Hello everybody and welcome back to "To Eternity, My Witch". Finally, a new chapter, and I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far.

I DO NOT Own any of these as they are and were created by their respective creators. Marvel is owned by the late Stan Lee via Disney. Phantom of the Opera (PotO) is owned by Andrew Llyod Weber. LofZ : TP and OofT by Shigeru Miyamoto. Fire Emblem by Shouzou Kaga. Black Butler by Yana Toboso. And finally, Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 33 Healed and Freed

~Natasha's POV…Five Days Later…~

Five long days after Steve, Clint, James, and Wanda returned from Arbiter's Grounds, Steve and I sat cuddled on the couch with all the other Avengers around, aside from Wanda and James. Scott and Sam sat on the floor near the fireplace while MJ sat on a stool with Peter upside down on a web above her. Clint and Laura were sitting next to Steve and me on the couch, Lila and Cooper were in front of them. Nathaniel was asleep in his crib upstairs.

Pepper, who was a little over six months pregnant, was sitting with Tony who had returned from escorting Reila back to earth. It had been almost fourteen weeks since our wedding and it seemed all surreal. James' healing was long and arduous, with Kagome, Rin, and Zelda doing around the clock care for him in shifts. Stefan also made a shift with Steve and Loki to keep James safe in case he acted out in sleep. At least until Sesshomaru and Inuyasha got here to take over for Steve, and Loki later that evening.

I sat there, not used to taking time off from work or exercising. All because I was pregnant. Though I was able to help with the background work on missions and the whatnot since this war started. I also was placed on light exercise as well. I snuggled closer to Steve and sighed, feeling my stomach where my baby grew. I was in awe, eyes half open and a smile on my face.

Steve looked down to me in question as I laid my head against his shoulder. "What's wrong, Tasha?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Just not used to laying low is all, Steve. Not only that, but I'm also worried about this all. Why Josiah? Why Ganon? How is all of this going to work out?" I laid my hand on my pregnant stomach.

Steve didn't answer right away and instead cuddled with me, the others of our Avengers group also lounging in the room. Only Thor, Reila, Tony, and Bruce were absent from the group. After the discussion on Ganon, Reila sent news via gossip stone that she would be arriving with Bruce, Inuyasha, and Sesshomaru in two hours. Sesshomaru would fly them there on his back in dog form. Good we would have Bruce's presence as well here.

"Hmmm… I am not sure, Tasha, but I am sure it will all work out." Steve finally answered after several minutes of contemplation as he kissed my brow.

I simply nodded and decided on something, "Hey everyone, how about we watch a movie?" A good distraction to the dark gloominess of the war.

The tone of the room brightened at my mention and Peter quickly set up his hologram from his suit Tony made to act as a TV and DVD player, while we discussed movies. "We've already watched Twilight, how about… The Princess Bride?" I suggested.

With a split vote, I again suggested, "No? Well, how about How to Train Your Dragon?" With a unanimous decision we got onward with the Trilogy.

~Later that day…~

James floated on a sea of darkness and pain, something he hadn't felt since his days with HYDRA and their torture sessions. Even with the Winter Soldier's permanent disappearance, memories of the mind wipes raced through his thoughts, causing pain and the emotions of rage, lost, and indifference to flare up. He, in his mind, raged and lived out his memories unwillingly. It felt like he was back in their shackles and forced to relived everything. It was as if the Winter Soldier never left. He lived in this hell hole of his shattered mind for what felt like eternity, making him feel as though he didn't know himself again. Fortunately, the soldier was completely gone now, having finally lost his control of his mind and past.

Though he soon found a solid, permanent pinpoint of light through all the memories flashing faintly through his mind. It was there blinking, beckoning to him through his shattered mind. He reached weakly for it amongst the chaos of his mind, barely coming to consciousness as soon as he touched its edge.

Even as the world spun and tilted, he could tell he was lying on a mattress, not remembering where he was or who he was for a moment. Suddenly it all came to him: who he was and where he was located. The inn in Trondheim after he had killed a man named Ragnar. Memories flooded his mind too quickly, flashing through his mind, and he vaguely remembered that Wanda had transported him to Trondheim to get help for his wounds, that at two men's prompting. The memories caused a great deal of pain, but he didn't have the strength or stable moving mind to even moan at that point, let alone move.

Steve and Clint! How could I have forgotten them?! Wanda! When they had arrived, he remembered in part that somehow, someone had helped him upstairs, and that soon thereafter he had screamed at pain that was coming from his body as someone stitched together his wounds. In those long-drawn-out moments, he only remembered the memories of when he was repeatedly being tortured and having his mind wiped by HYDRA. He couldn't tell reality from memory. Fearful and in pain, he was cornered like an animal trying to escape said pain and he had screamed and tried to escape the vis-like restraints.

