Prelude Two
“That stings.”
“I know, I know.” Bucky inwardly cringed, being as gentle as possible in cleaning his daughter’s wounds. In all honesty, he seemed to be more troubled by her injuries than she did.
The bruises were one thing, all she had to do was take it easy and ice those, but that cut on her leg needed disinfecting.
He couldn’t believe he let that happen to her and it tore him up inside.
“Are you okay?” Wanda smiled tentatively, resting a gentle hand on the child’s head. “That looks like it hurts.”
“Only a little.” Alya shrugged, taking a bite out of a Rice Krispy Treat that Pepper had given her earlier. The woman had tears in her eyes when they finally got a moment alone and wrapped her arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as she could. It was hard to remember that even though it had been five hours for her, it had been five years to almost everybody else.
They all kept looking at her funny. Especially her mother. The redhead never let her leave her sight. Actually, she wouldn’t even let her out of her grip.
Not that she really minded, even if it hadn’t felt like five years, Alya missed Natasha all the same.
“I’m okay.” She didn’t even flinch when the needle Bucky was using to stitch her up pierced her skin. Her mother held her steady in her arms, but she didn’t really need to restrain her. She was fine. “I’ve had worse.”
Bucky momentarily closed his eyes to keep himself calm. Alya had a way of making light of the most horrific things as if they were normal parts of life.
Wanda’s jaw dropped as she gaped like a fish. That had certainly caught her off guard.
Pietro's eyes widened at how nonchalant Alya was being about the injury to her leg.
Natasha just tensed up and tightened her grip. They would have to have a conversation about the things she said, but now wasn’t the time.
“Papa, are you done yet?”
“Almost.” He snapped out of his shock to continue closing her wound. “How’d you get this anyhow?”
“A dagger.”
“After I specifically told you to stay behind?” His gaze hardened, using a pair of scissors to cut the extra string.
“James….”
He looked up to see Natasha shaking her head. She didn’t want to get into that right now. It was too soon and it didn’t matter. She spent five years missing Alya, all she wanted to do was hold her. She didn’t want to fight.
Bucky took a deep breath and nodded, dropping the subject. He didn’t want to get into an argument either. He just didn’t like to see Alya get hurt.
And she really needed to learn how to follow simple instructions.
But Natasha was right.
It could wait.
“Everything is in the same place it was before.” Pepper told Steve and Natasha as they walked through the Tower.
It turned out that Tony didn’t actually sell the Avenger’s Tower. He changed his mind at the very last minute a few years ago and never touched any of the belongings they left on their respective floors.
Of course, Alya would need new clothes considering that she more than likely grew out of the ones she still had there. Wanda and Pietro would need to be taken shopping as well, they never lived in the Tower at all and neither had Bucky.
“No, Mischief, come back!” Alya gasped when the cat jumped right out of her arms and hopped up onto the kitchen counter. “You’re not supposed to be there.” She put her hands on her hips, much like her mother had done to her.
She would’ve been intimidating had she not been so small.
Mischief just licked at her paw and yawned. There was no way Alya thought that after years of letting her do whatever she wanted, she was going to get her to follow orders now.
Silly girl.
“You can go out for whatever you need. It’s on us.” The CEO smiled. She was in high spirits considering everything that just happened. The time stone was used to reverse Tony’s severe injuries before all the infinity stones were sent back to their respective times. He was still on plenty of bedrest, but he was going to be alright. “The Compound is being rebuilt for work purposes and business meetings, but you’re all welcome to stay here for as long as you’d like.”
“Thank you, Pepper.” Steve shook her hand. “We really appreciate it.”
Alya looked around at everything and smiled wider than she had in a long time.
They were finally home.
Alya’s eyes shot open only to find herself in the dark.
Her heart raced and her mind began to run away from her, coming up with all sorts of scenarios she didn’t want to be proven true.
Feeling something brush up against her arm, she screamed and tried to get out of bed, only managing to get her feet tangled up in her sheets, causing herself to fall onto the ground below.
