"Where've you been?"

Wanda cringed when she noticed her father on the couch, waiting for her to get home. Alya made sneaking out look so easy. She honestly didn't know how her little sister did it. She'd just slink away, seemingly vanishing in thin air before she reappeared again.

It was one of her many talents.

"I went to see Peter." The teen decided to tell the truth from the start as she walked over to him and sat down beside him.

Unlike Alya, she wouldn't go around and around in circles to try to explain herself. She found it better to just get to the point.

"How'd that work out for you?" And Bucky didn't look upset. Actually, he didn't even look mildly annoyed.

"I am so mad at him." The Sokovian admitted. "He's staying in that filthy apartment lying to Alya every single day…and for what?"

She just didn't get Peter. He didn't have to suffer like this, but yet he was choosing to. He could be surrounded by people who love him, but he obviously preferred to be alone.

"He thinks he's protecting her." Bucky shrugged. "I don't understand it myself, but that's what he wants to do."

Peter wasn't his kid. He couldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do.

"I told him that if he didn't tell Alya the truth, I would." Wanda shrugged.

"Doll, you beat me to it. I was going to tell your mother and your sister first thing tomorrow morning." He blew out of breath. Peter had enough time to come clean about what was going on and now his time was up. "This has gone on long enough."

"Can't trust kids to make adult decisions." Wanda smiled ironically.

"And when did you get to be so wise?" Her father chortled.

"I was always this wise."

"Well, wise girl, the next time you sneak off in the middle of the night, you're grounded." Bucky smiled right back, tapping her nose.

Wanda really thought that he would just gloss over that.

"It was a one time thing, Dad. I promise." She leaned on his shoulder. "How do you think Alya is going to take it?"

'Your guess is as good as mine."

Alya woke up to movement on her bed. Usually, she'd ignore it so the person would think that she was still sleeping, but today, it kind of annoyed her.

Her eyes fluttered open to see that Rebecca was laying down beside her.

If she didn't feel so mixed up inside, she would've been more excited to see her for the first time in forever, but she just didn't feel like celebrating.

"Wow, I thought you'd be happier to see me, Casserole." Rebecca scoffed.

Natasha and Bucky told her what's been going on, but she thought that she could lend a helping hand in cheering Alya up. She didn't like to see her little niece so upset.

"Don't call me that." Alya turned over. "When did you get back?"

"When did you get back?" Rebecca bristled. "I was hoping for something a little more enthusiastic."

"Get out of my room, Rebbie." Alya rolled her eyes, trying not to smile when Rebecca began to tickle her sides. "Quit it."

The last thing she wanted to do right now, was laugh. She wanted to stay upset, but Rebecca was really making that difficult.

"Not until you give me a big hug."

"Quit it!" She snapped, still giggling.

"You know what you have to do."

"Stop it or I'll tell Daddy!" The twelve year old squealed out of pure desperation.

If there was anyone who could get Rebecca to listen, it was Bucky.

But her aunt kept going at it.

"Please, I'm not afraid of him." Rebbie continued, squeezing the girl's knee.

"Okay!" Alya gave in, turning over to give her aunt a hug. "Geez, you're so annoying!"

"Wow, those teenaged hormones are kicking in early, huh?"

"So…..you guys are telling me, that Alya's been acting so strangely because she's missing an old friend that just so happens to be that Spider-Man kid that's running around here?" Natasha cocked a brow.

Bucky and Wanda shared a look before nodding.

Just like they planned, the two spilled the beans in the most ineloquent way imaginable. As Natasha listened to their little story, she felt as if they were pulling her leg. At some point, she thought she was on candid camera.

The story was so ridiculous, she couldn't really believe it.

"And Doctor Strange casted a spell that would conveniently make everyone forget him?"

"Well…it sounds stupid, but it's true!" Wanda confirmed.

Now that she was relaying it all in her head, she could admit that it sounded way too fat-fetched. But they fought against Thanos, so nothing should seem impossible anymore.

"Okay….If you say so." Natasha shrugged as she moved to wash some dishes, unwilling to get into this.

She was sure the whole song and dance would give her a headache, so it was best to just leave things alone.

"Mama?" Wanda looked at her with those puppy dog eyes she could hardly resist. "C-Can I prove it to you?"

