The quinjet behind Chloe was primed and ready for her to climb into and take off, but the goodbyes were taking a bit longer. She had Seren, Steve, Natasha and Fury in front of her, wishing her well. Seren had already given her the tightest hug ever, and with her strength it really was tight.

"All the way to Italy, then?" Steve was next in line on the hugging session. "On your own?"

"Not you too," Chloe said as she pulled away. She recognized his tone — "why must you always be on your own?". It was the same thing that Seren asked every time she was sent on a solo mission, which was about every mission assigned to her. "I know I'm the youngest, but I can handle myself."

"I'm just not used to it," Steve said, bringing his hands in front of his chest.

"Don't take it personal," Natasha told him, "We all still say she should do more partner missions."

"I like flying solo," Chloe said and moved on to hug Natasha next.

"How long of a mission will it be?" Steve was eyeing the duffel bag slung around Chloe's shoulder. It seemed decent enough for at least a week.

"No idea," Chloe said carelessly. "But I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

"Can you ever give a simple answer?" Natasha playfully rolled her eyes at her. Chloe's scoff invoked a smile.

"You're one to talk."

"Agent Winters, when you arrive make sure to check in," Fury's authoritative tone ended all jokes between the women.

Chloe straightened her posture and nodded at the man. "Of course."

"Don't take too long please," Seren said to her. "You always take long."

Chloe's expression saddened. "I know," she said quietly. "I wish it wasn't like this but it has. We all have jobs to do, right?"

"Yeah…"

It was always a sight seeing Seren be so 'motherly'. Chloe typically welcomed it but it never left her feeling good about it. Seren had taken her under her wing a long time ago, saved her really, and now she felt like she had a responsibility to look after her. Unfortunately, Chloe was not in a position to divulge secrets, even with her best friend. It's for Seren's own sake, she reminded herself.

"Oh alright," Chloe jokingly groaned as she took Seren into another hug. "I'll call. You know I always do."

"Mhm. Just take care please," Seren said, once again squeezing her arms around Chloe.

"Of course," said Chloe before dropping her voice to a low whisper, "And please fix whatever is going on with you and Steve."

Seren pulled away from Chloe and met the blonde's sharp gaze. It was a miracle that Chloe hadn't said that loud enough for anyone to hear. Seren would take the win and move on.

"Yeah," she nodded and quickly stepped back beside Natasha, keeping her eyes anywhere but the man in question.

"Captain," Chloe gave a mock salute towards Steve, beaming when he smiled at her. "How's Italy? I heard you went there back in the old days."

"Well, I imagine it's probably a lot different now, so...I'm not sure," Steve shrugged. "How about you tell me instead when you get there?"

"Will do," Chloe nodded like it was an order. "While I'm out, make sure to keep an eye on those two over there." She stuck her tongue out at Natasha and completely ignored Seren's begging face not to say anything imprudent. "They get into a lot of trouble. Keep 'em safe for me."

"Of course," Steve cleared his throat. He stole a glance from Seren who was, for some reason, glaring at Chloe. It'd been too long since he talked to her and he was feeling it. Things were too lonely again.

"Agent Winters, it's time," Fury announced. Chloe agreed and gave the group a final goodbye before turning for the awaiting quinjet.

"What is her mission anyway?" Seren surprised him and Natasha when she made the question. She turned to meet Fury with a new type of expression on her face.

"You know that everyone's missions are known at my discretion, Agent Soul," Fury said and turned to leave.

"But...why are Chloe's missions always solo? She's still young—"

"And trained by you, meaning you should trust Agent Winters' ability to handle herself."

Seren said nothing more as she watched him go. She should be trusting...but as of late things weren't so clear anymore.

~ 0 ~

It took every fiber of courage Steve had to catch Seren in one of the hallways. He had strategically waited for her to leave Natasha and the other Agents around her, now he just needed to be brave enough to talk to her and apologize. It felt like actual torture these past days because he couldn't speak to Seren. Natasha was right. He shouldn't have said anything about Atria and the harsh training.

"Seren?" His first call stopped the ginger at once.

She actually jumped as if she'd been surprised there was someone else in the hallway. She turned around and saw him nervously coming up to her. "Hi…" Her tone had been entirely quiet.

