Note: Canon-divergent from S02E12 onwards, both for SHIELD and the Avengers, especially re. Bucky.

"Runaways"

'One day you'll make a decision,' Leo's grandmother used to say. 'It'll decide your soulmate for you.'

'But doesn't Fate say who our soulmate is?'

'Sometimes the most powerful relationships have to be tested before Fate decides who's worthy.'

'But—'

'You have no soulmark. Your loyalty will be tested one day. Choose your soulmate, and you'll gain your marks.'

'My soulmate's blank as well?'

'And will be until one of you decides. Whoever is older will be the one put to the test.'

Leo was reminded of those old conversations when he promised to protect Skye by lying to the others, and his soulmark formed.

"We're soulmates?" Skye said, examining her writing on his hand.

"I'm sorry it took so long, Skye—"

"Doesn't matter. The point is, what do we do now?"

He smiled grimly. "We keep mum about what happened here, and test the waters to find out how the others feel about…"

"Me?"

"People like you. Raina's out there, and I know they've started a manhunt. Just because they might feel differently about you doesn't mean that their feelings about others are right. It's a kind of racism, I guess."

"Fitz." She hugged him again. "Thank you."

"Eh, you've always been kind to me. And it turns out that we're soulmates. I'll do whatever I have to, to protect you."

After Sif and the Kree had departed, and everyone went to bed for the night, Leo grabbed his things and Skye's, whatever they could reasonably carry, including some of his things from the lab. Then he went to the vault and lowered the barrier, before shaking her awake.

"Wha…?"

"Come on, Skye," he whispered. "We have to go."

"Fitz—"

"I'm not letting you stay here like this. We're going to find someplace safer."

"You're…" She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "You're sending me away?"

"Taking you away. I have some ideas about where we can go. I did a bit of research, and it all boils down to us having to get to New York."

She stared at him. "Come again?"

"I brought your things." He placed a bag beside her. "Tell me if there's anything else you need for the journey. I'll withdraw all my cash at the first ATM we find, so they can't trace us beyond that. Your laptop's here, so you can mess with security cameras if necessary. We can find one of those schools of hairdressing, cheap hairstyling, get a new look. Just long enough to escape notice until we reach a safe place."

"This looks fine," she said. "But what about the security camera for this room?"

"Have you ever seen Speed?"

"…A feedback loop?"

"You've been sleeping soundly for an hour. I know; I checked. We only need it to go undetected for long enough to get as far from here as we can."

"Fitz, are you sure about this?"

"It's the only way, Skye. I don't trust them not to…"

"Hurt me?"

"Imprison you, at least. You don't deserve that. You've had enough shit thrown at you."

She kissed him on the cheek without warning. "Thanks."

"It's alright. Just get changed quickly. I'll keep an eye out at the door."

As soon as she was ready to go, Leo dragged Skye out of the Playground.

Skye stared at the cash he'd withdrawn. "I didn't know SHIELD paid that well."

"I do have other accounts," he said. "Some patents of mine still earn income. Besides, we'll need as much as we can get. I don't know how far we are from New York."

"Probably the other side of the country, knowing our luck."

He grabbed hold of her hand. "It's alright now, Skye."

"We're going to be wanted fugitives from SHIELD."

"And HYDRA wants us as well."

"So what's your big plan?"

"Let's see." He checked his watch. "They'll soon notice that we're gone. Either the feedback loop will be discovered or someone will check on you, or someone will try to bug me until I open my door and then discover that I'm gone. Also, certain things are missing from the lab, and I may've stolen some food for us as well."

"It's not stealing when it's for us," she said.

"We left our SHIELD identification cards behind, because they could've traced them. Since we're no longer agents, we're technically…"

"Rogues," Skye concluded. Fitz nodded. "Great plan. What next?"

"I don't know whether or not you're a… a mutant," he said. "If you are, we could go to the Xavier Institute."

"Or…?"

"Or we go to…" He coughed, and lowered his voice. "Stark Industries."

"…Are you nuts?" she hissed.

"D'you have any better ideas?"

"Fitz—"

"Calm down. D'you want to cause an earthquake?"

She took a few deep breaths. "Why SI?"

