Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

All is Gone

Summary: The Avengers found and confronted Thanos, and Thor finally went for the head. Carol takes some time to go and check up on Maria and Monica in the wake of the snap, and is devastated by all that she finds, leading her to make a decision deep-rooted in grief and love.

   "Where's Maria Rambeau? She's... I got word that she was here at this hospital?" Carol asked somewhat hopefully, resting her hands on the front desk as she looked at the nurse. She tried her best to keep her stomach from twisting painfully as she gently tapped her fingers against the countertop.

Just after she and the Avengers had taken down Thanos not too long ago and Thor had so unceremoniously gone for the head, Carol had decided to stop by Maria's old house to check on her in hopes of seeing her favorite people in the universe. However, when she got there, she had not been able to find her anywhere, and she had ended up going to the neighbor's house to ask about her whereabouts.

That was when she found out that her best friend had recently moved away and was supposedly in a hospital fighting back against cancer and possibly dying.

She had immediately demanded directions, and she had flown her way to the hospital as quickly as she could. Which brought her where she was now before a woman that looked as if she had been eating persimmons for a good three-fourths of her life.

"Are you family?" the woman skeptically questioned, and Carol swallowed, a million different words crossing through her head that had been so loudly screaming in her mind since she found out about Maria.

Maria was like a sister to her. She and Monica were more family than Carol had ever had. Maria and Monica were all that Carol had left here on Earth. They were Carol's last and only true family.

"Yeah," Carol finally settled for saying, trying to compose herself as she thought of Maria and her current state and all of the things that she and Maria had gone through together.

"Okay... Name?" the nurse asked, seeming as if she did not entirely believe Carol.

"Carol Danvers," Carol answered her carefully, and the woman looked on her computer for a moment before nodding slowly. Carol felt immediate relief at the woman's agreeance, worried that she was going to have to be more insistent. She was so happy that Maria must have somehow held out hope for her and had thought to put her name on the list of contacts.

"Okay. She's in room 244," the lady declared, and Carol smiled somewhat gratefully albeit strained. Carol started the trudge to the room, her heart heavy and her feet somehow feeling even heavier. She had carried the weight of worlds and had fought countless enemies to defend planets, but this undoubtedly was the worst thing she had ever faced.

Soon enough, she found herself looking at the daunting, terrifying door that held the scariest thing that Carol had ever faced. Even her father screaming at her every night so many years ago and the monsters she had went head-to-head with that almost sliced her head off of her shoulders could not compare to this fear and pain.

Carol let out a deep breath before steeling herself to enter the room. She headed inside carefully, easing into the room and shutting the door carefully behind her.

"How many times do you people have to come and check me? I haven't changed since five minutes ago," a painfully familiar voice called out. It was a bit more aged than it had been the last time Carol heard it, but it was still a voice that she could never forget no matter what.

Carol eased out of the small hallway that opened up into the room, her footsteps soft as she came into the space where Maria could see her. As soon as Carol spotted Maria, she felt as if her heart was shattering into a million pieces at the sight of her.