Remnants

A light flickered as Carol tapped on her wrist communication device, she was attempting to reach Talos to inform him about the Skrull group left behind on Earth. After they attacked Sam, Carol felt a little like she was being pulled apart in two different directions. On one hand, she was angry that the Skrull wouldn't listen to reason and hear her out, and on the other she did want to help them get back to Talos and the refugees. It didn't help that they had destroyed Sam's art studio. Sam seemed to be handling things a little better now that she was around other people, though. Monica helped a lot with that Carol thought because the girl was explaining everything to Sam in a very childlike way, but it was much less scary sounding coming from her.

The image of Talos sputter on and off for a moment and his voice cracked with every word he tried to say. After a few moments of tampering with the signal on both ends, they managed to clear the comms up.

"Carol? Can you hear me?" He called through the comms loudly, Carol smiled knowing he was frustrated with the technology. He got that way on Mar-Vell's lab from time to time too.

She smiled at seeing the Skrull again, "Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear! How is everything there?"

Talos smiled his tight mouth smile and his eyes lit up, "Very well, actually! We've begun building settlements in the surrounding areas because more and more Skrull are responding to our messages that we send out every few days. We had a run in with a few of the beasts living here, but nothing we couldn't handle. How's Earth? Have you found some of the answers you've been looking for?"

Carol was genuinely happy they were finding a home in Dara, it was incredible news that more of their people were starting to go to the planet and settle there as well. She knew how much that meant to Talos to have all his people in one spot. That's partly why she dreaded telling him they left behind a few Skrull when they departed Earth. "That's actually why I'm contacting you… there were a few of your men that we were a bit hasty in assuming dead."

Talos scrunched his face in confusion, "What do you mean?"

She pursed her lips and sighed, "Some of your men are still alive and still here on Earth. They've been causing… trouble to put it lightly. Infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D, destroying property, and they won't listen to reason. Fury is trying to keep his superiors from doing anything drastic, but I don't know how much longer he can hold them off. I was thinking if you could send them a message somehow, maybe they'll listen?"

The image of Talos flickered again and Carol tapped her wrist thinking it would clear the picture up, Talos cleared up and she could see he was deep in thought. His arms were crossed and he appeared stressed, "That's troubling news… do you know what their names are, the remaining Skrull?"

Carol furrowed her brow, she had heard one of them refer to whoever their leader was. What was his name? Roan! She could hear the Skrull talking through his communicator, talking to someone named Roan. "Only one name, I think it's whoever is leading them… Roan?"

She visibly saw Talos sneer and he sighed heavily, "Well that's going to complicate things…"

"Talos… what're you not telling me?" Carol asked skeptically.

He pursed his mouth and moved his head awkwardly, like he was embarrassed to tell her what was on his mind, "Roan and I never agreed on anything. He wanted war with the Kree, fed on it, while everything I did was to get our families back. He was the next highest-ranking officer under me and he's ruthless. When we landed on Earth, he believed we just should've made it our home even if that meant enslaving humans because he thought of your people as weak. Told me it would be an easy takeover."

Carol made a noise, "Wow, sounds like a real stand-up guy. Must've been a pleasure to work with."

Talos said sarcastically, "Trust me, it was." He chuckled, "If you can get me into contact with him, I'll explain the situation and give him the coordinates to our location. Even though he's war-hungry, he cares for our people and deep down that's what drives him the most so maybe he'll listen."

Carol nodded in appreciation, "I'll contact you again if I find him and he doesn't kill me on sight."

With that, Talos agreed and they said their goodbyes before the comm link shut off. Carol pinched the bridge of her nose thinking about how she was going to find this Roan character, he wanted to kill her so it shouldn't be too hard to draw him out. She was just worried about the damage he might cause before she could get to him.

"That your alien friend?" A familiar voice said behind her.

Carol turned to face Sam who was exiting Maria's house and hugging a blanket around her shoulders shielding her from the brisk night air. Upon seeing her, Carol chuckled, "His name is Talos, but yes, he's my alien friend." She mocked playfully.