Wincing, he remembered someone roar and growl and that someone had grabbed and held his arm with reptilian jaws. That person also held the rest of him down, somehow, someway. By themselves. Other than that, and that he had wounds, he didn't remember how painful the restrains were, only that someone had agreed to restrain him for his wounds to be treated and healed. Remembering rather suddenly, James remembered the battle with Ragnar, his bastard son, and that he was severely wounded from it. Perhaps it was Stefan who held me down, with his strength as a dragon.

He felt something resting against his side, and that something moved against him. With the world still spinning, he slowly felt the creature, finding it was Wanda who was leaning against him. He painfully opened his eyes to see her drying her tears, though fortunately the lights were low, his eyes sensitive to light after all the time spent in sleep stasis with HYDRA and subsequently woken for different missions. Even waking up now, his eyesight was rather sensitive, even with the two solitary candles in the room.

Wanda sniffled in sadness, something he wanted desperately to quell. He slowly, gently brushed his fingers against her shoulder, nudging her effectively enough to get her attentive. She snapped her face to him, making eye contact with his. He finally groaned, though due to pain, dizziness, or his wounds, he could not tell. Both were still making him want to fall back into unconscious oblivion.

"JAMES! You're awake!" Wanda shouted, jubilant, causing his dizziness to increase.

Wincing in pain, James slowly let out a breath, whispering, closing his eyes, "Can't keep me down too long, witch. But… keep it down…? Everything is spinning and painful…" Grunting in pain as he tried to move to sit up, Wanda used her hair to keep him down.

"No, no. James, you're still healing. Even though it's been five days." Wanda ordered him.

Buck snapped opened his eyes, looking at her in shock, "Five days?! I've been unconscious for five days?" He wasn't too surprised though; he had been forced under stasis far longer than that when he was with HYDRA. The dizziness decreased some.

Wanda nodded, tears still falling, "Yes, the longest five days of my life, too. I nearly lost you several times. But you're a fighter, Buck. Stefan, Steve, Loki, and father took turns helping me with taking care of you. Kagome, Rin, and Zelda have been doing a wonderful job at keeping your wounds clean, even going so far as creating several potions and poultices with their photoreceptors to help in the process. I watched them this morning as they changed the bandages, and your wounds are already closing nicely."

James smirked, whispering, "That's because you're here, doll. You give me reason to heal quickly." He even looked Wanda head to toe, winking at her. Wanda blushed and looked away.

He closed his eyes, feeling far better than when he first awoke. His dizziness was barely there anymore; however, the pain he was feeling was as fresh as ever. He groaned again and winced as wounds in his torso and arm throbbed in pain and he became dizzy slightly again.

Kagome, Rin, and Zelda all giggled, murmuring to each other before coming in from outside the door to help him sit up as he felt weak still. He clutched his teeth some, the wounds still painful even with his super soldier status, though not as much as five days ago. Unlike HYDRA, the three healers moved slowly, gently, and quietly as they dealt with his wounds. They soothed him with light touches and soft words.

They teased him and joked with him as they worked. It greatly put him at ease. He felt their minds touch his, helping his mind with the dizziness and numbing the pain. All their minds were hauntingly beautiful and lured him to get lost in their haunting melodies, but with his time in HYDRA, he had the strength to resist those melodies, knowing his mind and heart belonged solely to Wanda.

Wanda rambled as Kagome helped Zelda unwrap James' chest and arm, "I heard Paul went with Reila to call Inuyasha and Sesshomaru that day you arrived back from Arbiter's Grounds. Paul and Titania decided to stay with Tony in Stark Tower. They're planning an effective defensive barrier in case Ganondorf decides to make an assault on Earth."

James groaned in pain as Kagome touched one of the lacerations in his chest. She looked up in concern and apology, "Sorry. You alright, James?"

James nodded with clenched teeth, "Yes, Lady Kagome. Just go slowly, it's… painful."

Kagome nodded, "You're doing well, Buck. The wounds are healing a lot quicker than Rin, Zelda, and I had thought possible. Though I am not surprised. The addition of our photoreactors and photoreceptors seems to be working in tantum with your super soldier serum. Together, they are working and healing the wounds at a much fast rate than a normal human. As if you were a dragon. If I were to estimate, they'll be healed in less than two weeks."

James grunted as she continued to work on his wounds, "Good…" He gridded his teeth further went Zelda took care of the healing wound next to his left arm, the flesh it was attached to being extra sensitive to touch. He was used to people only touching his arm or shoulder to put him down for programing or to fight him. He wasn't used to the gentle and slow caresses that Zelda was doing, both comforting and calming. Zelda noticed and went slower, and smiled reassuringly, making sure he knew she wasn't going to hurt him.

