Sentinel

Tony managed to sleep well the night before, something of a shocker, and he even managed to remember to go to the feeders before he was starved for blood. He’s on his way back to his dorm to grab his school supplies and wondering why he didn’t sleep like a normal person more often given how nice he felt when he feels something. He isn’t entirely sure why he looks over but he catches the snippet of an aura, a little flicker of black and he frowns. The only time he ever saw black in an aura was Rhodey’s, which was mostly black with a little bit of color, or if someone had a nasty mental health problem. He saw the former more than the latter because most people’s problems showed up as grey or brown spots that flickered in and out, black rarely presented in people’s auras. Actually the first time he ever saw the color in an aura was after Howard had been killed- his mom’s aura had black all over it for months.

PTSD Peggy had called it and after some time in therapy the black faded to brown and most days he didn’t notice anything wrong with his mom’s aura. The little flicker of black appears again and Tony frowns, wondering if Rhodey was getting weirdly protective again and trying to uselessly guard him when they were in a school of guardians. He doubted it, Rhodey wasn’t a morning person, but the bond only went one way so who knew. The answer, he figured, was to check it out.

“Rhodey, stop stalking me, it’s weird and that attack is basically old news,” Tony says as he walks between the buildings to the flickers he had seen to confront his friend but he doesn’t find Rhodey there. “Bucky?” he asks, frowning. He’s sitting on a box outside the building and his eyes are rimmed with red and he looks like hell, “Jesus, what happened?” he asks. He reaches out almost on instinct but he drops his hand because this wasn’t the kind of wound he could heal, at least he thinks. Hmm.

“That attack is old news because there’s been another,” Bucky says softly. Tony’s heart squeezes and he takes a deep breath. Oh, that wasn’t good. Three attacks have happened, two in very quick succession. Fuck.

“Okay,” he says slowly, “I understand that this is awful but why do you look like you’ve been crying?” He hadn’t seemed that affected by the last attack, at least no more than the other guardians. He had been shaken but not broken like he was now. The black that Tony saw in his aura kept eclipsing the rest of the colors but what was left was a kind of sadness Tony has never seen before. Bucky was not handling this well and there had to be a reason.

“The Moroi I used to guard, he was a Rogers and that’s the family that was attacked this time,” Bucky says.

Tony winces again, “I’m sorry,” he says genuinely.

Bucky shakes his head, “I didn’t know them all that well, Steve never liked playing Royal games but… but the Strigoi… I don’t know how they knew about it but Steve and I used to say something to each other. We’d been friends since grade school and we always thought… well we always thought we’d be together. We used to say ‘till the end of the line’ to each other as some kind of sign that we’d always be there for each other. Well, the Strigoi somehow knew about it because they wrote it in blood on the Moroi’s wall.”

Tony resists the urge to throw up because that was awful and the double meaning was more than a little creepy. “I am so sorry,” Tony says, reaching out to Bucky. He doesn’t even realize he’s called the magic until he can feel it flowing into Bucky and amazingly he can see the black in Bucky’s aura lighten some. Bucky, to Tony’s surprise, leans into him, pressing his face to Tony’s stomach and just sitting there like that for a long few moments. Tony lets the magic flow between them, reveling in the warm, tingly feeling the magic had. It felt like life, joy, warmth, and love and he always loved using it, it was the way he felt after that he wasn’t fond of.

Bucky aura gets progressively lighter and Tony runs his hands through his soft hair. It looked just as nice down as it did up. They sit there like that for a long time before Bucky eventually pulls back and Tony lets the magic fall away. “Thank you,” Bucky says, “I feel… a lot better actually.”

“I think… I think I healed some of the dark spots in your aura,” he says, “I’m not sure though, I don’t know how it works.” He felt tired but that wasn’t much of a surprise given that he’s never really done this kind of thing before.

“You can do that?” Bucky asks.

