Chapter 28: A Little Wiser Now

by Kittyinaz | Aug 14, 2016

Disclosure:  True Blood is owned by Charlaine Harris and Allen Ball. 

Pre-Edit Count –   2,940 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Feel Again by OneRepublic.

Previously:

Godric goes over and kisses her. He looks down at her and then murmurs into her ear something. When she grins, he looks over at Eric. “Come on. Tonight we woo our little one. Send what you need out, and also send notice that Bill has disobeyed both of our orders. Let’s shake the tree and see what is going to fall out.”

Eric’s face soon smirks, and he honestly tells Godric, “It is truly a great thing for you to return, Master. The fun has just begun…”

Now:

Godric sends to Eric that their gifts are here, and Eric’s eyes light up as he heads over to the wall.

Still in bed, Sookie gives Godric a sideways look as she asks, “Gifts?  Didn’t you guys give me stuff yesterday?”

Godric chuckles as he kneels on the bed beside her.

Sookie looks up and is again blown away by the man in front of her.  There would be no way if someone looked at him now that they would think he was too young of a man for her.  Godric is in black jeans, sitting so low on his hips that his treasure trail is shown completely with him not having a shirt, nor the fact that he frequently goes commando as does Eric.  Basically, his body is on display for her to view.  His tats, black on his pale skin, and she can’t help but fall in love with him all over, as her hand reaches out to traces the Chieftain collar on his collar.

He cannot help the smirk that breaks on his face as he feels his mate’s awe, lust, and love, as well as her soft touch.  Always love.  And he will never do a single thing to harm it now that he knows what it feels not only to lose her but Eric.

But his intention worked, he had wanted to get her attention from Eric.  Who for once is dressed – Eric often walks around naked, and had gotten Sookie in the habit with all the times they had been together.  As he had stated more than once around Godric, he and Godric know her body probably better than she does, so why hide it?

If it hadn’t been for his talk with Jason, Eric would probably be more undressed than Godric.  And certainly, more than Sookie is right now.  She was only wearing a shirt of Eric’s that hung off her shoulder.  She often steals their shirts if they ever think that someone may come in.  The nest knows of their sleeping habits, but Sookie told them once that even the thought of Jason walking in on her is enough to make her feel nauseated.  So since Jason is below with them, Sookie had snagged Eric’s shirt to sleep in.  She liked his better because they are always huge on her. She loves the feeling of being surrounded by his scent, as well as how easy it will be for her mates to remove them if needed.

Seeing his mate sitting up in bed, her shoulder bare as the blankets are pooled around her waist, Eric is soon crawling up the bed, their gifts having been deposited on the bedside, except for a necklace in his hands. He had picked out the piece and gotten it to gift it to her, as Godric will be gifting her the others.  And they will continue this, for a long time.  Their little mate deserves this, and they have failed her in the past by not giving her this evidence of their adoration before.  But they are fixing their mistake now.  Their little mate will be covered with jewels, the finest silks, have their rooms perfumed with the most exquisite flowers.

Even if she protests, she knows better how Mates work.  Her grandmother had tried to teach her, but it took Eric, Pam, and Godric teaching her Vampire traditions to straighten her out.

Sadly, her mind reading had not helped when Adele had taught her things, since she was reading about the times that Adele had grown up in, not taking the lessons in the meaning. It had only been refined and reinforced by Adele’s older friends who had their own thoughts at the tea times they had done when she was younger to teach her manners.

Thankfully, she had asked Pam how to accept a gift from Eric when it was a way of being a ‘kept’ woman.  The outrage from everyone had corrected the mistake, with Adele herself telling her young Granddaughter that there was a difference between the two, no matter who thought what.

To Eric and Godric, Sookie deserves all this and more.  And they are going to take this time to show her their love.  That it has a side effect of showing up Bill, well, that is just the cherry on top.  And what a pleasurable cherry it will be as they can finally do as their instincts and needs tell them to treat their little one.

Sookie is still looking at Godric, as he leans forward to kiss his little mate, unbuttoning Eric’s black silk shirt from her, pushing it off her shoulders as Eric reaches around her and puts his gift to her on her neck, kissing on the back where he joined it.  It looks as good as he imagined it would on her.  Later he will buy her one that she can wear all the time, this time, he wanted her to wear it as they take her out.

Softly sighing from the pleasure she is getting from his lips alone, Sookie leans her head back on Eric.  As she does this, Godric’s hands are moving up slowly her body, cupping her breasts, and bringing one up for him to bestow little kisses around it, circling until he reaches her aureole, then he purrs out to her as he licks it slowly, feeling it shrink as her nipple hardens.  When he reaches her nipple, he suckles on it, watching as his other mate’s hand takes her other breast from his hand, pulling gently on the other nipple.

Eric is kissing her neck, tracing the outline of his gift on her neck.  He loves it, it reminded him of a torc from his time, adorned with the fire of the very stars gracing her neck. It is having the crosses on it that she adores it, the lines are all diamonds, but the swirls are different shades of diamonds making a subtle color change in them. Godric had chuckled when he purchased it, telling Eric he didn’t leave much for him to adorn their mate with to accompany it.  But he had agreed that it did signify Eric in the design, and that was what they had tried for.

This time.

He left her breast trading it for her other one, as Eric’s hand moved down her body, and is soon lightly running through the light dusting of blond hair between her legs. Taking a deep breath of her beloved scent, Godric closes his eyes to make sure he imprints the scent, the almost flavor he has from it in his mind, as he worships her breasts.  It had helped him when he had been away from her in Dallas, and though they will not be leaving this time, it is a habit he indulges in.

Godric had also told Eric they need to start preparing her body for mating.  Yes, they are aware that they will change her, but neither want her to feel any excess pain and had discussed options for when it happens.  But on the off chance that both are not able to remember their plans, they will start preparing her.  It won’t hurt her, and will only start adding the pleasure of the night.  Of course, it will help calm their own needs to have their mate, to have these times of getting her ready.  It is as if the vampire sides of them need some verification that they will be continuing the mating process.

