"And just where have you been?" Natasha scolded as soon as Alya came through the door. "You're late for dinner and we've been worried sick about you."

"Sorry, Mama." Alya stared down at her feet. "I was walking…..why were you worried about me?"

She didn't want to tell anyone about what just happened at the Sanctum. She didn't know how they would react to the news and she wasn't sure if Peter even wanted anyone to know.

After all, he didn't even want her to call Tony.

But her resolve was crumbling very slowly. She didn't think she'd be able to not call.

"Come here." Natasha stood up from the island counter and turned the tv on to show her what was playing on the news.

It looked like Peter found trouble when they went their separate ways. He was evidently keeping himself occupied by fighting some dude with tentacles on the Cross Bronx Expressway.

"Oh."

Alya had no idea that all this happened when she made her way home. She thought that Peter was going to find someone in Admissions to plead his case, not fight in the middle of the road.

"Do you happen to know anything about this, Alyona?"

"No, Mama." Alya gulped.

Her mama was using that voice again.

The one that told her she was in some kind of trouble.

"Really? Because I just got a call from Doctor Strange, and he told me that you two were down at the Sanctum." Natasha narrowed her eyes. "Wanna try that again?"

Alya almost rolled her eyes. Who knew that Doctor Strange was a snitch?

"Daddy?"

"Don't look at me, kid." Bucky shook his head. He was just as interested in hearing her explain this as Natasha was. "Answer your mother."

"Um…" Alya fiddled with the buttons on her coat, trying to piece together her story. "Well…"

"Today, Alyona."

"We just wanted to ask him something, Mama. Peter didn't get into MIT and he wanted to know if he could help….and….and I had to ask him something."

"Just what did you need to ask him?"

Alya looked at her mother, trying to figure out whether or not she wanted to tell her the truth. It wasn't like she had been doing anything wrong, but she wasn't sure how her parents would take it.

Eventually, she just looked back down at the floor and clamped her mouth shut.

Natasha was shocked.

It was very rare for Alya to keep things from her. The twelve year old always wanted to tell her what was going on.

"Alyona?" Bucky crossed his arms. "We were very understanding about what happened in Europe, but right now, you're on thin ice."

Alya brought her fingers up to her mouth to chew on her nails, growing more nervous at the minutes passed. "I just wanted to ask him….something." She glanced over at Wanda for help.

Wanda wasn't really sure exactly what Alya expected her to do, but she'd try her best to get the heat off of her. "Alya, maybe it's better if you just tell them. You were gone for a really long time."

"I've had enough." Natasha growled and grabbed Alya from under her arms, setting her down on the island counter. "You have three seconds to tell me exactly what you've been up to today or you can go on up to your room until you decide that you do want to talk."

"Mama?"

"One."

"I wasn't doing anything wrong."

"Two, Alya." Natasha held up two fingers.

She had a very long conversation with Nick Fury over the phone and her patience was wearing thin. She couldn't believe that he tried to recruit her daughter to do an Avengers level job. That phone call had been a very long one, but she wanted him to know exactly what she thought of him and the situation at hand.

"That's not fair, Mama." Alya complained. "I wasn't even doing anything and—"

Now she was just mad.

Why wouldn't her parents just take her answers for what they were? She wasn't out there fighting criminals, she didn't get hurt, but she just lost track of time.

Why did they need to know what she and Strange discussed?

"—Thr—"

"—Okay!" She finally gave in. "I just wanted to know where these stupid powers came from! It's been, like, two years and I still can't control 'em! They make my dreams scary and I hate 'em! I want them gone! Happy?"

And with that, she hopped back down onto the ground and raced up to her room without another word.

"Can I come in?"

"I don't care." Alya sniffled, not bothering to see that it was her father that was at the door.

She didn't really want to talk to anybody, but she knew that he wasn't just going to go away.

Bucky closed the door behind himself and sat down on Alya's bed, rubbing her back very gently. "That was quite the outburst, Doll."

"Sorry." Alya cringed when she thought about the way she had blown up at her mother.

She didn't know what was going on. One minute she felt fine and the next, she was blowing up at people. She felt angry and she felt like being mean, but then she felt guilty.

Wanda acted like that sometimes. Maybe she knew what was going on.

"You know, your mom didn't mean to upset you. She's just really worried about you."

"I was fine. Doctor Strange wouldn't hurt me."

"That's true, but your mama didn't know where you were. When you said you wanted to hang out with Peter, you told us that you were going to the apartment."

