Ice Queen and Winter Soldier

3- The Broken

Over the next few days, Wanda and I spent lots of time together. I guess you could say she was my first friend. She made quite the worthy opponent, in fact, she could probably take down an entire town on her own. I have grown quite fond of the little family that I stay with. Wanda eventually told me how she had lost her parents to a bombing, then her brother to Ultron, the evil robot Thor mentioned. I guess that's why we had such an instant connection- few people can relate to losing a parent and sibling. Nat told me how she had been an assassin. Sam told me how he had lost his best friend in a war. I've never spoken about my past- before Asgard- to anyone; my brothers only knew the gist of it because they had seen it. Somehow, though, these people could sense that I was one of them- hurt in our own ways, wanting to keep everyone else from feeling the same pain. The only person who I still have barely talked to is Steve. All I know about him is that he was in a sort of coma for 70 years, and only recently woke up. I can understand why he would be distant- it must be hard to adjust to a world who moved on without you. He seemed particularly keen on staying away from me, though. I decided not to think too hard on it; I'm the goddess of intimidation, after all.

___________

"Come with us, we can protect you!"

"Brother, she's the daughter of a frost giant!"

"What does that matter if she clearly doesn't belong with them? Take my hand, girl, quickly!"

I reach out to take it, but the boy suddenly disappears. This is all wrong; this isn't what's supposed to happen.

Suddenly, I'm all alone. As I look down, I see my brothers; lying unconscious with an icicle through their hearts. Then, everything around me is replaced by uncontrollable flames.

"Y/n, this is your destiny..." I close my eyes to make it all go away, but there's no escape. Wake up, y/n! Wake up!

I open my eyes, remembering that I'm in the Avengers compound. My heart rate slowly decreases. Just a dream, as usual. I look at the clock next to me that reads 2:21A.M. No sense in trying to go back to sleep at this point. I decide to go get some water from the kitchen. One minute later, I enter the kitchen to see a disoriented Steve sitting at the counter, looking at something. I start to turn back towards my room, but he notices me first. His brows furrow, then he quickly returns to his usual straight face. 

"Sorry, I'll go." He says it so quietly that I can barely hear him. As he stands up facing the floor, I realize this might be my only chance to really talk to this guy- not just the usual good morning, I'm fine how are you bullshit.

"Wait!" It comes out a little more urgent then I meant it to. He stops moving, but still doesn't look up. "Why are- what are you looking at?"

He doesn't seem to notice how tense I am. He shrugs. "Old picture." He starts walking out, but I stop him as he passes me, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Can I see it?" My response seems to startle him, as if I had asked the most bizarre question in the universe. When he doesn't respond, I make an attempt at talking to him again. "I just want to get to know you. We've been living together for almost a week, and you've said maybe 5 words to me." His face softens, but he still doesn't respond. After a minute, I give up. "Uh, never mind. Sorry to bother you."

I start walking toward the staircase, but this time he stops me.

"My best friend, Bucky. Knew him as long as I could remember."

I turn around to see him holding up a blurry picture of what I made out to be a small version of himself standing next to a man in am... army uniform? I couldn't tell. This picture was so deformed, I couldn't even make out any of this man's features. Somehow, I could still tell this man was extremely handsome. I almost ask for a better photo, until I remember he's at least 90 years old now. I hesitate to ask the obvious question. "Did he... uh..."

"Die?" He finished my sentence. I slowly nod. "Right in front of me. Pretty much my fault."

Sympathy ran through me instantly. "I know what it's like. Not getting to say goodbye, regretting all the things that you didn't say, forgetting the things you did." 

He looked at me, shocked. I don't know why I felt so offended that I needed to explain myself. "What? Didn't think I would grieve the mother that took me in, the brother who saved my life?" Oops, that definitely revealed more than I meant to. I waited for him to question me, but he quickly returned to his own sorrow.

"Fell to his death, I thought."

"You... thought?" Did he not just say he saw it happen? He let me live in my confusion for a minute, then looked around the room. He hesitated for a second, then tilted his head to motion me to follow him as he started walking. Screw it I thought, then followed him to the field. We walked in silence for a while before Steve seemed to settle on a spot by the woods. This would probably be sketchy to another person who wasn't capable of killing with their mind.

"I can't believe I'm doing this" Steve began, pacing. "Sam- you guys are friends, right? You train together?" I nod, confused yet again. "So he trusts you. Okay, that's good, that's good."

"Is there a point to this? Because as much as I feel your pain, I'd rather not be getting mosquito bites for no reason." He stopped his pacing, face suddenly grave.

"Y/n. You have to swear to me. Swear on your life."

I took a step back. "Have you been drinking?"

"That's besides the point. What I'm about to tell you could ruin everything. Hell, I don't even know why I feel so compelled to talk to you. I thought you were one thing, but I think I was wrong, and I-"

"Steve. You're just rambling. You can trust me, but I guess a part of you knows that, just like I knew you weren't just looking at old pictures." More urgent staring. I give up. "I'm going inside."

For a minute, it seemed like he was just letting me go. That was when he blurted it out, as if his life depended on it:

"Bucky is alive."

I turned around. "Like in a nursing home with a bunch of injuries? I'm glad. Goodnight, Steve." I didn't even get a chance to take a full step towards the compound when he spun me to face him by both of my shoulders.

"No, y/n. Like he's still in his twenties. Like he tried to kill me, Nat, and Sam. Like he might try to kill you."