The Matrix

Five years might as well have been a lifetime. It didn't matter that eight had passed since they first met as kids. So much happened since reuniting that Ty couldn't imagine life without her. Thanos forced his hand. Along with half the population on the planet, Tandy was gone. He had just made a promise that they'd get the man responsible for taking her and trafficking girls. For once, someone would be there for her like she deserved. Like she had been there for him over the previous eight months. 

And then she was gone. A pile of ash next to him. Tyrone Johnson desperately searched for her, certain the loa had something to do with her sudden disappearance until finally catching the news. Half the planet had turned to ash. His mother was gone too. Thanos left him with Otis, Evita, Melissa Bowen and Brigid O'Reilly. Ty had faired better than most but he was still completely hollowed with the loss. 

The first year was the longest. He hardly ate or slept, connecting with Melissa who felt guilt at her actions in Tandy's absence. It probably helped that he was also without a mother. Ty spent his time divided between her house, the church, and seeking help from Evita for insight on how the loa could help it at all--hopeful to get Tandy back. It was more than a year that he continued like that. Evita, Brigid, his dad and even Melissa all eventually told him that he needed to stop. He would perish at the rate he was going and they'd just lose him too. 

Hearing Melissa plead with him had been the voice of reason, if it could be called that. What little hope was left in him shrunk even more. He hid his efforts to find her from everyone. Tyrone used his powers to get in touch with what was left of the Avengers although that was another dead end. Even the Earth's defenders had no answers and were suffering through their losses. By the third year, he grew angrier than he'd ever been before. No signs of his best friend or his mother. No justice for his brother. 

Tyrone turned himself in to authorities who had long stopped the search for him. The case was thrown out of court for lack of evidence (with Mayhem's help) and witnesses. It wasn't justice but one less worry for those left in his life. He also managed to get a college degree. All good things but he was just going through the motions of life like everyone else in the world. He never let go of the church but there were no more intricate operations out of it. Nights were spent at his house which his father moved back into or Melissa's. 

She still didn't have the best taste in men but was better at not getting attached which made it easier for Ty to get rid of them. He was standing in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner when he felt something change in the room. His powers hadn't felt like that in so long. What had Melissa put in the baked chicken? He had teleported her to work and considered going back to ask when realizing someone was in the room with him. Yet his cloak hadn't spread out around him in defense. He quickly turned around.

Tandy. 

Time had stood still for her. She was still wearing his sweatshirt. Ty was convinced he was hallucinating on some drug. Melissa hadn't been using, he was sure of that. And the drug dealers he went after didn't know how to connect him to the Bowen residence. Maybe somehow his letters to Tony Stark were discovered? He'd mentioned Melissa enough, pleading for help to find her daughter along with his mom. Here was Tandy as she'd been when he last saw her and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't even say her name.

Five years had given him a little more facial hair but he looked the same aside of that. She had been older than him before but now he had the lead, at least when it came to their ages. He felt like a kid again at seeing her. If she was a loa coming for him, he'd go willingly. Only seconds of seeing her, tears welled in his eyes, and he had the smile after she said she was okay when finally finding her in the trafficking motel.