"Hey...do you think we could talk for a bit?"

Seren's eyes flickered past him as an Agent crossed the intersection. "Actually… I'm a little busy."

"Oh, right...right, sorry," Steve stepped back. She was still angry with him. He should have known. He had the most useless mouth after all.

Seren awkwardly turned away to continue on her way but four steps down she came to a stop. "Actually…" She turned sideways, meeting Steve's look. "Maybe you can help me...if you want to."

"Of course," Steve immediately said. Seren returned to his side more nervous than ever, more than him and that was saying something. It was concerning. "What is it?"

"It's not exactly something morally right. In fact, it's not at all right." Seren began with those words for an obvious reason. Steve always liked doing the right thing. She liked that about him. There were few people left in the world that thought like him. She didn't want to jeopardize that about him. "What I'm going to do is going to be wrong and it will probably make me feel terrible in the end but... I know that I have to do it."

"What is it?" Steve's tone shifted into a softer one. He could see the shame in Seren's eyes as she made the admission of the cryptic mission she was taking on.

"It's about Chloe."

~0~

The hallway to the old record room was unusually solitary. Seren counted that as a blessing and, if she was feeling brave, a sign that she was meant to do this.

"Let me get this straight," Steve pulled Seren back when he spotted an Agent coming down the hall. "You want to sneak into a guarded record room to pull up Chloe's record because Stark told you it didn't exist?" The only reason he wasn't calling her insane was because the ground between them was already thin enough. But he needed to make it clear that her reasoning was off.

Luckily, Seren was well aware of how insane she sounded. "I know, I know, but...he made a good point and now I'm curious to know if he was right."

"Why would you think he's right?"

"Why would he lie?"

The pair met each other's gazes upon hearing the questions. Both made a point. Why would Seren choose to believe Stark had found something on a perfectly good working Agent at S.H.I.E.L.D.? In turn, why would Stark lie about it?

"Seren…" Steve really didn't like where this was headed. He would be blaming Stark if anything happened to either of them.

"I know, I know it's terrible and you really don't have to be here but I need to know," Seren swallowed hard. "I need to know if someone I trust hasn't been telling the truth to me for years. I found Chloe when she was 17. She was scared out of her mind because she'd just merged with the Hive Mind. I took her in, I trained her, I made her into an Agent. I need to know if something is wrong with her. Has she been lying to me?"

The sad twinkle in her eyes was something Steve just couldn't ignore. She had put all her anger aside, all the S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff aside to show him the version he liked most: the version where she was just Seren. Right now, Seren was trying to find out if her best friend has been lying to her. He couldn't walk away from that, not even if he tried.

"It's alright if you want to leave," Seren said, truly hoping he believed her words were honest. "I would never want you to betray your own morals."

"Thanks for that but I would be betraying my morals if I walked away from you when you needed me." The words had come so easily to Steve that it was almost alarming. Things calmed when Seren's lips curved into a soft smile.

"Thanks," she said quietly and looked away.

The hallway continued to be rather empty. Instead of questioning it, the pair rode with it until they no longer could. Most of the trip had to be made in casual walks right in front of the others, like they were doing nothing wrong. It was surprisingly harder than to just sneak around.

"You can consider this your first undercover mission with me," Seren thought to say after passing two other Agents.

"I can't tell anyone about it, though, right?" Steve met Seren's glance. "Natasha's been eager to point out my shortcomings."

Against her better judgment, Seren laughed. "Sorry. I mean...she's just teasing you."

"Oh I know," Steve said, nodding his head. "I've been teased plenty to recognize it."

Even though it had been just a passing remark, the fact that it was still true made Seren's chest slightly constrict. "Were you really teased a lot back then?"

"Uh, yeah, I mean...there was a lot of material to choose from," Steve said. Despite not wanting to relive those moments, some of them were adamant to come back to his mind. There were many bruises and so many creative insults from people, they were hard to forget.

"I'm sorry about that," Seren sighed. "Kids can be so cruel."

"Wasn't just kids," Steve couldn't help the sour tone that laced his words. He'd learned to move on from those times but there were always moments that he just couldn't get over.

