Here is the long version of who Carol lost:
The only person she ever considered a real friend.
The woman she loved more than herself.
The girl she considered a daughter.
Here is a shortened version of who Carol lost:
Her entire world.
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When Carol gets an alert from the pager she'd given to Fury, she can only assume there's something major happening. Something world threatening.
And to be fair, she wasn't exactly wrong.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
On her way to Earth, Carol runs into a ship. Two people (one more a robot than person, though) by the name of Tony Stark and Nebula inhabit it. Stark seemed close to death. Nebula seemed a bit better.
She flies them home.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
After she drops them off where Stark instructed, she makes a short trip to Louisiana.
If the world is being threatened, she needs to make sure they're okay.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Louisiana. Carol can't help but smile as she approaches the all too familiar house.
The lights are on despite the hour, it's showing signs of life.
She enters without knocking.
It takes her exactly three minutes to realize something's wrong.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Carol flew back to the place Stark was at in record timing.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Carol decides, the moment that she reads Fury had died, that she would kill Thanos.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
After that, she fights. For the next five years, she fights. She fights because she knows full well it's what Maria and Fury and Monica would've wanted from her.
Carol fights like she never has before, because that's all she can do now.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Sometimes, sometimes she remembers.
This is when it hurts the most.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
She remembers Fury and how much he loved that damned cat. When she remembers that, she sits beside Goose for hours. It's as close to Fury that she can get.
Sometimes she remembers how utterly unimpressed Fury was by her photon blast and she just laughs because that's all she can do.
Sometimes she remembers the song he'd sang to her- Mr. Postman- and she laughs even harder. Sometimes she'll play it just to remember.
This is when it hurts the most.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Sometimes Carol remembers the nights of dancing and drinking with Maria, and she smiles to herself. She'll play old songs she could recall and just listen to them.
Sometimes she'll remember the feeling of being wrapped in Maria's arms and she'll feel so empty afterwords.
Sometimes- sometimes she'll remember the feeling of Maria's lips against her own, and that always manages to stop her in her tracks.
This is when it hurts the most.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Sometimes Carol remembers Monica and her bright smile, and that always manages to make her smile just as bright as Monica once had.
Sometimes she remembers the time when Monica helped Carol pick out her new uniform colors, and Monica's laugh when she chose the bright neon colors. (Sometimes she'll change the uniform to those neon colors. She doesn't go out with those colors, she just remembers.)
Sometimes she remembers Monica's sassy remarks and comments and she just laughs.
This is when is hurts the most.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Now, here is the long version of who Carol lost- of who Carol fought for:
The only person she ever considered a real friend.
The woman she loved more than herself.
The girl she considered a daughter.
Here is a shortened version of who Carol lost- of who she fought for:
Her entire world.