The Other Rogers

Chapter 18

Running through the sea of flowers, the team took note of the fresh air and peaceful sounds. There was no hustle and bustle of New York, there was no arguing and shouting from hundreds of locals walking past the tower daily.

The sound of children laughing caught Wanda and Natasha’s attentions. Making their way closer to the cheerful sounds; they watched a dozen if not more children run after a beautiful blonde woman, whose eyes shone like gems in in the light. Her mouth stretched in a smile that radiated.

“Ingelosi yegolide.”

“Целитель зимы.”

The second name caused Bucky to gasp, looking around for the source of it.

T’Challa and Shuri stopped the moment the prince took notice of Bucky’s reaction. They knew it was time so together they subtly herded Wanda and Natasha closer while Pietro, Sam and Tony stood off to the side.

The siblings of Wakanda couldn’t see how Steve hadn’t clicked on to everything as the faces shone with some sense of recognition.

Bucky stood around to find out how children from Wakanda would know that code name, that name hadn’t been mentioned since the escape from Hydra. His eyes followed the movements of the children as they chased after something or someone. His eyes kept following the children as they gained on whoever it was that they were running after.

The cries of laughter brought a smile to all those watching. Parents and elders of the peaceful country smiled and gazed on as if it was a common occurrence.

The laughter seized and the rambling of excited young voices wafted over to where the Avengers were waiting.

Shuri called out to the children, “Bantwana, yizani nomhlobo wakho nize nihlangabeze abaphindezeli.”

Nobody made a sound as dozens of feet tramped in their direction. Sam clung to Tony imaging the stampedes out of Lion King. His fear of African wildlife such as Rhinos and Hippos spiked up as a herd of children advanced onto them.

The children all stared at the Avengers, never drawing their eyes away from those they idolised. The Avengers all reared back at the intensity of the children’ gazes; their mouths dropped as a beautiful eruption of chimes sounded to their left.

Bucky and Steve looked up and were blinded by the smile that shined as the woman stood in sunlight, making it picture her as an angel. Once they settled against the brightness, both soldiers stopped and fell to their knees.

The woman was Anya, and she was alive.

Steve jumped and ran to her throwing his arms around his twin, one that he was grieving for. Bucky stayed on the ground, his fingers digging at the dirt.

The woman, Anya stared at Steve not recognising him. She thought his eyes seemed familiar, but that was the extent of it all.

No one else in the group seemed familiar either. There were two women, one would be roughly thirty while the other would have been barely twenty.

There was another barely adult, this time it was a male and stood close to a man who looked like Howard and a black man, who looked like he’d seen war.

She tried to remove the large blonde man from her presence, but he was wrapped around her much like an anaconda.

Anya turned to look for help from Shuri or T’Challa but before her eyes locked onto either of the Wankandans, she saw a person who she didn’t remember seeing since being a nurse on the frontlines.

She didn’t remember much after she patched him up. But there was enough. It wasn’t short after their goodbyes the camp was invaded, many of the remaining soldiers slaughtered while Nurses hid in fear. They were taken and thrown into cells, waiting the days turn into nights. They were taken as prisoners; never to see society again.