Chapter Forty-Four
"Hi."
Alya looked up from her place on the ground only to find the Wakandan princess standing over her. She was still adjusting to life in Wakanda and tried to find ways to entertain herself. She waded in the small stream behind the hut and she even tried playing by herself while her father tended to the goats nearby.
He tried to get her to join him, but she was a little afraid of them. She'd never met a goat before, so she didn't really know what to expect. He didn't push her. These were all new experiences for her, it would take time for her to warm up to everything.
"Hi." The twelve year old scrambled up onto her feet out of respect.
"I heard you flew in some time ago. I'm sorry I didn't come to welcome you. I was very busy in my lab and I couldn't get away."
"It's okay." Alya had to bite down on her tongue in order not to let the words, 'Your Majesty' slip from her lips. The last time she was here, Shuri told her not to address her by any of those titles. She wanted her to be completely comfortable with her and that meant being on a first name basis. "Thank you for the clothes….they're really pretty."
"You're welcome. You wear them well." Shuri smiled. "If you aren't busy, I would like very much for you to join me."
"Where?"
"Well, when you were here last, I didn't get to show you around. We can start with my lab, I have all kinds of cool things in there."
Alya thought about it for a minute before she nodded. It could be fun. There was only so much she could say to Mischief before she got bored and strutted off to do her own thing. Sometimes Alya thought that Mischief liked Bucky better. She always seemed to be more alert and friendly when her father was around.
Finicky cat.
"I have to ask Papa first." That sentence sounded very odd in her ears, but it was a good odd. Their relationship was blossoming to the point where she felt she had to ask his permission before she did something.
"Of course." Shuri smiled, glad to see the two getting along. While she worked to help Bucky with his deprogramming, he had told her a little bit about Alya and how they had been torn apart all those years ago. She really felt for the two of them and if there was anything she could do to help, she would. "Go ahead, I'll wait."
Alya grinned and allowed her small feet to slink down into the grass (she wore sandals this time around) as she made her way to her father, who was still tending to his goats. She liked the goats, but she thought they were pretty ornery.
They always looked at her funny.
"Papa? Can I go play with Shuri?"
"Where do you guys plan on going?" He asked.
"To her lab. Can I go? Please?" She hopped up and down with unbridled excitement.
"You can go." His smile matched hers. "Don't go getting yourself into any trouble."
"Who, me?"
"Wow."
Shuri's lab was like nothing Alya had ever seen before. It was so big and the technology was so advanced. She didn't think that kind of technology could even be created.
"What's that?" She asked, running up to a window that oversaw what she thought looked like a train station with trains that flew faster than bullets.
"That's the Maglev Train." Shuri explained, working on something at her desk. "The train is used to transport vibranium. See those stabilizers?"
"Those things on the side?" Alya's hands pressed up against the glass in pure fascination. "What do they stabilize?"
"The vibranium needs to be stabilized because it's being transported at such high speeds."
"Wow."
"Come here, I want to show you something." Shuri waved her over.
Honestly, Alya was like most kids. She liked trains. Bullet trains, subway trains, Choo Choo trains. She could literally stand right where she was for hours and just watch the trains bring in all that vibranium.
But Shuri was calling. So she very reluctantly pulled herself away from the window and skipped over to the teenaged girl to see what she wanted her for.
And in front of Shuri, was a hologram with diagnostics and measurements. There was also a hologram of a prosthetic arm.
"What do you think?"
"It's for my papa?" Alya figured that it was, but she didn't want to assume. She could've been wrong.
"Well, duh. Who else would it be for, Little Cub?" Shuri nudged her to try to get her to relax a bit more.
"Little Cub?" Alya arched a brow.
"We call your father the 'White Wolf'. It's only fitting." Shuri shrugged nonchalantly. "What do you think of the arm?"
"I think it looks cool." Alya's eyes widened just staring at it. "He's gonna like it."
"Do you think he'd want the star to be put back on it?"
"No." Alya shook her head. "I think he wants a new start. Hydra gave him that star."
"Got it." Shuri took that information and swiped the holograms away before grinning very conspiratorially. "Do you know this guy?"
Alya watched as she swiped to bring up an all new hologram, showing a guy in a red and blue suit swinging around New York City.
"I think he's very cool. Fighting street crime every night is no easy feat." Shuri watched the video in awe.
Alya watched right along with her, wondering when the video had been taken. Spider-Man was being filmed, swinging from building to building until he eventually swooped down and saved a little kid from being hit by a car.
"Yeah….I know him." She hesitated before saying. She wasn't sure if Peter wanted his identity to be outed like this, even if she was only talking to the Princess of Wakanda.
"Really?" Shuri perked up even more. Alya guessed she really did admire everything Spider-Man did for his community. "I would like to meet him one day. I do question how he managed to create those synthetic webs."
"Yeah….that's pretty cool." She nodded absentmindedly.
