The Weight of the Universe | Avengers

19. A World Alone

"Thor?" Aurora tries to reach out for her best friend but the blond demigod has been doing nothing but drinking his shame and sorrow away. She actually thought Thor couldn't get drunk from Terran alcohol, but it appears that the right amount can make him at least tipsy. Thor only stares at the bottle, taking another deep sip from the booze. "Do you want anything else?"

He just stares into space, ignoring Aurora and she sighs. It's been two weeks now since they returned from the Garden and things are falling apart. She is still having nightmares, but at least she has stopped crying randomly. Walking through the compound, Aurora finds the owner of the building in his workshop.

"Hi." She greets Tony and he turns around, turning off the hologram of the wedding plans in front of him. He looks much healthier now, no longer being only skin and bones. 

"Thought you left with Nebula and the raccoon and went back to space." Tony lifts a brow in surprise and Aurora shrugs.

"He's actually not a raccoon– " She pauses, sighing. "Doesn't really matter. I'm gonna leave in a month when they come back to pick me up. I can't just leave Thor like this, so I try to stay as long as possible and also visit as often as possible. Anyway, I'm here to thank you."

"For using my tech while I was starving to death in space? No biggie, what you did with the repulsor was actually not a bad idea– "

"No, that's not the reason why I'm here." She cuts him off, though his compliment flatters her. "You sent Happy to watch over me when I had no memories of my life. Thank you for that. He made me feel less lonely."

"Oh, that. Yeah, that feels like a life time ago." He frowns and shrugs, accessing the security camera of the front door. His face almost lightens up when a certain person conveniently shows up now. "Speaking of Happy, guess who has come to visit."

"No way." Aurora's eyes widen when Tony's best bodyguard and close friend is shown on the screen and she wastes no time to run out of the workshop. Her feet carry her to the main entrance of the Avengers compound and from the distance, she already spots Happy through the glass door. A little bit gray has grown in his dark brown hair, but he hasn't changed too much apart from this.

"Happy!" She almost yells and pulls him into a hug as soon as he walks through the door. The bodyguard is taken aback by her embrace and her being alive in general, but after he has recovered from the shock, he returns the hug.

"God, Aurora. It's been years, I thought you were dead." Happy mumbles in disbelief and stares at her. Only then she remembers that Thor also thought she was dead before Ragnarok happened hence the confusion now.

"It's a long story." She admits and glances at him. "Oh, God, I'm so glad you didn't disappear."

"Yeah, me too." He sighs and they sit down on the nearest bench. "Since when are you back? How have you been?"

"Well, let me think.... The last time we saw each other was about four years ago, so... I regained my memories, found out my biological father was a monster, killed him with my half-brother, lost my actual dad, got a new family, was ready to propose to Loki, fought against Thor's sister, we won, fought against Thanos, we lost, Loki died and so did my brother and most of my family." She splutters and Happy needs an entire minute to even process what Aurora just said. "What about you?"

"... I got a new haircut." He mumbles. "You haven't changed a bit. Did you just say that Loki...?"

"He died." Aurora glances at the emerald gem on her ring. "Thanos killed him."

"Shit, I'm sorry." The bodyguard expresses his condolences and pats her back. He doesn't like Loki, but he knows that Loki erased Aurora's memories back then in order to protect her and Happy respects him for that. "I know that a lot of things have been going downhill lately."