Carol made her way back to the main battle field as fast as her powers allowed her, but it was too late. Everyone was standing still, huddled around a fallen hero. When she saw it was Tony her heart sank, even though they only shared a couple of moments together. He was surrounded with people most closest to him and she didn't want to intrude so she looked around, searching for familiar faces, knowing only few of the Avengers.
She saw Thor standing nearby and made her way to him, gently tapping on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she said, after he turned around.
Thor nodded and they stood there for a while. Looking around she saw that some people, who got dusted, came back and made a mental note to find Fury as soon as she can, but something wasn't right.
"Where is Nat?" she asked Thor once she realized, she knew Natasha wouldn't miss a chance to end Thanos.
"What?" Thor's voice cracked.
She opened her mouth to repeat the question but she didn't have to, based on the look on Thor's face, instead the only thing that came out was a soft 'No' .
"She sacrificed herself for the soul stone on Vormir," Thor explained, "and they told me there's no way to get her back." he added, beaten.
Later, when the people around her knew that there's time to start facing the world again, Carol offered some condolences and provided assistance with anything that she could help with. After that she left to find Fury.
---
She found him wandering the streets of New York with another agent, whose name was Maria Hill as she learned later.
"Glad you're back!" she said, hugging him. Fury and Maria were both looking at her, none of them having the slightest idea of what happened, so she told them everything.
"Five years?! We were gone for five fucking years?" Fury yelled, taken aback by everything he heard, while Maria was too busy making sense of it all in her mind.
"That's all you got from everything I just told you?" Carol teased, "there's something else," she then added softly, heartbroken over what she's going to say next.
"What is it." Fury demanded.
"Natasha and Tony Stark," she said, seeing both, Fury and Maria still for a second "they didn't make it."
They all stood there, quiet, as Carol's words slowly sunk in. Then Fury just leaned back on the nearest car and Maria let silent 'Oh God' fall from her lips.
---
There was a small gathering before Tony's and Natasha's funeral, where most of the people, who attended, changed stories about the fallen heroes, trying to cherish all the good memories.
Carol needed to catch a breath, so she went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She wasn't surprised when she saw Fury sitting at the kitchen table all by himself.
"Someone's hiding," she teased.
"Well I'm not the only one, am I." Fury answered. He wasn't himself, loosing Natasha and Tony was a lot, even for a man known for not showing his emotions, the real deep ones at least.
Carol filled her glass with water and sat down next to Fury. She noticed something was wrong right away, and why wouldn't it be, the Earth and half of the universe went trough hell and back and the Avengers lost two really important people in their midst, maybe more.
"She called you Nick. You told me no one calls you like that, not even your mother." she said, the corners of her mouth lifting when she saw it made Fury smile.
"You left," he stated with amusement, "things change."
"Yeah," Carol said, "you know the first words they ever heard from me were somewhat angry 'Where's Fury'. -"
"Typical." Fury interrupted.
Carol gave him a look, and continued, " - and instead of questioning me on who I am, Nat just told me you're gone, that the last thing you did was calling me and that it seems they need my help. Only after that we exchanged the pleasantries and planned with her and the rest of the team members what to do next." Carol paused, remembering. "I once asked her why did she tell a stranger who just appeared in their building everything right away and she just answered with 'Nick trusted you and he doesn't trust just anybody'."
"True," Fury agreed, remembering the time when Winter Soldier almost killed him and the measures they had to do to take Hydra down. "She meant a lot to me." he added after a moment. Carol knowingly nodded.
"I liked her," she whispered and Fury smiled reassuringly.
They sat in the kitchen for a while after that, both quiet, each dealing with their own emotions.
Carol wanted to lift the spirit a bit before going back to the rest of the team, so she stood up and uttered, "You know, you should tell them someday why they're called the Avengers."
"I don't know what you're talking about," was the only thing she heard back.