"Because… of the Hulk."

"…You want him to fix me?"

"If you can't be fixed, which is a possibility, then you need to learn to control this. You can't go around breaking lights every time you get upset, Skye." He continued to usher her to the nearby train station, and they stopped at the ticket office. "So we have to find someone whose ability is… uh…"

"Destructive?"

"Yes. That."

"I don't want this, Fitz!"

"Shh." He ordered and paid for their tickets swiftly. When he pulled her over to the side, he looked around. "We've got five minutes before the train arrives. There's not much of a chance they'll have caught up to us yet."

"It should be impossible, if no one's noticed us missing until now."

"I'm surprised there are any trains running this early, but I shouldn't be."

He pulled her through the ticket barrier, and they arrived at a platform. Skye looked at her ticket and frowned.

"Fitz, this isn't for another fifteen minutes."

"I know."

"You said five."

"We're catching this one." He led her along the platform, and she noticed they were just out of the security camera's sight. Then he pulled her onto the wrong train, and took her to the middle carriage.

"There won't even be a tail on us yet," she said.

"The ticket office camera will have seen and heard me ordering tickets for New Haven, which is where the other train is headed."

Skye checked her ticket again. "What?"

"When the guard gets here, I'll be shocked that I got the wrong tickets, purchase new ones from him, and that'll buy us some time while the others are scouring the security cameras on the other train to find us. It's a long ride, and we can't rely on May to warn us when they're getting close. I thought we could change to a bus service somewhere along the line, eventually back to the train, get a makeover, and when we get to New York go straight to… wherever we decide to go."

"Fitz, this is a huge risk."

"You're worth it."

Skye knew there were tears in her eyes. "This is… probably the nicest thing anyone's done for me in a long time."

"I suppose it's a bit grander than a bouquet of flowers."

"Just means that it… means a lot more. Thank you, Fitz."

"You're welcome, petal."

She raised her eyebrows, and he gazed out the window as the train started to move.

It was impressive how he handled the ticket inspector, and she played along. It reminded her of another train journey when they'd pretended to be together. This time, though, they knew they were soulmates, which made it seem more real, even though they hadn't had time to discuss the nature of their relationship. It still didn't seem… whole. Like it wasn't supposed to be the two of them. Like there was supposed to be…

"Do you think we're supposed to have a third?" she asked. He looked relieved.

"You feel that, too?" he asked. "Like it's not complete?"

"Yeah. I wasn't sure whether it'd settle if we bonded, or if it meant something else."

"I think we do have a third," he said. "Must be older than us. D'you think it could be May?"

"She already has a soulmark."

"Really?"

"Not that she talks about it."

"So if it isn't May…"

"Maybe we haven't met whoever it is yet?" Skye said.

"Yeah." He took her hand. "But let's not think about that. We need to get you to safety. Even if it takes a couple of days, we'll get there."

Bucky was sitting between Steve and Sam. He had to remember their names, especially Steve, since they'd been friends back before… before HYDRA. He was trying to get used to the name 'Bucky', because everyone knew him as 'Bucky', and it felt like it was supposed to be his name. But he was the Asset, the Winter Soldier, HYDRA's weapon.

"Sir, a young man and woman are at the front desk asking to see you," JARVIS said, making Bucky jump slightly.

"Show me," Stark said. A screen appeared, showing two strangers at reception. "And sound."

"…need Dr. Banner's help. We know he's here."

"It's okay, Fitz. We can come back if we have to."

"No, you need help now, before they come after you again."

The young woman had shoulder-length black hair with streaks, held back by a headband, and the young man had dark spiky hair. They born wore black eye makeup and were wearing clothes which were apparently 'Goth'. Not that they seemed comfortable dressed like that, and the girl seemed to have short hairs on her neck, as though her hair had only recently been cut.

"What do they want, J?" Stark said.

"Dr. Banner's assistance, sir."

"Yeah, got that. Specifically?"

"They refuse to say."

"And who's after them?"

"Again, they are being secretive, sir."

"Huh."

"D'you have pen and paper?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great. Can I…? Thanks." He scribbled something down, then walked over to one of the cameras.

