III. RUINS AND RUINATION
__________
"And when I'm lying in my bed
I think about life
And I think about death
And neither one particularly appeals to me..."
Luna grumbled, and gestured for the bartender to refill her glass. She downed it swiftly, a burning sensation in the back of her throat. A sense of relief washed over her when a burly, grey-bearded man walked up to the jukebox and changed the song to one with harder beats, faster lyrics and less depression. She liked The Smiths, really, but only in moderation and not when she already felt like shit. Which was almost always these days.
She looked at her knuckles wrapped around the glass. It had been almost a year, but her knuckles were still red and sore. She hadn't let it heal yet. Then the memories flashed through her mind, like they always did, and she beckoned the bartender again. The bartender, a man who looked too old to still be having to work, didn't ask any questions, didn't even ask for an ID.
That was the thing about the slums of Edinburgh; nobody cared what you did, and nobody recognized her.
Luna knew the group of fat, old men were eyeing her from their pool table. Let them try, she thought, I need something to punch.
"Another?"
Luna pushed her glass forward, and the bartender filled it. She knocked it back. The bartender filled it again. This time, she sipped it slowly. She could feel herself getting drunker—too drunk. She'd still have to get herself back to the apartment. Not that anyone was waiting for her there. No, it would be empty when she arrived. It's been empty for weeks.
"Rough day?"
"Fuck off."
"Alright... Give me a shout if ye wan' another."
The bartender walked to the other side of the bar. Luna watched him from the corner of her eyes; he was talking to one of the fat, old men. The man was gesturing to her, and the bartender nodded. A minute later, the bartender put down a beer in front of her.
"From the bloke by the pool table."
Luna eyed the tall glass, foam spilling over the rim. She normally didn't drink beer, it tasted like piss, but she was too drunk to care. She took the glass, turned to the pool table at the other side of the pub, and raised it appreciatively.
When the beer too had been finished, she put her jacket back on and set out of the pub. It was cold outside; it was the middle of the night and winter was well underway. The streets were empty, all the lights were out. This part of the city barely had streetlights, so she had to strain her eyes to be able to see anything.
"Oi!" The door to the pub opened behind her. "Where're ya goin', lassie?"
Luna closed her eyes, her fists tightening in her pockets. "None of your business."
"Oh, come on! Don' be like 'at! Not even gonna say thank ye for the beer?"
She turned, and, surely, the fat, old man stood there in front of her on the pavement. His grey beard was wild and unkempt, much like his eyebrows. There wasn't much of any hair on his head, except for a few wispy strands at his neck. His skin was red with decades-old sunburn, his jean jacket fit too tight around his shoulders, and couldn't be zipped up even if he tried.
"Don't even like beer. You can go back inside, now."
"What're ye doin' all this way 'cross the pond, 'Merican girl? C'mon, me and my mates are just 'bout to start another game." He walked closer, wobbling on his unsteady legs.
"Not interested. Go back inside."
"It's cold outside, missy, come inside with me." He put a hand on her shoulder.
Luna's gaze turned annoyed. She pushed him backwards with a gust of wind. He stumbled, and steadied himself on the brick wall. With wide eyes, he looked at her.
"Yer her! The Avenger, the purple one!"
Luna massaged her temples. "Fuck..." she murmured beneath her breath and turned to walk away. Her fists were still tingling, itching for some action.
Luna had restrained herself for the past months, though she had felt it; that feeling of rage, misery and grief, whenever some random person bumped into her, innocently. But, surely, this man deserved it. No, she thought, shaking her head. Just keep walking, Carter.
"Avatar!" the man yelled. "Yer the Avatar! What? I'm not good 'nuff for ye?"
"I'm taken!" Luna yelled back.
"Where is she, then?"
Luna froze. She wasn't sure if she heard him right.
"Huh? Where's your little witch? Dead like the rest of them!" he was screaming now.
Luna turned in her spot. This was surreal. How did this man know? How could he have known that about her?
"What did you just say?" she said, with venom in her voice, stalking closer to the drunk man. He looked scared, now that the wind around them was picking up.
"U-uh...uh..."
"Uh? Nothing to say?" she spit, grabbing his collar and pushing the heavy man against the brick wall of the pub. Oh, she's needed this for months now; some way to let it all out. The bottle was breaking and this man was on the receiving end of the consequences.