Sam hesitantly took a seat next to her and eyed her communication device curiously. Carol glanced down at it then back up at the woman. "It's a communicator, kind of like a phone but super long distance… and it also shows what that person is doing at that moment. Like a moving picture, I guess."

Carol stopped her explanation there because she noticed Sam starting to look overwhelmed. She watched Sam huff and widen her eyes before rubbing her face and staring up at the night sky. Carol watched Sam with curiosity, "How are you?" She asked. Over the past few hours, everything was starting to process in Sam's head more. Monica helped a great deal in explaining everything, but Sam became unreadable not too long after they got here. It seemed more like she was just listening and taking everything in than actually knowing it was all real. She started becoming more and more antsy too.

Sam looked up at Carol and she swallowed, "Let's see my studio is destroyed, an alien attacked me and took the face of my receptionist, by the way aliens are an actual thing and they shapeshift, not to mention there's one in the basement, and on top of all that you are alive and have superpowers. So… good?"

Carol nodded silently and thought that the woman had a point. This was definitely not the way she wanted their reconnection to go. She had hoped just to talk to the other woman and see if she could help her sort out her jumbled-up memories. Instead, Sam was thrown into the chaotic world of Carol Danvers without much warning.

"I understand this is all… a lot, and I'm sorry for dragging you into this." Carol said genuinely.

Sam rested her forearms on her legs and she wrung her hands in an anxious way as well, "I'll admit it is a lot, but I'm okay."

Carol nodded and placed her hand on the other woman's knee in a comforting gesture. Sam glanced at her hand then up at Carol, she visibly relaxed while staring into her eyes. She wasn't sure why but she seemed to have this effect on Sam. So far, every time she got anxious and overwhelmed, one look from Carol and she calmed.

The brunette sighed and tore her eyes away, "So what are those things? Are they the bad guys?" She finally asked.

Carol shrugged, she knew even though she explained things to Sam when she first reconnected with her that this was probably a hard reality to accept, "Well… it's a little more complicated than that. They're called Skrull, like I told you before. They shapeshift into whatever they see. Last year when I first came here, they were the bad guys, but then we started to see they just wanted to find a home and their family. I helped their leader find their family and a home planet, but the Skrull who attacked you must have been left behind by mistake. He wouldn't even try to listen to me. If I could just get them into contact with Talos…" She could see Sam processing her words by the way she nodded her head slowly as if accepting that this was real. "Are you going to be okay?"

Sam nodded and hesitated before saying, "Yeah, I mean I imagine this is just as strange for you, seeing flashes of your memories of someone you've never met must be odd."

Carol tilted her head and sucked in a breath, "Well, it was strange at first but then I saw you again and… I don't know, I could tell we were close at one point. You feel familiar." Carol's face felt hot as she added the last part. It sounded a bit different in her head, but now she hoped Sam wouldn't read into it too much. She had her suspicions about their relationship but she didn't dare act on her suspicions in fear that she was mistaken. And she was trying to completely avoid the subject of that drawing she found in Sam's art room.

"Who would've thought there's all this crazy stuff up there. Aliens, light speed travel, super-powered people," she gestured toward Carol. She laughed suddenly, "Do you remember when we used to go in the middle of nowhere at night and star gaze?"

"Tell me about it?" She asked, hoping the retelling of the memory might help it come back to her mind. Sam nodded and began telling her the times they made spontaneous trips.

Carol held the steering wheel with one hand as her and Sam sang along loudly to a Bon Jovi song. They had decided to drive out to a field of crops in the middle-of-nowhere land where the stars would be the brightest because they both needed it. Carol unexpectedly drove to Sam's apartment after an especially frustrating run in with a guy commenting about her being a woman in the Air Force. Sam experienced something similar that day with a critic bashing her pieces of art rather harshly.

"It's so beautiful out here, and peaceful too," Sam said dreamily when they arrived at their destination. They laid on top of the hood of Carol's mustang. They had made a nice little set up with a few blankets on top of the hood to make it less uncomfortable, and they had lantern-like lights set up around them. They swapped a bottle of whiskey from Sam's stash in her apartment back and forth. She told Carol she was saving it for a rainy day and today seemed to qualify.