He just hopes they can hold themselves back.  Both of them are feeling the need to claim their little one, to make sure that none can take her from them.  However, they both admit that it was partly because, in the vision, Eric had taken Sookie completely, claiming her as his.  Eric’s body wants that and Godric wants what he had been denied in that timeline.  But neither Godric nor Eric is sure what that had done to their plan, since by then, Eric had decided (and rightly so according to Godric) that Sookie had been more important than a plan that, at that point, was hurting her.

So, they are going to do what they can.  If they end up taking her before the mating, then they do.  No more time for regrets, the most important lesson they had learned through Godric’s vision, is that nothing is worth losing each other. Nor can they wait on plans, since there is so much ahead of them.  The three of them can only survive what is to come by working together, being of one mind on what needs to be done; not worrying that their passions will cause issues.

Soon though, all thoughts are driven out of their minds as Sookie arches into them, pressing her breasts more firmly into Godric’s waiting mouth as Eric slowly strokes her, moving just enough to adjust and have his thumb on her clit, his first finger to slowly move inside of her.  This makes Sookie slowly shudder from the attentions of her mates on her, their bond allowing them all to feel each other’s arousal.

Smirking at his mates and their faces mirroring the pleasure they were all feeling, Godric reaches over and grabs the earrings he bought to match her necklace.  His mouth kissing and tugging at her earlobe before moving below it, allowing him to attach the earrings. He kisses the spot behind her ear that gives her goosebumps all over as Eric adds another finger to stretch her.

When he is done, Godric leans back and looks at their naked mate in front of him, being pleasured by Eric with nothing but a ring of fire around her neck and the new adornments to her ears flashing as she is moving with Eric’s fingers.

He leans past Sookie and kisses Eric, his lips nipping at his other mate, as Godric feels Sookie undulating between them.  He feels it as she unbuttons his pants and her small warm hand grips him. He moans in Eric’s mouth and slowly, carefully, backs away.  Kissing Sookie’s mouth sensuously, he tells them, “I am going to warm up our shower.  Don’t be too long.  We have to take care of some business, but we also have reservations.” And with that he is off the bed, his pants shed as he moves to the bathroom. Knowing that he will not be forgotten as he leaves them.

Sookie just gasps as Eric’s third finger enters her.  His mouth is soon by hers, “The sooner you cum, lover, the sooner we can get to that shower.  And sooner to making sure Godric will be pleasured.  You will love to have his cock in your mouth as we fuck him, wouldn’t you lover?” He needs her to cum first, nothing new there.  He always wants their little mate pleasured before them.

And with that Sookie gasps, and she feels Eric also come behind her as her body shakes from her own orgasm. She is panting, looking at him with only love in her eyes for the tall blonde that had just given her one of the best orgasms yet.  Which is saying a lot from all the time she has spent with both men.

Eric smiles down at her, his eyes glowing blue from the emotions in them.  He stands up, his eyes on her as he strips, and soon has her in his arms, his shirt lying in pieces as he carries her into the bathroom. Their clothes are often the casualties in their passions.  This time, no matter how hard he tried, he is lucky that it was only his shirt that came apart as Eric watched his mate with her dark eyes ogling his body as he exposes it to her gleefully.

The bathroom has steam already gathering, with Godric already in the shower.  When Eric enters with their mate in his arms, Godric takes her from him, laying a kiss on her, that soon has her knees buckling under the pure passion in it.  He smirks down at her, ‘So, klein geliebte gefahrtin, you wish to have Eric take me while you are sucking me off?’ He knows how much she loves it when he talks dirty to her in German. He grins at the unintelligible sound she makes. It has been awhile since Eric had fucked him, even taking in the time that he thought elapsed during the vision.  He is all for the la petite mort for himself, as well knowing that Sookie will get off from their shared pleasure if her own arousal doesn’t do it for her.

He is leaning down, kissing his love, and mid-kiss Godric moans as he feels Eric start prepping him.  He can feel his tiny mate’s hand on his cock as he is running his fingers up and down her slit.  Godric wants to make sure that Eric is getting their mate ready for their mating, he has some big plans for that night.  He is hoping that he will be sane enough to be able to implement them, but he and Eric have mentioned that if they cannot do what they want that night, they will do it when she is rising as a vampire.  There is no way she will not escape being claimed by her mates in every way.  Even if the Apocalypse comes, it will need to wait for their pleasure.  They have been waiting a very long time for this mating, and they will complete it one way or the other.

His mouth is moving down, and he kisses her right above where the necklace dips down when Eric jerks him up as he thrusts into him, Godric throws up his head in pure pleasure as Eric manages to hit his prostate and be fully inside in one thrust.  Then he moans as his cock is enveloped in pure soft warmth as his other mate take advantage of Eric’s maneuver.

Loving the feel of his Maker’s ass as he rests there, letting Godric and Sookie ready themselves for their lovemaking Eric is grinning.  He looks over Godric’s shoulder to see Godric’s cock in Sookie’s mouth, and he can feel Godric’s pleasure ratcheting up from her efforts.  He tells him ‘lean forward, lose yourself in our gratification, as we will be losing ourselves in yours, in your love for us.’ Nothing will be more pleasurable for the three of them, than losing themselves in this act.  It will be healing for the three of them after the last day.

Then Eric loosed upon Godric all that he had taught him and that he had learned in his thousand years of living.  While Eric prefers women, he has found his pleasure with men also.  And being with his mates this way satisfies his own dominance needs.  Though Godric is their Alpha, Eric is also a dominate person.  Luckily for both of them, Sookie is a natural submissive to them only.  Though, anyone else outside them would not believe it, with her fire and need to be in control of her destiny.

Right now, everything is perfect for the threesome in the shower.

