1
Five years later. Five agonizing, torturous, mind-breaking years later. You thought everything would have gotten easier by now, but with every second that ticked by, everything seemed to crumble piece by piece.
You could not stand living in the compound anymore. That was once a place you lived with her and now she was gone. Everywhere you turned was another memory of you and her.
You and Pietro decided to move. You stayed in New York, you still worked with Natasha. Everyone else had nearly given up. You would not leave her to do things on her own. Especially with Clint gone, she needed company.
While you worked with Natasha, Pietro found work with Steve, attending therapy sessions and helping the ever-struggling community that needed him.
Tony and Pepper got married years ago, moving out to a rural area where they lived together away from the city that reminded them of their failure.
Thor moved to Norway where his town "New Asgard" settled. After the destruction of his home world, he needed a place to start his new home. What better place than the gods' home of so many years ago? You went down there sometimes to keep in touch with the members of the team. Brunnhilde, an ex-Valkyrie, all but ran the town and took great pleasure in seeing "her little nephew". She and Ethan had become friends in the time they knew each other.
Natasha continued to search for her lost friend, trying to bring him home to help him. You did what you could to help, as did Rhodey and others, but you also focused yourself on studying your magic.
Tony had pointed you in the direction of a "Sanctum", where a sorcerer named Dr. Stephen Strange had once resided. He said that it might help to answer some of your questions, and it had.
You found a lot about your powers in the books there. There was one that stood out, a chained book that was a sort-of copy of one called "The Darkhold" that had been made after the original was stolen. It held different legends of entities and ever-powerful beings such as the Infinity Stones (which almost had you burning the book), the Scarlet Witch (which you knew nothing about), and (one that surprised you the most) the Lady of the Sun.
Apparently the Lady of the Sun, or Lady Sun, was a being that was created to rule over heat, warmth, and (of course) suns. She was one of three god-like beings: the two others being named Lord Moon and Lady Star.
All of which were to be created from the Mind Stone, all of which would soon come together when the time was right, and all of which were made to rule over their designated areas. Together, they were named "The Cosmic Trinity".
After a lot of researching, you soon found out that Pietro was the so-called Lord Moon. The only reason he had not been called out by Thanos the same way you had been was because his powers had not yet been activated. Like you had a power unrelated to the sun-your visions-speed was the power he held that was unrelated to the moon.
So you practiced with him whenever you were not with Natasha or Ethan. You would teach him how to access his unknown abilities so that he could do what he didn't know he could. Like the moon controlled waves, Pietro was also able to manipulate water to a point. While it was a little contradictory to you, it did come in handy more than once. After months of training, you were able to teach him how to control the moon, its phases, its movement. He learned well.
So now that you knew you and Pietro were two-thirds of the so-called Cosmic Trinity, you began to wonder who the third was. But that did not matter. At least, not at the moment.
Your visions-they became far and few, worthless glimpses of a day-to-day activity that grew more tedious with each day. You had not had a meaningful vision since the day everyone left. It seemed your power had become useless without your soulmate by your side. You eventually gave up hope on that part of your power and grew your pyrokinesis instead. It excelled, fueled by every all-consuming, dreadful feeling in your body.
Poor Ethan. Now eleven years old, he had found a way to cope in learning. He read books, researched all kinds of subjects, and read more books. He was smart, very smart. But after some time, you worried that he focused too much on studying. After a while, you needed something-or someone-to keep him from drowning in studies. Especially since he was still too young. You did not want to lose him, you already lost so much-he already lost so much.
So you got him a dog to keep him company, a friend he loved. He got a Border Collie that he named Nova. She was two years old and full of enough energy to keep Ethan going when you could not.
But five years was a long time.
Time wears away at things, as it wears off of you. You did your best to be as together as you could. For Ethan, for Pietro, for the remaining team. But you were just as broken as everyone else.
You lost your soulmate, the person you loved more than anything. You had shed so many tears. The one thing you wanted more than anything in this world was to see her again, to hold her, to kiss her. Knowing that you never would again broke you and had you aching from your very core. You had lost all hope and were clinging to any good fortune that came, but it was never enough.
You missed her.
~
"Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged," Rocket said. You were in a meeting with Natasha, conversing over everyone's status updates.
Nebula agreed, "It was an infectious garbage scowl."
"So, thanks for the hot tip," Rocket turned to Danvers' hologram.
She replied back with a smirk, "Well, you were closer."
He nodded, "Yeah. And now we smell like garbage."
Natasha turned to Okoye, "You get a reading on those tremors?"
She confirmed, "It was a mild subduction under the African plate."
"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?"
You spoke up from your spot where you were taking down some notes, "Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean."
"We handle it by not handling it," Okoye agreed.
Natasha nodded a little to herself before turning her attention to Danvers, "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"
"Not likely," she replied.
You looked up at her, tilting your head, "Why not?"
Rocket commented, "What, you gonna get another haircut?"
She turned to him, irritation evident in her tone, "Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere on thousands of planets."
Rocket murmured to himself, "All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point."
She turned her gaze back to Natasha, "So you might not see me for a long time."
"Alright. Uh, well," Natasha said, gathering her thoughts, "This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me."
They all agreed and signed off, with the exception of Rhodey. You gave him a nod as you checked the time, "I'm going to head out. Gotta pick Ethan up from school soon."