"JARVIS," Stark said. The camera switched so that they could see the writing on the note: 'She makes the ground shake when upset. Needs help controlling it.'

"I can see why they'd ask for my help," Banner muttered. "Should I go down there?"

"Not alone," Steve said. "We'll all go."

It must've been intimidating for the strangers to be faced with all the Avengers at once, even though Banner was still normal-sized and –coloured, not big and green. Bucky knew how they felt. The first time he'd come to Stark Tower, he'd faced all of them, too.

"What's this all about?" Steve asked, crossing his arms. The young woman looked at her companion, who stepped forward.

"Can we talk someone more private—"

"No."

"…Right. Well, Skye recently acquired powers in, uh… tra… trauma—"

"Traumatising," she said.

"Traumatising circumstances," he said. "When she gets upset about something, she makes the ground quake and breaks glass. But only if she's upset."

"I need someone to fix me," she said.

"But if it can't be fixed, then she needs to learn how to control it. You were the first person I thought of, Dr. Banner."

"Flattering," Banner said. "But do you really think a skyscraper is the safest place for her to be, if this is true?"

"I caused an earthquake in Puerto Rico," Skye said. "I don't… I don't wanna do this. If you can make it stop, undo it or something, that'd be great."

"Skye, I don't know whether it can be reversed—"

"We won't know until we try, Fitz!"

"You heard what Lady Sif and the Kree said about the Obelisk."

"Diviner."

"Yeah, whatever it is. If they think—"

"You have seen Lady Sif?" Thor rumbled. "When was this?"

"Only a few days ago," Fitz said. "She was chasing a Kree who was searching for—"

"Diviners?"

"Yeah."

Thor said something in Asgardian which was probably a curse word. That wasn't good.

"If there are Diviners on Midgard, that is a dangerous thing," he said. "They turn people into weapons."

Fitz visibly tensed, and moved back to Skye's side.

"Are you one of those who thinks the people should be eradicated?" he asked.

"You do not know what power you are playing with."

"She's my friend, and she didn't want it!"

"What happened to the Diviner? Have you seen others?"

"Stop," Skye whispered.

"Leave her alone!" Fitz said. "She's just as much a victim in this as… as…"

The ground began to tremble and the girl stumbled back. Fitz grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"There now, Skye, calm down, I'm sorry, we're not arguing, please calm down, don't do this, we'll get help, alright? Calm down, Skye. Deep breaths…"

Slowly, the tremors stopped, and she held onto Fitz. Bucky glanced at the Avengers, who were all trading serious looks. He stepped between the two groups, his back towards the strangers.

"Leave them alone," he said.

"We can't stay here if she's going to face more persecution from you, Thor," Fitz said.

"It seems that she is as dangerous as I feared," Thor said. "She must be contained."

"You antagonising her doesn't seem to help," Bucky snapped.

"We should just go, Fitz," Skye said softly. Bucky looked over his shoulder at them.

"Neither of you are going anywhere just yet," he said. He scowled at Steve. "If you send them away, I'm going with them. I know what it's like to face all of you, not knowing whether it was a good idea to come here, to see you arguing about whether or not I could stay, to know that I could lose myself and hurt people if I didn't keep control. I still feel like I don't belong, just waiting until you decide that you don't want the Winter Soldier here anymore and then kick me out."

"Bucky, we wouldn't do that," Steve said.

"You might not, but you against all of them? I don't feel safe here, ever, not even when I sleep. If you're not going to welcome them, then I'm leaving. Because she obviously needs your help, and if you won't give her that, then I will."

"You expect us to let strangers stay here?" Stark said. "They could be anyone. She could bring the whole building down on us during her sleep!"

"He's right, Fitz," Skye said. "It's too risky."

"We don't have to stay here," Fitz said. "Though I'm surprised any of your towers could possibly be that flimsy, Mr. Stark."

"You know, there's a dick joke in there somewhere," Barton said.

"It's okay," Skye said, touching Bucky's arm. "But thanks for trying."

"Yeah, we'll never forget that," Fitz said, touching his other arm. He frowned, and then pulled Bucky's sleeve up, his eyes widening.

"Uh—"

"Whoa! That's incredible."

