Hope the first chapter went over well :) Honestly cannot stop thinking about the movie. Need to go see it again. Anyway I'm sorry about the editing. I promise I do my best to catch what I can. On we go!

Chapter Two – School Days (When We Were Kids)

"… Let's take a trip on memory's ship

Back to the bygone days

Sail to the old village school house

Anchor outside the school door

Look in and see, there's you and there's me

A couple of kids once more…"

– Byron G. Harlan

"MOTHER!" she yelled as loud as she could. She had already wailed at the top of her lungs, and no one had come and it hurt… a lot. It almost hurt more than the large purple bruise forming on her right shin. She was five, she wasn't meant to be this far out without her father or mother. She knew that, but she loved the trees bordering the far edge of the property. They were the best for climbing… not that she had planned on climbing them, not until she heard the small sound of stranded chirping at the base of one of the trees.

Through the tears in her amber eyes she could see a sudden blur of grey racing out towards her across the rolling hills of her family's expansive farm.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye the speck was standing at her feet in the form of a nine year old boy. A nine year old boy who was looking down at her with unmasked disdain.

"What are you doing?" he sneered without feeling. She always had some trouble understanding what he was saying, his language was only slightly different to hers but her developing mind was still just learning. Moreover his moods towards her seemed constantly to dart back and forth, it was difficult for her to keep up with how he might behave towards her, let alone anyone else outside of his sister and parents.

She inhaled in a fractured breath, sniffing sloppily "I- I fell…"

"Everyone's looking for you." Pietro sighed with unfeeling weariness.

"I-I f-fell…" she whimpered, her lower lip trembling. She clutched the soft mass in her right hand to her chest.

His blue eyes finally looked her over properly. She could feel the twigs caught in her mussed up plaits, she could see the dirt and small scrapes on her arms, she could still feel that horrible throbbing in her shin.

"It fell…" she explained when his clear blue inspection came to the puff ball bundled to her chest.

He went on to let out a scoff once his gaze landed on the large mark on her right leg under her white knee-length dress.

The little light haired girl was having trouble containing her emotions. She wanted so badly to keep him from making fun of her like he almost always did.

'Why couldn't Wanda have found me?' she asked herself, as she found it harder and harder to catch her breath. She hated this feeling. She hated the way was he looking down at her.

Zora tried focusing on the bird in her hands, but it wasn't working.

"Hey, hey, hey…" he had come to crouch next to her. His voice, his eyes, his touch on her shoulders, all at once everything about him was gentle. "Solnyshka…" he whispered. Despite herself Zora could feel a small smile tugging at her lips when he used her family's term of endearment for her. Even so each one of her inhales continued to be stuttered.

He shuffled slightly closer, she could hear the smile in his words as he crooned softly "… you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy…"

"W-when skies are grey…" her shaky voice joined his, singing her mother's favourite lullaby, one that was from the older woman's long missed home country.

Zora raised her gaze to meet his with a matching, albeit somewhat wetter, grin.

With a last twitch of his lips the boy abruptly stood up. "Come on now…" he held out his hand to her. "Dinner's waiting..."

Taking a strong sniff, Zora shook her head defiantly. "I can do it myself."

"Fine" he rolled his eyes and began walking back in the direction he had come from just beyond the hills where the Summer sun was beginning to set.

Huffing out a gasp, Zora lifted herself up off of the shaded grass under the huge tree she fallen out of earlier. It may have made more sense to go about it slowly, but she didn't want him to get too far without her and more than that she had simply wanted to get it done and over with.

Wincing, Zora rushed to keep up with the speedy boy's pace. All the while she kept an eye on the small life she was carrying.

"Better to let it die…" Pietro asserted without breaking his stride, forcing her to stay in time with his step.

"Why Etro?" Zora asked in English with innocent curiosity.

"Will be burden… mouth to feed." He gave as a blunt reply in somewhat imperfect English, his blue focus on the grassy path ahead. He had really taken well to her mother's lessons. Both the twins had. It was impressive especially considering he and his sister only ever really practiced for the few weeks a year when they visited Zora's family along with their parents.

Zora's father and her Uncle Django, the twins' father, had served together. Forging a bond deeper than any of the children could understand at that moment.

Beyond Summers fishing and farming, Winters exchanging gifts, Autumns hearing stories of her mother's home country all Zora could understand was that Wanda and Pietro had always been a part of her life. Each memory she had of her existence up to that point had these two, her closest friends, in it.

"Idiot girl." Pietro pulled her arm to make her walk faster. She had been starting to dawdle while carefully contemplating what he had said to her about the bird in her light grasp.

The sun's last pink glow was fading and the dark-haired boy was clearly eager to make it back home for supper.

"Ow Etro! My leg!" She struggled to keep up with him, tripping over her feet and trying to keep the distressed fluffy animal in her care safe. "You're hurting..." she cried, unsuccessfully yanking her arm away from him. "Ahh!"

He finally stopped, turning to face her, his fingers still wrapped around her freshly sore bicep.

Zora bit her bottom lip in an effort to keep it from trembling. She didn't want him to call her stupid or dumb or an idiot again.

But it was painful and she couldn't keep the water from welling up in her eyes.

When he saw her tears forming his icy glare softened "Sol..." he moved to console her as he had done before.

But she interrupted the young boy's gesture by stepping away from him "Wh-why are you so mean to me?" Zora hiccuped through her tears. She could feel the anger building inside her as she wiped her running nose with the back of her forearm.

