tainted dreams | chapter four
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*unedited, so please excuse possible mistakes and let me know if i missed anything*

Rosalie Evans, the present

Entering the Avengers Compound after nine months of being on the run felt surreal. And knowing that one of the most important people in her life was inside -that was even more surreal.

And it gave Rosalie a new purpose in life. Protecting Tony and Nat, so they didn't leave her life as prematurely as Peter did.

Her parents were gone as well. As surprising as it might have been, she was okay with it. They never acted as normal parents so the girl never adapted to their life as a family.

She was sad, of course. But it didn't stop her from sleeping at night.

Upon entering the building, Nat gave her some time to take her bag up to her old bedroom, untouched since she left it. Opening the door, Rosalie smiled like she hadn't done in what felt like ages.

It was just as she had left it.

Her backup suit was still hanging inside the special closet Tony had built inside the wall, it's black elastic material calling out her name. Her books were still neatly placed on the shelves and posters were still hanging from the walls.

Everything was as she had left it.

There was a note on the small bedside table, written in Steve's neat handwriting. The information written on it was nothing new to the girl; she had felt their deaths that day, and she continued to feel the pain of losing her  two best friends.

Michelle and Mary Jane are gone. I'm sorry.

The gesture was sweet but Rosalie didn't want to dwell on it at the moment. She had other pressing issues to take care of.

One of them was following Nat down the stairs.

Before they walked any further into the living quarters, Nat stopped Rosalie in her tracks and warned her about the team's current instability.

"Tony is drained -both emotionally and physically." Nat embraced her and ran her slender fingers through the girl's blonde hair. "You need to be careful with your words, and don't hug him too tingly. He's fragile."

She sounded like a worried mother as she spoke about Tony and how much he has already recovered since arriving. According to her, Steve had been trying to talk to Tony since he came back home, always met with a shut door and silence.

It had to be hard, being left alone in space just slowly and patiently waiting for the time of your death. Rosalie couldn't imagine how Tony felt. How damaging that situation was for his intelectual mind.

"When did you find him?" Rosalie asked Nat, both standing outside the living room area where the rest of the heroes were sitting.

Tony was at the table, getting blood for healing. Her breath caught on her throat, eyes burning with unshed tears and heart trembling with pure joy. Seeing Tony -even in his weakened state- turned Rosalie into a puddle of happiness once again.

"Three days ago."

"Has he been eating?" Rosalie asked. "And sleeping? Is he having nightmares? I can help with that, I can take them away and-"

"Rose." Nat stopped her rambling and pointed at the room where Steve and Tony were both staring at her.

She stepped forward, timidly looking at the people she considered her family. The man couldn't stand from the chair on his own but held his arm out for her to grab, tears shining in his eyes. Rosalie took long strides towards him, engulfing him in a hug that she had been craving for months.

His smell was the same, comforting, and his embrace still felt like home.

Rosalie was finally home.

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According to Nat, they were trying to find out where Thanos was hiding at. And they wouldn't let this opportunity go as he seemed to be as inactive as a little flower.

They were all gathering in the living room the day after Rosalie's reunion with Tony and the was was still recovering from his adventure in space. They had spent hours talking, with Tony explaining how he managed to survive with Nebula and Rosalie hiding some of the darker details of the past nine months of her life.

Rosalie was daydreaming when Nebula -one of Tony's saviours and a person that the blonde already trusted- spoke in her husky-whispery voice, gathering everyone's attention.

"I can tell you where Thanos is." She stood next to Nat and eyed the other people in the room. "Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. Then when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask 'where would we go once his plan was complete?' His answer was always the same: to the Garden."

Holding her face in her hands, Rosalie let out a sigh as the discontent was general around the room.

"That's cute, Thanos has a retirement plan." Rhodey joked and the girl shared a mischievous smirk with him.

"So where is he then?" She asked, anxiety running through her veins. Something had to be done and Rosalie couldn't wait to snap Thanos' neck with her bare hands.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions." The talking raccoon -that still terrified Rosalie to the bone- spoke as he walked among them. A hologram of a planet popped up, with a shockwave visibly traversing the surface. "No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago. On this planet."

"Thanos is there." Nebula nodded her head.

"He used the stones again." Nat whispered at the images on the hologram.

"Hey, hey, we'd be going in short-handed, you know." Bruce worried as he saw how determined they all looked.

"Look, he's still got the stones, so." Rhodey shrug his shoulders.

There were a few people Rosalie didn't know. Nebula and Rocket were the warmest of the new bunch, even though the raccoon was slightly scary in her eyes. He was always asking her to show him a little bit of her power, as if he wanted that power for himself. The other member of the new squad was another blonde, a lot scarier than Rocket. She only spoke when necessary, but her eyes were always sharp and ready to catch people's mistakes.

Nebula was definitely her favourite.

"So let's get him. We'll use them to bring everyone back." Carol crossed her arms, ready for battle.

"Just like that?" Rhodey mimicked her stance and Rosalie fought against a smirk that tried its hardest to make its way to the surface.

"Yeah, just like that." Steve, always the optimistic.

Steve and Carol shared a knowing look.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this..." Nat's lips trembled with the intensity of her emotions. "I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."

Rosalie's heart broke for everyone who wasn't in the room with them. Her parents, her best friends. Peter. For them. She should fight and end this. For them.

A stray tear fell down her check before she could control cloak her emotions.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" She asked?

"Because before, you didn't have me." Carol smirked.

Rosalie and the rest of them didn't like her comment.

"Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time." Rhodey was the one to voice their thoughts.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

Thor, who had been eating a snack behind them all this time, stood up and walked over to Carol. He held his hand up, and caught his weapon -Stormbreaker- as it flew over to him, missing Carol by inches.

But Carol didn't even flinch, instead smiling at the God of Thunder.

"I like this one." He said, smiling back.

It was at that exact moment that they all knew. It was time to face their enemy one last time.

And Rosalie would make sure that it would be the last time.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch." Steve said, looking at his team of heroes.

Rosalie being Rosalie, smiled at his words but had a bit of a comment to make about them, leaving Steve and her friends to laugh as she walked away to gather her suit and weapons.

"Language, Cap."

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oh here we go! hope you guys enjoyed this as much as i did, so don't forget to comment and vote to show your support!!