Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

105. Independent

...

Daphne spilled. A waterfall of words fell from her lips as she explained whom she met and why and what Death was like and how she met Amélie. She couldn't stop. She couldn't stop talking even when her words turned into incoherent blabbering.
"Daphne," Loki interrupts her by placing a hand on her knee. She finally manages to hold her tongue and she stares at the sorcerer. "You need to rest." Daphne immediately shakes her head.
"No, no time for that-" she mumbles. "I gotta-" She looks to the windows, but presses her lips on top of each other again. Daphne wants to do what Ravir told her to do. Practice her abilities.
"What's wrong?" Bucky asks with a cocked eyebrow. He stares at her like he knows what's up and Daphne can't help but scoff a small laugh. He probably knows exactly what's up. Daphne clenches her jaw and forcibly pushes Ravir's thoughts in her head aside.
"No, you know what-" Daphne sighs. "Let's go to bed."

...

"Can't believe Loki is in one of the guest rooms right now," Tony groans as he drops himself into a chair. He's done all-nighters before. He's gone without sleep for... What was his record again? 63 hours? Hallucinations were a thing at that point. He can skip half a night for Daphne, easy peasy. He'll just call it early tonight. Most of the others did end up going back to their rooms to catch up on at least a few hours of sleep. Bucky stuck around in the living room, seemingly unable to sleep anyways.
"Isn't it weird how different he is with Daphne?" He asks, following the swirling ceiling light from his flat position on the couch.
"Didn't he very poetically say he gave Daphne his good side to save her life," Tony snorts.
"I mean, Death is the one who brought her back to life, right? Not Loki." Bucky purses his lips.
"Yeah, he's officially lost bragging rights on that." Bucky scoffs and Tony eyes him from his chair, scotch held on his knee with relaxed fingers. He's unsure if his alcohol intake counts as day drinking or very late drinking. He opts for the latter. Makes it sound less bad.

Daphne made Bucky a lot more chatty. Reuniting with Steve was the first best thing that happened to the Winter Soldier. But, Tony admits, Daphne might very well be the second best thing. He still doesn't talk much about his past and what happened to him, but he found comradery – Tony coughs at his unintended Russian pun – with her. He understands what's going through her mind right now and he wants to protect her from any pain that might cause. As much as Tony still has a grudge with regards to Bucky being the reason his parents are dead, he can't hold it against the guy. He wasn't in control of his body or mind at that point. Tony takes an annoyed sip when the same could be applied to Loki's New York attack, but he's not yet ready to cross that bridge.

"She fought her." Bucky's eyebrows curl up into a frown.
"Hm?"
"Ravir," he says quickly. "Daphne's first instinct seemed to be to follow her command but you saw it too, right?"
"What- The five stages of grief passing over Daph's face with the speed of an orbital space plane?"
"Yeah. She fought her." Bucky turns his head to look straight at Tony. "And won." Tony pulls in his legs and throws them over the side of the chair, biting the inside of his cheek as he ponders.
"Think Death helped with that?"
"I..." Bucky pauses, reading the ceiling as if it's a book. "I think she's stronger than we think she is." Tony takes a short breath and holds it, before releasing it with a groan.
"Can you imagine she'd have to go through all of this crap on her own if Peter decided against frolicking around on a dance floor?" He scoffs. "Or picked a different fucking store to get his clothes at?" Bucky smirks and shakes his head.

"It all really started going to shit when she ran into Loki, right?" Bucky glances at Tony. "And Somm would come for her regardless of whether or not we were involved. She'd just be a missing person case."
"A big one, though." Tony takes another sip from his scotch. "A S.A.S.S. student with a high rank and bright future- liked by many- just disappearing into thin air... That'd reach the news."
"But no one would ever find her," Bucky mumbles. Tony glances Bucky's way and feels a pit in his stomach. Daphne would truly have disappeared. Taken off-world by Somm to be a mindless slave, feeding him power. Giving him anything he wants. Tony shudders and stares at the goose bumps covering his arms. "I'm glad we found her." Bucky breaks the silence.
"Me too, Buck." The sun no longer touches the horizon and shines freely up in the sky. It should be about eight right now. "I gotta say..." Tony stares at the seagulls crowding at the exact location Daphne got struck last night. "I'm curious to know if Death told her more about being a Zephyr."