A Heart Break In Time

We're 1000 Light Years From The Nearest 7-11.

Once everyone was in the room, it was just us standing around nervously waiting for Wanda. I was mostly hoping she'd come in, say everything was fine and we could just go right back to the party. Forget Steve tried to kiss me, and just move on.

She came in with a worried look on her face, it did not bode well for my theory. Or maybe it did. Depends how badly I wanted to be right.

Turns out, I really wished I wasn't.

"Something is... definitely off. His mind is scrambled. And not like he was attempting to hide it from me like before, it was like it cannot be focused. There's memories I know of you two, that are... different in his brain now. And then memories of Peggy that are blurry... Truthfully, he is a mess." Wanda explained, sounding a bit frantic. Wanda nervous, definitely made me nervous.

"When Monica went into the Hex-"

"I'm sorry, who went in the what now?" Rhodey interrupted, holding his hand up so we could slow down and explain.

I sighed, I didn't really want to explain it. "Basically, when Wanda... uh."

"Brainwashed an entire town." Wanda finished my thought.

I gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded. "Right. When that happened, and I went to find her. I ended up meeting up with Monica Rambeau, Darcy Lewis, and Jimmy Woo. Monica went into the force field surrounding the town. Darcy called the force field The Hex, because it was shaped like a hexagon. And it just caught on, easier than saying 'the force field around the town.' So, it was the hex. Anyway, Monica passed through the hex to get inside, twice. And came out with new abilities. I missed it, but Wanda told me about it later." I explained to them and went back to Wanda. "As I was saying, when Monica went into the Hex, it altered her down to the molecular level, right? And the stones... exposure to just one of them changed you. So.... What if traveling through time with the stones... that many times... essentially broke Steve?"

Wanda was silent as she contemplated that. "It almost reminds me... of when I met Bucky." She turned to him. "Everything was jumbled and you were trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. What was you and what wasn't."

"So Steve... is brainwashed?" Bucky asked. I could see the internal struggle he was having. Knowing his best friend was hurting all this time and missing it. Knowing exactly what he was feeling, and Steve didn't even come to him about it. Steve was just struggling, alone. Bucky knew exactly what that was like.

"Not your fault, Bucky. It's not you. He should've let me put the damn stones back. And then none of us would be in this situation." I stated, angry about the situation all over again.

Bruce spoke up then. "We have no proof that it wouldn't have happened to you, too Talia. To any of us. We didn't know anything about this. It was all a shot in the dark."

"So... now what do we do?" Rhodey asked.

I sighed. "Well, he's definitely sitting out the mission tomorrow. I can't trust his brain right now. So telling him that will be fun."

"I may be able to help... I have a lot more control over my abilities now since... Westview. It mostly seems like a puzzle. I believe if I have help, likely from Talia, I can put the pieces together and hopefully... he'll be back to normal." Wanda suggested, she looked nervous. As if she was worried that we would be rejecting her and her help.

"Honestly, that would be great. Thank you."

Wanda hesitated. "It would take time... time I'm not sure we would really have if there's a mission we need to worry about now."

I nodded. "We'll save first. Then Steve. Steve is at least safe and stable, and with us." I couldn't ignore the nagging feeling of guilt I had. Steve was hurting, and all I wanted to do was hurt him. I should have known better than to just think Steve would do that to me. It didn't make any sense. And yet, I was so ready to believe it. And there was no doubt in my mind why.

I looked at Bucky and the guilt increased. He was probably feeling exactly what I was right now. Guilt. How could we not see it? We were so wrapped up in our own denied feelings for each other that we couldn't see the person we both cared for hurting. How could I call everyone my family if I didn't even see the bare minimum, when my family was hurting?

"Who's going to tell him?" I whispered. No one answered so I spoke louder. "We have to tell him that he's not okay, and that we know. And that were going to let Wanda poke around in his brain to fix it. We all know he will not take that well... so, do we have any volunteers?"

Bucky cleared his throat. "I'll do it. If he's started to be violent... it's gotta be me."

If he's starting to be violent. Shit. The thought slammed me in the head and I couldn't believe I didn't think of it sooner. "I hate to be the one to bring this up... but has anyone seen Peggy since they moved out?"