Seren made a swift turn down a new hall and pulled Steve with her, unknowingly pulling him out of his memories too.

"What about you?" He suddenly asked her. "Were your years better?" He really hoped that they were.

A smile came to Seren's face. "Ah, well, in order to be teased you have to be noticed and I was very good at not being noticed." She shrugged her shoulders. "I had very few friends. I made it my life's mission not to be noticed because of my Celessian side. I didn't want to accidentally fire at something or someone so I was always extra cautious. Don't stand out, don't be loud. Plus, I was always kind of mousy anyways."

"Sounds like a tricky life," Steve remarked. They were two intersections away from the record room. Seren made to walk through the first one when, over her head, Steve saw an agent coming and pulled her right back, and up against the wall. It hadn't been Steve's intention to, first of all, pull her back so abruptly and scare her like that, and lock her between the wall and his body.

"What—?" Seren barely whispered the word when Steve put a finger against his lips. Seren got the gist and kept her mouth shut, and maybe it was for the best. Once she realized how impossibly close they were to each other, her mind went blank. He was so tall, and so handsome...

Steve peered into the hallway just as the agent was crossing the second intersection. He pulled back and waited it out, which inevitably led to paying attention to the closest thing in front of him. And that was a pretty Celessian woman in front of him. He didn't know how long he stared at Seren, but Steve became highly aware of the light flecks of multi-color in her eyes. It was striking because he really hadn't noticed before. All of her colorful stardust seemed to reside in her irises. She was a walking star. One shining, beautiful star.

Seren was the first to break their silence. She gently leaned towards the edge of the wall, forcing Steve to back up, and looked towards the next intersection. The agent had gone. Now she had to wait a strategic amount of time for her blush to disappear. Little did she know, it also gave Steve the opportunity to calm his own blush. Where did those little moments come from anyways!?

"There's hardly anyone around," Seren noted and pressed her back against the wall again. "Normally I'd find it odd but today I'm okay with odd."

"We should still hurry," Steve said. They shouldn't trust that the streak of luck would last them until the job was done. Seren agreed.

They made a hasty stride down the hallway and while Steve kept guard, Seren inputted the code on the control panel beside the door, something she wasn't quite proud of stealing earlier in the day. As soon as the door opened up for them, they hurried inside.

There were endless shelves of files on the other side. Steve was baffled by the sight and soon wondered how on Earth they would find the right file. "You know I figured since this new age is big on technology everything would be on computer…"

"It is," Seren said, taking in a breath. "But I can't trust electronics right now. Things can be erased and altered. Paper. Paper is always more trust-worthy."

"I'll agree to that," Steve said and smiled at her. "You got an idea of how to find Chloe's file?"

"Good old fashion alphabetical order. Winters — it'll be right in the back. It'll make it harder for people to spot us in case anyone decides to stop by."

"Lead the way, ma'am," Steve gestured for her to take the lead.

"I might be making a few extra stops," she warned him before walking off. He wouldn't realize what those 'extra' files would be until later on.

Winters, R. Chloe. Seren found the file in record time. She whipped it out and opened it up to skim a few lines and make sure nothing had been swapped out. She didn't want to make the mistake of taking a switched file.

"R.?" Steve eyed the secretive middle name initial. It was then that Seren realized he was standing right behind her. She dove her gaze to the profile picture of Chloe on the first page.

"Rose," she said. "Chloe Rose Winters. That picture is from when I found her."

"She was young," Steve noted the more childish features of Chloe's face. Her cheeks were slightly more plump, her eyes less experienced, and her short choppy blonde (almost brown) hair raged rebellion.

"She was 17. She cut her own hair, tried dying it to change her appearance. Scared out of her mind she was. I need to know if it's still her," Seren shut the file and tucked it under her arm. "C'mon, we should go."

"Are you sure there's no one watching?" Steve sent a cautionary gaze up to the sky. As far as he knew, everything in the building was watched 24/7.

"If we find something fishy, I dare them to come after me," Seren muttered.

"And if there's nothing wrong?"

"Then I guess I'm fired."

"What - Seren!" Steve was now impossibly close to her as he followed down the aisle of shelves.

