𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐑 - MCU

V. NO STRINGS ATTACHED

V. NO STRINGS ATTACHED
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Luna sat in the corner of the plane, her back against the wall, deep in thought. Barton laid on a cart, Natasha checking up on him every so often. The rest was doing the usual mission debrief. Luna tried to participate, but she could see Tony keeping an eye on her. Probably because she was keeping one on him too.

They hadn't talked about the mind-invasion they went through, Tony had only mentioned it vaguely and without much detail to the team.

Luna's head was still pounding and the adrenaline of the mission had begun wearing off. Natasha handed her an ibuprofen in silence, but Luna couldn't keep her mind off the imagery of her brother lying dead on the floor, blaming her. Luna wasn't stupid, she could think logically and realistically. She knew her brother's... state, wasn't her fault. She knew it was the damned spirits.

But... she also knew that she should've never let Derek come with her. She knew that the spirits hated humans in their habitat. And he still brought him.

"Thor, report on The Hulk," Natasha asked, and Luna crawled out of her mind-space and noticed Bruce still shaking from the aftermath of hulking out.
  
Thor turned, hands on his hips and spoke proudly, "The gates of Helheim are filled with the screams of his victims."

Thor, cowering at the piercing glare Natasha gave him, swiftly stammered out, "But, not the screams of the dead, of course. Uh- no, no, wounded screams. Mainly... whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and... gout?" He quickly turned away.

Luna felt surprised to find a smile making its way on her face. She had really missed her team's chemistry.

"Carter, Stark. You encountered one of the enhanced, right? The girl?" Steve inquired.
  
Luna swallowed and nodded. "I ran into the guy as well. He didn't do much, but the girl... she whammied us with something."
    
"I didn't see her much," Tony added as he sat down opposite of Luna. "Came up behind me."

"Luna, did she talk to you?"
  
Luna shook her head. "She was creepy. There was this... red mist coming from her hands and then a sort of haze took over my head. It made me see things, both of us." She nodded to Tony. Luna suddenly felt everyone's eyes on her and she folded her arms to herself, trying to make herself smaller.
    
"Fear. It made us see fear," Tony said.

Everybody decided that was the cue to drop the subject, which Luna was grateful for. She didn't partake in any of the conversation around her and swung her feet on top of the bench and put on some music as she tried to relax her mind.

After a while of resting her eyes she felt a tap on her knee. She opened her eyes and spotted Tony. She removed her legs and he sat down next to her

"What's up?" Luna asked as she removed her earbuds.
  
"The sky," Tony replied immediately.
    
Luna sighed deeply. "Dick."
    
He smiled. "Can I ask you something?"
     
She narrowed her eyes and replied hesitantly, "depends."

"What did you see?" he asked. "When the enhanced took over your mind?" Tony had been curious for a while. What would a 17-year-old see? None of them knew a lot about Luna, and she never shared much about her personal life. But then again, neither did the rest.
  
Luna's face dropped. "Never mind, you may not ask me a question," she said.
    
"Come on, it must be something if it left you shaking like this."
  
Luna made her hands stop shaking. "Fine, what did she make you see? If you're so keen on talking about it."

Tony went quiet and Luna thought he might not reply at all, until, "I saw you. All of you," He looked around the team, all in their own conversation. "Everybody was dead. I don't remember much else."
    
"Jesus, Stark..." Luna muttered. She breathed in deeply and after a few seconds she began, "I saw my brother, Derek. He was dead and blaming me for it; rightfully."
  
Tony's eyes widened slightly, "Didn't know you had a brother."
  
Luna chuckled. "Yeah, well, I wasn't entirely honest about my 'vacation,' stuff happened," she finally said.