Chapter 17:

As quickly as ever F.R.I.D.A.Y had the girls reaching their desired floor and the doors pulled back and open, revealing a hallway much the same to the one on Luna and Wanda's floor. Luna, who was still being supported by Nat and Wanda, made her way out of the elevator and was directed towards the door on the right, as F.R.I.D.A.Y opened it for the trio. "The other one's Clint's naturally," laughed Nat as she walked into the apartment first. "God knows birdbrain wouldn't survive a week without you," added Wanda as she walked in behind Natasha. As Luna followed the two women into the Widows home she suddenly felt strongly like she was imposing terribly, and she began to feel incredibly uncomfortable in her own skin. Natasha however seemed to pick up on this as she walked towards Luna, slinging an arm over the younger girls shoulders, bringing her over to the sofa, where she promptly deposited Luna on her route to grab snacks and drinks. Before she headed to her kitchen she stopped in front of Luna with a smile, saying, "You did good today kid, and I've been desperate for a girls night for weeks now." Luna simply nodded at Natasha as she tried to figure out what exactly you do on a girls night, excitement building in her nonetheless at the idea that Natasha and Wanda wanted to spend more time with her. She honestly couldn't imagine why, but it made her heart sing regardless. From her position on the sofa, Luna couldn't really see what Natasha was doing, and she had no idea where Wanda had wondered off too, so instead she decided to take stock of Natasha's apartment. Everything in the room was sleek, smooth surfaces and hight tech designs. There were sofas placed in front of the television and a gorgeous bar area that convinced Luna that Tony himself had designed everyones apartments himself. There was no way Bucky's, Luna's and now Nat's could have been so perfectly designed for each person unless someone in the team had done it, and whilst Luna knew Rogers liked art, realistically it wasn't viable for anyone to have done it other than Tony, it was his building after all. At that realisation Luna reminded herself again to go down to the lab and spend some time with the man who had not only opened up his home and his team to her, but also built her a whole apartment, fully stocked wardrobe and made space for her in his lab.

As Luna got lost in herself and her admiration for everything Tony had done to make Natasha's apartment so stunning she heard Wanda come back into the room, arms full with hairbrushes, face-masks, nail polish and more contraptions that Luna honestly couldn't tell you what they were. Wanda deposited them on the coffee table that sat like an island in a sea of sofas and promptly plopped herself down on the sofa next to Luna, looking over her shoulder to call for Natasha, "наташа поторопитесь! я хочу начать фильм" (natasha hurry up! i wanna start the film)

"мы смотрим фильм?" (We're watching a film?) asked Luna, perking up significantly at the prospect of getting to watch a film, it was a luxury she hadn't indulged in for years, not even realising that she had slipped back into speaking Russian. She didn't really know where she was from, Hydra had taken her when she was so young, she didn't even know herself how old she was when they took her, let alone where they took her from. Nowadays she just slipped in and out of any language being spoken around her.

"конечно же мы маленькие луны, это обязательная часть девичьей ночи!" (course we are little moon, its a mandatory part of girls night!) replied Natasha fondly as she too entered the room, carrying a bowl of crisps, one of popcorn, a mountain of chocolate and drinks over too the two girls sat on the sofa. For a second Luna simply stared in wonder at how on earth Natasha could balance that many things in her arms, but she quickly reminded herself that the super-spy could probably do a million more things just as impressive.

"I'm guessing Pepper couldn't make it this last minute?" Said Wanda, unconsciously swapping back into English as she spoke.

"Im afraid not, but she'll be here next week, you can meet her then Luna," said Natasha, giving another warm smile in the direction of the girl in front of her.

"Who's going first then?" Asked Wanda, leaving Luna utterly confused as to what she was talking about.