"I didn't lie, Daddy." Alya flipped onto her back so that she was facing him. "I promise. I thought that's where we were going. That's what Peter told me, but I guess he changed his mind. I don't know why Mama freaked out."

"You have to understand this from her perspective then."

"Huh?"

"Well, your mama had to watch you turn to ash right in her arms and then she spent five whole years without you." Bucky explained. "That really takes a toll on a person. Five years is a long time to spend with someone you love."

"I guess." Now Alya felt bad about yelling at her mother the way she had. She wasn't even thinking about how the redhead could've been feeling.

She didn't think it was a big deal for her to spend the day out in the city, but she could see how her being gone must've had an effect on the redhead.

"I think that maybe you and Peter should spend some time apart." Bucky knew what he was saying was going to make Alya flip out again, but this was what he and Natasha thought was best.

Too much was going on right now with Peter at the center of it. He wouldn't talk to anybody and he wasn't going to ask for help. He and Natasha couldn't have Alya mixed up in all this.

The last time she did, she got hit by a train. They were very, very lucky, but they couldn't keep rolling the dice with her.

This had to end somewhere and it wouldn't be with Alya getting injured.

Not again.

"What?" Alya's eyes widened as she sat up. "Why?"

This day was just getting worse and worse.

"Lately, whenever the two of you get together, you get into some bad situations—"

"—But I already told you—"

"—I know." Bucky held up a hand. "This wasn't your fault. You're not in any trouble, Alya. None of us like to see you get hurt."

He didn't like to made upset. That wasn't his job, but he needed to protect her.

"I'm not gonna get hurt!"

"You came home with severely bruised ribs and a broken arm, which could've been much, much worse." He deadpanned. "We're not gambling with you, Alya."

He and Natasha both lost her once.

It was out of their control and it was agonizing to go through.

But they could prevent it this time. They could stop it before it even started.

And that's exactly what they were going to do.

"He's always been here." A long tear rolled down Alya's cheek. "You can't take him away from me."

"Alya, I would never tell you stop seeing Peter. I know how much you mean to each other. What I'm saying, is the two of you should take a little time apart."

"How much time?"

"We'll start with a week and we'll go from there."

"No!"

A week wasn't much time, but to Alya, it felt like a lifetime.

Bucky had to momentarily close his eyes, hearing the pain in Alya's voice. "I'm sorry, Babydoll."

Alya and Peter's relationship was very codependent. He noticed that from the moment he saw the two together. They were always holding hands, or sitting very close to each other as if they were afraid the other would disappear. He knew it was because of their history and everything they've been through, but this just wasn't healthy.

And now Peter was doing things….dangerous things. Bucky wasn't able to stop Peter, but he could stop Alya. She got hurt once and he couldn't let that happen to her again.

"I hate you!"

Those three words were like a knife to the chest.

He knew that this was the sort of thing that kids said to their parents and it was completely normal. In fact, it showed just how comfortable Alya was with him, but all that knowledge didn't take away the pain.

Tears flew down Alya's face as she ran down the stairs, heading straight for the couch where Natasha, Morgan, and Wanda were watching television.

Alya didn't have much regard for whatever they were watching and flew right for her mother's lap.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows and looked over at the staircase just as Bucky began to make his way down. But Bucky didn't say anything, but the look on his face said it all.

"M-Mama…" Alya wrapped her arms around the woman's neck. "M-Mama…."

She didn't care how upset she was before, she needed her mama's love and she needed it now.

"Ssh." Natasha rocked her back and forth. "It's okay."

"N-No it's n-not!" Alya cried as if her entire world was ending.

And to her, it was.

"What's the matter?"

"D-Daddy, said I c-can't see Peter!" Alya sobbed.

"Alya…." Natasha trailed when Bucky shook his head.

As much as he believed that they needed to be on the same page when they parented Alya, in this rare situation, he didn't mind being the bad guy. Alya needed to feel like she had someone to turn to right now, even if it wasn't him.

The decision had been made by the both of them, but knowing that wouldn't benefit Alya.

"Baby…." Like Bucky, Natasha saw just how attached Alya was to Peter and it had only gotten worse after what happened in Europe. Sometimes, she'd even cry when Peter had to go home. It was getting to the point where it was having deleterious effects and they needed to do something before got any worse.

"Alya." Wanda tapped the girl's shoulder, feeling sorry for her. As much as she would've liked to try and convince their parents to take it easy, she actually kind of agreed with them. "You know, you and I can do some stuff together."

"N-No!"

Wanda knew that's not how she meant it, so she didn't take offense. She just moved her hand down to rub her back and let her know that she would always be there.

