Guest- I'm happy for them too! They are really cute, I loved writing that scene. Thanks for the review!
JanaDowneyEvans- They are so cute, I love it too! I love getting people thinking about my plans for the future, sorry to worry you but I do have lots of angst planned… Thanks for still reading/supporting/reviewing!
May 18, 2018
Margaret fell asleep in Steve's lap by the time we approached Wakanda. "She reminds me of you," Steve said softly and I looked over at him with an amused look on my face.
"What? She looks exactly like you, what are you talking about?" I asked and he chuckled.
"Sure her hair is the same color as mine," he started.
"And her eyes are exactly like yours," I added.
"But her smile is yours," he said.
"Really?" I asked with genuine curiosity. I never noticed we had a similar smile.
"Yeah, it's like a mini Maddi smile," he said and I laughed. "And the way she talks about her toys, her stuffed animals, her excitement is the exact same as whenever you talk about something you enjoy. Of course hers is a bit more incoherent at times, but it's still a lot like you."
"Hmmm," I hummed in thought of the similarities Steve brought up. It made me really happy to hear. All this time I saw so much of Steve in Margaret, and it was nice to find out that he saw me in her as well. Soon Steve handed me our daughter as he went to the front to help with landing.
I held Margaret as we walked off the jet in Wakanda.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said as he shook hands with the King of Wakanda.
The rest of us were greeted quickly, the incoming attack was more important than any getting to know each other routine.
"So how big of an assault can we expect?" T'Challa asked as we began to walk towards the large building we landed next to.
"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault," Bruce warned.
"How we looking?" Nat asked.
T'Challa looked her way and said "you will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and," he trailed off as he looked to the side. We followed his gaze just in time to hear the man he was looking at.
"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man," Bucky Barnes said and I felt tears form in my eyes.
"Bucky," I said with a smile. I rushed the few steps closer to him and wrapped my free arm around his neck. Ever since Steve found out he was still alive four years before, I never got to see him. In Washington, in Europe, it was always Steve who fought him or helped him. This was the first time I saw him since 1945.
"Hey Red, it's been a while," he said as we pulled back from our hug. "You have a child," he stated in shock.
"Yeah," I let out a small laugh. "This is Margaret. It's so good to see you, Bucky." I squeezed his arm, happy to see someone who was so important to me again. He smiled back and then greeted Steve.
"How you been, Buck?" Steve asked.
"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world," he smiled.
After T'Challa's sister, Shuri, analyzed the stone in Vision's head, there was detection of ships entering the Earth's atmosphere. Soon one crashed into the force field surrounding Wakanda, but then more began to land outside the dome. While Shuri worked to take the stone safely out of Vision's head, the rest of us had to hold off the army approaching.
"Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures. And get this man a shield," King T'Challa stated as he pointed to Steve. He then turned to me. "This little one will be with my mother. She will be in the safest place, I promise you," he said referring to Margaret
"Thank you, thank you so much," I said. He had one of the Dora Milaje bring Maragret, Steve and me to where his mother was. I thanked everyone who helped me a million times. When it was time to hand Margaret over, I took a deep breath to give myself the courage to let go.
"She's gonna be alright, I completely trust everyone here. He said this is the safest place for her and I believe him," Steve whispered soothingly to me and I nodded.
"I know," I said as I held Margaret close to me. We were about to fight an army of probably any greater strength than before. I didn't know how effective my powers were in keeping me safe anymore. I worried at the idea of something happening to Steve and I through this. I didn't want to leave Margaret alone.
Margaret was awake and I kissed her firmly on the top of her head before leaning her back so Steve and I could both see her face. Steve ran his own hand gently over her hair.
"Margaret," I began to speak directly to her. "You are going to go with these very nice women for a little while. Daddy and I have some important things we need to do and then we'll come back and pick you up."
"Hero things?" she asked. I often told her Steve was doing hero things whenever she asked where he was.
"Yes, hero things, but hopefully it won't take too long."
Steve kissed her on her head and said "I love you, Margaret."
I tried to keep the tears from forming in my eyes. I didn't want to alarm her anymore, and if I started crying, she'd be able to pick up on my own fears. "Be very good. You will have your animals to keep you safe." I squeezed the pig still firmly in her hands. She stayed very quiet as Steve and I spoke to her. There was another loud sound coming from outside, we knew we were out of time. "I love you so much, baby."
"Queen Ramonda, thank you for taking her," Steve said as I passed Margaret into her arms.
"I am glad to, we will watch over her until you return," she said. Once Margaret was no longer being held by me and Steve and I began to walk away, she started to cry. She cried out for me and I tried to reassure her as quickly as I could but I knew it wasn't going to work, and we had to leave.
"It's okay baby, I love you. You're going to be okay," I tried, but it didn't do much.
"We love you, Margaret," Steve tried with me. He eventually put his hand on my shoulder, being the strong one to finally lead us out of the room. I wiped the tears from my face as we walked away down the hall. "She's gonna be okay," Steve told me and I nodded. "We're gonna be okay," he added but that felt a bit more uncertain. We were going to do whatever it took to make sure Margaret stayed safe, and that meant putting our own lives at risk.
