The Other Rogers

Chapter 24

The soft surface of a bed is what woke Anya up. She couldn't understand why Hydra would give her a mattress. Opening her eyes, she slowly took in the white room that was too clean to be one of Hydra and she smiled.

It hadn't been a dream; she had escaped the nightmare that had been her life. She was now safe in Wakanda and had been for a month or so, ever since T'Challa found her broken and dying.

Anya could remember waking up in the same room in Wakanda the first time. She had thought herself to be dead; she should have been dead; but her powers had saved her.

Apparently, the Prince had been talking a stroll around the border; checking in with some of the other tribes when out of nowhere, a purple disc opened from the heavens and she fell through, barely alive. Scared for her, T'Challa had raced back to the palace, her bleeding body draped over his arms.

His sister, Shuri had taken one look at her and told her brother who she was. Unknown to Anya, Tony Stark had asked Shuri to help the Avengers find her; and the last thing Shuri had heard from the billionaire was that the woman in question had been captured and tortured by a murderous AI robot created by Stark himself.

Anya had spent a week unconscious while Shuri and the other doctors helped her body heal. After that, she had been invited to live at the Palace with the royal siblings. Shuri loved to hear of the stories she had; especially anything that included the American hero.

T'Challa had been the one to comment on the fact that Anya couldn't remember anything after Nineteen Forty-Three, including the incident that resulted in her almost losing her life. They hadn't thought anything of it, until pain unlike any other would stab through her head if she tried to think about anything after that disastrous year.

Wondering why she was in the medical section of the palace, Anya stood up and assessed her body for any noticeable injuries. Unable to find anything, she started to stress. She couldn't remember hurting herself recently, in fact the last thing she remembered-

She remembered everything.

Anya leant against the bed, holding her chest, her breathing rapid as she looked around. Shuri had told her that she was expecting some visitors, some people that the teenager hoped would help Anya with her memory loss. The guests had turned out to be none other than the Avengers; basically, led by her brother. Her brother Steve. James had been there with him. James, the man's name was enough to send her heart beating erratically.

The man who owned her heart, had owned it since she was eighteen. She sighed and hung her head; before Wanda and Shuri helped her with her memories, the last time she had seen him was as he fought with Steve seconds before the slab of rock that had been Sokovia plummeted.

A groan alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone. A bed was positioned next to hers with a mess of brown locks and tanned skin.

Smiling Anya walked over to it and knelt down beside it. His hair had grown into a mane, the same as was before she had cut it in Steve's apartment all those months ago.

She brought her hand to gently stroke his cheek. She loved watching the man sleep. All of the pain, worry and fear are gone, leaving behind only peacefulness and serenity.

She traced his lip lightly with the tip of her finger. Unconscious, he pouted slightly, and Anya resisted the urge to bit it, kiss it, to slide in next to him and sleep the day away.

She gazed so intently at each divot of his lip as if it could map out ancient seas and tell her everything she didn't know. His lips felt slightly chapped under her feather light touches as she traced it again.

She let out a startled giggle when James playfully bit her finger. His eyes fluttered open and all they read was mischief, but they softened within seconds while he laid tender kisses on her fingers.