“I don’t know, I guess. I… I don’t usually run into mental health issues that show in the aura so I’ve never healed them before. I’ve only ever healed physical wounds but I could feel the magic and your aura got lighter. I think that means I did something but I don’t know if it was healing or some other thing. Um, sorry,” he adds when he remembers that he didn’t really have permission to do that. Most people wouldn’t care if it was physical but people were a lot more sensitive with their minds.

“No, no its… thank you. I needed that. I don’t usually get like this, I haven’t had a bad day in a long time but-” Bucky stops and Tony can see the spike in the black spots in his aura. Shit that was both bad and weird. The darkness wasn’t even remotely as bad as it was but it was enough that Tony reaches out, magic at the ready and Bucky calms as soon as Tony touches him.

“Hey, it happens and I think given the circumstances you have more than a right to be upset and all that. Anyone would have been freaked out hearing of another attack but being personally targeted? That’s worse.” Especially when he didn’t get the option of death but Tony doesn’t say that, he doesn’t need to. Bucky knows.

*

Rhodey finds him as he heads to breakfast. “Hey, who did you heal this morning?” he asks in a low voice. Damnit, Tony should have known Rhodey would feel that.

“Bucky,” he answers because there was no sense in lying. Tony had some theories he wanted to test on Rhodey now and if he’d be found out as soon as he shared his theories anyways. Might as well be up front.

“Bucky? What happened to him?” Rhodey asks and it occurs to Tony that the news hadn’t been spread to the students yet. Oh damn. He looks around and Rhodey looks confused.

“I’m looking for Pepper because I’ve uh… got some news and I don’t feel like repeating myself,” he says. Rhodey knows right away, of course he does, but they wait for Pepper anyways and Tony drags them off to a quiet corner so they can talk in peace.

Pepper looks at him and Rhodey in question because Tony looked upset and Rhodey was steeling himself for Tony’s words. He probably would have noticed earlier but he had focused on feeling Tony’s strange magic flare up- he could feel it through the bond- but he probably felt the turmoil of feelings before that. He just happened to place more importance on Tony’s magic. “There’s been another attack,” Tony says and Rhodey looks devastated. Pepper hides it better than he does but Tony could see the flare of panic in her aura, and the flare of sadness and shock. “They uh… left another message and this time I got what it was. They went for Rogers this time and left ‘till the end of the line’ in the wall in their blood,” he says.

Rhodey looks out and out disgusted and Pepper turns the same shade of green her aura was. “That is disgusting,” Rhodey says fiercely.

So it was but what’s done is done. Tony doesn’t bother telling them about the double meaning of the words, how it targeted Bucky specifically because that wasn’t relevant. Bucky was a big boy and he was more than well trained, he could take care of himself. It was Moroi that were vulnerable here. “What exactly are we gong to do?” Pepper asks softly. She had to be feeling the heat more than Tony was. Rhodey really would go to the ends of the earth to stay by his side but Pepper? She was as good as defenseless.

“I take it you heard news of the attack then?” a new, smooth voice adds. Tony turns to find Loki sauntering over to them. He can feel Rhodey’s irritation with this, he didn’t need a bond for that, but he had no idea why Rhodey hated him so much. Tony liked him alright and after the last time he protested to Loki’s presence Rhodey seemed to know to keep his opinion to himself. It hadn’t exactly gone well for him.

Loki drops gracefully into a seat beside Tony and drapes his arm over the back of his chair. He doesn’t show it on his face but Tony is pleased with this. He’s always liked attention and he rarely got this kind of attention these days, it was nice to have a small piece of his old life back. “You know Moroi used to fight with guardians, right? Never knew why they stopped, as soon as they did Strigoi numbers quadrupled,” Loki says casually. He saw interest spike in Pepper’s aura and he didn’t need to see his own to know the same happened to him, not that he could see his own aura. There was the pesky problem of Moroi only ever using their magic for ‘good’ but Tony has seen the results of Moroi fighting back. It was the only reason he was alive right now.

“Don’t you dare get ideas, you haven’t even specialized in anything,” Rhodey tells him, “and earth is hardly a useful element to take on Strigoi,” he tells Pepper.