He smiled weakly; knowing she was doing this to help him heal. She gently touched his metal shoulder to deal with the edge of the wound nearest it, caressing his shoulder gently as she carefully, slowly, cleaned the wound, clearing seeing it healed. She must have been calming him through a mental bond as she worked, and he relaxed fully. It was an alien feel, having someone other than Wanda comfort him like that as she worked on cleaning the wound near where his arm was attached. It was nice to feel her gentle hand on his arm.

He knew she felt his pain from his past and understood him as well. He had gotten to know Zelda far better than Kagome and Rin, all who were as close as sisters. But Zelda had a special place like Wanda had. She understood him much like Wanda did and he had gone to her to talk about issues aside from Wanda since she had arrived from her world into his world months ago. Link and Wanda had no qualms about it, as their relationship was just as solid as sister and brother. Zelda had done much to help with desensitizing him further to his words and his time with HYDRA just as Wanda had done.

"Hmmm… This wound seems to have closed Kagome. I believe we can take the stitches out now and let it heal further on its own." Zelda looked to Kagome as she gently touched the stitched-up flesh. James looked at it and agreed, it looked closed up and healthy.

Kagome had Wanda take over her work on a larger stitched wound and looked at it. She smiled, "Indeed. Go grab the scissors from papa. And get some more fresh water and linens, as the stitches will bleed some." Zelda nodded and scurried out the door.

She soon arrived back, and she and Kagome worked slowly, carefully, on cutting and removing the stitches from the one wound. James tried to focus on ridding himself of bad memories as they did so. Zelda calmed him down as they worked, sensing his pain and his thoughts of HYDRA, diverting his mind to that of Wanda instead. Rin had finished up with his back and was working on extracting some photoreceptors from her blood. Stefan arrived in the room and left again to grab something before reappearing again. He held a flask and a knife, both of which he handed to Rin.

In the flask that already had some of Link's blood in it, Rin dripped some of her blood after she cut her alcohol cleaned hand and passed it to Kagome who also added some of her blood to it before having Zelda do the same. She passed it back to Stefan, who added some blood of his own before extracting with his power a small amount of semi-clear liquid with moving specs in it into a smaller, crystalline vial. The photoreceptors and photoreactors.

He passed the small vial to Kagome who explained, "James, I am going to smear some of the liquid on the area. It contains an extremely concentrated number of photoreceptors and photoreactors which should help heal the rest of the wound in quick session. I am also going to place the rest on some of the more dangerous wounds, helping them to heal faster. Are you ready?"

Buck nodded, a little apprehensive, "Will it hurt?" He relaxed a little when Zelda and Wanda gave him reassuring words through their minds that it wouldn't, Zelda going even further with placing a comforting hand on his metal shoulder as well as a physical word it wouldn't.

Kagome gave a thoughtful look, "Perhaps a little, but it will be as if you were feeling a tiny pinprick or a needle. So very little pain." She dabbed her finger in the liquid and applied it to the wound. James barely flinched as the photoreceptors and photoreactors healed his wound near his shoulder. Withing moments, it looked like new flesh, still sore, but almost healed. Kagome applied some to the more serious wounds. Soon the liquid was gone, and his wounds looked far better than they were beforehand.

"There we are! Much better. We'll repeat this later this evening, Buck. For now, the photoreceptors we added should do their work before they deactivate. Usually when applied on the skin, the photoreceptors will heal any wound before deactivating. Those that get inside the wound and are in your blood stream will remain active, meaning you will have active photoreceptors helping you from now on. Thus, you will eventually need to create a regenerancy bed to give them light when you sleep. Though with the amount of light we've given you the last five days since you fell unconscious, you will be fine," Kagome announced, putting the empty vial down and moved to help Rin and Zelda to wrap James' chest and abdomen again with fresh bandages.

Feeling much more awake, far less dizzy, and in much less pain, James smiled, charming them, causing all of them to blush with his Brooklyn accent, "To be honest, I need a shower, ladies. Maybe you could hold off on the bandages so I could do so?"

Stefan hmphed, "I agree daughters, he needs a shower. And I as well. Especially after what I had to do last night and what happened…"

James' brows furrowed, concern flashing through his eyes, "What happened last night?"

Stefan sneered, opening, and pulling back his shirt, giving James a view of a nicely healing, but large laceration on his left pectoral, "Steve, Loki, Thor, and I were forced to hold you down due to a nightmare you were having. You were experiencing a memory of a torture session from HYDRA when I delved into your thoughts. In the process, you accidently gave Steve a cracked rib, Loki a bone bruise on his arm, and me this deep laceration from a nearby knife you grabbed. Thor got lucky and he left without a scratch on him. Plus, you were sweating up a storm with Steve, Thor, Loki, and I because of it. Woke everyone up inside the inn. Not only that, but Thor had me shoveling out some of the stalls in the barn this morning. Seems we're all in need of a shower." He closed his shirt and crossed his arms.

