" you really can't keep yourself out of trouble, can you "
CASSANDRA BARNES
fugitive. vigilante. sister. criminal.
-AVENGERS INFINITY WAR-
book four of the cassandra barnes series
(read delirium, vindication, and divided first!!)
Cassandra laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. They'd gotten back from Clint's house, and nobody was asleep yet. Besides Natasha, who'd fallen asleep out of exhaustion from crying, and throwing up, because of crying.
She'd carried Natasha to bed, and promised to lay with her until she fell asleep. Even though it was Cassandra's room. She couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard she tried. She tried the meditation that Wanda had taught her, she tried relaxing her body, limb by limb, like Peggy taught her. She even tried handcuffing her wrist to the bed frame, all that did was make her scared of the dark.
"Cass?" Natasha whispered, turning towards her. "Yes Nat?" "I needed to know if you were still there," she said, looking at her with tears in her eyes.
"I'm here моя любовь. I'm not going to leave you."
Cassandra took Natasha's hand, squeezing it once, then planting a small kiss on her knuckle. Natasha closed her eyes again, snuggling closer to Cassandra and whispering,
"I love you Cass." "I love you too Natasha."
•••••••••••••
Cassandra held Natasha's hand as the walked on the grass around the Compound. There was a tree with soft pink blossoms a few feet away. A soft breeze blew past the women, and ruffled the blossoms on the small tree. Petals floated towards them, landing in Natasha's hair. Natasha stopped, smiling a brilliant smile, and ran towards the tree and pulling Cassandra with her.
Natasha reached up to pick a small flower off the tree, lifting the flower to her nose and taking a deep breath. She picked another, tucking it behind Cassandra's ear.
"These were my favorite as a little girl," she said. "I only saw them in pictures. But they remind me of my mother, my real mother."
Cassandra smiled, gazing up at the pink covered branches above her. Cassandra sat down against the trunk of the tree, kissing Natasha on the cheek when she sat down next to her.
"It's nice, isn't it?"
The tree and the Compound disappeared around them. Natasha dissolved, leaving Cassandra alone in the dark.
A figure stepped out of the shadows, making Cassandra jump. It was her father. Her father who had been dead for fifty-some years. She didn't expect her dreams to make much sense anymore, but this was weird even for her.
Cassandra didn't say anything, but she felt her body fill with pure anger. This man left her and James when they needed him, this man abused her mother, only to leave her for a girl ten years older than Cassandra.
"You've grown up," he said, tucking his hands behind his back. "Did you expect me not to?" Cassandra asked, her eyes following his every move. "I would've hoped you had died the night you were taken. But yet you disappointed me once again."
She glared, feelings tears choke up her throat and threaten to come out her eyes.
"You were always so much like your mother. What you have now was all i wanted with her-" "No. Liar. You left us. You left James, Mother, me. You're a monster." "And yet the only monster I see here is you."
Cassandra threw a punch at him, but he caught it and twisted her arm away from her.
"You're powerless, you always have been." "No, no I'm not."
He nodded, a sickening smile apoearing on his face. He poked her on the chest, shoving her back. She flew through the air, and into a glass wall. The glass broke around her, and she woke up.
•••••••••••
Natasha sat next to Cassandra, slowly eating a piece of toast while staring at Steve. He'd noticed her, but at this point he was too annoyed to care.
Cassandra was looking out the window, still thinking about the nightmare. She didn't have anything to think about it, but parts of it kept showing up in her mind, then rewinding like a TV.
She felt herself stand up, and follow Natasha outside. It felt like her body wasn't her own, she was just an empty shell of a human, following people around and doing what she was told.
"Are you doing ok?" Natasha asked once they were outside. "Yeah," Cassandra lied. "You seem a little shaken, is there something you want to talk about?" "No I'm ok." "Ok. You know you can tell me anything ri- ooh," Natasha paused, and grabbed Cassandra's hand.
She pulled her to a tree. The same tree she saw in her nightmare. With the same pink flowers.
"These were my favorite as a girl-" she said. "But you only ever saw them in pictures, and the remind you of your real mother, " Cassandra finished her sentence. "Yeah."
Cassandra picked a flower off the tree, tucking it behind Natasha's ear. Natasha smiled, and the two sat down against the tree.
She was not a monster. Her father was wrong, he always had been. She had nothing to prove to him. He was the monster, and he always would be.
Cassandra kissed Natasha once on the cheek, and again on ths lips. Natasha leaned her head on Cassandra's shoulder, squeezing her hand gently.
She had lost everything. But she was going to do all she could to get it back.
there it is, the end of genocide!! thank you all for reading, and i promise next book i will update a little more frequently. hopefully. i love you all more than coulson loves steve, have a wonderful rest of your day❤ (oh and i made a new exit banner)
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