They always keep almond oil in their showers and rooms, for these times.  And as Eric is thrusting into Godric, his mind is lost in Godric’s dual pleasure.  Sookie is doing for Godric the same moves that send Eric into a frenzy, but with Godric, she makes sure that she not only deep throats him, but she also licked him up and down, even sucking at his balls.  Godric is all about stimulation.  She also looks up at him through her eyelashes, making sure when she is on a down stroke or sucking on his balls, that her hands reach behind and moves up to where Eric is fucking him, her fingers rubbing them both.  She gives a very light nip to his sac and manages to move quick enough to have his cock back in her mouth as he thrusts.  His hand soon is holding her head still, as he fucks her mouth.

She works hard not to lose herself in the pleasure from both of her mates, still worried about Godric pulling away because of what happened last time.  But she can see their pleasure on their faces as they both start going faster, chasing their orgasms.

Then Godric’s other hand drops and holds her head still as he loses himself in the orgasm Eric and she had pulled out of them, Eric following soon on the heels of it, unable to hold herself entirely from losing it some, allowing some of their pleasure inside while managing not to orgasm herself.

While they are still lost in their pleasure, she regains her control. Sookie cleans off her mate, then leans back as she watches them coming back from their mutual high.  She is smiling lightly, and when Eric soon notices that she did not cum with them, she refuses to be pleasured, saying that she had hers already.

Neither of them like it, but the glance and a quick mental conversation has both Godric and Eric relaxing.  For denying them the pleasure of her orgasm, Sookie will have plenty of time for regretting the refusal as they tease her all night long.  They may allow her to finally come later, but it will be after some apologies for holding back.

They soon are finished in the shower, both of the males teasing their little one, little touches here and there to start the buildup.  By the time they are at the restaurant, their female will be quivering in need for them. Then they will begin the process of making her regret her selfishness.  All the while making sure it is done in the same teasing manner they are in now.  They will never make her beg for them unless she requests it of them.  Neither are wanting to demean her, just make her think twice of refusing to allow herself to fall in the pleasure of the bond.

Soon, Eric is drying her hair for her as Godric grabs his suit and dresses.  He is smiling at the love pouring through his mates as they talk about what to do with her hair, as well as what she is going to wear.

Their night tonight is not one they had normally been able to do, to go as openly as they are tonight as a date; most of the time this is hidden from all, disguised as them teaching her the finer arts.

One of the happier results of their actions for Sookie is that she will get to wear the clothing that she prefers now.  It is more grown up than the sundresses that often made her seem younger than she really is.  She prefers form-fitting dresses, ones that show off her body as well as letting her be the powerhouse she really is.

For now, she will have to wear the sundresses when they are not ‘up’.  It will be her little ‘protest’, but for the most part, she will be wearing clothing more to her liking and blaming it on her mates.  At least in Godric’s case, the less daring ones will be accepted, while Eric will have fun ‘fighting’ her on her clothing.

As Godric wonders back in the room, he looks over the feeds to Fangtasia that Eric pulled up after finding that their thief is Longshadow.  They will be looking into his background to see why he was stealing the money, in a way to figure out if this is another plot. Which they are thinking it is, with how Sookie is being set up by the timing.

Grabbing his cufflinks that Sookie had given him a few years ago, Godric is watching the bar, trying to find the spies that had been there last time.  He soon is recognizing a few and sits down in the chair to make screen shots of all the agents.  Even though tonight is a night celebrating their love, he uses to the time to make sure that they are aware of their enemies.

In the bathroom, Eric and Sookie soon quietly talk in their heads, worried about Godric.  Though they both are relishing in having the man that they love and have known for most of their lives being back, there is the worry that what had happened in the vision may happen again, even with the shields that they learned.

Thinking it over, Eric finally tells Sookie over their mental connection, ‘Lover, there is nothing we can do but be observant.  Make sure we talk and let nothing like what happened before.  And with what Godric had seen, he will be more likely to listen to us this time.’ Eric caresses her shoulder, watching as she puts on her makeup.  He is leaning against the wall in the alcove where she has her table to get ready.

This is one of the things that Eric loves to watch, his woman getting ready for a night, all dressed up as he has known she loves to be. The red dress she had picked out is going to look great on her body, as it shows off her curves for them to enjoy and others to envy.

The only thing that might bring down the night is the fool Compton, but even then, they have a way around it.  As it is, Leigh is about running perimeter and working to scare the bejesus out of him as Jason would say.  There will be others here for when he shows up, to watch over their beloved matriarch.

Even down here they can hear her roaring every so often.  And the pictures she sends them with her wry commentary lets them all know that if Compton could piss his pants, he would have by now.  It didn’t matter that he is supposed to be calling on Adele, they had agreed on a time, and Leigh is making sure he doesn’t show up earlier.

All good fun, basically.

They continue to chat quietly when Godric comes back in to lean on the other side of the door watching Sookie.  He chuckles as she puts on her lipstick, the last thing she ever puts on.

“You look beautiful, mein Geliebter.”

He kneels at her feet and helps her with her heels, kissing her ankle as he straps on the shoes.  Once done, he rises and holds out his hand to help her up.  With Eric on the other side, they soon make their way up the stairs to the main part of the house.

It is time for their date.

Final count: 3,900 words.

Fairfarren~

Chapter 4: Someone’s Bound to Get Burned

by Kittyinaz | Aug 13, 2016

Pre-Edit Count – 1,659 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Try by P!nk

Previously:

With that thought, the Swans make small conversation as they make their way to Port Angeles.  Enjoying this last moment that they are together, but hoping that the separation will help heal Bella.

Now:

The goodbye hug is as painful as Bella expected, but she soon cheers up when she boards the plane. Bella lights up as she goes to hug her uncle, then turns to smile at her cousin, “How are you Hope?”  The other woman hugs her cousin, then introduces her to Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man.