"Lets let Luna go first," replied Nat decisively as she practically dragged Luna to sit on the soft rug on the floor in front of her. As Natasha asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to pick a film off of the girls night playlist, (putting on Breakfast at Tiffany's at Natasha's request) Luna saw the TV in front of her light up and at the same time Natasha ran her fingers through Luna's hair, making the younger woman involuntarily stiffen momentarily, out of habit, until Natasha whispered in her ear, "Just relax." Luna did just that and soon enough felt the calming sensation of fingers running a hairbrush through her hair as Nat expertly wove Luna's hair into two perfect dutch braids, taking just enough time for Luna to relax in the process. Her mind began to wonder, fondly remembering the occasional times where she had been injured on a mission, or just coming out of a panic attack and Bucky would, in an attempt to help calm her down, run his own fingers through her hair. He even ended up doing it a few days ago when she was in the hospital. Over the years it had become such a regular occurrence that he had even learnt how to braid Luna's hair. Granted, it was never perfect, but the fact that Bucky had learnt how to for her sake had spoken volumes at the time for Luna. It was a true show of kindness from Bucky, and when she had felt most alone at Hydra, he had come in and become a brother to her, a true family. Without even thinking as she looked in the mirror, Luna let the words, "Wow, these are way better than Bucky's" slip out, and before she knew it the two outraged women in front of her were quizzing her on just how she had managed to get the infamously terrifying Bucky Barnes to braid her hair. Wanda's mouth hang open, aghast as she practically cried, "You have to tell us now ! You cant say that and then not tell us!" Whilst Natasha began listing off ways she could convince Bucky to join a girls night so she could see his braiding skills in action. "It must have been years ago," started Luna, eventually relenting and deciding to share the story with her new friends, "We'd just come back from a mission in France, out near Toulouse. Everything had gone to plan up until the last minute and my cover was blown. In the chaos that ensued my shoulder got dislocated and my wrist was fractured. We'd been extracted and were on a jet back to a Hydra base, my shoulder had been forced back into its socket too soon, so I couldn't move it at all with all the swelling. They were going to put us back into cry-freeze and I was upset I guess? Bucky could tell anyway, so to help calm me down he starts braiding my hair. From then onwards it just kind of became a habit. After a rough mission for me, he'd sit and braid my hair." Luna finished her story to looks of amazement on the faces on Wanda and Natasha, who both started debating the best way to get Bucky to braid their hair. Luna focuses back onto the film that was playing in front of her, until she realised Wanda hadn't had her hair done yet, and so plucked up the courage to ask her, "Wanda, can I do your hair? I may not be Bucky Barnes but I'll do my best!" The look of joy and excitement on Wanda's face was the only reply Luna got before Wanda was sat in front of her, snacking on some crisps and waiting expectantly. Luna ran her fingers through the Sokovian woman's long hair, shocked at just how soft it was, before she began plaiting it. The plaits were by no means as nice as Natasha's, but evidently Wanda had found it relaxing enough as Luna realised that whilst the credits rolled, Wanda was asleep in front of her. A glance to Natasha showed the older woman smiling at the two younger ones, as she handed Luna a blanket to put over Wanda, and then made herself comfortable and began to doze off herself. Luna sighed contentedly and followed suit, snuggling up into the soft sofa, and let her eyes drift shut.

Luna's eyes hazily opened, a dim light shinning down into her pupils. And she froze with utter horror. She was Back. She wasn't in Natasha's flat. Wasn't on the soft sofa she had fallen asleep on. She was in a Hydra base. Bloodied, bruised and beaten she stood in front of her handler. She could hear the venom in his voice as he screamed abuse at her. She had no voice. Couldn't speak, couldn't move. Suddenly she was being forced down onto a table and immediately, Luna knew what was happening. She had disobeyed. Hydra would not tolerate non-compliance. God knows her Handler wouldn't. On her back was a game that her handler had decided to play. It started as part of her punishment for the attachment she formed to the Winter Soldier. Except her handler decided he enjoyed the game too much to stop, long after the Soldier was gone.

Across the back of her shoulders were scars, all of which she had cultivated over the time without Bucky. A line for each hit. A line for disobedience. For each person she killed. A reminder of the scum Hydra would have her believe she was. Bucky had fooled her for a while. Made her believe she might one day be worthy of love, of a family. But Hydra had found her, and as a punishment her handler stood poised over as he took a bloody knife and began carving into her back. She stayed quiet for the first few lines, behaved like she was trained. After the 5th line she began to whimper. After the 7th a tear slipped out. After the 12 the screaming started. He was reopening her old scars, she realised. Reminding her of who she was. What she was. She didn't deserve the family she had found. She had killed people, hundreds of people. Blood was pouring out of her like a river and the pain was incessant. It consumed her, all of her. It was killing her. The fire shooting down her back stolen from the flames of hell itself and summoning all the power she had left in her, Luna let out a wild cry of agony before the world around her turned to black.

