The Witch and the Space-Girl - Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel

Prologue ~ The Lucky Ones

New 2018

"Stark's snap acted as a timeline reset. So now we're back in 2018, or, well, the new 2018. New 2018. We regained those five years, but also lost some people. Thing's aren't the same, and now we've lost different people. Gain something, lose something else..."

This had been an over-simplification of all that had changed thanks to Tony Stark's ultimate end sacrifice. Fury had been doing his best to explain the new situation they found themselves in, drastically different than before, and that pretty much summed it up.

Again, an over-simplification. There was much more to it, and it was a lot more complicated. A lot. 

It was a strange world out there - always had been, always would be.  And now it was even stranger. Just when everyone thought it couldn't possibly get any stranger, it had. 

You lose something, you gain something. You gain something, you lose something. You lose something else, you gain something else, and so on and so forth. This was the situation the Avengers and their allies - and well, everyone, not only on Earth but in the whole entire universe - found themselves in after Tony Stark's saving snap. Now the world watched and waited together.

The enemy had been defeated, and everyone dusted had been brought back, but many heroes had been lost along the way to victory as well. 

And not only did the snap bring back the dusted people, but, perhaps at Stark's own request, some other vanished people as well, as they discovered with Yelena Belova. And Nora's family. 

She hadn't recognized the number calling her on her mobile phone. When she heard the voices she thought she would never hear again, it was difficult to describe what she felt. A surge of something. She was already overwhelmed post-battle, and this had shocked her further.

"Nora?"

She'd stood in silence on the other end of the phone line for what felt like forever, before, "M-Mum, Dad?" Her voice was barely a whisper. 

"Nora, Love, where are you? We're so worried! It's chaos here, absolute bloody chaos-"

"What is it?" Carol asked, suddenly worried, noticing Nora's expression. 

"It's my parents - they've come back too."

"Nora, where are you?"

"Mum, Dad, you won't believe where I am."

Her parents, Doctors Jenny and Harry Bane, who had vanished while doing mysterious work for S.H.I.E.L.D. - really HYDRA - when she was twelve, were suddenly back in her life, as though they hadn't disappeared at all. 

To say she was overwhelmed was a terrible understatement, but she was also excited, so very excited.

She had a complicated relationship with the memory of her parents, for the longest time thinking they had abandoned her in favour of their work, when really they had been trying to learn more about the powers she would develop, brought on during an expedition when her mother was pregnant with her. Now, she did not doubt their love, not for a minute.  

And that was how, several hours later, she found herself  on her way back to the UK to reunite with her parents - and introduce them to her girlfriend, and introduce Carol to them. 

The door to the flat opened, and there  they were.

She said nothing, but let go of Carol's hand in order to spring forward, engulfing them both in as giant a hug as she could manage.

"Oh, Mum, oh Dad - you're here, you're here-" She could hardly believe it.  "I thought I'd lost you - I had  lost you-"

"Nora, of course we're here, where else would we be?" her mother said.  "It was you we were worried about."

"Oh, I love you, I love you both so much. So, so much. And I always will, no matter what I say or do, I promise."

"Oh Nora, we love you too. Oh come here." They pulled her into an even more crushing embrace and just stood that way for a long moment. 

She pulled back in order to look at them. They looked exactly as she remembered. "It's a long story, all of it."

"This is your special guest I'm guessing," Jenny said, nodding to Carol who was standing back, bottle of wine in hand, allowing the family to have a moment together. 

"Yes, very special guest indeed. Mum, Dad, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend: Captain Carol Danvers. Carol, these are my parents, Doctors Harry and Jenny Bane."

"Captain?"

"Yeah, I'm a pilot. Or I was. U.S. air force."

"Well hello there, Captain, very nice to meet you - even if you weren't a captain, it's still wonderful to meet you."

"Dad!" hissed Nora.

Carol chuckled.  "Nice to meet you too, Mr. and Mrs. Bane."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you Carol, but Jenny and Harry is fine. I insist."

"Okay, Jenny and Harry."

"Oh come on in, come," Jenny fussed.  "Let's get inside."

With that they sat around the table, continuing the introductions over dinner. 

"So, how did you two meet?" Harry asked.

Ah, the million dollar question. It had only been a matter of time. "Carol helped me out with my powers," Nora began the story. "And we instantly connected. I was smitten right away-"

"So was I," Carol stepped-in, making them chuckle.

"-And we grew closer and, well, that was that. We were separated for a while, but then came back together a few years later, and now here we are." She smiled at her wonderful badass girlfriend. "We always knew we were some of the lucky ones - I don't know what I would have done had you disappeared in the Blip. It's hard enough waiting for you to come back from your piloting missions." Space saving missions. 

"Totally," Carol agreed. 

"Your powers are our fault," Jenny said. "You weren't showing any signs of developing them as a child, not even any signs of having them. We thought maybe you weren't affected as we thought you had been." She and Harry joined hands and they shared a regretful look. 

Nora could sense their guilt.  "I don't blame you. And I wasn't alone." She reached out to take Carol's hand. 

"And we'll help you the best we can," her parents promised.

"Thank you. I know you will."

After that, she and Carol explained what they could explain, the best they could explain it. Neither had even close to all the answers. No one did. 

"Except maybe for Lady Infinity, but I doubt she'll be around to ask," Carol muttered.  

Yeah, maybe she wouldn't  tell her parents about the whole Infinity Gauntlet/Infinity Stone group thing. Not yet anyway. 

The new world - new universe that is - was nothing but full of surprises, and there were certainly many  more to come. 

(Welcome back to Carol and Nora's story :) I'm excited to be back and hope you are too!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))