Noticing she is a little shy, he immediately puts his hand out for her to shake. “Hi!  I’m Scott Lang, and I have wanted to meet you ever since Hope told me about you.”  When Bella raises her eyebrow at him, he grins, “Well, how can I not want to meet the woman who is related to two of my favorite people?” At the same time, he is mentally tallying the changes that have been made since her last picture.  He may not understand biology, but he has made some of the adjustments to the machines that Hope and Hank are using to try to find a solution.

When Hope raises her eyebrow, Scott replies, “Why you and Captain America, of course!” He placates his girlfriend.  He just smiles at them, determined to have them laughing.  They need it, not that they don’t have a reason not to be happy, but there is nothing that being happy won’t cure.

Unable to help herself, Bella starts laughing.  She had heard of Scott from her Uncle Hank and Hope.  To say the reality is funnier than anything that Bella had imagined is an understatement.   She hopes he can keep his sense of humor in the next however long it will be that this will be happening.

They will all need it.

Sitting in his corner, Hank just snorts at the three younger people, smiling at their evident enjoyment.  He too knows times like this are too often overlooked in the bigger picture.  But it also reinforces why they all do this.  The reason that they risk their lives to allow these everyday moments to happen.

The younger ones soon take their seats and the plane leaves Washington behind.  Hank had pulled many strings to allow them out of the country, along with Bella’s personal invitation by the King, had made this an easy extraction from the U.S.  And unless something happens, this will be one of the last times they will be here.  The Accords are making it harder for people to be themselves if they are not ‘normal’ or feel a duty to help others.

Hank already had the experience of a governmental agency telling him what he could or could not do.  S.H.I.E.L.D. Half the time, they have trouble determining what they need to do, so he is not going to trust a committee of government yes men to be able tell their asses from their elbows, let alone what an actual threat is.

Besides, though he mocks them for Sokovia, even he agrees that they reacted to a threat that the government couldn’t handle.  Even though he personally thinks Stark should be locked up for causing the mess in the first place, they reacted as a unit to take care of the global threat.

Wasn’t it S.H.I.E.L.D. who fired a nuke at New York City instead of letting the Avengers handle the issue, even though the committee was in charge of them?

The chatter from the three pulls his attention from his thoughts as he watches his great niece talking with his daughter and protégé.  He worries as he can see the small signs that even the newest creation is not stopping everything from affecting Bella.  And he notices that she is paling slightly, which means she needs to eat again.

Signaling the flight attendant, he nods towards Bella.  She quickly brings the young brunette a plate of food, which Bella thanks her for, and eats while listening to Scott tell her of his misdeeds.  Hope notices her full plate of food and her eyes flick to her father.

For a while now, Hope had been helping her father with the serum for Bella.  She loves her cousin and admires her for how she is determined to live life.  Since she had been trained by master assassins, Hope plans to spar with Bella when they are at Wakanda, along with having Scott try to take her on.  She figures they can train together in order to improve them all.

And she also has another reason for doing this. According to their tests, Bella is getting stronger.  Both Hawkeye and Natasha had alerted them to the information as they saw it happen.  Again, this is all according the information that Bella had given them about the vampires.  They became stronger, prettier and faster.  They developed another talent that had a basis in their human lives.

It all ties in to the fact that they believe the venom in her bite is activating.  They think that being around the Cullen’s may have held it back, or it just took that long for it to start changing.  There were two different venoms in the bite.  It is also telling that Jacob and Billy visited her house a lot.  Maybe, with the information that Sam’s saliva, and later his blood, were the only things that helped her at first helps substantiate that hypothesis.

But instead of just changing her, the venom is now killing her.  This is not acceptable to any of them, so they are trying to find the solution.   They have studied the makeup of the venom and Werewolf blood. In fact, Bella had the best minds on the planet on her side.  Hank, aka the Beast from the X-Men, is working with her father, and when they arrive in Wakanda, another Avenger will be there to help.  And this man is the one who may have a solution, but he needs bot Bella and Steve there.

The thing that they have noticed is the venom is a nasty piece of work that doesn’t look Terran.  It acts as a mixture of a symbiont and a virus.  Once the human is changed, the need for blood is to ‘feed’ the.  It consumes the blood from the host, but at the same time, it gives positive changes to the host.  Afterward, there is only the need for blood in order to allow the virus to continue to exist, and in return, they require nothing else.  It even makes it hard to kill the host and therefore the venom.

It made them all start to become experts in biological warfare to see if it had any way to be human but soon came to the conclusion it had to be extraterrestrial.

Then there is the Bright Lady who appears to Bella in dreams and in between moments. She has denied or verified, after Bella has told them the information, if they are right or wrong.  Or at least if they are on the right track. It had been disconcerting that she had been surprised by some of the stuff they had found out.  But as she had explained, she knows the outcome, just not how it comes to be.  Like someone trying to explain how a TV actually works.  We know how to use it, but most couldn’t tell you the technology behind it.

On the other side, the Lady has taken a hand in helping Bella develop her shield in new and exciting ways. She has taught Bella that her imagination is the limit for what her shield can do. Bella has so much control over her shield, she can even mimic levitation and so forth. She is learning the difference between shielding people and objects to mental shielding.  It had been the lessons of mental shielding that led to the discovery of another power:  She has the ability to help those who have been brainwashed or are being controlled by sources outside their own minds.  This has made Bella think of possibilities.  The most important is to assist another future comrade in arms, the best friend of Steve Rogers.

The Winter Soldier.

The information that the man could pass on to them on combat skills alone is worth him being revived.  The risk though is one that has him kept frozen so far.  His state is only temporary until Bella can get there and start working on what the Lady has taught her in order to allow the man to be free.  They are all looking forward to seeing what Bella can do for the man who has suffered so much over the years, being forced to do things which are against his basic makeup of what made him James ‘Bucky’ Barnes.

Hope does wonder about the Lady’s purpose in teaching Bella so much.  No one helps out for the sake of it anymore.

Sadly.