"LUNA!" She heard Wanda cry into her mind, "Luna you need to wake up!" A sharp breath rocketed Luna back to reality, as she threw herself onto the ground in front of her, falling to her hands and knees as she gulped down air, trying to calm herself down. She was shaking all over. The world around her buzzing heavily. So loudly in fact, that she didn't even see Natasha come to kneel in front of her until the older woman had placed her hands on her shoulders. Luna's powers lurched forward at the contact, suddenly engulfing her in a silver glow, creating a shield around her. "Luna, I need you to listen to me," said Natasha, calling in a calming voice through the barrier, "You're in Avengers tower. You're in Avengers tower with Natasha and Wanda. You're safe Luna. You're okay." More sharp breaths were taken in by Luna as she tried to ground herself, listening to Natasha's voice, letting it guide her back to reality. "You're okay kid, just breathe," she carried on. They sat like that for a few moments, simply letting Natasha speak calming words to her as she drew in deep breaths. After a couple of minutes o heavy breathing Luna suddenly drew her powers back into herself, as she moved backwards, resting her weight on the backs of her legs as she leaned up against the sofa, allowing it to support her. Eventually, Wanda spoke out in a quiet voice, "Luna, are you okay now?" Slowly Luna nodded her head, looking up to meet Wanda's eyes and then Natasha's. "I'm sorry, I- I don't know what happened."

"It's okay, маленькая луна, you were having a nightmare," spoke Wanda softly, "when we realised what was going on I tried to get into your mind to help you out of it, but you were already in too deep I couldn't get you out in time. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," was the response Luna ground out, "I didn't mean to make a scene, Im sorry."

"Don't be," said Natasha, slowly moving to sit next to Luna on the floor, not touching her but close enough that Luna felt reassured, "Every single person in this tower has them. There's nothing to be sorry for," she finished with a reassuring smile. After a while of the women sitting in a comforting silence, both Wanda and Natasha close to Luna, offering support, Natasha eventually stood up. "I'm gonna head to the kitchen, make us all some coffee. It's 9am anyway, so about time we got up." And with that, she walked out of the room.

Luna and Wanda sat in silence for a little while longer, and whilst she didn't know definitively what Wanda saw, Luna could make a pretty safe guess. That nightmare had been a twisted version of a memory. The game was real, that her handler had decided to play. A line of 31 cuts covered Luna's upper back, the scars a constant and graphic reminder of her time with Hydra, without Bucky. Hydra had made them to convince her she was a monster, to keep her under control, remind her she was nothing but one of Hydra's tools, a weapon to be put in and out of a case. To remind her that they owned her. And for their own sick, sadistic pleasure. But long ago Bucky had convinced her that she was not. Bucky promised her she wasn't. He told her for years that she deserved to feel love, she was worthy, what they made her do was not her fault. She was kidnapped and forced to do those things. She had no choice. And Luna believed him. It was the only reason she had lived with herself for so long. So she hid them. She was better than them, whether she believed it or not, its what she had needed to start telling herself. And it would kill Bucky to find out about them. It would tear his heart in two to learn what they had done to her. Luna had to make sure Wanda wouldn't tell anyone, and definitely not Bucky.

"What you saw," she started, but was quickly cut off by Wanda, her accent dripping heavily from the words she spat out, as her eyes glowed red with rage,

"I will kill them all."

"We will," nodded Luna, "I will. But Wanda, no one can know what they did to me. Im not ready for them to know, and god knows Bucky isn't ready to know. I need you to promise me this stays between us."

The red light had dimmed in Wanda's eyes now, as the woman regarded Luna sadly, as she nodded her head, before letting out a solemn "okay." The two women embraced for a while, and eventually drew themselves up off of the ground, before heading to Natasha's kitchen, where two steaming cups of coffee where waiting for them on the counter along side a Russian red head, who regarded the two suspiciously, almost knowingly, but decided against questioning their red eyes and heavy expressions. All three of them got ready on Natasha's floor, grateful they were all around the same sizing for clothes before heading to the elevator and going to the common floor of the tower to grab some breakfast.

Walking out into the floor Luna was pleased to see a certain person in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal next to a tired looking Tony Stark.

"Hey Spider-boy!" She called out.

- AN-

here's to another chapter! happy valentines day you lovely people ! reviews are as always more than welcome !I actually listened to Not Good from the Endgame soundtrack (natasha's death scene) whilst writing this and it broke my heart more than a little - still makes me cry every time! I love Natasha so much ! weve got some very cute Luna x Peter moments coming up soon!

Love as always

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