She hadn't gotten a chance to call Peter since she arrived in Wakanda. It wasn't like there was no cell service or anything, but Alya didn't want to be rude and ask for more then she was given. The king had already done so much for her and her father, she couldn't possibly ask for anything else.
But that didn't mean she didn't miss Peter. She really hoped that he was safe. A part of her was a little jealous that he was able to go home and go on with life as if nothing had ever happened, but that wasn't his fault.
All the same, she missed home. She missed her sister waking her up with morning tickles, she missed Steve's big breakfasts, and most of all, she missed her mother.
Everyone had gone their separate ways. Wanda in once place, Steve in another, with Natasha going in the opposite direction. No one knew where the other was. They were off in their individual places.
Alya was lucky, she got to stay with her father. She didn't have to be alone.
How come she felt so lonely?
After Shuri showed her the video of Spider-Man, Alya had been pretty absentminded. Shuri spoke to her about many different things and showed her all around her homeland, but Alya was somewhere else.
At first, Shuri hadn't noticed. She was too excited to show her new guest all the places she loved to go. But after a few hours of nonstop talking and getting no answers, she realized something was up. She felt bad, she didn't know what she did to upset Alya, but it must have been something big to get her to shut down like that.
From what Bucky told her, Alya was full of energy that she didn't know how to control.
This wasn't it.
She took her home not long after that and the two went their own ways. She wished she could do something to help, but she didn't think that Alya would open up to her. They weren't exactly close.
But that didn't mean she wouldn't try.
"Hey, you're not so bad." Alya reached out and touched a goat she had come across while wandering around.
That's what she had been doing the past several days, clearing her head. Or, at least, trying to.
It seemed like now she was thinking about who she is and what she's done, more often. She knew she was born in the Red Room in Russia. Her parents were James and Katya. That was simple to comprehend, it was easy to come to terms with.
But being a product of the Red Room, being only what they made her, was what was weighing heavily on her mind.
Peter got to go home and live his life because he was good. He didn't hurt people, he saved them. He looked out for the little guy and he made sure they were safe.
Alya was the opposite. She was a weapon. That was what she was born to be and that's what she would always be. Nothing more than a pawn in somebody else's game.
She had hurt and killed before she even turned five. Her ledger was dripping, flowing red. When she thought of the things she had done in the Red Room, it made her cringe.
Especially when she thought of Ksenia. Her very first friend.
When she thought of the way Dreykov and Madame B had forced her to do what she did, tears burned at her eyes.
They took everything from her. They took her mother, they took her father, her independence, her freedom, her choices!
They even, for a while, took her mind.
What was she without them?
Everything she was, was a result of what they wanted her to be.
Was she good? Her mother thought so. So did Steve.
But what if the version they saw of her, wasn't really her?
What if all she would ever be, was a Widow?
A light rustling of the grass snapped her out of her thoughts as her head turned sharply to see what was causing the commotion. The goat she had been playing with turned and left her. It looked pretty calm, but Alya was on high alert.
She stood as still as a statue as she thought about how she was going to be able to defend herself.
As a figure approached, her body moved before her mind could catch up and she pulled the knife she hid from the pocket of her romper and held it out towards the person, stopping them before they could get any closer.
Only to find out it was her father.
"Put that down. Now." He scolded her.
The knife immediately fell from her hand. She had been scolded by Steve before, but this was different.
There was a certain edge in Bucky's tone that made her muscles freeze, just not in a bad way. She didn't feel like she was in danger. She felt like it was in her best interest to do what she was being told to do.
Alya couldn't explain it. It was almost the same as when Natasha caught her doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.
Bucky was trying to bridge the obvious gap and be her father. Even if it meant getting a little stern sometimes.
"I don't stop you from wandering around and enjoying yourself, but that doesn't mean you get to leave without telling me where you're going."
The more he scolded her, the harder it was to fight the smile from crossing her lips.
"I'm sorry." She tried to say it with a straight face.
But, obviously, she failed.
Bucky gave her a funny look, wondering what she could possibly find so amusing about this situation. When he realized she was missing and he didn't know where she was, he panicked. Of course, they were in a relatively safe place, but anything could've happened.
What if she was hurt and she needed him? What if she was lost and couldn't find him?
"Alyona, I don't understand what's so funny, but this better not happen again. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Papa." She nodded emphatically, the smile winning the battle of wills.
"And I better not see that knife again."
"Yes, Papa." She giggled.
"And go back home. You're done wandering for the day."
"Yes, Papa." She nodded and picked up the knife, stuffing it in her pocket, before looking up at him.
And that's when she realized it.
She was more than what the Red Room made her. She was the child of the Black Widow and the Winter Soldier. She was loved and she was cherished. She had people who looked out for her best interest and worried when she was reckless.
Dreykov might have intended for her to be a monster, but she that's not what she turned out to be.
She was someone's sister, someone's friend, she was someone's niece, someone's cousin, someone's grandchild and most importantly, she was someone's daughter.