A New Dream

“King’s Guards… they really don’t like me.” the Widow said. Clint grinned, she was brilliant.

“Oh please, Widow-- we love you!” he drew an arrow back. “Given us quite a workout!”

“Shut up, Barton!” Sam snapped, leveling his crossbow. “Black Widow, for high crimes against the crown prince of--”

“Woof!” Lucky nearly knocked Clint over as he ran to Widow’s side. The man stepped forward as if to guard her, but she ducked his arm by dropping to her knees and greeting the dog.  

“Lucky!” she and Clint said in unison, as he lowered his bow. Lucky jumped up and licked her face, the traitor!

“Lucky, get back!” Sam yelled, his finger on the trigger. Clint saw the look in his eyes, and started forward to try and mess up his shot.

“No!” he shouted. The man put his back between Widow and them, taking an arrow below the ribs. The man picked Widow up and took two steps backwards. Sam knocked another arrow and Clint pushed his arm up as he tried to shoot. The arrow flew up, and Clint yelled, “WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT NO KILLING?!”

“That was before they were about to escape, again!” Sam cried, but Clint could see the regret in his eyes.

Lucky barked, and Clint and Sam looked up as one of the supports of the water dam fell, an arrow embedded deeply in the wood.

“Shit!” Sam said.

“C’mon!” Clint grabbed his arm and they ran back the way they came, Lucky following behind.

They ran through the maze of caverns, making it back to the cellar door and entering the pub. The guards and the prisoners were gone, but Clint and Sam barely noticed as they quickly strode out of the pub and to the outside.

“What the hell were you thinking?! Shooting them wasn’t the mission!”

“I wasn’t. I’m sorry,” Sam panted. “But- but did you see that guy?”

“Yeah, he was a badass,” Clint said while scratching Lucky’s ears.

“I think the Prince is looking for him.”

“Why?” Clint asked.

“I think he might be… an old friend,” Sam saw the man’s piercing blue eyes in his head, like the ones he saw when he was a child.

“Okay,” Clint nodded. “We’ll ask when we find them. Lucky, you think you could do it again?”  

If dogs could sigh out of exasperation, Lucky would have. He chuffed softly and stood up, shaking himself and beginning to sniff the air.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

“So are you gonna explain how your back looks almost brand-new, or are you just gonna build a bigger fire?” Natasha asked.

“Sorry,” the Soldier sighed, sitting down on the tree limb next to Natasha. “Look, it’s this.” He pulled out a vial, filled with a blue serum that was almost luminescent in the dark. “I was repeatedly given this. It’s some serum distilled from something. I was never allowed to ask questions, but this is all I know from the Doctor. When you drink it, or it’s injected into you using a needle-- it helps. It makes you stronger, it heals wounds. It doesn’t taste good, but--”

“Hold on,” Natasha held out her hand. “May I?” The Soldier shrugged, handing her the vial. “It’s glowing. Kind of.”

“I don’t know why.”

“How long have you known about this?”

“As long as I can remember. I was supposed to guard the tower. The tower that guards the vials. They’re a gift, and they have to be protected… That’s why the Commander never left me… That’s why I never left the…”

“You never left that tower.” Natasha finished.

“Your real name is Natalia Alianovna Romanoff?”

“Well. I’ll spare you the sad story of poor orphan Natalia Alianovna Romanoff, it’s a little bit of a… that’s a little bit of a downer.”

The Soldier grunted, and when Natasha looked up he was smiling a little. She had never seen him smile.

“I grew up in an orphanage, a special one for girls. And it was cold and dark and I was trained in dance. Over and over. And I was also trained in murder. Fighting and killing for my teachers when they wanted me as a weapon. I was controlled, I was manipulated. And when I escaped, I needed to change something. My name, my hair. Thievery got me money, and the ability to anything they want to do. And for a girl, with nothing, I don’t know. It just seemed like the better option.”

The Soldier was quiet, staring into the fire. Natasha nudged him gently with her elbow. “You can’t tell anyone about this, okay? It could ruin my whole reputation.”

“Hmph. That would be awful.”

“Was that sarcasm?” Natasha asked, smirking.

“Hmph,” the Soldier smiled again.

