Hey everyone! I'm half dead as I'm uploading this, a new norm for Monday updates, sadly. I'm running out of ideas, so chapters may begin to get shorter or a little more boring. I'm trying to figure out how to wrap all of this up nicely (yes, that means we're nearing the end). I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Like always, I don't own anything.
X_X_X
"You know, it's a bit chilly to be out here without a jacket," came Steve's voice from behind Wanda.
She turned and saw him making his way over to her with something in his hands. As he got closer she saw it was a thermos.
As if noticing her stare, Steve lifted the container.
"Thought we could use this time to chat over a cup of hot chocolate. I remember you saying you preferred it to coffee," he said with a smile.
She watched as he came to sit next to her on the blanket she'd spread out on the hill. From there she could see the forest surrounding the king's palace.
Wanda took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Wanda, it's been a week. We have to talk about it at some point," Steve said gently.
She nodded her head and looked at him.
"I didn't know they'd put you there. I thought Tony would protect all of you and make sure you got the best treatment, but I guess I expected too much."
"He's' not to blame," Wanda whispered, although she wanted so much to place all of the blame on Tony. "He was distracted."
Steve opened the thermos and offered her the first sip. With caution, she drank the sweetened drink.
"Sam told me what they did to all of you. It's unfair that you had to suffer the most and it makes me so… so… so mad that I want to hunt down those men and kill them with my own hands," Steve said in a low growl.
Wanda handed him back the drink to distract him.
"Clint probably already did. Or Natasha. They're good at that," she whispered.
Steve looked at her and she could read the guilt in his face.
"Steve, stop," she said. "What happened, happened. And yes, it hurts, but I don't want to keep thinking about it. You rescued me from that place."
"But it's my fault you were there in the first place," he answered back.
Wanda shook her head.
"You could place the blame on anyone. Tony for bringing us in. You for leaving us behind. HYDRA for placing us in this situation with these skills. But that doesn't matter, Steve. In the end those men made their decisions and are the only ones truly to blame. They paid with their sanity," Wanda finished with a dry smirk.
Steve took a drink of hot chocolate and looked out at the forest.
"Yeah, Sam told me about the guy you killed. Usually I'm against that, but I'm proud of you. I didn't know you could do… that," Steve said, using his hands to make the motion of something exploding.
"Yeah," Wanda said. "I did something similar a few times with HYDRA. If there's one thing I'm kind of glad I learned was that I have more power than I know, and that no man or woman will make me bend over for them."
She took the drink back and took some.
"I've noticed," Steve said. "That you haven't used your powers much. Besides talking to me a few nights ago, you've been avoiding them."
The hot chocolate went down the wrong tube and Wanda choked. Steve pat her back a few times until she stopped coughing.
"You okay?" he asked. She nodded.
"I think… I think I'm just scared that using them will cause something bad to happen. Like, I've done more bad than good with them and if I didn't have them then maybe none of this would have happened," she said.
"Stop blaming yourself, you did nothing," Steve told her.
She huffed in annoyance.
"You know I did. And you're not the only one allowed to blame themselves, you know."
Steve laughed.
"You and Bucky keep telling me that," he said.
"Then maybe you should listen," she replied.
A beat passed.
"I trained with him, you know," Wanda admitted. She looked down at her hands cupped around the thermos. She felt Seve shift, turning his body towards her.
"Pietro and I, we trained with him in hand to hand combat. I think that's why I was so good when I went into autopilot," she teased.
"You remember that?" Steve asked. She nodded.
"Right before Clint went to get me, I let my magic into my head to see if I could use it against me or something like that. Anyway, it helped me remember how I learned about my magic and how to use it. Then on the ride to get Scott, I turned it on myself again and saw everything," Wanda said.
She turned to Steve and smiled weakly.
"The dreams I had about Bucky were memories I helped him recover. It wasn't just my imagination thinking of all the horrible things HYDRA could have done to him. All of that did happen."
Steve sat frozen on the ground. His eyes had widened and Wanda was momentarily afraid that he would be angry at her for not remembering sooner.
"You said you helped him recover his memories?" he finally asked, his voice barely audible.
"Yeah…" she answered hesitantly.
"Wanda… do you think… could you…"
Wanda watched in fascination as the Captain struggled to use words.
"Do you think… that you could help erase what HYDRA did to him?" he finally asked.
"You want me to erase his memories?" she asked with a furrow to her brow.
"No!" he said straight away. "Not erase his memories, just… reprogram him, in a way. So he doesn't have any HYDRA programming in him anymore."
Wanda thought about it. She'd never tried to rewrite someone before.
"I don't know, Steve. It'd be hard to remove something without removing a part of him attached to that. Plus, I still don't know if I'd be that comfortable using my magic on his mind," she answered honestly.