"I-I don-t—I didn't say anyt—"
"No, no, come on. Say it to my face." She tightened her grip, his neck was turning white under the pressure, and his face colored red and redder.
Blood was rushing to Luna's brain, the noise deafening in her ears. The wind picked up again. Her hair blew wildly around her head, it was hard to hear anything he was saying. But, she could clearly make out his next words.
"Couldn't save her, could you? Couldn't save anyone. Pathetic. Why did you get to live? And not someone else?"
Luna breathed heavily, and pulled him away from the wall, throwing him to the ground. She climbed on top of him, her mind hazy. He didn't stop taunting her, but his face looked terrified when she raised her fist and brought it down. A sickening crack! rang through the empty street. His lip split, blood ran down his cheek. She raised her fist and brought it down again. And again, and again, and again until her arm was sore and his face unrecognizable.
The rage didn't subside. The ache in her heart remained the same.
She stopped, suddenly. The man's face had morphed into another—female, soft, beautiful, green dead eyes and red locks stained with blood. With a gasp of horror, she crawled back across the pavement, away from the bloodied woman. Her hand throbbed; her knuckles had split open again. When she looked up, the man looked like himself again.
Luna wiped her tears. She couldn't see if the man was still... if he was still... Then, a ragged breath came from his chest. She looked through the window to the pub and saw his friends packing up their things. Good. Luna spared one last glance at the wounded man, and fled.
What was happening to her? These fits of rage were happening more frequently, and were beginning to be uncontrollable. Luna made a decision, right there on the spot. She wasn't safe to be around, so she would remove herself from the equation altogether.
That night, Luna packed together all she needed. It all fit into one bag. She quickly washed the blood off herself before taking her glider, and flying off into the dark night. All night she flew, high above the Atlantic, with nothing around her for miles and miles.
Until, finally, the sun began to rise. Strokes of oranges, pinks and purples rippled across the sky as the blazing sun rose higher and higher. After hours upon hours of flying, her body was ready to give out. Over the horizon, right ahead of her, land appeared. It wouldn't be long now before she reached America.
Luna began her descent, checking her phone for the time. A little early, but it'd have to do. Gliding lower and lower, the shape of Georgia came into few, buildings appearing like growing dots. With her phone haphazardly in her hand, she followed the route until a picturesque farm house appeared in her eyesight.
A normal-sized house, not too small nor too big, like she had come to expect from Tony Stark. Garden equipment lay strewn about around the large, snow-coated garden, as if the residents had been busy at work making the house into a home. Luna knew why. She had received the announcement in the mail one day; a pink postcard with 'Every superhero needs a sidekick – arriving January 2019' printed on the front.
She landed on the run way, startling the man on the porch, who had been peacefully drinking his coffee. Tony jumped from his seat, his coffee long forgotten, as he took in the haggard state of the approaching girl. He rushed across the lawn, stopping right in front of her, trying to figure out why she would be here. Nothing had been said at all when Tony embraced her, shortly, tightly.
"It's good to see you," he said eventually. "Wanna come inside?"
Luna cleared her throat and folded her glider. She followed after him through the front door, and into the cozy living room. Pictures had been set up on the fire mantle; she was surprised to see so many of the team. When had they made these? She couldn't remember anymore.
The house was normal. A kitchen and a living room, not much else. The bedrooms would be upstairs, as well as the bathroom. There were no half-finished machines laying around, nor random wires and spare parts. Fatherhood really did change a person, Luna concluded.
A few minutes after Luna had settled on the couch, Tony walked back in with two cups of freshly made coffee.
"Thanks," she said quietly, her hand a little too tight around the mug that read: #1 dad. "Sorry for barging in here. I wanted to send word ahead, but I left in kind of a hurry."
"Yeah," Tony replied, checking his watch. "Have you been flying all night? We have a spare room, if you wanna get some kip."
"No, I'm fine. Can't stay long, anyway. I got another long journey ahead of me."
"Oh?"
"Headed to Wakanda after this," she said shortly, looking down at her hands.
Tony watched her closely, his eyes widening at the redness on her knuckles. He sat his mug down, and walked back into the kitchen, calling out, "Visiting your brother?"
"Yeah," she lied. "Thinking of staying there a while."
"Really?" he walked back in, a first aid kit in his hands.
