Everyone returned when Todd went off to throw away our trash from lunch.

I jumped to my feet, rushing up to the Quantum Platform. I squeezed myself into the circle, taking count of everyone. Everyone's helmets were gone, exposing all familiar faces.

"Did we get them all?" asked Bruce.

"You telling me this'll actually work?" asked Rhodey.

No, no, this can't be right. I went in a slow circle, double counting, triple counting.

Natasha was missing.

My eyes fell onto Clint. He had been assigned with Nat to get the Soul Stone from Vormir. "Clint," I said slowly, "where's Nat?"

His silence spoke volumes. An invisible force squeezed on my heart. No, not Nat. Oh, no, Todd. He doesn't...he doesn't know.

"Clint, please," I whispered desperately.

Barton didn't answer. He and I locked eyes, his eyes spoke a thousand words. Bruce fell to his knees, pounding the floor in grief.

"Hey, everyone's back!" came Todd's cheerful tone. Everyone turned to him. He stopped. "What's with the long faces?"

He has to know. I parted through the grieving circle, Todd came to meet me just as I got off the platform.

"Wait, where's Tasha?" asked Todd. "Is she somewhere here and I just missed her?"

"Todd..."

"Kiara, don't do this to me." He moved around me, going to the platform with everyone else. "Guys, where's Natasha?"

"Todd," I exclaimed. As he looked at me, I could only shake my head. Putting Natasha's death into words would make it final. Permanent. I wasn't ready to accept it, and I was sure he wasn't either.

"No," he whimpered. He rubbed his hand over his mouth, his leg bounced. "No, that can't be right. Everyone was supposed to come back." Clint went to put a hand on Todd's shoulder. The second Todd felt it, he knocked it off. "You guys were a team. How...how could you let this happen?"

"Todd!" I said, mildly pissed off now. I rejoined everyone on the platform.

"How did it happen?" he demanded of Clint.

I got between Clint and Todd. "I don't think it matters, Todd."

"How can you say that? She was part of the team! No, don't touch me. Don't—" He accepted my arms around him, nearly collapsing into me.

He doesn't blame you, I told Clint. He can't process it.

Slowly, everyone dispersed. It felt like a long time I stood on the Quantum Platform, allowing Todd to wallow in mourning.

"I don't understand," Todd moaned. "How is it fair?"

Whatever it takes, the mantra played in my head. Whatever. It. Takes.

Natasha took that a little too much to heart.

After some time, Todd parted from me. Clint tried to go after him but I cut him off before he could. Our core group went out of HQ, all settled by the lake nearby.

What did you do, Tasha? I wondered. You should be here. We should be celebrating, all of us. You should be here when we fix this, once and for all. But you're not. Todd's right; it's hardly fair.

I sat near Steve. It was hard to say who was closest to Natasha. Steve had had a mission with her a few years back, during the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the rise of Hyrdra. Clint and Nat went further back, prior to the assembling of the Avengers. She and I were close, to a degree. She and Bruce had started something of a relationship. I couldn't say how close she and Tony were.

"Do we know if she had any family?" Tony broke the silence.

"Yeah," said Steve. "Us."

"What?" asked Thor, confused.

"I just asked him a question," said Tony.

"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the Stones, right? As long as we have the Stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."

I rose near Steve, turning to Thor. "How can you be so blatantly ignorant of everyone's feelings right now? You wallowed in self-pity for years, but yet you won't allow the rest of us to mourn a dear friend?"

"Do not make personal attacks, Kiara."

"Then how about you back off?"

"Kia," Tony said warningly. "Not the time or place."

"We can't get her back," said Clint. He stood the furthest away from us, looking out at the water.

"Wha—what?" asked Thor.

"It can't be undone. It can't."

The God of Thunder let out a dry laugh. "I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive, don't you think?"

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn't here, is she?"

"No, that's my point—"

"It can't—be undone. Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say." I cringed as Clint's voice rose. "Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? GO GRAB YOUR HAMMER, AND YOU GO FLY AND TALK TO HIM!"

Now was not the time to ask Clint about Nat's death. Perhaps it was for the best that only one knew the pain he had to go through to get the Soul Stone.

"It was supposed to be me," Clint said quietly. "She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."

In a burst of rage, Bruce grabbed a bench close to him, hurling it clear across the lake. "She's not coming back," he said, almost as though he was tired. "We have to make it worth it. We have to."

"We will," said Steve.

