𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 | parker²

xxx. the quiet life

With a confused scrunch of her nose, Aster shrugged. "Yeah, when I was eight."

The confusion on Steve's face shifted to amazement and he shot Aster a look.

"Only to make conversation with Aster," Natasha chimed in, shoving her hands into the oversized sweatshirt wrapped around her. One that was clearly Steve's.

Happy that someone would understand him, Scott pointed at Aster. "Alright. Good So... five years ago, right... right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm," he explained, trying to fill them in. "The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my um... she was my..." Scott paused and his eyes grew sad. "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

Natasha frowned. "I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years."

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours."

The rest of the Avengers shared a quick, bewildered glance.

"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable—" Scott cut himself off, doing a double take when he saw Aster's half-eaten sandwich on the table. "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." He strode over and grabbed it before anyone could respond, taking a big bite. 

"It was mine," Aster mumbled. "But I'll let it slide since you haven't eaten in, like, five years."

Steve shook his head, still stuck on Scott's previous words. "Scott, what are you talking about?"

With a mouth full of peanut butter and bread, Scott continued, "What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos."

Aster's eyes blew wide. "So, a time machine? You're talking about time travel?"

"No. No, of course not. N-not a time machine. It's more like a..." Scott paused, searching for a better name to give it. When he realized that she was spot on, he grimaced. "Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be... some way..." He sighed, shaking his head. "It's crazy."

"Scott, I get e-mails from a raccoon," Natasha deadpanned. "So nothing sounds crazy anymore."

"Quantum fluctuation can mess with the Planck Scale," Aster mumbled to herself, delving deep into thought. She lifted her head and stared at Scott, biting the inside of her cheek. "It's risky. But it's not impossible."

Scott's eyes darted between the three Avengers and a glimpse of hope flitted through them. "So who do we talk to about this?"

Aster, Natasha, and Steve shared a knowing look.

───

As Aster walked up the path leading to Tony and Pepper's cabin, she was sure that her heart was going to burst out of her chest. It was just her for the time being, as the others were waiting in the car to give her some time.

Their property was beautiful. The sun cut through the trees surrounding the cabin, painting speckles of the grass bright green. The lake was so still that it mirrored the blue sky, as well as the softly chirping birds flying overhead. Aster took a breath of fresh air in through her nose, loving the way it filled her chest. It was quiet. But not a bad quiet. Peaceful.