Carol hummed happily, "Mhmm…"

Sam pointed at the sky suddenly, "Hey, look, it's the Little Dipper!" She exclaimed happily.

Carol smiled at her and gazed up at the constellation. Her mind started to wander after they were silent for a bit, "Do you ever think about what might be up there?"

"You mean the stars?" Sam deadpanned, earning a halfhearted glare from her. Carol laughed, "No, I mean beyond that or deeper than that. What if people live on those stars or those other planets out there. There's so much we don't know."

Sam draped an arm across her own stomach and tucked the other behind her head. "Hm, well the universe is big and strange, so I'd say there's a lot out there. Even aliens." She chuckled at the last part and Carol felt her own smile creep up. The warmth in her chest while she watched Sam smile and laugh was unbearable.

"Okay, question time," Sam sat up abruptly and stared intently at Carol who followed suit. "If you could have one superpower, what would it be?"

She narrowed her eyes in deep thought and hummed, "Hmm, flying for sure!"

Sam rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, "Of course that's what you chose. You practically live in the clouds, fly girl."

"Yeah, yeah I'm predictable! Now what would you choose?" Carol asked and leaned back against the hood again. From that angle, Sam looked beautiful. The stars and moon were casting blue light down and their lantern-like lights were also creating an orange tinted glow around her. She looked like a model posing in front of a backdrop of stars.

Carol was admiring Sam so much that she almost missed her answer. "I'd like to time travel. To meet artists that influenced the art world so much, to travel to places before men were able to touch it… that would be amazing." Her face became serious while she spoke and there was a sort of longing there. Sam must have thought about this a lot, Carol wondered.

"Oh, come on; that's not a superpower," Carol jested earning her a slap to the arm. The pair had an intense stare down before bursting out in a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, I think I do remember that… we had the best conversations out there," Carol stated relieved that she was remembering more and more things about her life. One thing was becoming clearer: she had feelings for Sam before her accident. Whether she ever acted on them she still didn't know so she was playing things safely.

Sam nodded, "We did. Never would have thought the things we talked about were not as farfetched as we originally believed, though. Yesterday morning was completely normal and now everything is so different."

"Tell me about it."

Suddenly, Sam became serious and got a little more of a confident gleam in her eyes. It surprised Carol because it was the most steady and pulled together she had seen her since meeting her. It gave her hope that maybe Sam would be okay with everything happening and that she was adapting to it. "So, what's the plan with those Skrull? I want to help."

Carol grinned widely, this was going to be interesting. She was glad Sam seemed to be coming around. "Well, for now, it's a waiting game for Fury to show up and for the Skrull to wake up. I guess I hit him harder than I thought. We need to see what the rest of his group is planning. Talos thinks it could be bad if this Roan character is in charge of them. But I'm hoping we can get them into contact with Talos, so they'll stop thinking I did something to him and maybe they'll want to go to the new world their people settled on."

Just at that moment Maria stepped out from around the corner of the house and said, in a rushed voice, "Carol, our friend is awake!"

"Ugh, finally. He took a long enough nap," she said sarcastically and eagerly slapped her hands together. Maria rolled her eyes at her best friend and retreated back behind the house. Carol stood to leave but stopped when Sam called to her. "Hey Carol?"

"Yeah?"

"I know it probably hasn't seemed like it, but I'm really glad you are alive. I…" she acted like she was going to say something else but Carol could see her internal struggle with the words. Finally, she just shook her head and settled on repeating her words, "I'm just glad."

Carol felt her chest tighten with affection for the other woman out of nowhere. "Yeah… me too." She smiled and cleared her throat after they both realized they had been staring at each other for a little too long. "Um, I'm going to go- "

"Yeah, go. Sorry-" Sam interjected.

"No, it's okay!" Carol waved her hand in a nonchalant manner and made a face. They laughed and Sam tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before Carol started down the stairs to follow Maria.