Necessary Good, Unnecessary Evil | No rest For Wounded Souls [Bucky Barnes]

Something Blue

"Children begin by loving their parents. As they grow older they judge them, sometimes they forgive them."
-Oscar Wilde

****

The stomping of my boots echoes in the empty hall as I stride to the Cabinet.
I push the heavy door open, not bothering to knock first. "This better be serious, or I'm letting whoever made me rush here deal with my lunatic wedding planner."
The people sitting at the round table turn to look at me, perplexed expressions on their faces.
"You're getting married?" Theo asks, surprised.
Most of the people here I've already met. The full Council is here, plus some other people. I'm not sure what they have to do with this. "No, I just like to casually hang out with wedding planners." I taunt, heading to the table.
"Does your mother know?" He probes, making me roll my eyes at him.
"Unrelated." I deadpan, grabbing one of the tablets on the table, quickly checking if anything happened while I was away.
I hate to admit it, but I do care about Agapi. More than I probably should.

"So, what's going on?" I inquire, scanning the room.
"Nice to meet you again, Nova." An unfamiliar voice speaks up, and I turn on my heels.
A tall man with black curly hair walks in the room, "Again? I've never seen you before." I counter.
"Oh, right." He says, snapping his fingers.
His appearance slowly changes into an old, familiar man. "Old Rigel?" I falter, narrowing my eyes.
That's the man I met in Asgard. Thor brought me to his house.
"Orion." He corrects me.
My eyes widen. "Wait, what? You should be dead."
"Surprise?" He shrugs, morphing back to his original look.

I put down the tablet, pinning my hands to my hips. "For fuck's sake, what's wrong with this family and faking their deaths?" I scold, starting to have more questions floating in my mind.
"I didn't fake my death." He retorts, his expression suddenly changing into a scowl.
I scoff, raising my brows. "Everyone thought you dead, and you never did anything to change that."
Orion wets his lips, shaking his head. "Yeah, I can see your mother's genes radiating as we speak."
My face drops, and I clench my fists. "Alright, I'm going to say this once." I begin.
"I didn't come here to be disrespected by a coward who thinks that acting like a child at his grown-up age is okay." He gapes at me, not uttering a word. 
I don't care what his reasons are. He kept hiding and never did anything to help his people. I'll be damned if I let him behave as though we owe him something. He can crawl back into his little cabin for all I care.
"Actually, you know what? I've been working with kids, and they don't dare act like this. So size yourself up."

Silence fills the room, and I can feel all their eyes on me.
"Well, that was a lot for a first meeting." I hear my mother say.
I scoff, seeing her emerge into the room. "Great, now that the whole family is back, can someone explain to me why the urgency?"
"Take a seat, Nova." She motions to one of the chairs at the table.
We all get to the table, and a quick buzzing lets me know the people here have already started to work their opinions. "Recently it has come to my knowledge that my brother, Orion, was alive." My mother pauses, distracted by Theo's intervention.
"He pretty much just showed up at the gates and asked to come in." He sneers, clearly not happy about the situation.

I suck my teeth, leaning in my seat. "Lovely, and why did I need to know that?" My tone is annoyed, and I'm aware of that right now, I'm coming across as childish, but I don't really care.
By now, these people know who I am, and have shown their approval towards my actions so far.
"I want to do my part, help to lead Agapi." Orion prompts, and my eyes dart to him.
My shoulders begin to shake, and I burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, that was the funniest thing I've heard in the last couple of weeks." I dry off some tears, shaking my head in disbelief.
"You want to lead Agapi? Just curious, when did you remember that? Was it while your people got massacred or while we put our lives on the line to defeat Angus? Because in both cases, it's too late." I point out, bringing back my composure.