"Go ahead." Natasha shrugged. "If it means that much to you."

Wanda wiggled her fingers and flicked her red mist at Natasha's forehead, hoping that this would be enough to bring her memories back.

She had no clue what spell Doctor Strange used or if her powers would work against it, but she had to try. Everyone who personally knew Peter had a right to be able to remember him.

The teenager felt like the spell was highly immoral and she wished that she could've stopped it from happening. Messing with people's heads was something she didn't like doing.

But in this case, she felt like she had to.

Natasha's eyes grew red as everything flashed in her mind at warp speed. The airport, the years on the run, the misadventure in Europe, the aftermath…..everything.

A gasp left her lips when her eyes turned back to their normal green, watering at the missing information.

Things just got way more complicated...

But before she could even unpack all of that, Alya came stomping out of her room with Rebecca following close behind, laughing at the younger girl's obvious chagrin.

But the smile dropped from her face when she saw how serious everyone else was. "I think this is my cue to leave….."

She didn't want to get involved in all of this drama. She should've known that her brother's daughter would be dramatic, after all, she had such a shining example.

Ruffling her niece's hair to rile her up, she gave everyone a wave before she made her way back over to the elevator, sighing in relief when the doors finally closed.

The tension in that room could be cut with a knife, she hoped they would solve whatever the issue was soon, because she really didn't feel like cooking tonight.

"Sit down, Alya." Bucky lifted the twelve year old so that she was sitting on the island counter. "We need to talk."

"We do?" Alya's eyes widened, her brain trying to figure out what she could've possibly done wrong. "Is this about my new friend? Am I in trouble?"

"You're not in any trouble—" Bucky furrowed his eyebrows. "—What new friend?"

One day, he was going to lock her in the building and throw away the key. She was entirely too friendly sometimes and they needed to put a stop to it. Not everyone could be trusted, some people didn't have good intentions.

He was so tired of having this conversation with her.

"I met her outside the candy store." Alya told him truthfully, not seeing the problem. "She got me lots of m&m's."

"You took candy from a stranger?" Bucky's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

Did they really need to go back to the basics with this one?

"She's not a stranger anymore!"

Alya just didn't know how to explain it, but she had a good feeling about this new buddy of hers.

"What's her name?" Natasha asked, making a mental note to have a long, long talk about this with her daughter after everything was all said and done.

For now, she wanted as much information as possible on this 'new friend' Alya seemed to have taken a liking to. With a simple name, she could find out a whole lot about this woman and what her intentions were.

"I don't know." Alya shrugged.

Now that she thought about it, she never actually asked the mystery girl for her name. But that didn't mean they weren't friends. She was so nice to her and she made sure that she was alright before leaving to go home.

"We'll talk about this later." Natasha rolled her eyes. "But for right now, we have something to tell you."

"What?"

"She's not gonna believe us." Wanda told her parents. "It's better if I just show her."

"Go ahead." Bucky gave her permission to what she needed to do.

It wasn't as if Wanda was going to hurt her little sister.

"Alya, do you want to see something cool?" Wanda wiggled her fingers, allowing her sister to see her red tendrils.

Whenever she needed to get Alya to focus on something, or to distract her, all she had to do, was show off her red mist. Alya was so enamored by the way she used her powers, she was delighted by the smallest things Wanda could do.

Wanda only wished that Alya could see how beautiful her own powers were.

Lately, she had been so frustrated with herself because no matter what she did, she just couldn't seem to control them. The more upset she got about it, the harder it got for her.

"Make a horse!"

Wanda smiled and did as she was told, making a horse gallop across her palm. "Just keep looking at it."

Alya smiled and watched the horse, her eyes beginning to flutter as she did so. "…..Wanda….what….?"

This felt different from all the other times she asked Wanda to do cool things with her powers. This time, she felt really sleepy. All the muscles in her body were relaxed as she kept staring at the galloping horse. She had to shake her head just to keep herself awake.

"Ssh." Wanda spoke softly. To Alya, it felt like she was singing a lullaby. "Just keep watching the horse."

Of course, the brunette could've done this the same way she did with Natasha, but she didn't want to freak Alya out. The horse provided a distraction and it helped to keep her calm.