In a modern airport, Steve is waiting, with his hands clasped behind his back, for his sister to arrive in the private area reserved for the King and his guests.  Though he knows Bella is not his sister in reality, he thinks of her as one:  It is the only familial bond name that it feels right to give her.  He never looked more into the files Coulson had on her.  He knows from talking with her that they are related through her mother, who is missing.  Beyond that, neither are sure, nor want to find out how they are connected.

Steve shakes his head as he thinks about Bella.  She is so like him it’s scary.  Finding Bella standing in front of that desk, with children hidden under it, ready to defend it when he walked into Stark Tower had thrown him for a loop.  He had greatly admired her, and still does, for the courage and determination she showed that day.  He couldn’t believe that an average human (or so Steve thought at the time) would risk her life for others.

Steve had no doubt that she would have passed Dr. Erskine’s tests like he did.

Then to find out Bella is his relative?  It made everything make more sense.  The feeling of family he has around her, how he had done nothing more than look at her, shocked that she had protected the children, then how Steve laughed when the first thought he had after that is that she would have been one of those that his friend would have loved to meet.

Now he only needs to find a way to tell her what he has been calling her to everyone since he has been back after the fiasco with the Avengers.  It had made him worry the entire time he had been helping Bucky if they are using time that Bella didn’t have.  Bucky had overheard a call that Steve had made from the quinjet to Dr. Pym asking about Bella. It had relieved him when the older man had told him that he was ok for this, and good luck.  And a reminder that he wants his protégé back.

Bella and Steve haven’t had much time together, especially with her problem getting worse to the point that she had headed back to Forks so they could figure out a new dosage.  He had been working out with her, teaching her the oddball things he had learned to give her an edge.  Steve had been more than grateful to Clint and Natasha for stepping in help to train her when he was worried about her going back untrained.  They both agreed with his remark that if she is going to be as much of a danger magnet as he is, then she should know how to defend herself.

Imagine his surprise when they found out about her shield: It had surprised them all. He had, in fact, teased her that liking to use shields had to be in the blood.  While he had a shield provided by T’Challa to replace the one that he had left for Tony, hers is actually part of her. But The sad part is that it confirmed their idea that she was changing due to the venom.  Not that any of them doubted what they were seeing, but that had only made it clearer.

Basically, it fits with the descriptions she had told them of vampires.  All her changes are meeting with the symptoms, except the need for blood only, and that her change is taking far more than three days.  Why was it not acting the same?  Bella had mentioned that even a trace will turn humans into vampires, and they knew it.  Why did they leave Bella behind with that trace in her?

Then there was Banner’s arrival. He had spent a small amount of time looking at the samples from Bella.  Then quickly asked for samples of Steve’s blood.  Steve happily gave it to him and wondered, since he knew both Banner and Tony had looked at his blood before, if there were any differences between those first samples and the newest ones.  Nothing had come of it, but why is it that since he had looked at both samples, the man had been a madman in the laboratory muttering about ‘how no one had seen it before’ and ‘how it all made sense now.’

No one knew what he was talking about, but he had told Steve that there might be an answer not only for Bella, but one for Steve and Bucky as well.  One that will make all of them safer so that no one will be able to take their secrets from them.

Steve had been confused, but he had shrugged it off as he left to meet Bella and the rest of the people who are coming with her.  Even now, thinking back on it, Steve has no idea what Banner is talking about.  Both Bucky and he are stable as far as he knows, and no one has managed to break the formula for the serum in all this time.  But to hear that Bella is lumped in with the two of them?  It is making him wonder.

Turning to another thought process, Steve chuckles as he realizes that Wakanda is quickly becoming a place for those who do not want to be a part of the Sokovia Accords to find refuge.  Many have ideas like Steve and others who do not agree with the Accords and the possibilities they could present.  One of the people coming with Bella is very much against the idea of the Accords.

The possibility that they could be commanded by military people who only want to use them to win a war that the Avengers might not agree with: That they might be utilized for other’s gains, and not for the betterment of mankind, is a very real concern. Since that possibility may exist, Steve is steadfast that he and those who agree to stand by his side will be there to combat the risk.

However, as he had told Tony, if the Avengers need them, they will come to their aid.  Not to the assistance of others, but only to the Avengers themselves.  They will be willing to save the world, but not under the command of the governments, but under the need to protect humankind.  It might be high-handed, but Steve just couldn’t go against his morals and actually use his gifts to fight against freedom.

Freedom is never free, and he is more than willing to pay that price. He never wants to be the reason that others pay that price to be free from him.

Steve snaps out of his musings as his ears catch the whine of the engines coming.  When he sees it coming in for a landing, he smiles. He turns and heads down to the tarmac, the guards making way for him.

When the plane is done taxiing, he is loping across the last part of the tarmac quickly to the stairs which are being lowered so he can be the first to greet his sister.  Steve has missed her, and hopefully, this time, she will not be leaving him for any medical reasons after this.

Bella is still talking with Hope and Scott while waiting for the flight people to do whatever they need to do before they disembark.  Though, Bella is quickly out of the seat when Hank informs her amusedly, “Seems you have someone eager to see you, my dear.”  She is at the door and down the stairs in the next second and in Steve’s arms.  “Steve!”

Standing at the top of the stairs behind his girlfriend, Scott murmurs to Hope, “I want that to be her future:  To be that happy.” While Bella is an adult, there is something innocent in her that makes him think of her as someone to protect, to care for.  While he knows both of his employers’ care greatly for her, this is his first time he has met her.   And she certainly deserves that future with all the trauma and simple adult life she had dealt with long before she came of age to encounter it.

Smiling up at the man who stole her heart like the thief he was, Hope answers back, “That is what we are fighting for.” She looks down at the Man out of Time, talking with Bella much more animatedly than she had ever imagined.  The two of them look very happy as they are telling their stories faster than she thinks they realize.

Not wanting to break the ‘siblings’ happy greeting, but at the same time not wanting to stand in the doorway, Scott heads down the stairs, meeting Steve with a clasp of hands, “It’s a pleasure to be here, Cap!  And thanks again for freeing me from that hellhole.” He had hated it worse than the prison he had been in the first time.