With no time to waste, work was back on. Tony and Bruce went to go work on a gauntlet powerful enough to hold all six Stones. In the meantime, everyone else was left to their own devices.

It was mindboggling that we lost Natasha. She was willing to die for this. We have to see this through, for Natasha. For those we lost. If what Clint said is true...even with a new gauntlet and all the Stones, Natasha won't come back. She wasn't turned to ash like so many. Her death is different.

Gracie was going to be devastated. How would Steve and I begin to tell her that Natasha wasn't around anymore? How do you break that to someone so young, so full of wonder and curiosity?

As I was lost in my thoughts, I found myself wandering the facility grounds. I never stopped in any place in particular. In the breaks my mind would allow, I reached out to Todd. He never gave a response, so I assumed he was in no mood for visitors, even if they were friends.

Kiara, said Steve. It's finished.

Already? How long have I been mindlessly wandering?

I guess a little too long.

With some time—and guidance from Steve—I found the small group. Nebula wasn't present, neither was Todd.

The new gauntlet had similar coloring to Tony's Iron Man armor. My heart sped up at seeing all six Stones in their rightful places. The last time I had seen this, the Stones had been used again, the gauntlet nothing but a burnt piece of metal. It had been a symbol of our true failure.

I hoped this one would not be the same.

"All right. The glove's ready," said Rocket. "Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?"

"I'll do it," came Thor's immediate answer.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"It's okay."

When the god tried to get near the gauntlet, the rest of us stepped in his way.

"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait," Steve told him. "We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"

"We should at least discuss it," said Scott.

"No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger. So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."

"It's not about that—" said Tony.

Thor shushed everyone. "It's not that—Stop it! Just let me!" Tears began to well in his eyes. "Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right."

"Look—it's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent. I'm telling you, you're in no condition."

"What do you—what do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"

"Cheez Whiz?" asked Rhodey.

"Lightning."

"Lightning won't help you, pal," said Bruce. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?" I asked

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma." Bruce took a hard look at the gauntlet. "It's like...I was made for this."

"Good to go, yeah?" asked Tony.

"Let's do it."

"You remember—everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back today. Don't change anything from the last five years."

"Got it."

Everyone got into their respective suits: Tony in his armor, and Rhodey; Steve in one of his many suits, shield in hand; my outfit, armed with my blades; Scott in his Ant-Man suit. Thor had no armor or anything, but he kept in front of Rocket.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol. Will you?" Tony asked his current AI.

Steel doors began to close us into this very room. Safest thing to do, considering we had no idea what backlash this was going to bring us. Here we go.

Kiara, what's happening?

Oh, Todd. We're trying the gauntlet. Stay where you are, just in case.

Wait, where are you?

With everyone else...and the gauntlet.

Are you trying to give me a heart attack?

We're prepared and safe. Once the lockdown is lifted, either I'll come find you or you find me. Let's see how this goes.

"Everybody comes home," Bruce whispered. He slipped the gauntlet on, and the tech itself molded to his hand to accommodate his bigger size. He grunted in pain as the power surge took hold through his body.

"Take it off!" Thor demanded. "Take it off!"

"No, wait," said Steve. "Bruce, are you okay?"

"Talk to me, Banner," said Tony.

"I'm okay," panted Bruce. "I'm okay."

I put up a wall of fire in front of Steve and myself, just in case. We could only watch as Bruce screamed from the power of the gauntlet going through his system. A loud metallic snap rang in our ears, and for a blink of a second, everything went white.

Bruce collapsed, his right side burned from the gauntlet's power. The gauntlet slid off his hand, Clint went to go kick it away.

"Bruce!" I exclaimed, letting my fire wall down.

"Don't move him," ordered Tony.

"Did it work?" rasped Bruce.

"Worth a shot," said Thor. "It's over. It's okay."

Scott wandered off someplace, out of the room. Clint looked as though he heard a noise and dashed off somewhere. The lockdown was lifting, the steel doors encasing us were rising.

Kiara...

Yeah, Todd?

I think you guys did it.

I tore off out of the room, rushing to find Todd. We did it. We freaking did it! Everyone would be coming back! All the life taken away was back again. But they had five years' worth of time to make up!

Todd and I met in one of the halls.

"Holy shit," he said breathlessly. "Kiara, I haven't heard bird chatter near my room in five years. It just started, almost as if it had always been there. You guys did it!"

Kiara!

Before I could even register Steve's shout of my name in my mind, the world around Todd and I exploded.