Peter's sister, Nova II NovaVerse 1

Nova: Dreams

"Come on!" Naomi whisper-yelled to Sam, who was trailing far behind. "We aren't losing this time just because you got slow. Again." Nova had been watching different dream sequences for a little while now and knew to follow Sam wherever she went.

"C'mon. I'm not that slow."  This was around the time Sam was ten. "Well," Naomi responded, "Waiting for you was the reason we got caught seven times in a row. I'm not losing this game of hide and seek."

Nova heard footsteps coming from behind them and quickly ran with them. "The-the-the..." Sam often stumbled and repeated words, and this was one of those moments. But Naomi always seemed to know what Sam was trying to say. "The bush," Naomi finished the sentence for her.

They both dove in and tried to stay quiet. Nova watched as they were both antsy, as behind the bush was the lake which was very close to them. A few yards away was a sign which read, "WARNING: REPTILES PRESENT," And had pictures of alligators and snakes underneath. "You don't think that they could attack us right now, could they?" Sam asked Naomi. Naomi was always confidant and kept a cool demeanor, and so seeing the fear in her eyes scared Sam more than usual. "I think they could," Naomi had responded with a quivering voice. She pointed into the water, where two eyes looked back at them.

Both girls shrieked and ran. It was already dark out, and they had snuck out of Naomi's house while all the adults were too preoccupied with a party to care about how two children had gone missing and were running from an alligator.

Nova ran after them. She never got nervous or scared when she watched these memories now. It was replaced by the feeling of longing. She watched as both girls climbed a tree next to the sidewalk to catch their breaths. She watched as Naomi fell and Sam scrambled after her to make sure she was alright.

"Naomi, let me help you. We should go home. Imagine how swollen your head could be tomorrow if you hit it and didn't get help. It'll go up like a balloon," Sam joked, using her arms to mimic the inflation of a balloon. "Saaaam," Naomi whined. "I'm fine. I can get up myself, and my parents don't have to know." But Sam persisted to try and help her friend up, grabbing her by the hand. "Alright, stop it!" Naomi exclaimed. She looked down at her hand wrapped in Sam's fingers. They're soft and warm, Naomi thought.

"Naomi," Sam whispered. Nova's heart raced as her mind started to remember what happened next. "I need to say something." Nova gripped her chest. This felt so odd.

"I like you."

"Like a friend, or a sister?" Naomi had asked. Nova facepalmed herself.

"No- I mean I like you like you."

Sam helped Naomi get up as they both walked the sidewalk. "That's nice," Naomi responded. Her cheeks were a shade of strawberry red, the moon illuminating her dyed blond hair which was shaved on only one side.

"I- I know friends don't really do this often, but can we hold hands?" Naomi had asked. She didn't often like being touched, so this was a big moment for her. Sam grasped Naomi's hand as they walked around the neighborhood under the full moon.

Longing came back tenfold in Nova's heart. "Can I- can I kiss you?" Sam had asked. Nova stopped in her tracks, so had Sam and Naomi. Naomi cupped Sam's face in her hand and leaned in. Their lips met, and Nova watched as this former version of herself fall in love.
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This next dream was shorter. But what more can be said about this event? It all started like a normal day. Sam got up and got ready, leaving for school around seven thirty for the fifth grade. She saw Naomi who pretended they never met each other, and would walk home hand in hand as soon as no one was around.

"Naomi, why don't you act like you know me in public?" Sam had asked. "Everyone at school thinks you're weird. That's why everyone bullies you. And you know that. It's also the reason you have no friends. If they see us friends they might bully me too. You don't want that, do you Sam?" Naomi had responded in a quiet yet somewhat manipulative voice.

Nova wanted to warn Sam, or herself, to not listen. That Naomi was just too embarrassed to be seen with her, or that she was just using Sam as a rebound. She didn't know that though.

Naomi kissed Sam's fingers before they hugged. The moment her house came into view they had to stop holding hands; their parents believed that they were too young to be in a relationship.

Nova watched as the two girls waved goodbye before Sam ran back home, which happened to be a few minutes away.

Nova watched as Sam continued a normal day, one where she ate dinner before moving on to watching TV and arguing with her little brother.

It wasn't so normal when their mother tucked them into bed. "Kids, listen. On the news something very...concerning is happening. There's a pandemic starting." Sam knew she should probably be worried, but she was more confused. "What's a pandemic?" She and her brother asked at the same time. "It's when there's a sickness spreading across the world. It's very dangerous, especially to old people like your grandparents who live in this house. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I was busy and your father was enrolling you both in homeschool-"

"We're going to homeschool? Yay!" Smith had exclaimed. "Yes, but we're also going into quarantine, so you can't see your friends or go outside with people."

Nova started to see all those months where Sam had broken the rules to see Naomi, and how the loneliness affected her. She saw how Sam became shy and insecure, how her relationship with Naomi drifted off when she didn't want to. They were still friends, but no longer lovers.

She watched as Sam reached the seventh grade, and went into an in person school for the fist time in two years. Sam didn't have luck with talking to others. Words often came in the form of stutters with those she didn't know, and some form of social anxiety had come up.

Naomi was cold with Sam and sometimes made fun of her. But Sam found other friends and eventually joined band, becoming first chair for flute.

Nova felt envy as she saw how normal (except the pandemic) her life had been. She had had a family, a girlfriend for a short amount of time, some form of a social life. She has been good in school and only concern was passing the state tests.

All of that was gone when she revisited the memory of HYDRA interrupting her life, throwing it off track completely.

She had watched so many memories in the past few weeks. It felt overwhelming at times. Especially when she saw that the Avengers were just movies in her universe. That they were meant to die at the hands of Thanos.

It made her question everything.
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