Before Alya could hit the ground, she pressed a hand against her head to allow her memories to find their way back to her.

Alya's blue eyes glowed red for just a few seconds, flashing blue, then purple, before they went back to normal.

The preteen sat there, completely silent for a few moments, trying to register what just happened. Her face gave away every single emotion she was feeling until it went completely blank.

"Do you remember Peter?" Wanda hesitated to ask.

Alya didn't respond to her at first and everyone held their breath in anticipation.

"Yeah." She finally nodded, clearly in deep thought.

She just remembered the promise Peter made to her before the spell was enacted. She made him promise to come and find her as soon as he could, to tell her about everything that happened.

He broke it.

She passed him so many times in the hallways, they had a class together, and they had lunch at the very same time...Peter had plenty of opportunities to say something to her, but he never did.

Somehow, that hurt a lot worse than not knowing him at all.

"Do you want to go and see him?" Natasha asked, smoothing some hair away from her face the way she always did when she knew Alya needed comfort.

But Alya didn't seem to want it right now.

"No." She shook her head, hopping off the counter to go back to her room.

If Peter didn't want to be around her, then that was fine with her.

She didn't need him anyway.

Alya crept out of her room and quickly made her way to the elevator. It was the middle of the night and she couldn't quite get to sleep, so she decided to go for a little walk around the block or something.

She wasn't really sure exactly where she was going or what she was really doing, but she was so angry that she just needed to go somewhere.

When the elevator doors opened to reveal the lobby, she could see another figure leaving the building. Against her better judgement, Alya chased after them, making sure to keep a good distance in between them so she wouldn't caught.

The mystery person was Yelena.

Alya thought it was odd that Rebecca was home and Yelena wasn't, but she didn't really question it.

Looks like Yelena was keeping some secrets.

And Alya was going to find out exactly what she was up to.

It wasn't an easy task because it was like Yelena was making sure she wasn't going to be followed, so Alya knew that she was up to something.

Plus, she was wearing all black and was holding a mask in her hands. Alya could also see the widow's bites around her wrists and that could only mean that she was heading out for a fight.

Is that what she was in Russia for? Is that why she hadn't called? Is that why she hadn't let anyone know that she was home?

Pulling her hat further onto her head, Alya continued to follow her aunt all the way downtown, forgetting about why she was even upset in the first place. Her emotions were replaced with unfiltered curiosity.

She had to hang back when Yelena whirled around, barely having enough time to find a hiding spot.

If she was going to be sneaky like this, then she had to be careful.

Her eyebrows furrowed when Yelena marched into a random apartment complex. Using a sliver of good judgment, Alya decide to sit outside on the stoop and wait for her to come out to talk to her. She didn't know what was waiting for her on the inside, so it was better just to stay out of it entirely.

She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there, but it must've been a while because someone from the apartment across the street began zip lining to get to the roof. But since she didn't have enough momentum, she stopped right in the middle.

Alya's mouth fell open as she watched in complete shock. Did this have something to do with Yelena, or was everyone just doing weird things now?

And why did this woman look like the same person that bought her m&m's?

All of a sudden, the wire shook, allowing the woman's bow to slide right over it so she could reach the roof safely.

It took every ounce of self-control not to run into that building to see what was going on on the roof, but Alya had learned her lesson in not getting herself involved in things that didn't concern her.

Well….kind of.

But she was almost barely thirteen, she wasn't perfect.

She almost screamed when that same person came crashing down, only to be stopped by another wire that was attached to her belt.

From right where she was, Alya could see Clint leaning over the roof to try to catch her.

What was he doing here? Did this all have something to do with whoever was dressed up as Ronin? Was this the reason why Cooper, Lila, and Nate were staying at the Tower now?

"Pull me up!" The stranger shouted at him.

"Get outta here." Clint muttered, releasing the wire to let her fall.

The string lights below cushioned her so she wouldn't hurt herself on the way down. When the girl finally landed on the ground, she and Alya locked eyes.

Alya didn't say anything, she just stared, tilting her head in confusion.

"What're you doing here?"

Alya didn't really have an explanation for her, so she just shrugged.

But her mind sure was swirling with questions.

"Mama…."

Natasha groaned and turned over, hoping that whatever this was, wasn't important so she could go back to sleep.