Trying to set herself, she found that she couldn’t and that realization only increased her panic.
Beads of sweat poured down her face as she frantically wriggled around, only managing to free herself when the door to her room opened.
Paying no mind to who was the one who opened the door, Alya clambered onto her feet and shot towards it, only stopping when the person reached out and grabbed her.
“Alya!” Natasha kept a good grip on her, turning on the lights so the little girl could see her properly. “Alya, look!”
The twelve year stopped struggling at the sound of her mother’s voice and looked around the room, finally collapsing into her arms when she saw that she was only in her room and nowhere else.
There was no more red planet and there was no one sleeping on the ground beneath her.
She was in Manhattan, inside the Avengers Tower, in her room.
Thanos was gone.
She was safe.
Looking behind her mother, she saw that Bucky was standing there in a wife-beater and sweats, looking ready to hurt whatever it was that was apparently trying to hurt her.
“Come. Let’s get you back in bed.” Natasha spoke softly, carrying her over to her messy bed.
As Bucky fixed the sheets, subtly making sure that she hadn’t wet them, Alya realized that the thing that moved across her arm was only Mischief, who was now trying to settle back in comfortably after the upset.
Though the feline should’ve been used to it by now.
It had been weeks since everyone was brought back and this wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence.
Alya had nightmares nearly everyday without fail and each one grew worse in intensity as time went on.
She’d wake up in the morning feeling groggy from the lack of sleep and stay up until her body literally crashed from the exhaustion.
Growing concerned with the intensity and severity of the nightmares, Natasha and Bucky took Alya to see Bruce, who looked her over and sent them to Dr. Cho.
Both doctors surmised that these night terrors were a result of the extreme trauma Alya just went through. Now that everything was calming down, her body was relaxing, but her mind was still racing.
But that couldn’t be all it was.
Wanda and Pietro had a few nightmares as well, but never this often and never this severe.
And it wasn’t as if Alya was willing to share what her nightmares were about because she didn’t talk very much these days.
At first, she seemed normal, almost as if none of this ever happened.
But when reality set in, she became more anxious.
She spent most of her time clinging onto her mother without saying a word. Steve couldn't coax her into watching 'The Wizard of Oz', the twins couldn't seem to get through to her, and Bucky didn't know how to reach her.
Alya needed help and she needed it as soon as possible.
“How’s she doing?” Steve asked his friend when the man exited Alya’s room after the child suffered another nightmare.
“She’s getting worse.” Bucky ran a hand through his hair. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Oh, this?” The blonde motioned to the breakfast he was making. If he didn't do something with his hands, he would end up pacing the floor with worry. Because Alya's nightmares were an every night event, the adults took turns staying up with her. At first, Natasha refused, but after several hours of no sleep, she had no choice but to relent. “I needed something to do. Don’t worry about it. She tell you what her nightmares are about yet?”
“No.” Bucky shook his head. “But we all know they’re about the Blip. I don’t understand how this could be affecting her more than anyone else.”
“Well….I remember when she turned to dust.” Steve cleared his throat to prepare himself well enough to elaborate. “It wasn’t like when everyone went, that’s for sure.”
He remembered it like it was yesterday and it wasn't a pretty sight to keep in his mind.
“How so?”
“She lasted longer than any of you did.” He shrugged, the arm he was using to hold the spatula freezing in place. “It was almost like her body was trying to fight it off, but it was killing her from the inside out. She was throwing up all over the place and she was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t tell you why that is, but I think we both know someone who can figure it out.”
“Figure what out?” Natasha asked as she entered the room with a sleeping Alya on her hip.
On the rare offhand chance that Alya did get some good sleep, it was with her mother holding her. Natasha didn’t even care about how clingy Alya seemed to be, she was concerned, but she wasn’t annoyed.
She missed out on five years of this and she wasn’t about to take it for granted now. In her own way, she was glad that Alya wanted to be near her because then she could keep track of her at all times.