"Can you at least think about it for me?" he asked.
His blue eyes bore into hers and she rolled her eyes as she sighed in defeat.
"Fine," she said, none too happily.
"Thank you!" he said, giving her a one armed hug.
"By the way," she started. "You know he thought we were dating?"
Steve choked on air.
"What? Whatever gave him that idea?" he asked.
Wanda shrugged.
"Apparently you don't get too close to girls. Not unless they're me or Sharon," she said with a smirk.
Her mirth grew when he tilted his head back and groaned.
"When did you guys even have time to talk about all of this?" he asked, mortified.
"Oh, he mostly just threw information at me. But I nearly ripped my throat apart again to ask more, though. But he's a good cookie, he kept me from completely destroying my vocal chords," she said.
"Yeah, he's a good one," Steve said, hoping to distract her.
"So when did you kiss Sharon? Why did you kiss Sharon? Isn't it weird to kiss your first love's niece? Didn't you and Nat have something going on?" Wanda asked.
Steve flushed and stumbled over his words.
"I… It didn't mean anything! Its… I mean… It just kinda happened, you know? As a thanks for helping us, kind of kiss. Peggy would have understood. She-" he cut off with a jerk.
"Wait. Me and… Nat?" he asked, as if he couldn't believe what she'd told him.
"Steve," she said. "Everyone can see the chemistry there."
"There's not… We're just friends. Really good friends, is all."
Wanda felt a grin take over her face.
"Oh, Steve," she said with laughter in her voice. "Everyone can see that you and Nat are itching for fondue."
Wanda's laugher echoed in the trees and Steve could have died of embarrassment, but it was worth it to see the smile on her face.
X_X_X
"Hey, Buck," Steve said, walking in on his friend reading a book in the living room.
"Sup, Steve," Bucky answered back.
"I've been thinking-" he said.
"Nope," Bucky cut him off with the snap of his book.
"You don't even know what I was going to say," the Captain complained.
"Don't want to. I'm going into cryosleep and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise," he said.
"Oh darn, and here I was all ready for my part of the presentation," Wanda's voice came from behind Steve.
Looking around the super soldier, Bucky saw Wanda in a loose red dress with her hair down. She was smiling at him and it took his breath away.
"We've been thinking… What if we let Wanda give it a try first? Maybe she can remove everything HYDRA put in your mind to control you," Steve said, pulling her closer with an arm around her shoulder.
"It'll be similar to the last time," she said, turning her vibrant blue eyes on Bucky. "We'll walk around and see what we can find. Once we get into the pattern, your mind will supply us with the rest."
"I don't know," Bucky said after a few seconds.
"Well, it isn't a no," Wanda said.
"Which practically means yes," Steve added.
Bucky felt his lips twitch in amusement.
"Is it something you're okay with?" he asked Wanda.
He knew she had been avoiding her powers since she was brought here, but she'd been spending a lot of time with Steve, so maybe she'd started getting comfortable with them again.
She shrugged.
"I'm a lot more comfortable with my magic if I can't see it. So right now the mental stuff is what I'm able to do with little hesitation," she supplied.
He looked at Steve.
"It's worth a shot," he said. "If you don't like it or it doesn't work, then you can go ahead with your original plan."
"I suppose…" Bucky started but he couldn't finish because Steve cut him off with a hug.
"Great! I'll go inform Shuri," he said before turning to hug Wanda and then scampering off.
"Okay…?" Bucky murmured to himself.
"He's just excited. You don't know how many nights he spent complaining about you and your decision to be frozen. He's finally got you and you want to be sleeping instead," Wanda said.
Bucky looked over at her and she flushed slightly.
"I only want to do what would be safest for everybody," he said.
"I know," she answered with a smile.
They stood awkwardly for a moment.
"Wanda?" Bucky finally asked.
Her head snapped to look at him. The intensity in her eyes momentarily distracting him.
"I, uh, just want to ask about… Well, about us," he said, bringing his metal hand up to rub the back of his neck.
She blinked at him in confusion.
"Us? We're not… I mean, what happened in HYDRA was… a lifetime ago," she said weakly.
"Yes, it was," he said. "Which is why I want to get to know you as you are now, as a friend. Without all of the past stuff pressuring us or causing awkward bumps."
Wanda's face beamed up at him.
"I'd like that," she said.
With a grin of his own, Bucky held out his hand.
"Hi, I'm James Buchanan Barnes. You can call me Bucky," he said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bucky. I'm Wanda Maximoff," she answered, placing her hand into his.
As they shook hands their eyes met and neither one could be bothered to hide the goofy grins on their faces.