“Well she could drop a large rock on one, it wouldn’t kill it but it wouldn’t be pleasant either,” Loki says, shrugging in that strange cool, uncaring way of his.

“Plus dirt in the eyes is never fun, I’ve accidentally done it to myself enough times to know,” Pepper says in her own defense. “Besides, it’s better than what I’ve got now. I’d rather throw a rock or two to distract a Strigoi than become a meal for one.”

Tony felt similarly but there wasn’t much he could do against a Strigoi. If his attacker was a Moroi or a Dhampir than he could compel them to fuck off but Strigoi? Nothing. That he knew of anyways. If only he’d adopted his parent’s elements. Howard had had fire too and instead Tony got lame shit like seeing auras. What the hell kind of use was that?

“I hate to burst you bubble Pep, but Strigoi are fast. You’re going to have to do more to it than throw some dirt on it,” Rhodey says and Tony can’t help the little bubble of laughter that comes out of his mouth. All he could imagine was Pepper throwing dirt on Howard and that was kind of amusing until he considers what happens after… Everyone, Loki included, gives him a strange look but he ignores them.

“Fine, I’ll find some other way to avoid being eaten,” Pepper tells him primly, nose in the air. Tony didn’t blame her, being without a guardian made her particularly vulnerable even if she had no knowledge on how to use her element as a weapon. But his mom had done it and she was successful, in theory the idea would work. He doubted the Royals would go for it though; they were more fond of cowering.

“I know a few tricks with earth, I could teach you,” Loki offers and Pepper brightens.

“See? Loki knows things about earth and he’ll teach me,” Pepper says in a taunting but teasing tone. She agrees easily but she doesn’t notice the dark look that crosses Rhodey’s face. What was with him?

*

It had been stupid to let Tony heal him in any capacity- he didn’t even know what that was and neither did Tony. But when he had come over to him behind those buildings Bucky just… he needed someone to talk to and Tony had listened better than most. In his line of work losing people was part of the job and yes, it was hard, but you moved on. Wallowing was more than a little frowned upon and he had already taken too much time for Steve. Then Tony came over and he was sympathetic and soft, sweet even and whatever that magic was it felt nice to be touched by it. It almost felt like Tony gave him a bit of energy when he touched him- he could feel the heat of Tony’s hand or maybe that had been that pesky attraction he still hadn’t rid himself of.

Regardless it had been nice to be comforted for once, to be allowed to express a little emotion and get some sympathy for it. It’s been a long, long time since anyone pet his hair, probably since before he left home years ago and it was nice to relax into it. What wasn’t so nice was that god damn Loki kid showering Tony with attention only to watch him eat it up. There was something off there, he had an agenda, Bucky could feel it but he had no proof.

“Still keeping an eye on that one, hmm? Probably not a bad idea but he seems to be adjusting well here. He even managed to draw Tony out of his shell and that isn’t easy since Howard,” Sharon says, not quite catching him off guard.

“You know Tony?” he asks, surprised though maybe he shouldn’t be. Sharon did say she was related to Peggy and she was good friends with Maria.

She snorts, “my aunt is a family friend, of course I know Tony. Not well mind you but that was mostly because I chose to distance myself from Peggy as I got older,” she says. Bucky supposed he understood why but Peggy was the best, why not train under her? When he asks this Sharon sighs. “Because then people would expect me to be her. But I will never be my aunt Peggy and I didn’t want to live with the weight of everyone expecting me to be like her. Distancing myself from her reputation gave me an opportunity to make one of my own that didn’t ride on hers,” she says.

That was strange to hear for Bucky considering his own reputation was only boosted by his training under Peggy. “Well it worked, you’ve created a buzz in the guardian world on your own,” he says. She had an interesting career because unlike most guardians she hadn’t ended up assigned to a Moroi leaving school- she had ended up doing a bunch of freelance work until she had been assigned to a family, but not a specific member. Then she had created quite a lot of buzz when she managed take on three Strigoi at once and win, plus killing off a fourth some other guardian in her group was struggling with. If fighting was in DNA Sharon certainly got her fight from her aunt.