Kagome hmphed, "As long as he takes it easy during the shower, then Rin, Zelda, and I are fine with it, dad. Plus, he shouldn't put on a shirt until we get to bind his chest again." She looked to James with a critical eye, and he nodded at her pointed glare. Kagome put down her stuff and between her and Stefan helped James to stand. He wobbled a bit, but steadied himself within a moment, Kagome and Stefan holding on to make sure he didn't fall without help. He felt tired, slightly dizzy still, yet he felt good standing after five days in bed. Perhaps it was from the blood loss.

Going out of the room and down the stairs slowly, James discovered everyone was around having breakfast. Many stood, overjoyed to see him up and about, though many wore concerned looked at the sight of his wounds. Even Reila came over to him to give him a gentle hug. Two faces were new to him.

Two men, dressed in Japanese styled clothing, one in red and the other in white. The man with the red kimono had two dog ears coming out the top and was barefoot, something that startled him. He looked younger than the other and was slightly shorter as well. The other had armor over his kimono and had somewhat of a harder, mature look to his handsome face. Both had stark white hair like Amelia, though their hair was very long, and resembled her in a slight way as well.

Kagome and Rin smiled, going over to the men. The shorter man with the dog ears kissed Kagome and asked, "How are you doing, Kags?"

Kagome hummed, "I'm alright, Inuyasha, just a tad tired."

Rin kissed the taller man, asking him something quietly. Sesshomaru smirked, mumbling out in a deeper baritone voice that didn't make his young face, "Annika and Lilly are doing well, Rin. Don't worry, Solomon and Alban are keeping a critical eye on them with Uncle Todd and Aunt Lillian." Rin relaxed at the news.

James and Wanda smiled. So, these are Stefan and Amelia's two sons, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. I feel like things are turning around for the better for us in this war, Wanda. He told Wanda telepathically. She nodded.

"Go take your shower, my Bucky. Please be careful as you do so." She asked before floating over to meet the newcomers.

Stefan, Steve, and James went out to behind the spring to the hidden waterfall. As they all undressed, the appearance of a glaringly large and jagged scar running across Stefan's back startled James and Steve. "Hey, what's with the large scar, Stefan?" James asked as he careful got into the deep pool.

Stefan frowned, and hmphed as he dove into the deep pool before he could answer. Steve and James waited, not at all offended at the slow response. A few more minutes to them all seemed like mere seconds to them anyways. When Stefan resurfaced, he seemed to be in a better mood. He answered with a gruff voice, "The scar has been with me since before Amelia and I mated each other. Before that even when I hadn't even arrived yet in Reslutia. It was from when I was a… slave. A cruel master of mine thought it would be fun to see me suffer for a minor offense and used a jagged piece of glass to make the scar. Even with much healing, the scar is still there."

Slave… James and Steve both flinched at the word. Both knew what the word meant in their own lives. James having been made a slave to HYDRA and Steve in a roundabout way a slave to his past and to his guilt. They felt sympathy and empathy for Stefan. Around the scar was a multitude of other smaller scars, from burns, knives, and wipes and a multitude of other weapons. Steve and James nodded, staying quiet for a while, knowing if they pushed further, they would garner his wrath, something neither of them wanted. James, careful to clean his healing wounds, used the soap and conditioner Stefan had brought.

Soon, Stefan loosened up to them, and the three men fell into reminiscing and the three threw stories around like typical men. Though Stefan took the cake for most of them, as he had seen and experienced much more than Steve and James combined, telling them of battles and glory, his love life, something they were both intrigued about… James whispered to Steve when Stefan had dived down to the bottom of the pool, "Notice Stefan is rather… large… compared to either of us…"

Steve smirked, whispering back, "I noticed, though I supposed it's because of his dragon that he's… that large…" At that moment, Stefan resurfaced and looked over to them, smirking and slicking his wet green hair back, it had gone quite dark.

"Ugh… you two… The reason I am is because I am far older than you and just as you said. It's because I am a dragon. I am bound to be larger than most beorc males." Stefan smirked, clearly confident in his masculinity to admit it and being fully nude in front of them, getting out of the water to dry off. James and Steve both stared at him, shocked he had heard them. "Are you just going to sit there and gap, boys, or are you coming to dry off and dress? I am sure Wanda is rather worried…" Stefan looked back to James and Steve who scrambled out. Stefan dressed and didn't seem to be at all fazed that two younger men were comparing his size to theirs.

They all went back to the inn, clean and ready for lunch. Though James remained shirtless for the women to rebound his chest and arm, which they did as Reila made them all lunch.

Hope y'all liked this chapter. Yeah, these next few weeks are going to slow as my work is getting things ready for harvest and research notes. Go get some sweet corn if you're able, or go to your local market and get some fresh fruits and vegetables, support those local businesses and farms.

Until later,

WS. Z.