"Tony—" Luna tried to protest when he took her hands.
"Hold still." He took a bottle of disinfectant and dapped it carefully on the open wounds.
"I just wanted to make a pit stop here. You know, meet the little gremlin."
Tony smiled widely, finishing wrapping bandages around her hands. "Morgan and Pepper are still asleep, but I can take you up to her room."
Luna nodded appreciatively, sipping her coffee. Her hands felt a lot better, now that they had been taken care of. A melancholic feeling settled in her stomach. She looked out the window, seeing the white-picket fence. The ache in her heart deepened.
"How are you doing?" Tony asked, looking at her intently.
"Hmm?" she said absentmindedly. "Fine. You know, coping."
"Really?" he responded. "Then why does it look like you punched a wall, repeatedly."
"I didn't punch a wall, Tony. It was a man. A very burly man."
"Oh yeah, you're coping amazingly."
"Oh, shut up. Not all of us have enough money to buy an acre of land in the middle of nowhere and have a kid."
"All you need to do is ask and you shall receive."
"Jesus, To—"
"Not Jesus. Matthew."
"Who the fuck is Matthew?"
"Doesn't matter. Come on, let's go upstairs. We gotta be quiet, Pep was up late last night, trying to put Morgan to sleep."
They walked up the dark stairs, the steps creaking beneath their weight. They left the light in the hall off, and Luna followed Tony to the last door to the left, opening it quietly. They shuffled in, turning the light up to a dim yellow. In the middle of the room stood a crib, painted in a cream white color. Baby Morgan was fast asleep. A little tuft of dark brown hair grew from her soft head, her lips were pouted and frowning. Luna's heart melted.
"Morgan," Tony whispered, not wanting to wake the baby. "Meet your auntie Luna."
"I'm not changing her diapers," Luna quickly said. "I can be the cool aunt who buys her alcohol and shit."
"She's not even one-year-old."
"I'll buy her a Nintendo DS or something. Whatever kids play with these days."
It was late in the morning when Tony and Luna stood on the porch again, Luna's glider in her hand. Pepper and Morgan hadn't been woken up by their conversation, and Luna felt too guilty to wake them up before she left.
"You're welcome back here anytime, kiddo. Don't be a stranger."
Luna stayed silent, looking up at the sky. She was surprised to feel tears gathering in her eyes, and quickly blinked them away. "Y-yeah, I know," she said, biting her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and held on. "Thank you, Tony. For everything." Noticing the confused look on Tony's face when she let go, she quickly turned around and took a running start, bending the wind beneath the purple wings of her glider.
Wakanda was difficult to find, impossible almost. But, by now, Luna knew her way around. It was a long journey, physically exhausting. Bending the air took a lot of energy out of her, so she found the nearest, smallest, abandoned island she could find and slept. Only for a few hours, but that was enough.
She continued, and, not before long, land appeared on the horizon. The sun was beginning to set when she flew across the borders of Wakanda. She took her phone, and send out a quick message, notifying whoever was monitoring the computers in the Palace of her arrival.
She circled above the palace when the large doors opened, and someone limped out. They had a cane, and wobbled forward. They were waiting for her, she realized, and, as she descended, she saw him. Someone Luna never thought she would see again; Derek.
Her brother stood in the setting sun, shielding his eyes from it as he watched Luna race to the ground. She almost fell as she landed, but she didn't care. Her brother was there, standing upright, awake.
"Derek?!" she yelled, racing forward.
"I'm here!" he yelled back, doing his best to rush to her.
Luna stopped running, breathing heavily. He was there, just a few feet in front of her, smiling. She hurried forward and hugged him. "W-what? How? What?"
He chuckled. "No idea. Where've you been? The Queen, she told me about—I—I—" he hesitated, finally noticing how bad his sister looked. "You look horrible."
"Oh, wow, thank you. Just glad to see my brother who's been in a coma for the past five fucking years."
"Touchy..." he mumbled. "I heard about... what happened."
Luna's faced changed, morphing to a colder expression. "What happened, happened. Let's not bring up old memories."
"I wasn't there," Derek said, pleading. "I want to understand."
"Let's try to understand how you're even awake first," she said, avoiding the topic she's been avoiding for the last year, and thought back. "Shuri... Shuri had a theory before she..."
"What theory?"
"Time. Time heals all wounds."