"Oh don't worry about it, Steve. One good thing about being brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. at my age - under the Initiative - is that I can't be fired so easily. And don't worry, I'm not letting them touch you either." She made that an out loud swear.

Seren had the entire shift to look over the file. She always found secret corners to get a moment to herself but this time was different. There was nothing stopping her if she truly wanted it...but it was nerve-wrecking. She had too much on her mind already and the fear and anxiety she felt not knowing if Chloe was lying to her made everything ten times worse.

Without saying it out loud, Steve had offered to be there with her when she read over the file. He could only imagine the things that were running through her head. Plus, he really wanted the chance to apologize to her out loud. He wanted to say it, hear that he said it, and that Seren would hear it. He couldn't act like nothing happened and he wouldn't try either. Natasha had been right, not everything was going to be strictly right or wrong and he couldn't force it. If he tried to, he might lose the very few things he gained in the new world and he wasn't prepared for that. He couldn't ever be.

When night came, the file walked out of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Seren. No one batted an eye at her. No one ever considered that one of their most prominent Agents had stolen another Agent's record. Why would they? Stardust was a model Agent and recently a model 'Avenger'.

Seren left the file on her coffee table for hours to come. She sat on the couch and stared at it. Countless times her hands reached for it then withdrew halfway. Eventually, she gave herself a push and slid off the couch to find a spot on the ground.

With a shaking breath, the file left the coffee table. Soon Seren met the familiar details of Chloe's case. Her accidental discovery of the alien tech that merged with her upon touch. The activation of the Hive Mind inside her. The years she spent training...the psychological troubles she had because of the Hive Mind. Her most prominent missions, even the background they had on her life before she met S.H.I.E.L.D. Seren felt the air leave her lungs when she reached the end.

By the time someone knocked on the door, Seren was neck deep in guilt. She barely had the energy to go answer, but she did anyway. There was a slight relief meeting Steve again.

"I did something terrible," she announced with a heavy heart.

That was completely unsurprising. Arriving at this hour wasn't an accident but a very planned idea instead. Steve thought that by this hour, Seren would've gotten the courage to go through the records and discovered whether or not she was right. He would either find her completely furious or...entirely guilt-ridden.

"You finished the file?" He followed Seren inside, closing the door on his way in.

"Yeah, and then again...and then again…" Seren came around the coffee table and gestured to the mess of papers on it. "And you know what I found?" Before Steve could answer, she went ahead and said it. "Everything's the way I knew it was before Stark got into my head. All the information that Chloe told us, that I was a witness of, was right there!" Hot tears pooled in her eyes. "She didn't lie, Steve! She never lied! In conclusion, Seren Soul is a terrible woman who thought that her best friend was lying to her."

"You're not terrible," Steve barely got the words out before Seren bitterly laughed.

"These papers say otherwise!" She dropped to her knees in front of the table. Her hands picked up random papers. "Look, here's the first report I made when she was officially brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. And there's the transcript of her first meeting with Fury. Half the things are redacted but that's the way it's always been. Steve, what the hell did I do?"

"You followed your gut," he walked to her side and sat down beside her. He wasn't sure whether he should touch her and pull her away from the table or just let her be. He inwardly sighed. Why was he so bad at this? It was frustrating and not just because it was him that was wrong. If he could just get things right then it meant he could help Seren and that's what he wanted most.

"Fat lot of good that was," Seren bitterly said, completely unaware of his turmoil. She was staring at the papers in front of her. "Lately, my head's everywhere and nothing I do is right." She swallowed and shifted the papers around to file them back in order.

"It's been a hard week."

"Everyone has hard weeks. People have terrible things happen to them but they don't do what I've been doing." She finally met his gaze, her eyes shimmering with tears. "You certainly didn't."

"No, I just ran down the streets of New York like a maniac." Steve hoped his bad humor would at least get him a smile from her. Well, he was half right. The tiniest of smiles tugged at her lips but it also came with a few loose tears down her cheeks. When his hand reached for them, he never thought of it. It just happened and when he realized it, he couldn't find any regret.

Seren felt the gentle touch of his fingers clear the tears off her left cheek. There was a strong urge to lean into it but she managed to clamber upon some control to stay still.

