The Girl With The Seven Marks

Civil War 4

The Girl With The Seven Marks

Civil War

Chapter Four

Bucharest

Old apartment building

Slender fingers smooth across a blurry newspaper picture of Alyanna standing next to Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Brown eyes grow red as a tear slips down a soft, redden cheek and falls onto the dusty floor.

Alyanna stood in the same room that her soulmate had spent in hiding for two years. The fridge and cabinets were bare, the lights flickering in the bathroom, an old flat mattress in the corner, and the ceiling was slightly leaking over a rusty bucket. Certainly wasn't the worst place to live, but it wasn't the luxurious king-size beds, hot tubs, and divine dining she had been indulging in while her soulmate lay waste here.

She peers over the newspaper clippings, the battle in Sokovia being the highlight of them. All this time and he had kept track of her. But why didn't he come to her? Fugitive or not, Alyanna could have helped him transition among the others. Her heart squeezed in angst at what he must have been feeling all this time, knowing his soulmate was close but so far.

Alyanna had been fortunate to be oblivious of his whereabouts.

A small creek from behind her made Alyanna's finger fall from the picture. "I thought I told you I would handle this."

"I'm not trying to argue with you," Steve says as he walks closer to her.

Alyanna turns to face him, wiping away her tears. "Easy to say when you knew where he was all this time, and you didn't tell me!"

Captain America could feel the hurt coming from his soulmate, and guilt swelled in every fiber of his being. "I know, and I was wrong. But you have to know I was trying to protect both of you."

Alyanna scoffs. "Protect who? Us or you? I didn't choose who my soulmates are, but I don't even know if you were afraid to share your best friend or me."

Steve glowered at her words. "You're not very fair. If he wanted to be part of our lives, then he would have come back. But he didn't, and we needed to respect that."

Alyanna was stunned at his words. Steve had never been so firm with her, and the last time he was remotely like this was back on their mission in D.C.

"Does he know that you knew where he was? Have you been in contact with him?" She questions, coming to stand closer to her taller soulmate. His shield was strapped to his arm as if he were prepared for a battle.

"No," Steve answers truthfully. "At least I don't know. But one thing is I have not spoken to him since the falling of the brotherhood. I would never intentionally hurt you, Aly, and you know that," He says sincerely, stepping closer to her.

Alyanna knew he wasn't lying; she didn't need a soulmark to know the honorable man in front of her wasn't lying. Closing her eyes, she steps forward and rests her head on his chest, his free hand coming up to cup her back.

"He wouldn't hurt innocent people, not intentionally," Alyanna claims, thinking back on how he was accused of planting a bomb.

"We know that, but they don't. If we can bring him in peacefully, then we may have a chance of speaking his innocence."

"I am innocent," a deep voice rasps behind them, starling the couple. Alyanna's whole body freezes at his voice, and she felt her body vibrate with anticipation. Steve looks up first, gazing at his old friend, who looked to have aged a few years from stress.