"That's dumb."
"Yes. Yes it is. But it's the only explanation. Your body and mind healed on their own."
Luna's grip on her backpack tightened, her gaze moving past her brother. The forest. It was right there. It felt the same as the last time she was there; empty and lifeless.
Derek noticed her looking. Then, he glanced at her hands. "What happened?"
"What? Oh—" she covered her hands, "nothing. I—uhm... I'm looking for something. It's... It hasn't been an easy couple of months. I—" her voice broke, she looked at the ground. "I've lost so many people—"
"Wanda."
Luna looked up instantly, something fiery behind her eyes. Derek frowned, unsettled. "Where did you hear that name?"
He frowned, trying to remember. "I... don't know. Must've... I don't know. Who is she?"
With trembling lips and shaking hands, she answered, "No one." She sighed, taking a deep breath to calm her heartbeat. "She was my girlfriend. She was snapped. Her brother, too. He was my best friend. Amy's gone as well. Everyone—"
"Luna," Derek interrupted. "Why have you come here? It's not because of me."
"No," she replied. "I didn't even know you'd woken up. I just... need to check on something. I need to speak with Raava." She looked at the bandages around her hands. "Don't worry, I won't be long." She felt vulnerable under her brother's gaze. Too vulnerable.
"Of course," he said. "Why would you be?"
She bit the inside of her cheek before surging forward and capturing Derek in a hug. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe. When she let go, she could see on Derek's face that he didn't believe her words. "Goodbye, Der."
He sighed softly, grasping her hand. "I love you, Lune."
She averted her eyes from his. "Yeah. Love you, too." Feeling his eyes on her back, she took her backpack and walked away, before she could change her mind.
The Spirit Wilds called for her, and she answered. Maybe, her connection with the spirit world would be stronger at the ruins of the Southern Air Temple. She could try and reach Raava. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't gone entirely. The other Avatars, her past lives, they could help her. Help her regain control of her life.
But, when Luna arrived at the ruins much earlier than expected and without much trouble, there was no one waiting for her. The ruins were deserted. Empty, spare for the native animals that lived there. She walked through the empty corridors, remembering her time spent in each and every room. Training with Lee, gossiping with Korra, meditating with Aang, sitting in complete silence with Aoma. All of them had gone.
Luna sat on the edge of a small cliff, the water trickling down steep rocks was soothing as she began to meditate.
Raava... Answer my call... Raava..? Are you here..?
Nothing answered.
The next day, she tried again. She sat cross-legged, and meditated. At a certain point, when days and weeks and months and maybe even years had passed, she sat there still. Meditating, but no longer to Raava. Now, meditation was the only thing that kept her sane.
Luna had had no control over her life. She was a danger to others, the man outside the pub was living proof. So, she removed herself. She took back control. The temple ruins were her home now, and she would stay there until...
The wind shifted, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Someone was standing behind her.
"Luna..?"
She knew that voice. Shit. And he wasn't alone, but the other person wasn't speaking. Who would travel all this way, just to speak to her? Pietro? No, he's fucking dead, Luna, she scolded herself. She pulled her mind out of her meditative state. She opened her mouth to speak, with no idea how it would sound. She had only had herself to talk to for the past four years... Had it really been that long?
When she did speak, her voice rang clearly through the field. "Hey, Derek. What's up?" She turned, and saw Steve standing next to her brother. "And Steve. To what do I owe the pleasure?" She saw them glance at each other, and come to a silent agreement.
It was Steve who spoke next, "I need your help. The team needs your help."
"There is no team. Not anymore. Half of them are dead, the other half are as good as. We died that day with Thanos." Luna looked at Steve intently, willing him to remember.
To remember that day after Tony, Nebula and she had arrived back on earth. The last mission. To find him, to kill him, and to take the stones. They were going to safe everyone. They both remembered how that had gone. Thanos was gone, but he had the last laugh. When they had found him, he was retired, the glove fused to his arms. He had used the stones to destroy the stones, and he had squashed the last of their hope at the same time.
"We have a plan," Steve insisted. "Even Tony believes."
"Then he's stupider than I gave him credit for," Luna responded, pulling herself from the ground. She stepped forward, into the light.
