𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 ᵂᵃⁿᵈᵃ ᴹᵃˣⁱᵐᵒᶠᶠ ³

¹¹. ᴸᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᴬ ᴾʰᵃⁿᵗᵒᵐ

He let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. "No, uh...he was my ex's brother. Didn't know him as well as I'd like to do," he explained, shrugging. "He was a smartass, incredibly cocky, but only cared about his sister. Didn't deserve to go out as soon as he did."

Glancing over at her, the man motioned to the headstone in front of her. "How about you?"

"Brother. Worked for the Government," Drew answered with a thin lip smile. "It's weird because when someone is killed or dies, you find out the cause and you can direct your anger to it. But with Carter, they gave me nothing. And getting mad at the Government doesn't really do anything when it's so huge and hard to pinpoint the probable cause. Just ends up being anger misdirected to someone who doesn't deserve it."

Carter had died from unknown causes. The officials who showed up at her house in the dead of the night had only been there to relay the news before leaving. Drew was too shocked to even shed a tear or question them about how he died. It'd only been a day after that she was told he was in an accident and had been the only casualty. Still, she didn't cry.

But at his funeral, that's when the realization finally hit. Surrounded by people she didn't recognize or even know their significance to Carter, she cried. She still remembers how no one moved to comfort her. She was left to stare at his casket as it was lowered into the ground. Officially leaving her behind, just like their parents.

She never expected him to stay around. With how Carter acted with his beliefs, Drew knew eventually he would get what was coming to him. But she had just wanted closure. Something she could resent besides the man she missed dearly.

"Do you... Would that be what he wanted from you?"

Drew's lips parted as she stared at the man. He stood without his hood now, hair slightly astray with a trimmed stubble hiding his defined jaw. But his eyes...something about them were familiar. A certain type of glimmer in them belonged to a part of herself that she wasn't familiar with.

"What do you mean?" Drew asked.

The man stared at the headstone of Pietro, head tilted faintly. Stepping toward the marble stone, he placed his hand on the top. "I'll protect her, brother. I promise."

Turning, the man began to walk away with Drew following his movement. "Wait! Who are you?

The question made the man stop short, enabling Drew to do the same. There was a long moment of silence where the wind passing through the trees could be heard. "I know you blame him. You said that you had nowhere to direct your anger, so you're directing it at him. But he cares about you–always has–always will. He left because his work would've hurt you and bearing that weight would've destroyed him," the man explained. "But if you are to take anything from what I am saying, know that Carter misses you every single day that goes by."

As the man began to walk away, Drew's confusion only grew with desperation sinking its claws in her mind. "Wait, what do you mean-?!" She gasped at the man's body disappearing with sparks, leaving her alone.

From the road that moved through and around the graveyard, Carter sat and watched. Gloved hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Did I kill her?" His attention shifted to Wanda who watched Drew crumble to the ground in what seemed to be tears. The sight alone caused an unsteady tremble in the redhead's chest that could connect to guilt. Something that had been at the back of her mind for weeks now.

He looked at his sister, biting the inside of his cheek as he turned the key in the ignition, causing the vehicle to rumble to life. "Along with everyone from my universe," he muttered, hand resting on the gear shift and foot resting idly on the accelerator.

It may have not been fair to be angry. It'd been so long since his Earth had been destroyed, and he often saw more positives than negatives. But now, after Sokovia, Carter was blissfully bitter and willing to place that bitterness on anyone in his path. He knew that Wanda was undeserving of it the most, but there was no other way he could dance around the question and lessen the blow of reality.

It didn't with him...

"Yet, you continued to try and get me back." Wanda looked at him, eyebrows scrunched together. Confusion was evident in those beautiful eyes that continued to bewitch the man despite their complicated feelings for one another.

Carter cared. He cared about her and everyone around him more than himself. And this moment, seeing Drew, it'd been his last selfish desire for a piece of a life he would never get back. A farewell to something that he will always want.

But once the new Avengers facility had been built and Carter was cleared from his injuries, his outlook on things had changed. And he didn't plan on changing it.

"Some part of me always resented you for what you took. I still do. I want you to hurt so bad. I want you to feel every ounce of pain that you caused me," he gritted, shaking his head. "I lost everything because of you..."

With a trembling hand, he reached over the console and gently grabbed her hand. "...but I still loved you then and I still love you now." Sniffling, he looked at her. "And I know you aren't my Wanda, and I know there is a chance you never will be. Given a second chance to make things right is all I ever wanted. But not at the cost of ruining everything that came before."

As they began to drive, Wanda couldn't help but look up at him in curiosity. "Is that why you told Steve and Nova you're on leave?" She asked.

Clenching his hand around the steering wheel, Carter sucked on his teeth. Nodding to himself, deep in thought, he sighed. "Everyone on the team will eventually want an out. It's inevitable. Either we all go out on our terms or disband."

Pulling onto the main road, Carter leant back in the leather seat. A wave of relaxation washed over him, but not weighing him down. He could breathe. He could think. Something about that was freeing as for so long, he could only think of what came next. What he would do next. But now, there wasn't a need for it.

"And I don't want to be around when it does happen."