𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄. ¹ | wanda maximoff

01 | 𝐒𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐄

[A/N: I'm changing the timings a little bit for the beginning of endgame, so shhh.]

——

SAUDADE
[sau-da-de, noun]

a nostalgic longing for something
or someone that was loved and then lost,
with the knowledge that it or they might
never return

——

IT HAD been two months since Wakanda. Since everyone disappeared, turned to dust.

Two months.

Five days.

Eighteen hours.

Thirty-two minutes.

And fifteen seconds.

Since Wanda was ripped away from Carson within a matter of seconds. No explanation. No understanding. No way to fix it. No proper goodbye.

That was sixty-five days of trying to find a way to bring her back, to bring everyone back. Carson would be up for nights on end, isolating himself from the rest of the team as he spent all of his time in the lab.

But there was nothing. Not matter how hard he tried. He couldn't find anything.

And it was destroying him.

Sometimes he swore he could still hear her, as if she'd never left.

He'd walk into his room, forgetting about the events that occurred in the forest and expect to see her there. Singing to herself like she always used to do, watching one of her many sitcoms or just be sat on the bed reading.

Carson would open the door, just in case. But every time it was opened he was just met with an empty, cold, silent space, of where she used to be.

There were even times when he thought that this was all just a dream, that his mind was playing some sort of trick on him like it had been doing a few months prior. That he would open his eyes and see her laying next to him fast asleep, safe and sound.

But then when he'd feel the chain around his neck that carried her ring, he knew that it was real. It wasn't just some sort of sick, twisted trick after all.

And in reality, the ring was all he had left of her.

As of now, he was in the lab... again. Head down, not paying attention to anything around him, his entire focus was on the screen in front of him as he was running another test to see if his latest idea would work.

Carson ran a hand through his hair and started tapping his pen against the desk in anticipation, watching as the bar on the screen started to fill up along with the percentage rising.

His eyes widened for a moment as it almost looked as if the scan was going to complete. But before it could reach one hundred percentage, the diagram turned red.

"Test unsuccessful." FRIDAY announced. "I'm sorry, Mr. Swan."

Carson clenched his jaw and inhaled sharply, trying to fight the anger that started to creep up on him. He had failed once more.