"Mama, wake up." Alya shook her shoulder, careful not to wake her father. "Mama, I have to tell you something."

Natasha opened her eyes before she propped herself up on her arm to look at her youngest daughter. "What's the matter, sweet girl?"

It was three in the morning, but if Alya needed her, then sleep could wait.

"And why are dressed?" She asked, taking notice of the child's winter coat and hat.

"I did something bad." Alya bit her lip.

She knew she was on thin ice with her parents because of the way she had been sneaking out before, but she felt like this was something her mother ought to know.

"What did you do?" The redhead's eyes narrowed.

"I went out when I wasn't supposed to." Alya whispered, coming clean. "I'm sorry! I wasn't feeling good!"

"If you weren't feeling well, you should've found one of us and we would've helped you. I don't know how many times we have to go over this with you, Alyona. Grounding you is not working and neither is writing lines, do you know what that leaves?"

Alya's eyes widened as she swallowed a lump in her throat. "…..Yes."

She knew exactly what her mother meant by that and even though she was yet to experience it, she knew it wasn't pleasant. Yelena had threatened her several times, but she never actually did anything.

But this was different.

It meant that her mother was at her wit's end and she was pushing too far.

"Is that what you want? Because that's exactly where you're headed." Natasha glared.

She didn't want to have to follow through on her threat, but if it kept Alya from getting herself killed, then she would do whatever it took to keep her safe.

"I don't want that, Mama. I'll behave. I promise."

"This is your last chance." Natasha held up her pointer finger. "If you ever sneak out of this building, tell Friday not to contact us when you do it, if you ever put yourself in a position to get hurt, or if you do something you've been told several times not to do, you and I are going to have some words, and after, I'll hand you over to your father. Do you understand me, Alyona Cassidy?"

She couldn't remember a time where she ever had to get this stern with Alya. Usually, it was smooth sailing. Alya would get herself into some kind of trouble, but it was never to this scale. They were always able to talk it out and move on, but it seemed like these days, the more she talked, the less Alya listened.

And this change only happened after Alya came back from being dusted. That experience shook her up so badly, she started behaving as if she were invincible.

It was mind boggling for Natasha to watch her sweet daughter change like this, but something really had to give.

Alya couldn't go on like this forever.

But she supposed some of it was her fault, too. She had been told that she was way too lenient and now it was coming back to bite her.

The only thing she could do now, was repair the damage.

"The only reason why I'm letting you off the hook, is because you came to me and told me the truth. Let this be a warning to you. Next time, I won't be so lenient."

"Yes, Mama." Alya nodded vigorously.

"This doesn't mean that if you're feeling upset, you can't come to me. I just don't want you roaming around at three in the morning. Anything can happen and your dad and I won't be able to help you if we think you're asleep in bed."

And just like always, after Natasha was finished scolding Alya, she made an even bigger effort in making sure that she knew she was loved and supported.

"I'm sorry, Mama."

"I know, baby, but you're going to have to try harder to keep your promises."

"I will…..but Mama? I have something else to tell you." Alya reached out to play with the end of the bedsheets.

"What is it?"

"I was following Tetushka."

She really hoped that Yelena wouldn't have a visceral reaction to her telling Natasha about what she saw. She didn't want to tattle, but she was really worried about her aunt and she wanted her to be safe.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows and sat up, motioning for Alya to leave the room so she could walk right behind her. She had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation.

She also knew that Bucky was wide awake and had heard the entire thing, but stayed quiet to let them have their moment. Natasha wanted to leave the room to give him the opportunity to fall back to sleep without being disturbed.

"Mama, did you know she was home?" Alya asked once they entered the kitchen.

She climbed up to sit on a stool, watching as her mother pulled two mugs down from the cabinet to make some tea. She didn't really care for tea, but she didn't say anything about it.

"No, I didn't." Natasha grit her teeth, putting the kettle on. "Where did she go?"

She swore that sometimes Yelena could be worse than Alya.

"To someone's apartment…..she was fighting with my new friend and….." Alya trailed, not knowing if she should tell her mother about that last part.

It was going to be hard to hear that her sister and her best friend were fighting each other.

"And who?"

"Uncle Clint."