Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts): Book 2

The Distance Between Two Hearts: Part 13

Summary: When SWORD asks for the Avengers' most powerful member for a highly dangerous mission, Carol naturally is the one selected to go. However, to her complete and utter surprise, she is paired with the one and only Monica Rambeau, and she has to rekindle old connections with one of the people that means the most to her while battling a completely unexpected yet sinister threat.

   As Monica peered into the swirling, angry vortex of purple magic, she found that she very frustratingly could not see a thing. She could not see Carol, Agatha, or anything that could be happening in there.

Her only hope that Carol was not dead yet or that her life's force was not completely drained out was that Agatha's magic had not yet dispelled.

However, just as she had that thought, the magic suddenly disappeared before her very eyes, and that hope was completely dashed as she spotted Carol and Agatha lying there on the ground together, a pile of ashes spread about them.

Monica's breath caught in her throat, fear squeezed her heart in only the tightest of grips, and she was frozen momentarily as she looked at the one person left in her world.

Carol had let her down, hurt her, made her question herself, and left that small inner-child feeling extremely guilty and confused for many years, but in that moment, she completely forgot all of that in favor of the Carol that she remembered and the Carol that she had back in her life for these few days.

This was her Aunt Carol.

The one always ready with a smile and a warm hug or a teasing ruffle of her hair.

The one that always tucked her in at night when her mother was out for something or another, and the one that stayed up late with her, winking affectionately and telling Monica not to tell her mom that Carol let her stay up too late.

The one that was never too busy to stargaze or go for car rides with eighties hits blasting.

The one that took her out for ice cream and the one that snuck cookies with her when her mother was not looking.

The one that helped her fully sell the puppy-dog eyes when she wanted something from her mother and the one that was always on her side no matter what.

The one who just this week came back to her, exposing that she had always cared and that had been doing her best to recreate some manner of connection between them because she still loved her.

The one that— now that Monica's mother was gone— was the only family that she had left in the world, and the very same one that had just sacrificed herself to protect Monica and everyone.

It was that thought that deeply and utterly crushed Monica's heart and soul. Monica let out a guttural, pained cry as she ran forward toward Carol as fast as her feet could carry her.

She collapsed onto her knees next to her, grabbing her face in her hands as she looked at her.

"No, no, no, PLEASE!!!" Monica cried out, the brokenness of her own voice startling the dead silence in the room as of now. Carol remained completely motionless in her arms, and Monica's hands were shaking as she looked down at the lifeless body before her.

Carol truly looked horrid right now. There was a dark, almost unnaturally purple bruise in the shape of a handprint wrapped around her throat and the underside of Carol's chin, and she was singed in places. Her hair had ash dusted in it, and she was completely limp in Monica's grasp.

Monica slowly moved her hands away from Carol's face, trembling like a leaf as her lips parted. She shook her head, reaching down as she grabbed Carol's shoulders, shoving them and desperately trying to muster any amount of movement and life from her.