Steve gives a nod acknowledgement to Scott as he frowns, “Hank Prym?” He looks up at the man whom he had looked up once Steve found that Bella was his niece and that Hank was the one trying to find a solution for her.  He wanted to make sure that the person whose hands his sister’s life rested in was qualified to save it.

Hank chuckles, “Shocked to see how old I am?” He is entertained since he suspects the younger man looked him up in the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s database when he found out who was helping his relative.  It is what he did when he found out that Bella was related to Steve Rogers.  Though, he had already known much of the man since he had looked him up when he heard that Peggy had loved him.

Steve nods slowly.  The files that he had looked at made Hank seem to be a much younger man, he didn’t expect him to look older.  He had read something in the files that the Ant-Man suit had taken a toll on him, but Steve suspects that a lot of what has Hank Pym looking older is the loss of his wife whom he loved dearly.

Nodding his head, Hank moved down the stairs, telling Steve, “Your bravery is what inspired me to help out any way I could.  When I found that I could figure out things more quickly than others, it motivated me to take up the reigns of using what I had invented.” All of it was true, Captain America had been his hero when he was younger, and seeing that the man was more than he ever imagined once he read his files, it had made it a natural choice to fight for what The Captain believed in.

A slight smile appears on Steve’s face as he looks at the man he had to admit he admired, “From what I hear, you did a great job protecting the U.S.”  Then he puts his hand on Bella, “And you did even better keeping Bells here alive for this long.” He gives credit to the man whom he knows has kept Bella alive all this time, and as pain-free as they could manage.

Hank nods slowly as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.  “Now I hope that we can finish this process and get Bella to look beyond more than tomorrow.” He smiles at his niece as he puts his hand on her shoulder.  He is very proud of Bella and is planning to do anything to give her those tomorrows.

Nodding, Hope smiles at her cousin as she says hopefully, “And maybe, just maybe, give love another chance?” She lifts her eyebrow as she looks down at Bella as she leans slightly into Scott who is behind her.

Giving them all a disgusted look, Bella turns Steve around and has him moving back into the airport as she asks him what all he has been up to.  When he gives a look back with a questioning eyebrow, Hope nods to him, letting him know that they will talk to him later.

With that agreement in place, Steve escorts her out to his bike then hands her a helmet to wear.  When she tries to protest he lays his hand on her shoulder, “Just humor me.  After I see this shield in play, I might relax more, but I don’t want to worry about a mistake happening and ending your life prematurely because we didn’t take precautions.” Not that he would be easy with it, but he can understand wanting to feel the wind in your hair.  Riding his bike gives him a sense of freedom, and it is one that he knows Bella enjoys as well.

Sighing as she rolls her eyes, she balances on the bike, flips her hair to the and slides the helmet on in a practiced move.  Steve smiles and he gets on in front of her:  Once her arms are around him, he guns it.

He grins as he hears Scott complain, “Why can’t I have one of those instead?” as they ride down the road to the palace and hopefully the solution to Bella’s problems.

Final count: 3,817

Fairfarren~

Chapter 2: Bury the Pain

by Kittyinaz | Aug 6, 2016

Pre-Edit Count – 1,529 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: It Is What It Is by Lifehouse

Previously:

With the last caress of his face, the being creates a wall in his head, making it where his mind, the real part of him, rests there, away from what is going to happen to him.  He will find there are consequences for it, but it is the only way to have him save the core of himself from being torn from him. To have him able to fight in the future the brainwashing they are going to make him go through soon and later. 

He will need it.

Now:

Not knowing how much actual time has passed, the being known as Bucky screams behind the partition that the being had given him.   He watches as his mind and body are tortured and then made to follow the orders of HYDRA.  To him, it has seemed as though years have passed, but for all he knows, it could be on a day or so.

The drugs they had given him before Steve had freed him the first time from his brainwashing and torture had made him stronger and given him a better constitution than a normal human. They had been painful and at the very least you could call them inhumane.  But he had been glad to have them so that he could keep up with his longtime friend.

Now?  Now it is pure pain and torture that they put his body through.  Between the treatments and the brainwashing shock treatments, Bucky soon finds himself hiding more and more behind the curtain that hid his real self. The alternative was enough to frighten him since he could feel parts of himself starting to slip away before he started using the partition.

The only bad thing is that the more he hides, the more the curtain becomes less malleable.  But he has no other recourse if he wants to be who he had been in the past when his freedom came.  He had to decide to finally hide and end up watching everything his body did without being able to affect it except in the very slightest bit.  Or losing this last portion of himself.

Soon, as time passed, the hope that the being had given him was the one thing helping him maintain his sanity and to stay behind the curtain.  There were times when he had been frozen and was coming out, that he wondered if it was worth staying sane.

As they train him and start sending him out on missions, he finds himself shocked at the brutality that he did.  Often Bucky hid behind the curtain any time he found himself killing in cold blood.  He might have fought in a war, but he never assassinated someone like he was seeing the other side of himself, the Winter Soldier as they called him, do.  He watches his body as the Winter Solider murder others, as he himself cries as he kills the best and brightest in the world.

However, during this time, as the killings are getting worse, Bucky wonders when the choices will come that the being had promised him.  So far the things the Winter Soldier has done has made him wonder what could be more important for him to have a choice in their lives when he is killing so many.

Closing his eyes behind the partition, Bucky Bangs against the thick curtain. For God’s sake, he has killed presidents, priests, scientists.  Mothers, Children and so many more.  How can there be any other choices or even people that can make more of a difference than these?  Then the innocent bystanders that their only sin was that they either see him, or someone else that never wanted anyone to know how dirty their hands really were!

Bucky can feel his very soul is crying in pain for the lives he has taken.  He knows that it is the other side of him, but it is his hands which are coated in red.  It is his face that is often the last thing many of these people see.  With this in mind, Bucky retreats even more behind the curtain, sick at heart for the pain he is causing.