"Fitz, not the time to get lost in engineering," Skye said, and she pulled him away.

"Stop," Bucky said. "Wait here. I'm gonna grab my stuff, not that I've got much."

"Bucky, please," Steve said.

"You don't wanna welcome them, fine. But I told you. If they're leaving, I'm leaving."

He was about to walk past Steve when he felt itchy in a couple of places. One of them was his stomach, and he raised his shirt to stare at the writing on his belly: 'It's okay. But thanks for trying.' He noticed Skye scratching at her back, and Fitz rubbing his left arm. Bucky checked his right arm, where the other itch was, and read: 'Yeah, we'll never forget that.' He met their eyes.

"You're my soulmates," he murmured.

"Seems like," Fitz said.

"You'll… you'll wait right here? I won't be long."

Steve tried to grab his arm. "Bucky, you don't have to leave—"

"I'm not abandoning my soulmates, Steven! I've done a lot of bad things as the Winter Soldier, and I don't think I deserve even one soulmate, let alone two. But if Fate thinks I deserve them, then I'm not gonna take it for granted. JARVIS?"

"Yes, Sergeant Barnes?"

"Make sure they don't leave."

"But we still don't know who they work for," Steve said. "They don't have anyone to vouch for them."

"Coulson might," Fitz said. "Phil Coulson? New director of SHIELD? He'd vouch for us, if his opinion mattered at all to any of you."

"Coulson?" Romanov said, tensing. "What do you know about Phil Coulson?"

Bucky chewed his lower lip on the way to his floor. JARVIS showed him the ensuing conversation, which involved Skye waiting on the other side of the room and covering her ears while Fitz fielded rapid-fire questions about his work for SHIELD.

They couldn't be HYDRA. Bucky was good at it, picking who was HYDRA and who wasn't. And if they knew Coulson – who, by all accounts, the Avengers respected – then they couldn't be all bad. Not if he could vouch for them even after they ran. That there was any kind of danger to them made him furious, and he was glad he didn't have quaking powers, or Stark Tower would be in serious danger.

By the time he arrived back downstairs with his bag in hand, there was a quiet discussion taking place among the superheroes, and Skye was back at Fitz's side. He smiled hesitantly at them.

"Wanna get outta here?" he asked, hoisting his bag to his shoulder. "I know a few safe places to stay."

"Yeah, let's go," Fitz said, picking up his bag. Skye mirrored his action, and all three set off for the doors.

"Bucky!"

He glared at his friend. "Back off, Steve. I get the feelin' I've overstayed my welcome."

"No, Bucky—"

"Assumin' I was ever welcome in the first place. Don't try to find me."

"He's your friend," Skye said. "You don't have to do this just because…"

"Yes, I do," he said firmly. "It's as good a start as any to wipe away some of the bad stuff I've done in the past."

"It wasn't your fault," Fitz said.

Bucky looked him over, and then smirked.

"I'll let you look at my arm," he offered. Fitz's eyes lit up, and he glanced at Skye.

"He's coming with us," he said.

They were nearly out the door when Steve made a last-ditch effort.

"Bucky, we can work something out. Just… don't go."

He squared his shoulders. "An' that's another thing. Bucky died long ago. Stop livin' in the past. My mind's been tampered with. I can't remember enough of the 'good old days' to be able to talk about them. My name isn't Bucky. Just… stop."

"Come on, James," Skye said after a few seconds of silence. "If you're ready to go?"

"I've been ready for a long time."

"How good are you at hiding from people?" Fitz asked as they walked away from Stark Tower. "Because we could really use some tips…"

Wow. Okay, this turned to angst somewhere along the way. I blame the timing. And the wet weather. If you're going to rain, rain in North and West Queensland, not in the city! Bah!

Ship was requested by Sailor Light Angel. Being an obliging author… I was reading a fan fic which made me wonder what would happen if Fitz, fed up with everyone's behaviour, ran away with Skye to keep her safe from any potential witch hunts, which led to them going to Stark Tower and finding their soulmates. Then I noticed this ship on my list and thought 'Yay! I'll go with that!', not realising that the light-hearted tone I was going for would disappear. Sigh. Bad habit of mine.

Please review, peeps!