear a crash. Before Xavin can respond, there's the shuffling sound of a phone being passed around, and then a voice Xavin dreams about every night is on the line.
"Xavin?"
She collapses into the chair next to Noh Varr, hardly able to see through her weak human eyes watering, but she doesn't care.
"Hello, love," she whispers, and there's a gasp that hits her heart hard enough to ache. "I'm so sorry it took me so long."
"I thought you were dead," Karolina murmurs, and Xavin knows she's crying. "Don't you ever do that again, got it?"
Xavin laughs, wiping at her own eyes. "I promise." She pauses, and then barrels forward. "I don't mean to intrude, I don't expect you to have waited, I simply-"
"Xavin." Karolina's voice is rich and strong and so full of love it makes Xavin's head spin. "Come home."
So she does.