Time passes… Missions come and go as Bucky retreats more into his haven from the terror he wreaks on the world.  Then comes a mission that makes him pay more attention.  He is woken from Cryo to a bunch of men he has never seen before.  No matter, they have the code words that activate the Winter Soldier and will make him into the assassin that has driven Bucky into impassivity so that he just watches the world pass but tries not to take note of anything any longer.

They start giving the orders, and as usual, Bucky is behind the curtain watching as he normally does when they program him.   He has no idea who the target is, no longer is he given the names since it won’t help him find the objectives. Too often lately, they tell him where the Winter Soldier needs to be, and just show him who he is killing with pictures.

It is easier on everyone since names can be changed easily.

But what makes Bucky pay more attention is that these pictures look hauntingly familiar.  Like he is seeing a shadow of someone he had known in that past life where he had choices.  The life that felt like a dream as more and more time passes.

So on this mission, Bucky is actively watching as the Winter Soldier runs a car off the road, then goes to kill the driver and passenger as he had been commanded to do.  Then everything stops as he realizes who it is that he has in his hands.

Howard Stark.

The being comes to him and sighs.  “James, it is time.” She is sad, having seen all that their Warrior has been through.  They also know that they had come to the point that Bucky might have given up.  To watch as he killed another that they knew, well this is why Bucky had to be presented with a choice.

He needs to know that the deaths serve an actual purpose than just what HYDRA wants.  More than the petty whims of those that have control over the Winter Soldier.  That this death is more than it seems.

Otherwise, he will fade away, and they might not be able to retrieve that part of him. Ever.  And this world, and therefore the universe will die.

Finding himself free for once in the hell that he has been in, Bucky turns to look at her, realizing only at that moment that he is not in the body that is holding Howard when he sees the Winter Soldier, frozen at that moment, still holding Howard by the back of his neck.

“Why now?” the pain in his voice is enough to make the being face him. Why now does he have to watch the being that inhabits his body kill one of the few people that he liked and got along with in the hell that was the War?

Softening in their bearing, the figure answers him, “Because the choices impact you.  Only when they affect you or your other half directly will they have a chance to be decided upon.” And this is one of those times that it will impact them both significantly.  Though in the future, this will complicate much, it will also allow them to meet.

Tears spill down Bucky’s face as he looks at the man the Winter Soldier is holding in his hand.  “What is the choice here?  What impact would it truly have if I let my old friend live?” He stretches his hand towards the man demandingly.  He is angry but so very tired of trying to fight what has been happening to him.  Is this just another means to break him?

Shaking their head, the being softly reveals to him, “It is not just Howard you have to choose on, it is his wife also.” A tear slips down the being’s face, knowing how much this is tearing him apart.  But he needs to understand!

His head falls forward, his hand running through the hair. that on this being is as short as when he fell from that train all those years in the past, as he awaits the details.  He desperately hangs onto his own perception of what he looks like as another way to differentiate himself from that being that he detests using his body.

Knowing what he is waiting for, the glowing woman reports the facts to him, “They have a son in college and who will suffer from this death, becoming more of a playboy than he is now.  He will end up continuing his father’s work in the weapons fields until the day he is injured and kidnapped.  Then the sheer brilliance of the man, who in fact exceeds your friend, his father’s, intelligence, will forge a way to escape, as well as shaping the world with his actions.  He will also end up fighting against you.” She says the last to make sure that he fully understands what he will be making if he completes this mission.

His head still down as he can feel the tears falling off his nose, Bucky clenches his hands, but waits, remembering last time. There is always more.  There is the other side of the equation he remembers.

“All of this will never come about if Howard and his wife live. Their son will never become a man haunted by the pain of what this moment will cause.”  She pauses, then continues, “However, their deaths will save millions of lives in New York City.  Their deaths will make it so others will take up the work they started and try to make it better. But their deaths will allow HYDRA more of a foothold in the governments of the world.” The death of these two will affect so much of the world and what is to come that it is, in fact, a pivotal point in history.  But without the pain that will come, the future will have no chance.

Closing his eyes, Bucky swallows as his mind does the math.  Yes, he will be making an enemy, one that will be fully justified in he made the choice to kill his parents.  But the other side is that his home city, the home to what will come to hold millions of lives, will die because he could not stand the pain of allowing his alter ego to carry on with his mission.

As he had said before, the lives of the many versus the few, are what he has to choose for.  If he allowed the woman he will come to know as his other half pain and misery, how can he save himself from the same?

With that in mind, Bucky answers the demand of the being, “I must allow this to carry through.”  His voice is broken, as is the man in front of the being. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry, but he gets it.  This is why he needed to make the choice.  He needed to know this will make it possible to save lives by killing his friend.

Seeing this, the being’s heart breaks, but she tells him, “It is up to you.  This action will make it possible for you to find your other half.  It will also cause much pain for many who know about it.  For Steve, the son of the Starks and for your other half.  But without it, so much will never happen.” She wants him to understand, but she also hates causing him this pain.  The choice is truly his, if he wishes fate to be changed, she will do so for him.

Bucky shakes his head, then turns to head back into his body, only pausing as the figure tells him softly, “For you, it will not be long now.  The next two decisions will be close to the time for you to be free.” She needed to give him something, to allow him some hope for an ending to the pain and misery.

He had paused for her words, then Bucky nods, acknowledging her as he heads back to his hell on earth.  For he will stand by and watch every moment to come, no hiding from the results of his decision.

So Bucky flinches as he sees Stark recognize who he is, but continues to watch what happens.  Then when the Winter Soldier hesitates in killing Mrs. Stark, Bucky finds the strength from somewhere to manage to break through as he asks the wife of his friend, “Would you want to live if it costs millions of lives?” He cocks his head to the side to see if she would choose as he did.