They could see her better, now. She wasn't thin. Whatever she had been living off in the Wilds must have been good and plenty. As the years had grown, so had Luna. Wrinkles had begun to appear on her skin; between her brows, next to her eyes, around her mouth. If there was any doubt about it before, there wasn't now; she had grown into an adult. She was twenty-four, as of a couple of days ago, if she had kept the date right all these years. Sadness still clouded her face, an everlasting fog.
But time heals all wounds, even those buried deep within. It didn't hurt to think of them anymore. It used to sting, burn, tear apart her insides. It had morphed into a longing ache in these years of isolation. And all of it was displayed on her face, no matter how much she was trying to hide it from them.
"It's true," Derek spoke up. "It's implausible and completely crazy, but it's true. I believe him."
Luna looked at him, searching his eyes. "You really mean that, huh?"
Derek glanced at Steve, looking away quickly. "I do."
Luna groaned deeply, burying her face in her hands for a second. Then, she took a deep breath and smiled genuinely at the two of them. "Step into my office, gentlemen." Luna lead them back inside, and turned into an opening immediately to their left. It was a small, bare room. Nothing much but moss and logs arranged to look like furniture.
She sat down on a gathered mount of clean moss, motioning for Steve and Derek to sit in front of her. "Talk."
"A week ago, Scott Lang showed up at the compound," Steve began. "Him and Hank Pym—"
"The scientist?"
"Yes?"
"Awesome."
"Okay—Scott and Hank had been experimenting with a place called the quantum realm. Please, don't ask me to explain what that is, because I can't," he continued. "Five years ago, Scott got sucked into the quantum realm, and didn't get out until over a week ago."
"He missed everything," Luna realized.
"For him, it had only been about five hours. When he realized, he came to us."
"Us?"
"Some of us stayed at the compound, or close to it. Natasha, Bruce, me. Some of the others visited from time to time, reporting back in. Danvers has been flying around the galaxy. Every civilized planet was affected by the snap. Scott's return... He hadn't lost hope like we had. He had a plan. Wasn't a very good plan, but enough to get us started."
"Will you please just tell me this incredible plan of yours?"
"It's time travel," Derek said, excitedly and exasperatedly at the same time.
"Time travel?" Luna repeated, unimpressed.
"Time travel," Steve confirmed.
"Fuck off. Your plan is to pull a Back To The Future?"
"The quantum realm is a crazy place. Scott only spend five hours in there, and came back out five years later. It's possible. So, him and Bruce began experimenting."
"They failed, horribly," Derek revealed.
"And that's why we went to Tony."
Luna nodded, understanding. "If anyone could figure out time travel, it'd be Tony Stark. How'd you convince him to leave Morgan? And Pepper?"
Steve shrugged, shaking his head. "No idea. Natasha did most of the convincing."
"That'll do it."
"For the past week, we've been getting the band back together. Thor from New Asgard. He was in worse shape than you—" he cut himself off, catching Luna's teasing, yet murderous glare. He cleared his throat, and resumed, "Clint had disappeared as well, after his family..."
"Disintegrated and died, Steve. No need to sugarcoat it."
"Natasha found him in Japan."
"The fuck's he doing in Japan? Enjoying vacation without the kids?"
"He was murdering people, Luna," Steve said sharply, surprised by her aloofness. "He became an assassin again."
"Right..." she mumbled. "Go on."
"The last person we needed to get, was you."
"And here we are," Derek said.
"Yeah, why are you here?" Luna asked him, crossing her arms. "Last time I almost got you killed."
"Last time the aye-aye spirit almost got me killed," he said strongly. "I'm fine, aren't I?" He gestured to his fine-looking body.
"Good thing the spirits are gone, then," she said.
"Gone?"
"You haven't noticed? The place is empty, deserted. It's just a normal forest now. Derek, don't tell me you've forgotten them so quickly."
"Them? Who's them?" Steve asked.
"My past lives used to live here. This is the place I went to on my 'vacation' after New York. I guess after Raava died, they went away too. I've been trying to reach them for years. No luck so far."
"Then why didn't you come back?"
"It's peaceful here," she said, closing her eyes and breathing in the clean air. "No smell of piss or vomit, and no rats trying to take a bite out of me on the subway. The last time I stopped and appreciated the world around me was when I was eight. And then my entire family died. No offense," she said and turned to her brother. "There is nothing waiting for me on the other side. Except a crappy apartment in Brooklyn that Tony still pays for."