"You're being too hard on yourself, Seren. You had a doubt and you followed it. Just because you're wrong does not make you a bad person."

Seren fell back against the couch and turned her head his way. "You know, ever since the battle with the Chitauri I thought my life was finally going to have a meaning. I finally did something for the Initiative and I thought...I thought that from here on out, things would be exceptional. I would be exceptional, proving that they were right choosing me to lead the Initiative. How wrong was I."

"Seren, you are exceptional. You're being hard on yourself. Way too much and I would know - I am an expert at complicating my life." This time, Steve was happy to see the bemused smile that crossed Seren's face.

"What?"

"You should've seen the problems I got into solely because of my personality. Poor Bucky had to pull me out countless times. I had a similar issue…"

"Yeah, what was it?"

"I needed to prove myself." The admission was a heavy one for Steve. He never said it out loud, not even when Bucky snapped it at him. There wasn't a power on the Earth that could make him admit to it...and yet here he was. "Maybe I still try. It's a part of me that's ingrained in my core. You, Seren...you're doing the same."

Seren's look was whimsical. She wasn't upset to hear the comparison, but she wasn't happy about it either. Instead of saying something, she reached for a different file on the table. "Maybe you have a point." She opened the file between them and allowed him to see whose it was.

Another blonde woman stared up at him but instead of Chloe's gleaming green eyes, Steve was facing a pair of chocolate brown eyes. Her hair was shorter and less curly. He didn't recognize the particular uniform she had on but he knew it was a type of piloting uniform.

"Carol Danvers," Seren read the name out loud. "The whole reason the Initiative began. I don't know why I took this file but my hands did the work and...here we are. I read it all. She is the reason I was brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. and...the reason I'm Stardust."

"No," Steve swiftly plucked the file from her hands and raised it high so she would reach it.

"That's cheating," she frowned but Steve paid no attention to her words.

"She may be the reason you were brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. but she is not the reason you're Stardust. No one created that except for you."

Seren sighed heavily. "I gave myself that name," she admitted. "I thought it described me very well. I was a matter of star dust floating through my childhood and teenage years. I didn't have any purpose but to be the best for the Initiative. I wanted to make a name for myself beyond…" She flapped a hand at the file Steve was holding onto, "...that."

"Exactly, because you know that she did not make you." Steve laid the file on the table, completely shut. "She paved the way and I think you're honoring what she did, but you're doing it your way. That's what you should think of when she pops into your head."

Seren nodded silently. "Can I ask you something? And you have to answer completely honestly."

"What is it?"

"When you...when we...argued…were you trying to tell me that my grandmother helped weaponize me?"

If Steve had a mirror in front of him, he would've seen the color drain from his face. It was one thing saying it out loud to Natasha and another completely different thing saying it to Seren herself. His heart hammered as he thought of her reaction if he answered honestly. Natasha warned him that what happened with her when she tried confronting Seren would happen to him too. Part of it already had.

"I won't get mad, I promise," Seren said after moments passed and Steve said nothing. She had assumed his reluctance and couldn't blame him. Her track record so far was terrible. "I've been doing a lot of thinking and I just really need someone to tell me what they think."

"Natasha did that already, I heard…"

Seren lowered her head. She remembered that argument perfectly well. "Yeah. That was years ago and I still feel terrible about it but right now…" She shifted her body around so she would face him. Her hand reached out for his closest one. When she squeezed it, it was like a switch went off in him. He had the urge to tell her what she needed. "Do you think that they made me into a weapon?" She waited anxiously.

He had already said it before this moment but it was still incredibly hard to do it right now. But he had to. She was asking, pleading him to speak the truth. As much as he hated to do it, he had to. "I believe that it wasn't your grandmother's intention to but…I've seen how the war weaponized people...your story wasn't that much different."

He heard the sharp intake of breath following his words. Seren pulled her hand away from his and shifted her body to face the coffee table again. A heavy silence fell over them. Steve felt like he said the wrong words, but they weren't. They weren't wrong because it was the truth. He couldn't change that. He could only try to help.