“Alright, well, I should get some more firewood.”

“Hey,” the Soldier got her attention. “I think Natalia is a beautiful name.”

“Well, then you’d be the first… but thank you.”

Natasha and the Soldier locked eyes, each one studying the other now with the realization of shared experience.

Natasha broke their contact first. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay,” the Soldier said. She turned and walked into the dark of the woods. The Soldier listened to her footsteps getting fainter, and turned his attention to the fire.

“Well, I thought she’d never leave.” An accented voice made the Soldier leap to his feet, his heart already racing with fear while his hands were steady.

“Doctor.”

“Soldier.” Arnim Zola stepped out of the shadows, pulling his hood down and looking at him through his spectacles.

“How did you find me?” the Soldier growled, his hands clenching into fists.

“Easy. Traitors are easy to track,” Zola’s flickered over his body like a rat about to tear apart a bird. “You have one option here, Soldier. Come home. The Commander never has to know.”

“He wouldn’t?” The Soldier furrowed his brow. “No. I have a responsibility. I’m never going back.”

“Ah, to the wanted thief. I’m sure the Commander would love to hear about this!” Zola laughed, what the Soldier recognized right before a particularly painful piece of torture. “Beauty and the Beast. Do you think she likes you? She’s terrified! You’re not even a full man. You don’t even remember who you are,” he hissed. “You are blackmailing her!”

“I’m not--”

“If you don’t come back with me, the Commander will find you. And you and I both know how much he loves games.” The firelight flickered off his glasses, and the Soldier shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

“I am staying here. You cannot make me go.”

The Doctor smirked, pulling his hood up.

“We shall see, won’t we? Good luck.” He turned, and almost instantly disappeared back into the shadows. The Soldier let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

“Hey, uh… question!” Natasha’s voice called from the other side of the forest. The Soldier inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm himself down. “Is there any chance that the vial gives you super strength? Cause that would be awe--” She caught sight of the Soldier, standing and looking into the distance. “Everything okay? What do you see?”

“Nothing.” the Soldier replied, sitting back down on the log. “Just thinking.”

“Ah, I see,” Natasha said, putting down the pile of wood she had collected and sitting on the ground in front of the fire. As she stretched her arms and legs, she and the Soldier fell back into comfortable silence. “I’ll take first watch, if you want.”

“I don’t think I will sleep.”

“Suit yourself.”

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

A bark woke Natasha in the morning, making her sit up and look around. The Soldier was already awake, tense and coiled, like a cat ready to pounce. Then a big furry blur came bounding out of the bushes toward her.

“Lucky!” Natasha exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Black Widow! By order of the Kingdom of--”

“You two?” Natasha interrupted the voice from the trees. “I really hope you’re here to apologize.”

“Lucky! Quit fraternizing with the enemy!” the archer stepped forward, his bow raised. Lucky licked Natasha’s cheek.

“Sit boy, sit. Good boy,” Natasha instructed the dog. “Please don’t let your owner kill me.”

“Aw, Lucky! Bad dog,” the archer sighed. “C’mon Sam, we can’t hurt them.”

“Black Widow. We have to place you under--” the sergeant, Sam, was interrupted by Natasha pointing a finger at them.

“Look, today is kinda the biggest day of this guy’s life. So you can’t arrest us. Just for twenty-four hours and then I’ll turn myself in. Happy?” The Soldier looked at her, and Natasha nodded.

Sam glared, folding his arms.

“Fine. But on one condition. He has to meet the Prince.”

“Why?” the Soldier asked.

“I think the Prince has been looking for you.” Sam said.

“What?”

“Aren’t you James?” Sam asked. Natasha looked at him quizzically.

“Are you saying you think Soldier is the Starboy?”

“Who is the Starboy?” the Soldier asked.

“Just answer the question,” Sam said.

“My name is Soldier. That is all I have ever been called. That is all I know,” the Soldier said. The archer came over to Lucky, sitting down next to him.

“My name is Clint Barton. That’s Sergeant Sam Wilson, and you’ve already met Lucky,” he said. “What should I call you? I only know you by your calling card, Black Widow.”