Even Morgan, who, so far, didn't really like Alya, was starting to feel bad for her. It wasn't fun when Alya cried. That meant that she couldn't give her a hard time. She wanted Alya to be happy again.

"I got here as quick as I could!" Alya came rushing into the Sanctum, nearly out of breath.

After having that little spat with her father and crying it out in her mother's arms, Alya decided to stop trying to convince them to let her hang out with Peter. She was just going to play along until she got the opportunity to jet.

Though, she didn't expect the opportunity to present itself so quickly. A few hours after everyone had gone to bed, she got a text from Peter, telling her to come down to the Sanctum because her help was needed.

Of course, Alya didn't even question it. She just threw on a clean set of clothes, shoved her feet into some shoes and climbed out the window. Her room faced the back garden, so that meant that she had an easier time sneaking out. The stairs creaked far too much, so going out the window was the better option.

"What's going on?"

Peter never told her exactly what was going on in his text message, but she knew it was something big.

Just as soon as the words left her mouth, someone instantly appeared in one of the unoccupied cells in the room.

And the kicker was, he was made of sand.

And there were others there, too.

"You know…." She lifted a finger. "I'd like to say that this is the weirdest thing that's ever happened, but there was a huge purple alien from space that was trying to kill us all with a metal glove…..so, no….not even close."

"What is this?" The Sandman, Flint Marko, growled, looking around.

"You picked the wrong side." Max Dillon quipped, electricity sparking from his hands. "Conners?"

"Wait….you know this creature?" Otto Octavius, the man with the tentacles questioned, motioning to the lizard.

"No, no, no. Not a creature. A man."

"Whoa….same universe." Ned breathed, clearly fascinated by all this.

"Dr. Curt Conners." Max began to explain. "He was a scientist in Oscorp when I worked there. A brilliant scientist 'till he turned himself into a lizard. Then he tried to turn the whole city into a bunch of lizards. It was crazy."

Alya was glad that this guy didn't live around here. She definitely didn't want to turn into a lizard.

It didn't sound very pleasant.

It didn't look very pleasant either.

"It wasn't crazy, Max." Conners rolled his eyes. "It was the next step in human evolution."

"The dinosaur can talk."

"Lizard." MJ corrected Ned.

"Right."

"Actually." Alya leaned in to whisper. "The word 'dinosaur' means 'terrible lizard'….so….you're both right."

She was a little bit of a 'dino nerd', but that was something she kept to herself.

"Touche."

"Speaking of which." Conners continued. "What happened to you? Last I recall, you had bad teeth, glasses and a comb-over. Did you get a makeover? You know, I can give you a real makeover."

"Let me guess, into a lizard?"

"Could you two just shut up?" Marko snapped before turning to Ned, MJ, and Alya. "Where are we?"

"A wizard's dungeon." MJ told him.

"Wizard's— Wizard's dungeon?"

"There's no real way to sugarcoat that. It's….literally the dungeon of a wizard."

"Look, you can keep your magic." Max looked down at his hands. "I want a taste of that new energy I just felt."

Alya wondered how literal electricity could come from this man's hands, but she didn't say anything. She didn't think now was the right time to ask these kinds of questions.

"Alya?" Otto furrowed his eyebrows, getting a good look at her.

MJ immediately pulled Alya back and stepped in front of her as if to protect her from whoever this man was. Alya had never seen him before in her life, so she wasn't really sure how he knew her name.

"How do you know her name?" The older girl asked.

"Maybe the same way there are different Peters, there's more than one Alya." Ned marveled. "Whoa."

This multiverse thing was just getting cooler and cooler.

"There's more than one 'me'?" Alya gasped.

She never thought about having a twin, but if there was someone out there that looked like her and acted like her, she considered that to be pretty amazing.

...And unnerving.

But before she could get a proper answer, Peter called MJ, prompting the girl to answer her phone, effectively cutting the conversation short. "Hey."

"Hey, uh, did those guys come through yet? There should be an electric guy and a sand guy."

"Yeah, they're all here and locked up."

"Perfect. I'm gonna just stay here for a bit and try to fix some of this damage, so they don't blame it on me again."

"Okay."

"Hey, I, uh, couldn't do any of this without you, so….thank you."

"Yeah, of course."

"Hey, ask him if this is, like, a tree monster, or, like, a scientist that turned into a tree." Ned pointed to the tree that was in one of the cells.

"That's just a tree, man." Max answered for him. "It's just a tree."

"It's true." Alya nodded. "That tree is no Groot."