Natasha nodded to you and let you go, Rhodey silently nodded as well. You left the room, soon being greeted by Nova. You pet her head and she started walking beside you as you headed out. You stopped in the hall when you saw Steve. He gave a soft smile, "Hey, Y/N."
"Hey," you said, "What's up, Steve?"
He shrugged, "The usual. How's Ethan and Pietro?"
You shrugged as well, sighing, "They're the same as always. Nova does her best in keeping their spirits up, but we can only do so much."
"Well, l-"
"If you tell me to look on the bright side, I swear that looking at you will be the bright side when I set you on fire," you interrupted.
He nodded, a small smile on his lips, "Yeah, I get that..."
"How's therapy?" you asked when he didn't say anything.
He shrugged again and gave a light chuckle, sighing, "Everyone's...doing their best. That's all we can do these days."
You sighed, "I have to go pick up Ethan. I'll see you when I get back?"
He nodded and you gave him another smile before walking past him to stop by the living room. You popped your head in where he was watching the TV. Nova walked into the room with her tail wagging behind her. She jumped on the couch and liked his hand. He smiled at her and petted her soft fur, looking up at you.
"Hey," he greeted. Over time, his accent had dulled. It was still in his voice, but had begun to fade. Just like hers did after being in America for as long as she was. He was a little too stubborn to move, but without her influence, his voice had begun to give in to the voices of others.
"I'm going to get Ethan. I'll be back in a bit," you told him, tapping your hand on the wall. Pietro stood, "I'll come with you. I've got nothing else to do."
You shook your head, "It's fine. I've got it."
"Was it code for you need to cry in the car?" he asked. It wasn't meant to be an insult, it was an honest question. You didn't take it as an insult. He knew you, you almost expected him to low-key call you out.
You shrugged, "Maybe it is."
He walked over to you, "Well, I'm not going to let you cry alone. We can cry together."
He passed you, kissing your forehead on the way. You sighed, a small half-hearted smile on your face from having to smile at people all the time to appear okay to some degree. It had become part of your facial features, an unconscious smile you wore when you were around people.
You sighed, patting your leg for Nova to come with and she did. You all walked through the halls of the compound at a leisurely pace. You were in no rush to get to the school, they did not release for another half hour but the ride was half of that because of how far the compound was from the school.
When you both finally got outside, you stopped in your tracks as you saw someone standing outside of the gate with a van talking to the camera. You looked at him in confusion before realization settled in. "Is that Scott Lang?"
Pietro squinted and looked at him, "I think so."
"Ant-Man? Ant-Man, I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys," he said to the camera. Nova barked and ran over to the gate. He looked at the dog, "Oh, hey. Uh, do you live here?"
You and Pietro walked over to the gate and opened it. He saw you then and said, "Oh, hey! It's been a while, huh?"
You signaled to the camera to let Natasha and presumably Steve know that you had it handled. You let Scott in with his van and he parked it, getting out once again. You spoke to Pietro, "Uh, I'll take care of this one. Go ahead and pick up Ethan."
He agreed and you gave him the keys to the car so he could go with Nova. You walked inside with Scott beside you, "I thought you were dead."
He shook his head, "I know. My name's in that memorial thing. But I think I can explain." You sighed and walked into the compound with him. This ought to be good.
~
You were sat on the couch, your head resting on your fist as you watched Scott pace back and forth. He was muttering to himself, and making no sense while doing it. "Scott, are you okay?" Steve asked, a brow raised in concern.
"Yeah," he nodded, wiping his hands down his face. He then suddenly asked, "Have any of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"
"Only to make conversation," Natasha quipped.
You shrugged and shook your head, "No, but I heard the word 'quantum' all the time when they experimented on me in Sokovia."
They all glanced at you momentarily before Scott continued speaking. "Alright, so... five years ago, right before... Thanos... I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my... She was my..." He stopped, struggling for a moment before shaking it off, "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."
"I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years," Natasha spoke.
"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't," he said. "For me it was five hours. See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving," he said as he headed for the food sitting on the desk. You furrowed your brow at the sudden change in topic.
Steve spoke up as he watched him pick up the sandwich, "Scott. What are you talking about?"
Scott spoke with his mouthful, "So what I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos."
"Wait," Steve stopped him. "Are you talking about a time machine?"
"Sick," Pietro entered the room with Ethan and Nova then. Ethan furrowed his brow as he looked up at Scott. "Ant-Man?"
Scott looked at him, both confused and surprised. "You know who I am?"
"Of course, I know who you are. But aren't you dead?" he asked as he walked over to you. You shrugged as you took his hand, "Apparently not, sweetheart."
"Weird," he muttered. He gave you a hug and then left the room with Nova in tow after a quick, "I've got homework."
Scott looked at you, "Cute kid."
"Thanks."
"Scott," Steve caught his attention again. "Time machine?"
"Oh, no. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a..." Scott stopped as he tried to find a suitable word for his time machine. He then gave up as he nodded, "Yeah, a time machine."
He stammered as he continued, "I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some w... it's crazy."
Natasha stopped him, "Scott, I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore."
You looked at her, "How is Rocket?"
"Yeah, haven't talked to him in a while, "Pietro added, just as curious.
"He's good," Natasha answered.
"Guys," Steve interrupted. "Talk about Rocket later."
"Damn, okay," Pietro mumbled.
"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asked, bringing you all back to the topic at hand.
"Mom!" Ethan called.
You turned and gave a peace sign as you left the room, "Coming." You shot over your shoulder at them, "Catch me up."