Once Upon an Avenger

Chapter 23: Dragons and Dog tags

"Hey, Pep, do you have a minute?" Hope asked as she sat down at the breakfast bar with her hot chocolate.

"Sure, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing really... I was just wondering if you knew whether James still had anything from the 40s?"

"Bucky?" Pepper took a sip of her coffee. "He has his dog tags from the war. Why?"

"I have an idea of how to stop his nightmares, the ones about his time with Hydra." Pepper motioned her to explain further. "Deon used to get PTSD night terrors too, why he had them is another long and complicated story. Seems to be a common theme with my family. Anyway, Gold cast a spell on a book Belle had given him when he was born, he'd sleep with it under his pillow."

"And you want to try and do something similar for Bucky..."

"Yeah. If I can help, I have to, right?" Hope finished her drink. "I'm going to need you to cover for me though, he'll be wondering where these went..." As soon as she finished her sentence, the dog tags appeared in her hand. "Who knows if the Dragon will help, so I'd rather not get his hopes up."

Pepper sighed. "You're going to see the Dragon again?"

"It's not a simple spell and I need ingredients..."

"Hope!" They heard Bucky shout from the gym downstairs. "Why did my tags just disappear in a cloud of white smoke?"

"That's my cue to leave..." The princess-pirate hopped down from her stool and placed her mug in the sink.

"Answer one question for me before you do," Pepper insisted. "What's the price going to be?"

"I guess we'll find out." Hope gave her a reassuring smile before disappearing in her signature mist.

Just as she did, Steve and Bucky emerged from the gym stairwell. "Where's Hope?" Steve asked.

Pepper shrugged. "I don't know."

"We heard you talking to her."

"I was, but she went out, and now I don't know where she is."

"Out?"

"To town," she clarified.

Steve cocked an eyebrow. "To?"

"To see an old friend."

"With my tags?" Bucky asked.

Pepper gathered her things together and finished her coffee. "I have to get to work, trust her. She'll be back soon... Have fun today!"

"So much for 'I won't leave the compound again until the others get back'," Steve muttered as she left.

*

After Pepper had left, Steve and Bucky had gone back to the gym for another hour or so of training. They were sat eating breakfast when a small box appeared in front of Bucky. "Don't kill me," a voice pleaded from behind them.

Bucky undid the bow and opened it, inside were his dog tags. "You stole them, just to return them as a gift?" He asked, hanging them back around his neck.

"Technically," she was now stood in front of the two super soldiers on the other side of the counter, "I borrowed them to enchant them."

"Enchant?"

Steve shook his head. "Old friend my ass. You went to see the Dragon."

"Old friend? Hmm. Is that what she called him?" Hope asked, though it was more an observation than an actual question.