Hello! I am deeply sorry for not completing the challenge. I fell ill on October 19th and the following three days I wasn't able to really eat or anything because the four hours a day I didn't sleep I spent vomiting my soul out of my body... then I was getting better over the following week and then I thought about continuing on the 27th when a friend of my brother died in a car crash. It was really sad and my brother was devastated... the funeral shook me. I will never in my life forget the look on the mother's face when she desperately held onto the coffin of her 17-year-old kid. I couldn't find the courage to write the last days of October.

Now it's been two weeks and I am back at university. I will continue the project during November. There will still be dates written, although they are of course incorrect. This one brings me back to October 10th in a way. Like Philipp all the children killed in catastrophies will never be forgotten and this one is about exactly those.

October 20th - Just kids

(rated K+, Steve and Wanda friendship, after Civil War)

It was dark outside that night in Wakanda - it was already 10.30 PM after all. Wanda was standing by the huge glass window on the third floor of the building where everyone had a small apartment. Steve hadn't joined them for dinner today. He had excused himself in the afternoon and hadn't been around since then. She was a little worried and wondered whether to knock on his door or let it be while she watched the leaves of the trees swing in the wind slightly.

Eventually she turned and started walking towards the doors. Hesitantly she passed her own and Sam's and stopped in front of Steve's. She rose her hand slightly to knock, but paused again. What if Steve was just tired? It had been months now since Bucky had been put to sleep again, but it obviously still bothered him. What if he needed to be on his own to think about it? He would be too polite to send her away when she knocked on his door. Wanda sighed and was about to turn away again when the door opened with a soft klicking-sound.

Steve was standing in front of her and put on a soft smile: "Hey, Wanda... I heard someone outside. Are you okay?"

Wanda stared at him paralyzed and immediately put her hand down when she realized she was still holding it up: "I... I just wanted to go to bed and ask you if you needed anything."

Steve looked her up and down: "Oh... that's nice, but no... I have everything here."

Hesitantly Wanda was shaking her head: "Ahmm... I mean, I also wanted to see if you are alright. You seemed so distant lately."

Steve eyed the floor briefly: "Yes... I would be a liar if I told you everything was fine, but don't worry. It's just everything that's going on at the moment."

Nodding Wanda looked at him: "Of course... I didn't mean to bother you..."

Steve cut her off: "No! You are not. To be honest... I had a talk with T'Challa about two months ago... he told me what Zemo told him in front of that bunker in Siberia."

Wanda didn't want to interrupt him and waited for him to continue. He sighed and stepped aside: "Come in if you want to hear about it..."

Thinking about declining his offer Wanda opened her mouth to speak but she wanted to help him with his worries so she just walked through the door and past him. Steve closed the door again and led her into the small living room. They sat down on the couch. Wanda could see photos and interview-copies scattered all over the table. She wondered what this all was about, but Steve would probably tell her in the following minutes.

Steve eyed the documents before returning his attention to Wanda. He leaned forward a little before he started talking in a low voice: "Zemo lost everyone in Sokovia. His family stayed outside of the city, but the vibranium core... it destroyed everything. So many people died that day. I know, it would have been much more if we didn't manage to evacuate big parts of the city, but it really bothers me. And it really bothered Tony... that's how all of that got started after all."

He paused and shifted slightly: "Zemo had a little son... he was just a kid. And Charlie Spencer - he was so young too. They had their lives ahead of them, you know?"

His expression had changed. Steve's eyes radiated a mix of desperation, pain and... guilt. Wanda carefully placed one of her hands on his: "Steve... It's not your fault. Sokovia is not the place to be left alone. There has always been war and terror and now there has been this. Something would have happened, just on a different day and maybe then... there would have been no one to help and many more people would have died."

Steve looked at her for a while before nodding: "Maybe so... but it still doesn't change the things that happened. Do you see all the pictures on the table? It's all the kids..."

Wanda was looking away and slowly picked up some of the small pictures on the table. She looked at them intently before putting them down again: "I'd say, don't think about it so much, but that would be wrong. If it bothers you that much, you should look at those every now and then and think about it. However, don't think how this is our fault or something. Instead think about how those children were great people and they were a gift for as long as they were here. Their parents are sad of course, but they should also be greatful that they had the opportunity to have them."

Steve started to smile a little when she talked: "You're right... Thanks for coming here, Wanda."

Wanda smiled at him too: "I will always be there if you need me."