We made our way to the edge of Wakanda in the open fields to face the enemy at the dome. A large army gathered by the King was there to defend their country and the rest of the world. Steve, Nat, and T'Challa went forward to see if they would surrender, but there was no success in that plan.
Soon a mass of alien monsters that looked liked ugly dogs but were larger than people came full force at the dome. Most of their bodies were destroyed as they crossed the barrier, but some managed to make it through and had to be killed by our own weapons. As we worried about them surrounding the perimeter of the dome and circling around to where Vision was, the decision was made to open a section of the barrier and keep the fight in front of us.
Sam and Rhodey were fighting from the air already, but I was hesitant to do so. I was scared to fully get into this fight, but at this point it was unavoidable.
"Hey," I heard Steve say next to me to get my attention before T'Challa officially opened the barrier. "We can do this." His eyes matched the determination in his voice. I nodded once, took his hand briefly in my own to give it a squeeze, and then I activated my suit.
"Hello Maddi, it's good to be working with you again," the AI in my upgraded suit said. The gloves and glasses extended from the rest of the suit as it was activated, the nanotech Tony used had kept them concealed until then.
"Hey ANA, we don't have much time to catch up. Let's see if I can still manage this thing," I said as I launched into the air just as the barrier opened. I flew closer to fight, but not close enough to get pulled down by one of the aliens. There were a lot higher quality gadgets that could be used from the suit, and it was successful in keeping up with the high quantity of enemy persons to fight. Despite this, it wasn't long until I was knocked to the ground. There were too many of them for us to handle. We were losing.
Until a blast in the sky occurred and the dogs we were fighting were slaughtered. Thor was there, and I had a moment to let out a genuine smile. I tried not to think about how I wished Tony was there with us, I tried not to think about how I didn't know if I'd ever be able to see him again, I just focused on what was in front of me.
The fighting continued and soon Vision wasn't safe with Shuri anymore, we had to make our way to find him, protect him. By the time I was with the rest of the team to help, it became eerily quiet. Like the feeling the air gets before a huge storm. I landed next to Steve and looked at him with concern. He was on edge as well and we looked up at the sky around us.
From behind, there appeared a large dark cloud of fog and through it an even larger man that made my entire body freeze in terror.
"Cap," Bruce said from inside his own suit. "That's him." I let out a breath at his confirmation that Thanos was there.
Steve held up one of his new shields and said "Eyes up, stay sharp." He ran first at Thanos and I fought my instincts to hold him back. This wasn't the time to be selfish. We had no other choice. He could not get Vision's stone.
One after one, we attacked him, but he was able to push us aside like we were nothing but a few small objects in his way. I flew right through him as if he were some sort of hologram as I attempted my first attack. I quickly stopped myself from crashing and felt my own body briefly to comprehend what had even happened. I turned back around in time to see Steve with his own two hands grasping the glove with all the stones. Not a second later, Thanos smashed his fist into Steve's head, and sent him straight to the ground.
"No!" I screamed as I sent my anger into my next attack. But my scream tipped him off and he turned in time. As the blasts from my gloves shot in his direction, he was able to take the energy coming from my suit and manipulate it to his own use. Before I knew it, he pushed me back with that energy and it sent me flying across the field, far away from the small forest we were fighting in. I landed hitting my head and soon everything around me went dark.
May 18, 2018 (STEVE'S POV)
After I witnessed what happened to Bucky, I was frozen. He was right in front of me and then there was nothing but dust falling to the ground. I stumbled to where he was and then fell to my knee. I looked up at Thor and his face reflected mine. Soon others around started to disappear the same way Bucky did. I made my way over to vision, lying on the ground, his entire body a dull gray, the stone no longer there. Nat ran up next to me, I heard Rhodey's voice but I didn't hear what he said. My mind was everywhere and nowhere all at once.
He did it. This is it. Half of all life. Everywhere. Gone.
"Oh god," I let out. My head whipped around from where I was sitting. I hadn't even realized I had fallen to a sitting position. Of the faces around me, none of them were Maddi's. I stood up frantically and almost fell back over. Natasha caught my arm. "Maddi," I managed to say just above a whisper.
"Maddi!" I shouted louder that time. I didn't hear any response and I finally found my footing as I ran in a small circle around the perimeter of the clearing we were in. "Madeline!" I tried again and still got nothing back. My heart felt like it was collapsing, my stomach was about to empty into the grass. I couldn't find her. I couldn't find her. I. Couldn't. Find. Her. "MADDI!"
A/N: Ope… I liked writing this chapter, sorry! I hope people aren't too mad, but I would love love love to hear your thoughts, predictions, emotion filled cries… I'll happily read them all and try to answer any questions I can
Also, I've started a new Steve Rogers x OC fic! The first chapter is up and it is called Love So Golden. My OC is Mía Canales, and she is 25 living in NYC working as a CNA and a barista after college when she meets Steve in 2011. I would love for you all to check it out if you're interested. I was initially planning to wait until I finished this fic to start that one, but I just couldn't wait. I promise I'm not abandoning this fic though, I still have full plans to give this one a good ending!