The Mimic

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Five years had passed. Five whole years.

Five whole years without half of the population. Without T'Challa to vent to and train with. Without Shuri pulling people into her lab to test out her new inventions. Without Sam hyping y/n up and keeping her entertained. Without Wanda cooking the most amazing Sokovian meals for everyone at dinner. Without Scott telling the worst dad jokes in the world. Without Peter singing his heart out during missions and little karaoke sessions.

Without Bucky.

It still didn't seem real that he was gone. It was so abrupt, so sudden. It didn't give y/n time to process the gravity of the situation until it was far too late. She still expected to turn around and see his face, but he was never there. He was dusted, just like everyone else.

It was a numbing feeling, like a hole in her heart that just seemed to deepen whenever she thought about it. Surviving in a world with only half of the supposed population felt more like a chore than a privilege, or at least that was how y/n felt.

Her whole life had been one big struggle. She just wanted a break from it all. A break from the nightmares, the memories, the pain, everything. Being one of the many that had been snapped away almost seemed like a better option to y/n. But no, the universe decided to take away her soulmate and everyone that she trusted - except for Natasha. Her only lifeline was Nat, but she was busy leading the Avengers after everyone else went their separate ways.

Y/n didn't go back to Wakanda, nor did she go back to the compound, or New York. They were full of far too many bittersweet memories. Memories that she knew that she could never recreate with anyone else. Wakanda had been her home for years, but now she couldn't even set foot in there without thinking about Bucky, T'Challa, and Shuri. It wasn't the same without them. Not going back to the compound was pretty self-explanatory, she just couldn't be in that building anymore. And New York was full of memories with Peter and Bucky, it didn't feel right to walk around there anymore. So, y/n went to the only other place that she knew.

Her hometown in Sweden.

It was a place that she thought she'd never go back to, but it was the only place that resembled even a small notion of belonging. It was where her ancestors had lived for thousands of years. They were the reason why the rural town still existed. Y/n felt as if this was the best time to provide aid, and god, she was right.

It was a very small, rural town, so the snap had completely devastated them. Almost all of their farmers were gone. Children had been left without parents. Even some of the main produce providers had disappeared, meaning that the town was doomed to starve if nobody stepped in. Yes, they could've simply visited another town, but the closest town was at least a two hour drive, and many of the townspeople didn't even have their own cars.

Completely rural, completely off the grid. No internet, barely any service, and barely connection to the outside world. They didn't need it. People worked from the first sign of the sun right up until the sun set, and by that time they were far too exhausted to do anything but eat dinner and go to bed. After the snap, the workload simply doubled for the remaining people in the town. Even some of the older children had to be put to work, which wasn't ideal, but there was nothing else that they could do.

It took a while for y/n to adjust to the town. It still felt eerie and ghostly, and she never ever set foot in her old apartment building, nor did she set foot in her father's old shoe shop. It was too much. Instead, she stayed with one of the only remaining farmers.

The farmer was an older woman named Maria. She, like everyone else in the town, had lived there since she was a child. She'd raised her own family there, and had even helped raise her grandkids. Her husband had passed away just before the snap. Sixty long years of marriage, and she still talked about how they were the happiest years of her life. It was endearing to see, especially because that was exactly what y/n had wanted for herself and Bucky.

It was obvious that Maria wasn't supposed to be on her own on the farm. She was getting weak and simply couldn't handle the hard labour anymore, but the family that had been living with her had been snapped away. Her hands were cracked and calloused, covered in an array of little lines - lines that she seemed to always be able to tell a story with.

When y/n first arrived, Maria welcomed her with open arms. She set up a spare room just for her, and would cook homemade meals every day. Y/n quickly stepped in when it came to homemade meals, deciding that she would either join Maria or cook them herself. She felt as if she was mooching off of the poor lady, but, Maria would ignore any offer that y/n made. Maria treated her like one of her grandchildren. Y/n would get bundled up and smothered in the winter, and fussed over about sunscreen in the summer. It was nice.

Maria had no clue who y/n was. She didn't know that she was an Avenger, nor did she know that she was from the Mimic bloodline. Nobody did. The only news that the town ever had were through newspapers, and the newspapers were commonly local and farming news, not Avengers news. It was nice, in a way, but it didn't take long for people to put the puzzle pieces together. Especially once she begun to use her powers.

Y/n never used her powers in a negative way in the town. Fire was purely for lighting candles or campfires. Super soldier strength was only for lifting heavy hay bales and other things that nobody else could carry. Wanda's powers were only used if something had to be quickly moved out of the way. Peter's webs were used for decoration during Halloween or to tie things tightly together. The list went on. But the main powers that y/n used were her water manipulation and her crop cultivation.

She had no clue that those powers existed, nor did she even know how she was able to mimic them in the first place, but once people put the puzzle pieces together, she was introduced to many scriptures and books about her ancestors. Water manipulation and crop cultivation were some of the only powers that they used, and it was from those that y/n started to learn how to control them. It was a pretty tricky process, and quite a few crops were drowned or ruined in the process, but she soon got the hang of it.

It was nice to be able to help again. It was nice to have some sort of peace. Yes, the nightmares never stopped. Yes, her thoughts constantly haunted her. Yes, she left a blanket and a plate of food out on the porch every night just in case Bucky did come back. But, ever since the snap, it was the closest to peace that y/n had ever been.

Well, that was until a car pulled up outside Maria's farmhouse.