"You got us," Steve said.
Luna had to look away from him, otherwise she was sure she would've packed her things and went back with them. "That's not good enough, Cap..." she said quietly.
"We can go back in time, back to before Thanos destroyed the stones. We get them, and we bring them back. We can bring everyone back, Luna. Even W—"
"Don't. Don't say her name. There is a very good reason I left that life behind me, and I got no desire to go back to it."
"We can help you," Steve said. "We wanna help you, because we care about you. If you'd just tell us—"
"I almost killed somebody. I almost killed an innocent man, because I imagined him saying stuff that made me furious—he was just a normal, creepy dude. I couldn't—I couldn't stay knowing I couldn't control myself. Knowing I could hurt anyone who's around me. I was falling into this hole of grief, mellowing in it. It was taking me over, changing me into someone I couldn't look at in the mirror. Coming here saved my life. I can't—I can't risk going back."
"We can bring them back, Lune," Derek persisted. "All of them. Amy, Raava, Pietro, Wanda—"
"Please. Don't give me hope. If—if it doesn't work..."
"What if it does work? What then? What if you don't come with us, and we still try, and we fail? We can't do this without you. Wanda and Pietro need you. You can get it back, Luna, all of it. Come with us, please?"
Luna breathed deeply, steadily, closing her eyes. She could feel the panic rising in her chest, the anxiety. Feelings she had spent years locking away were coming back because two pushy assholes came looking for her. Two pushy assholes; one her brother, and the other one as good as her brother. She looked up at them.
"No."
• • •
Luna sat cross-legged in her usual spot. The Southern Air Temple ruins were still a spiritual place, even with all it had endured over the millennia. Despite the loss of Raava, she could still sense the power that ebbed and flowed in the air. The cliff was where it was strongest. She sat, and meditated, trying to rid herself of the doubts left by her brothers.
Steve and Derek had left. They had failed, and had admitted their defeat. It wasn't much use trying to convince her, when they both knew how stubborn she could be. But their exit didn't get rid of the feelings they had stirred up in Luna. They were swirling, growing larger and stronger by the minute.
She breathed deeply, willing them to settle down. It wasn't much use. She could feel the control slipping between her fingers, and concentrated. Concentrated on the breeze on her face, the grass beneath her legs, the sound of the waterfall trickling down. She felt the power all around her, hanging distant in the air. She reached for it with her mind.
When she opened her eyes, Lee was in front of her. He looked as young as the day she had met him; brown faced, dark eyes, thin lips, floppy hair.
"I found you..." she breathed, chuckling. "I finally found you—"
"Wrong again, Carter," Lee said. Only then did she notice his strained expression, and the sweat dripping down the side of his face. "I found you."
"W-what? How? I have been looking for you for the past four years and you only pick up the phone now?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" she exclaimed furiously.
"Carter! Can you shut the fuck up?!" he yelled back. "I'm really trying my best over here! You need to go back. Go back with Derek and the other guy."
"N-no, Lee, you don't understand—"
"Oh boo-hoo, princess," he spit, grinding his teeth. "Are you all depressed and lonely? Grow the fuck up."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. They came all the way here and gave you the solution to all your problems on a silver platter, and you turn them away? Are you dumb?"
"I can't go back," Luna reasoned. "I could hurt someone."
"You're hurting people staying here. Every minute spent here means a minute lost you could've spent saving someone."
"I couldn't even help them if I wanted to," she tried. "I don't have Raava anymore."
"Fuck Raava," Lee said with such ferocity that Luna was taken aback. "You've never needed Raava to be a hero. Yes, Raava gave you fire and earth and water, but you were born an air bender. And a damn good one at that. You can try and worm your way out of going back with weak excuses, but we both know that the only reason you're still here, is because you're scared. Scared of failing again."
Suddenly he winced, his shoulders tensing. "I-I can't hold on any longer. Go with them, Luna. Otherwise you've already failed."
Luna gasped awake, her eyes flying open. She was still in the same spot, but Lee was gone. She gasped for air, wiping sweat from her brow. She looked at her hands, rough and calloused.
Luna made a decision, right there on the spot. She took her backpack, gathered her stuff, and hurried into the forest. In no time at all, she caught up to Steve and Derek, going back with them for one last desperate mission to save the universe and the people she loved.