She stares into his eyes, noticing the dead look, then she closes her own, waiting for the moment.  At that moment both she and Bucky no longer know what happens for a while.  The difference is that only one of them is able to wake up later.

For the next long while, Bucky remains in the background, his moment of taking over his body managing to take more out of him that he knew.  In fact, the next time he surfaces is when the being comes and asks for him.

As he awakens, the memories of the Winter Soldier rush through him, and he shudders in pain at the death and destruction that he had been doing, as he trains others to become like him.  He sees the woman his body has taken as part of their training, stealing something from them and himself.  He never wanted to use a woman like that, and now he has to live with the fact that he has taught a woman how to kill using seduction, and to make sure that they understand that there is nothing romantic in sex.

As he looks out of the eyes of the Winter Soldier, this time, he finds himself looking down at a redhead protecting his current target.  Her face seems familiar, but as part of those memories that he is now ashamed that his body had been part of, he shies away from it.

Instead, Bucky steps out of the body, turning to look up at the being, waiting for their information.  He didn’t trust himself to do anything else.

It’s heart breaking for the man he is now, the being reports to him softly, “The target will die either way.  But you have a choice in killing the woman.” Looking at him, they are now doubting that fate has made the right decision in allowing this all to happen.  How could this help?  It is tearing him apart, for he is basically a man of honor and there has been precious little honor in what he has been ordered to do.

They turn to look over the edge at one of the others who will stand by their Warrior’s side, they continue briefing him, “The woman is someone who, in her own words, has too much red in the ledger.  Killing her now will not save many lives, no she has already in her young life killed thousands.  In fact, she still lies, steals, cheats, and does whatever she can to carry out her missions.” The lady wants to smile at the woman below. The Black Widow is one who is trying to change her life around, thanks to the friendship of the man who had been sent to kill her.  Their friendship will be the cornerstone that holds through the trouble to come.

Bucky laughs dryly, “In other words, she is another me.” He keeps looking down at the scene, wondering what had happened for it to come to this.  But he can see that she is trying to protect, not kill.  This resonates with him.

With a slow nod, the being informs him, “At the same time, she is one of the people who save those millions in New York City.  She is also very loyal to those who win her trust.  Her abilities end up helping protect Stark’s son, as well as his love.  She is also one of the few who stand up to injustice, even if it incriminates herself.  She will help you directly, after opposing you.”  This woman works harder than any that she has ever seen to make up for the past.  She would be a great example for her warrior that one can overcome the past.

Looking at the woman, Bucky has to admit that she looks familiar.  “Have I met her before?” He doesn’t want to examine the memories that will tell him more, they tear at the very core of himself.

The figure answers him, “She was trained in the Red Room.” She knows why he is asking, but she will not lie.  For in time, he will remember everything he has done to Natasha.  Luckily, she does not remember Bucky in the painful memories.  No, those are reserved for those that took away so much with their perverted graduation.

He closes his eyes in pity for the young woman, as a few memories flash in his mind of what goes on in the Red Room, as well as a few memories of the woman herself.  But he makes his decision.  “She lives.”  She is trying to fix the red in her ledger, and he will give her that chance.

Bucky also hopes that she is able to gain the retribution that he never feels he is able to receive for what he has done to her and others like her.

Bucky remains awake behind the eyes of the Winter Soldier, preferring to see what the Winter Soldier does than remember it in a flood of memories.  He also takes note of the things he is taught from time to time, thinking that he will need it soon since the being had told him that his time would be soon to be free.

As she had promised, for him the third time is after he had been battering the walls down, trying to save his best friend.

Bucky had started to break free earlier when his alter-persona begun remembering on its own the truth.  Then they had put him back under and tore the memory away.  He had barely gotten behind the curtain before the pain erased him.

Now as they fight, Bucky is screaming inside of his own head to stop, to not kill Steve.

Never Steve.

The figure appears, then smiles at him. “I suspect that this one will be easy for you to decide.” The being is relieved that this is the final time, that after this choice, he will be in more control than he has been for decades.  This is the beginning of the end for the Warrior.  Not much longer and he will be entirely free of these shackles that he has suffered underneath.

Before they can go into what he thinks are the facts he turns to her and demands, “Is it HIS life?  Then I will always choose his life.  Even if it costs me mine.” Bucky wants to grab the woman and shake her to make her see that it won’t matter what, he will choose Steve.  For Steve is doing the same right now for him.

Smiling the being advises him, “It is if you wish to try to save him, knowing that you will be hunted.” They knew this will happen, but it needed to be done.  Bucky had to choose this route that is coming.

Shaking his head, Bucky declares to her, “No, you don’t understand.  I don’t care who dies, or suffers or anything like that.  Steve has always stood by me, as I have him.  He has gone to extremes to save me and still is.  The choice is always him!” Nothing else will suffice.

They nod, telling him, “Then your choice is made.   And you are free.” She waves her hand, merging the Winter Soldier and Bucky into one being in their minds.  It will take some time for them to balance it out, but Bucky will conquer his mind and start the process of making it all his own.

When he looks up at them in shock at realizing he is in his body over Steve, in control of it, the being warns him, “Until you meet your other half, your mind will be susceptible to attacks and their control.  But you make the decisions now.  You are in control for the most part. I suggest you leave and find yourself.  To remind yourself of who you are and merge the two personalities.  You will need the training and information that the Winter Soldier learned.” The figure is trying to make it easier for him.  So much more is to come, and he will need the peace for what he has been told.  It will make a difference.

Stepping to him, the figure solidifies more, showing her female body as she says to him, “My warrior, your shield is coming.  You will feel the pain of being controlled again, but otherwise, it will not make the final piece come into place.  I gift you with the rewards you have earned to be unlocked by your Shield.” With that, she gives him a kiss on his brow, and whispers “Good Luck.” As she disappears.

Bucky is in control, and he works to save Steve, then leaves to do as she advised.  Work to find himself again, start the healing progress.

Final count: 3,633

Fairfarren~