“And that’s the way I wanted it to be. I didn’t want people to expect things out of me because I’m Peggy Carter’s niece, I want people to expect things from be because I’m Sharon Carter. It worked at least, even if aunt Peggy was a little wounded.”

Bucky laughs, yeah he could guess Peggy wasn’t happy with that because she was the fiercely protective type and she was also stubborn. She’d insist Sharon could get what she wanted Peggy’s way and she’d be wrong. No one would ever look at Sharon through her own skillset until Peggy wasn’t around to be a legend anymore and Peggy wasn’t about to go down without a fight. “Well she’s recovered now,” Bucky points out.

Sharon smiles, “it took some convincing but she came around. Honestly I can’t believe she’s still fighting at her age. I think I’d be dead,” Sharon says.

“Peggy will fight until she dies I swear, even if it isn’t Strigoi she’s fighting with,” Bucky says. She might be pushing sixty but she was far more fierce than guardians far younger than her, Bucky knew. He remembered her in more of her youth when he had been her student and he remembered how scary she had seemed then. He imagined she still had that fear on her side with the Strigoi but now Bucky knew she was only a woman, not some kind of scary legend.

“Very true,” Sharon says, “she seems to think the same of you despite the evidence that suggests you might be better off retiring early. You’ve earned her respect and trust me when I say that isn’t easy.”

He knew it wasn’t easy, it took him six years to do it but half of that time was spent with Peggy reprimanding him for being a reckless fool. To be fair he eventually started to listen and when he did Peggy made damn sure he had no room to do anything but improve. He had always been one of her favorites but he had no idea why. “I know, not that I know why. I’ve never really been the kind of student she prefers- she usually likes them like Rhodey. Dedicated and driven. I’ve never really been that,” he says honestly.

Sharon raises an eyebrow, “are you sure? Because Peggy thinks differently. She seems to think your motivations are a bit more… focused, I suppose. She thinks you need some other Moroi to save,” she says. She looks across to courtyard to Tony, who was now laughing at something Loki said, head thrown back and all. Bucky feels irrationally jealous about this.

“I don’t need or want another Moroi,” he says. “And no one would waste a guardian on a Stark so closely related to Howard. Maria’s guardians got pulled; you know that and so does she. And he had Rhodey anyways, there is no way he’d let me take his place.” He wasn’t sure if that’s what she was alluding to but it didn’t really matter either way.

“Peggy can pull strings and you know it. And Maria is well liked, always has been and she’s done a damn good job inching her way back into Royal society. God knows how but I’ve met Maria, she’s a formidable woman. I’ve got no clue why or even how Howard ever treated her the way he did let alone how it lasted so long. I wouldn’t chance it with Maria and I’d take her down easily. Besides, Royals always get two guardians, you know that and so does Rhodey. She thinks you’d be compatible and honestly I don’t need an abundance of knowledge on Tony to know that’s impressive. He’s feisty and he doesn’t like people taking care of him but you have experience with that,” she says.

Bucky squints at her, not sure why she’s trying to talk him into this. Something niggles at the back of his mind though, wondering if he’d ever take the offer if he had it. Tony… well he could use the protection even if it would probably be mostly from himself. But if he was around Tony all the time… that could be dangerous in the best- no worst- of ways. He shouldn’t be spending any unnecessary time with Tony at all.

“Think about it,” Sharon says to him and to his intense surprise she winks at him and walks off. He frowns; trying to remember if any of that conversation they had could count as flirting. Tony’s loud laughter draws his attention away from Sharon though and Loki is making him laugh again. He glares at the kid, annoyed with his presence and that annoyance only grows when he wraps an arm around Tony’s waist.

They start walking off together and Tony surprises him by looking back and he has this look on his face, like he knows he’s made Bucky jealous and he’s doing it on purpose. It’s so… so… high school but it pisses him off that it was working.