AN: For TreasureHunterGirl. To thank her for her wonderfully funny fic 'The Call' and to show my gratitude for her patience with slash fanfiction, of which she is not chronically obsessed like myself. Here's one you can enjoy too, sis!
For six months now Steve had been living in limbo. Sometimes he wondered if he wouldn't be better off joining Bucky in cryo, waiting another seventy years and seeing if they could try again then. Maybe by then people would've forgotten enough just to leave them alone. To let Steve try to be something he'd never been, which was normal. All he'd ever wanted for the two of them was a life they could share in equally. Asthma, Nazi's, brainwashing. There was always something in the way. The train of thought inevitably led to Tony. Another obstacle because how could he ever forgive Bucky for the murder of his parents?
The partner to the phone he'd given Tony never left his pocket, and it never rang. Steve had clung to a small amount of hope at first but as the months ticked by and no call came, he had to admit that some wounds never healed.
In regards to the Accords Steve knew he'd done the right thing, there could be no compromise. It had cost them all to stand their ground but sacrificing his freedom and right to choose was not something he was willing to do, ironically though, challenging the Accords had ended up resulting in just that. While Wakanda was nice, they were effectively confined to a prison. They were criminals wanted by 117 countries including their own.
As the sun sank low in the sky, he gazed out over the ominous Wakandan wilderness trying to figure out exactly where it was he went from here. He'd reached a point where he was at a complete loss. His entire life had been a fight, and he'd always been willing to face the battle, but he didn't know what the fight even was anymore.
"Steve." Wanda's softly accented voice penetrated his brooding thoughts, bringing a faint smile to his lips. He forced it to widen and offered it to her because no matter how bad he had it, she had it worse, and the least he could do was be a decent friend. "You are troubled," she stated, concern knitting her brow as she took a seat beside him.
"You been poking around in my head?" He meant it as a joke, but it fell flat because he was in too introspective of a mood to commit to the humour.
"I don't have to be a mind reader to see it."
"No, I know," he admitted. She gave him a soft smile and allowed a companionable silence to fall between them. It was nice having her here, they'd always gotten along pretty well. Even when she'd been an enemy she'd spared him the worst of her abilities, choosing only to hold a mirror up to his loneliness. She could have been much crueller.
After a while of just sitting there and sharing the view, which admittedly was pretty amazing, it was Wanda who spoke.
"I'll use nothing more than my ears to listen if you want to share. I promise." He turned to look her in the eye, green orbs full of warmth and humour, but hidden behind that was genuine concern and compassion. Like him she understood the burden of power. And of not being able to use it.
"I spent my whole life looking for somewhere to belong. Somewhere that I could do some good. I found both those things with the Avengers and I was a good leader... until I wasn't. I should've tried harder to keep us together."
"Everyone had their own choice to make," she said, laying a comforting hand on his arm. Wanda was big on people taking responsibility for their own actions. He looked down at her hand, it was small and delicate, just the hand of a girl who had suffered like the rest of them, not a weapon of mass destruction like Tony had called her. "And there are those of us that would still follow you to the ends of the earth." As she watched him with such sincerity and faithfulness he couldn't deny that, and he really did appreciate it. A lot.
Clint and Scott had families waiting for them back in the States. Sam had never refused him yet. Not during two years of fruitless searching for a man he knew Steve cared more about than himself, and not when Steve had asked him to break the law by siding against his friends. Bucky's loyalty went without saying, he and Steve were in it to the end of the line, no question. And then there was Wanda. She had the ability to hide in plain sight, make people see whatever she wanted them to see. She could go anywhere she liked but she chose to stay because he was still here. It was in that moment, as she sat firmly by his side, that he realised that this was the fight. All he had left were his friends and doing the best he could for them was where the battle now lay.
What they needed was a place where they could start again. Really start again where no one knew them. Where they had no history and were not wanted criminals. Luckily for them the universe wasn't as small as it used to be.
"And what about beyond?"
She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
"You would really leave it all behind? Everything you know? Everything you've fought so hard to protect?" "I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard..." But yes, he would do it. For Bucky, because no one who knew about the winter soldier would be able to follow them. For Wanda, who deserved the chance to build a life free from prejudice and fear. For Sam and Scott and Clint too, if they wanted it. He'd take them to a place where they could be free.
"Yes," she breathed, "yes I would follow you beyond."
AN: My knowledge of these characters is pretty much limited to the MCU. I have no idea how it fits in with canon beyond that. I intend this fic to be the first part in a series of one-shots. Thanks for reading :)