"What?" he paused in his motion to comfort her. His dark brow furrowing in honest confusion.

"You're so nice to Wanda. Why can't you..."

"She's my sister." He stated simply, not letting her reach the end of her question.

"Can't I be..."

"No." He cut her off with a bored sigh, his head lolling back to look up at the darkening sky.

"Oh..." Zora nodded, pretending to understand, as she swallowed the lump in her throat. 'Don't cry. Don't cry.'

Wanda told her that they were a family, she promised they were sisters, which had thrilled Zora to no end. To have a sister was no small thing, especially after years of being told that she was an only child.

But it wasn't enough. She longed for the real closeness she saw between the twins. She wanted so terribly to have a connection like that... she wanted both, a sister and a brother.

He had to have known how desperately she was trying to meet with his approval. And still every time she would reach out he would slap her hand away too fast for anyone else, even Wanda, to see.

Feeling the sting of this latest hit, Zora rubbed the back of her left calf against the bruise aching on her right shin.

Another annoyed breath from Pietro drew her attention. Rolling his shoulders he knelt in front of Zora, his back facing her.

Zora blinked at the back of his grey shirt.

"Get on."

"Oh" Zora's previous sadness faded. A wide bright grin broke across her face. Fearful he'd rescind the offer she clambered on to his back as fast as she could. He rarely volunteered to give her piggy-back rides anymore.

"Careful" his hissed as her heel dug against his rib.

"Sorry." Zora placed her arms securely around his neck, being sure to have a firm grip on the fluttering creature in her hand.

"Idiot girl..." he heaved a breath, placing his arms around the legs she'd locked around his middle. She felt a light brush across the tender spot on her shin for half a moment, before he fastened his hold closer to her knees. Pietro stood up, shaking his head as he did so that his long messy hair tickled Zora's nose.

Even with her added weight, he moved quickly. A fact in spite of which the small bird in her hands settled down. A very opposite reaction to the one Zora was having.

"Etro! Slow down!" Zora cried. She wasn't ever worried about him dropping her, but the impact of how fast he was going was making her stomach flip.

"I'm hungry." He stated, not slowing down.

"You're always hungry."

"So?" He jerked his head to the side to scowl at her. "It's your fault we're even out here this late."

Zora flinched at his tone. "I'm sorry Pietro..." She mumbled, her voice small as she nestled her blonde haired head against his shoulder to look at the stars that were beginning to twinkle on the horizon.

She squeezed his neck in a soft apology, hoping that he knew she had meant it.

"It didn't work." Someone above her lying form said.

Zora's mind was reeling, her eyes unwilling to open, her head pounding along with her heart. Where was she? Had they found her again? What happened to him? Was Wanda with him? A terrified stab of memory struck her. She felt sick, she felt fear. This uncertain darkness had been what she had fought so hard to escape.

"It did... in a way..." A deep voice commented. Her muddled brain absorbed that these people were speaking English.

'It's not them...' a slight wave of relief hit her, though her guard was still drawn high. Zora had no reason to trust that these men would do her no harm simply because they did not sound like the men who haunted her worst nightmares.

"That's not the same thing as 'worked' grandpa."

"Didn't say it was Stark." The man from before spoke up again, this time defensively.

'Stark?...' Her heart thudded in confused pain, as she attempted to focus her scrambled thoughts.

"Fellas could we not?" A tired female voice piped in.

"Oh yeah sure, let's just let Cap swoon over this random girl with magical microwave hands that popped up out freaking nowhere."

Though only three people were speaking, Zora could somehow sense that there was someone else in the room.

"I am not swooning..." the low voiced man replied "... and you'd be one to talk about microwave hands Iron Man..."

'Iron Man.'

Someone scoffed as Stark snapped back, "Yeah. And you if ever need to be thawed out again you know exactly who call."

"What a relief." The deep voiced man bit out acerbically.

There was a shuffling sound, heavy steps on a metal floor, she could tell the bodies in the room were moving around. A gruff voice that she managed to recognize as the archer's, suddenly sounded out in the echoing space. "She tried saving him..."

'Tried...' her thoughts raced back to the silver haired man on that wrecked street, but she just couldn't remember what had happened to him. Panic struck her. 'Is he...?'

Her thoughts were cut short however when the bowman asked "Didn't you?" in a forceful question that was clearly directed towards her.

There was a heavy silence. Zora could feel the weight of multiple pairs of eyes on her, a feeling she had never been comfortable with. Finally the man identified as Iron Man spoke. "Look at her, Barton. She's passed out."

Zora continued to do her utmost to remain stock still, but the sharp eyed man was clearly not buying it.

"I am looking at her. She's not..." she could feel the archer near her resting body. "No point hiding it. Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty."

Unable to stop herself Zora anxiously tugged her bottom lip between her teeth out of nervous habit. 'Damnit...' Her amber eyes shot open. Zora barely had time to take in the four occupants surrounding her in the room before attempting to follow through on her first instinct, however she couldn't find the energy to make that particular trick work. So instead she choose the next best thing, which was to try to sit up and dash for what ever exit she could find. The only problem was that her woozy head and jelly like legs were not in any state to cooperate with her sudden movement.

She had just enough time to hear the sounds of protests and feel something strong grip her before darkness over took her once again.

Thanks for reading. Any feedback is appreciated :)

Not sure when I'll be able to update again, but I'll do my best.