“What’s going on with Alya.” Bucky told her, brushing some stray hair away from the woman’s face once she was close enough. “Something’s up and none of us can figure it out, but maybe Shuri can.”
After all, if Shuri could figure out to remove the mind stone from Vision without actually destroying the android, then surely she could figure out what was wrong with Alya.
“You think she’ll take a look at the twins, too?” Natasha asked.
As much as she noticed a change in Alya, she also noticed one in the twins. While Alya clung to her side every second of the day, Wanda and Pietro clung to each other.
She knew that with the twins, it was probably some normal separation anxiety, but she wanted to cover all her bases.
“Thank you for seeing us on such a short notice.” Steve shook T’Challa’s hand once he stepped off of the quinjet, his tense muscles relaxing once he felt the familiar heat in the air.
“It is my pleasure….this fight has taken the most out of all us.” T’Challa waved him off, smiling to remind him that despite his status in his country, they were still friends. “Sergeant Barnes, Agent Romanoff.” He nodded at the two who also shook his hand in thanks before smiling at the twins. “Come, let’s get to the lab. My sister is ready for you all.”
Alya remained fast asleep, her cheek resting on her mother’s shoulder as she clutched her top in her small fist as if, in her sleep, she was afraid that something was going to happen to her.
Pietro held Natasha’s free hand while Wanda immediately latched onto Bucky’s flesh one, having grown a little attached to the man after he pulled her and her brother aside to tell remind them that they were an important part of the family and his presence wasn’t going to change that.
Bucky was surprised at first, but gently squeezed the teen’s hand in return.
“There you are!” Shuri smiled as they entered the lab. “Come, come!” She moved to rub Alya’s back and woke her up gently.
Alya blinked lazily and rubbed her eyes a little confused about where she was at first, but when she saw that she was still in her mother’s arms, she relaxed and waved at Shuri.
She was told that they were going to Wakanda and she was happy with the news. Any day she was able to see Shuri and Anasi was a good day.
But that didn't mean she wasn't exhausted.
Whining a little when Natasha put her down on the sand table, she didn’t make much of a fuss when Shuri began to look her over.
“What’s the trouble, Little Cub?” The princess asked her, taking notice of the bags underneath her bloodshot eyes and the pale color of her normally tanned skin.
Alya only shrugged and pressed her finger to her mouth, keeping it there for her own comfort.
“Ungandixelela (You can tell me.).”
“Amaphupha amabi (Bad dreams.).” Alya told the older girl, her voice raspy due to its lack of use.
Shuri’s eyebrows furrowed as the schematic data showed up on a hologram to tell her what exactly was wrong. “That’s……odd.”
“What is it?” Natasha asked, allowing Alya to snuggle into her side as she stood next to her.
She didn't bother telling her to take her finger out of her mouth because it was evident that she needed it. Breaking the habit would become priority later, but right now, she just wanted Alya to start feeling better.
Now that they were in Wakanda, the twelve year old seemed to gain a little bit of energy, meaning they were headed in the right direction.
“She’s giving off the same signatures as the mind stone.” Shuri marveled. “How did she get these powers? The Red Room?”
“No, Hydra.” Wanda answered, thinking back to how when Alya got her powers, she spent so much time in silence, not eating or sleeping.
Sort of like what she was doing right now.
“And they’ve never affected her?” Shuri questioned.
“Not like this.” Steve shook his head. “Not that we know of.”
“They have.” Wanda admitted. Alya had a few sensory overloads shortly after having those powers forced on her, but Wanda was always there to help her get through them. After a while, Alya's body adapted to its new normal and the sensory overloads became a thing of the past. “A little while after it happened, but I thought they were just normal growing pains. Pietro and I went through something similar, but it didn’t last very long.”
“What do you think it is?” Bucky asked.
“I have theories, but I don’t know for sure.” The teen chewed her bottom lip. “It could be nothing but stress. I’m going to monitor her for a while to see what I can find and I’ll let you know as soon as I can....in the meantime, have her keep her beads on at all times. I'll update them to withstand the strain."
“Thank you.”