Carol stared out into the universe and wondered if she was as endless. She’d watched empires rise and fall, literally, and it was all starting to feel a bit - much. Not that it never had before, but what were you supposed to do with an eternity? When all the people you loved died, as were their children, and their children’s children? When you looked at their descendants and your heart broke every time because you could see those you’d loved in their features.
She took a breath, closing her eyes, trying to push back her terror at spending the rest of her life alone.
She’d had a soulmate once. Had a woman she’d loved with everything she’d had. Enough to recognize her when she’d forgotten everything else.
But she’d died. As humans did. As most species did. Since she was a hybrid of a few species, with a special mix of infinity stone mixed in, none of the norms for any of them ever seemed to apply to her.
She wondered what it said about her that she’d rather not have a soulmate at this point, not when she knew what it felt like to love then to lose.
She didn’t think she could handle it again.
The tattoo over her heart that matched the heartbeat of her match hadn’t shifted from its flatline in over a century.
“It’s really quite beautiful.” a voice interrupted her thoughts and had her eyes flying open. She was floating in space. Nobody else should be able to -
But as she spun around, there he was.
He wasn’t looking at her, but out at the vastness as well, but even from this angle she could tell his bright green eyes were just a little too bright, his black hair almost too black, and his pale skin unnaturally smooth.
“Who are you?” she demanded, fists already glowing with the power inside of her.
“My name is Harry. And I followed this.” he pulled the collar of his shirt aside, revealing the tattoo on his chest, the heartbeat it detected.
Even as she watched it, she could feel her own pulse thrumming in harmony with the rhythm presented on his skin. As her own pulse picked up from her shocked disbelief, she watched it stutter across his chest.
Unable to help herself, she unzipped her own suit to her sternum, revealing her own mark, and watched as it moved, a steady pulse. He offered his wrist and she latched on, grip probably too tight, but he didn’t so much as flinch.
It matched perfectly.
If she was anyone else, she might’ve fainted. She wasn’t anyone else.
“Who the hell are you?” her grip grew impossibly tight on his wrist as she zipped the suit back up, but he didn’t appear at all threatened.
“You know exactly who I am.”
“I see that mark every day. It hasn’t moved in decades. What kind of trick is this?”
The pain that flashed through his gaze had nothing to do with her grip and she released him as if burned.
“It’s not a trick. I don’t know how it happened. As it were, I was contemplating death.” the fact that she’d been doing the very same, though not quite as overtly, sent a shudder down her spine.
“And then you ended up in space?”
“So it would seem.”
He tilted his head back, looking around in awe.
“It’s not like this in my world. Or well, the world I was born in.”
She frowned.
“What isn’t?”
“Space. The universe. There are no such things as aliens or space travel. At least not like this. Just the basics. Man landing on the moon. A robot on Mars. Space travel didn’t quite evolve the same way. And while there must be other living things out in the universe, we never came into contact with them.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’m a wizard. I come from a world full of wizards. There isn’t such a thing as superheroes there.”
She almost opened her mouth to call him crazy. Came close to scoffing and brushing him off.
Then she remembered her own crash landing to Earth; how Fury had reacted at her explanation of aliens. He’d reacted just how she wanted to.
“A wizard, huh?” she said instead, and he cast her a wry smile.
“Says the alien.” was the mild reply. She smirked.
“Touché.” She twisted, looking back out the world, painfully aware of the pulse shifting along her skin even as her own raced.
“How did you get here?” she asked, knowing it was a million questions in one.
For a moment the man was so silent she had to look over to make sure he was still there.
“There’s this place, in my old world. A veil. I knew people who fell through it passed from this life into the next. Or so I’d thought.” the tone was as wry as it was pained. She didn’t say a word. “Well, next thing I knew, I was here.” he waved his hands around, but then frowned. “Well, not exactly here. Not in space, for one. I was on earth, I suppose. You do call it that here, don’t you?”
She nodded, smirking.
“Well, I was on earth. I didn’t stay long, mind you. The alternate location for the veil was not a very friendly place. Anyways, witches and wizards are particularly well attuned to soulmarks. It was like being punched in the chest when it started to beat again.” And there it was, the admittance that he’d been through this before too. “So I followed it. And here we are.”
“You just magicked yourself into space.”
The man gave a bright, almost wolfish grin. The softness he’d held until that moment was swept away in the look.
“I may have forgot to mention, I can’t exactly die by normal means. Death, she likes to keep me around, despite my protests over the years. I didn’t know if being in space would be similar, but it seems I was right not to worry.”
She cocked a brow at him, ignoring the bubbling hope spreading through her.
“Do you do that a lot? Jump into deadly situations?”
“Keeps things interesting, don’t you think?”
Carol just hummed.
“What’s your name, anyways?”
“Harry. Harry Potter.” Her brows shot up at that.
“You’re kidding.” she couldn’t help the snort laugh.
“What?” he frowned, obviously confused, and now her grin was wide. She reached forward, brushing the hair from his brow, and there it was, the lightning bolt scar.
“I’ll show you.” she promised, and then she found herself laughing. “I’m Carol.” she offered in return, “Carol Danvers.” Then she turned, ready to head back. “Come on, Harry. Let me show you around.” She couldn’t wait to see his face when he found out that there was an entire book series based on his life. She wondered how accurate it was. She couldn’t wait to find out.