"I'm sorry," Seren's apology had come in the form of a frail whisper. A few seconds later, she was looking at him. "I shouldn't have argued with you when I knew you were right. I shouldn't have argued with you at all."

"Seren, it's alright," Steve said before she went on. "I could have watched my words better."

"You shouldn't have had to. Everyone's been right and I've just tried kidding myself that it wasn't the truth. I just don't really know what to do with the truth."

"That's okay, you don't have to know right now." A little more nervous, he touched her arm. "I think you accepting the truth is all you should care about. Being aware of it...that's a huge step."

"What am I supposed to do after?"

"Truth?"

Seren nodded.

"I don't really know." All of Steve's nerves died when Seren laughed.

"Yeah, me neither," she agreed. "But my grandmother did tell me one thing that I keep thinking about."

"Yeah, what was it?"

"Maybe this path has taken things away from me but not anymore. I won't let it keep taking things away from me, including the people I've met in my life," she met his look. "Especially when they're too important."

A light-hearted smile bloomed across Steve's face. He thought it was a fantastic idea.

"Now I guess I'll start doing better by putting all these files back where they belong," Seren said with a sigh. Her hand stretched out to the closest file on the table. "Oh God, what am I going to tell Chloe?"

"Maybe she doesn't have to know," Steve felt the words like soap in his mouth. Even Seren whipped her head in his direction. "You did it with good intentions and nothing happened."

"But I'd be lying," Seren bit on her lower lip.

"Well, maybe you can take a moment before you tell her. Get all of your thoughts in place so you know exactly what you want to say."

"That...that sounds good. I'm not brave enough to do it right now."

This time, Steve recognized his bravery when his hand found Seren's. They both rested on her right thigh, an act alone that brought a deep flush across his face. Still, he couldn't find the desire to break away. He was coming to a painstaking realization that as more time passed by, the less he wanted to be apart from her.

~ 0 ~

Chloe had just finished settling into her new apartment when her phone went off. She left the last unpacked pile of clothes on her bed to retrieve her phone from the armoire. With a flick of a finger across the screen, the video call showed Fury on the other end.

"Agent Winters, primed and ready?"

"As much as I can always be," Chloe passed a hand through her long tresses of curls. "But you didn't call me for that, did you?"

Fury shook her head. He met her waiting gaze and spoke after a few seconds of silence passed by. "Agent Soul retrieved your file. As I supposed she would."

Chloe looked down. She had assumed that as well. She loved Seren with all her heart but after years of knowing her, she truly got to know the ginger. "Yeah…guess we were right."

"Partly," Fury said, his flat tone expressing just the slightest bemusement that captured Chloe's attention almost immediately. "Captain Rogers helped her retrieve it."

That truly surprised Chloe. "No way!" She blinked. "He's not such a Golden Boy after all. If only Romanoff was in on this."

"Your file was as it was in the beginning before we discovered what was happening. Agent Soul will read everything that was on it before we had to alter it."

Chloe nodded. "Right. Where did you keep the original file, then?" Fury only half smiled. "Right. You can't tell me." Because saying it over any type of media would only help them out. "So then, I guess Seren's been confiding in Steve about her suspicions about me. I guess that makes sense given how close they are."

"Yes, very, apparently," Fury agreed grimly. Chloe lifted an eyebrow at that but as usual, he didn't elaborate. "I presume that by tomorrow Agent Soul will return the file at which point I will take it back and everything will be as it was."

"Thank you," Chloe said. "I just wish I didn't have to lie to her. Out of everyone, she's the one I would love to confide in."

"Exposing the truth would only put Agent Soul in danger. I cannot have my Agents running amok on rogue missions."

"I'm on my own, I know," Chloe smiled wryly. As always.

"Not entirely," Fury gave her a pointed look.

Chloe's smile softened a bit. Maybe she wasn't entirely alone but having Seren by her side would make things less scarier. She trusted Seren with her life. But at the same time, Seren's entire life was SHIELD. Chloe wasn't sure if she had the heart to break down Seren's entire perspective on the organization she devoted her entire life to, the same one that had stolen her childhood.

A/N:

Dun, dun, Seren went into agent mode and found...nothing :o.

P.S. As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"