Sunshadow

A pink dress with a blue bow

Sol prayed to the Sun that Bucky would finally work up the courage. She knew he would have to make the first move, since Kiki would never put herself out there like that unless she knew for sure she wouldn't get hurt. And somehow she wasn't being convinced.

Bucky had been incredibly secretive about what he had gotten her. He had left the compound one day to go collect it and returned with a single, small bag. It had no logo, nor pattern, so Sol had no idea where it was from, and therefore no idea what it was.

Everything was going well so far.

It had only taken one little sentence to persuade her. Sol knew it from when Kiki had spoken to their mother. It was the sentence Al sobbed as she accidentally filled the room with death.

Don't think about that.

She was being handed gifts from all around.

"Okay, okay!" Al laughed. "Let me open them!"

It was the happiest Sol had seen her in... a while.

And never on her birthday.

Stop it, Sol! Think happy thoughts! Everything is fine!

Oh, god, was that her gift. She hoped Kiki liked it. It was something she had spent ages picking out. And she had so many more she could think of... 8 years worth.

Not today.

So she watched Kiki open her carefully folded present, and hoped that she had found the right thing.

☾

She pulled out a beautifully wrapped parcel, with gold and silver suns and moons embossed all over. This had to be from Sola.

Sol had known she wouldn't want to rip the gorgeous wrapping paper, so she had sealed it with a black ribbon, for the mist. How had Sola gotten this creative from a doctor and a business woman?

It was a square box, with a beautiful flower drawn on the front. It looked almost like some kind of lily. She examined it closer, looking at the intricate drawing.

"It's called a datura. Some call it a moonflower. It only blooms at night, and is part of the nightshade family." Sol explained.

"It's poisonous?"

"But beautiful. Open the box." So she did.

Inside was a set of matching rings, one sun and one moon.

"Sola." She whispered.

Sol took the box out of her hand and put one ring on the middle finger of her right hand. "This one's for me. As I'm always right." She picked up Kiki's other hand and pushed the other ring onto her finger. "And this one's for you, because we should never be apart."

☾

Many hundreds of presents later, Kiki was sat in the middle of the room, smiling at her hands, as everyone else danced around her. She was still tired from her 3 days of memory loss. Some of it had come back, now she was away from the removal gas, but she knew there were lots that were lost forever.

Shit. She shouldn't have thought of that. Memories meant ones she tried to hide away.

She was back at another birthday party, a different time, with different people, that she could never undo.

One she never wanted to remember.

☾

Marx signed the last paper on his desk that was needed to launch the entirety of Hydra. He had to find that girl.

He had to kill her.

She killed his brother, and the people she worked for killed his father. And he would kill them all to make up for what they took from him. They didn't even know who he was. They could never find him.

And he smiled as the killing forces were unleashed on Shield.

☾

Kiki was lost in her memories, spiralling back in time as the shapes moved around her blurrily. The world seemed to stop as it merged with England on her 9th birthday.

Kiki ran around in her brand new pink dress. It had a big blue bow on the back which had made her squeal with delight when she had opened it. It had been a gift from her mummy, since her daddy didn't have any taste.

She knew the cake would come out soon. Lucia had been in the kitchen for weeks beforehand, making sure everything was perfect for her party. All her friends were waiting to see the explosion of glitter and sugar that would pop out to be eaten soon.

Sola was there too, a moody 16-year-old, but she was trying her best to be nice to her little sister. She knew everything had to go smoothly for Kiki today, as birthday parties were the social event of the year for girls in Year 5.

So that was why, when Kiki next ran past her, she picked her up and sat her on her shoulders to look around for Lucia with the cake. Sola was incredibly tall to her, and she felt like she was on the top of the world. Sol began to spin, and she laughed, giddy on birthday excitement.

"Look, Sola! There's Mummy!" She cried, pointing to someplace in the crowd. It was a little strange, even to her 9-year-old brain, that she would be travelling around without her daddy just before the cake, when they would undoutably want to take photos and cry.

Then she noticed the expression on her mother's face.

She was looking at the window of the house, at something beyond Sola's, or even Kiki's on her shoulders, view. She looked... scared. Helia Smith, scared. That was a first. And it terrified Kiki to her core.

And then she heard the gunshot.

Well, the two. She watched them both hit her parent's chests, red blood blossoming through the fabric. All she could think about was what a shame it was her mummy's white dress would have a red stain. Blood never came out.

For a few seconds there was silence except for 'Everything is Awesome' booming out of the expensive stereos. Then the panic struck and people started running, screaming, out of the garden. Sola gently set her down and said to her, "Get outta here, Al. Go find Lucia, she'll take care of you." There was urgency in her voice.

Kiki nodded and ran towards the house, but stopped at the door of the stone balcony. Wasn't the window her mummy had been looking at near here?

Yes, it was the room next door. She would just find out when Mummy had been looking at, then she would find Lucia just like Sola said. She stepped into the large living room and skipped through it quickly to the hallway, where she heard a man talking on the phone.

"It's done, Mr Whitehall. No, I didn't get the girls, but they pose no threat to you or your position." Was he talking to Daniel Whitehall? She didn't have time to duck out of the way as he slammed open the door. He took her in and grinned.

"Mr Whitehall is going to love this." He raised the gun and prepared to shoot. It was a point blank range, she would never survive. She looked around wildly for anything she could use to defend herself and spotted Lucia lurking in a doorway. 

Just as the man was about to shoot she banged the doorframe.

"Stop!" She yelled. "Don't you dare hurt her!"

He seemed surprised and pulled the trigger, wanting to get it over with and leave. But he didn't notice that his hand had slipped and he shot her in the leg instead. He realised and raised it to shoot again, but there were all the scared people running towards them and he couldn't finish her.

"Get help!" Lucia bellowed. "The child's hurt!"

Years later, she killed the man for killing her parents.

She also never wore that pink dress with the blue bow again.