“Natasha. And he’s the Soldier.”

“He seems a little intimidating.”

“As is the point.”

“Well,” Clint stood up, Natasha following suit. “He can’t look that scary going into the kingdom. He’d draw too much attention in our idyllic little land.” Clint rummaged in his quiver and pulled out a bit of broken bowstring. “Here, just pull your hair back.” He held it out to the Soldier, making him exchange a look with Natasha.

“I’ll help,” she said, standing up on the log so she could reach his head. Her lithe fingers were incredibly gentle as she combed through the Soldier’s long tangles. She gently pulled it back out of his face, and secured it back with the string. “There you go,” she murmured.

The Soldier grunted in acknowledgement. Lucky barked as bells rang faintly in the distance.

“The kingdom is this way,” Sam said, clearing his throat. “We can make it there in an hour if we leave now.”

“Let’s go,” the Soldier said.

As Sam led the way with Lucky and Clint took the back, the Soldier leaned slightly toward Natasha.

“I won’t let them take you.”

“Wasn’t planning on it, Soldier,” Natasha said, a smile playing on her lips for a moment before she looked up at him with concern. “But do you really- you don’t think you’re James?”

“All I can remember as a child was watching the lanterns… I think there was another boy once… he had gold hair. A kind smile. But I don’t--” Natasha could see the frustration under his skin as he clenched his fists and frowned deeply. “I don’t remember.”

“It’s okay. It’ll be okay, Soldier.”

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

The kingdom made Natasha uneasy. Its bright and picturesque townspeople, the cheeriness of it all. It seemed too good to be true. Clint Barton moved up beside her.

“If anyone asks, you aren’t the wanted thief Black Widow… you’re my friend from the kingdom of Asgard, here to attend the Prince’s ball,” he murmured.

“Your friend, huh?” Natasha asked. “That’s bold of you.”

“Hey, bold times,” Clint grinned. “How did you two meet, anyway?”

“Your dog can tell you the story,” Natasha shot back. The Soldier was overwhelmed by it all as well. The sights, the sounds, the smells.

“Woohoo! Kind sir, are you in the market for some fresh fruit?” a woman waved a hand over a crate of apples. “Best in all of the kingdom!”

“Soldier?” Natasha appeared at his side. “Do you want one?”

“I--I don’t know,” the Soldier admitted.

“We’ll take two,” Natasha said, reaching in a pocket and pulling out the coins to pay for them.

“No stealing?” Sam asked.

“Please. You really think I steal from people who don’t deserve it?” Natasha grumbled, handing the apple to the Soldier. “Bite into it. It’s good.”

“You’ve never had an apple before?” Clint asked innocently.

“He’s not from around here.” Natasha said as the Soldier took a large bite of apple, the juice falling down his chin. He grumbled slightly, but Natasha could see his blue eyes light up. They continued walking down the marketplace street, the Soldier asking soft questions every once and a while and Natasha patiently answering them.

“What is that?” he said, pointing at a nearby wall. Natasha followed where he was pointing and saw a mosaic of a dark haired boy carrying a blue and white star. She led the way toward it, taking small bites of her apple.

“When the Prince got really sick, legend says a boy from the kingdom made a deal with a star to save him. His life for his. And every year the kingdom celebrates the Prince’s health, as well as sends lanterns into the sky to thank the boy who… healed him.” Natasha looked up at the Soldier with wide eyes. The glowing blue vial. His memory. The pieces fit together too well to be coincidence.

The Soldier narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. “It wasn’t a star…” he murmured. “It wasn’t…”

“Hey! Soldier!” Clint called out. “We have to hurry if we’re going to make it to the kingdom before the party starts. Then we’ll never find the Prince.”

“C’mon,” Natasha put an arm gently on the Soldier’s. He didn’t flinch. “We just will see the Prince, and then figure everything out.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

“Damn it!” Sam slammed the back entrance door. “He hasn’t returned from his trip. And when he does, Sharon says they’re not letting him do anything else but prepare for the ball. What are we gonna do?”

The Soldier and Natasha exchanged a look, as Clint cracked a smile. “I guess we’re going to a ball!” he declared. “C’mon, I have a plan.”

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★