BLUE MOON (BUCKY BARNES)¹

4|BREAKING POINT

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▎BREAKING POINT ▎

┊ ༑ ࿐SOUNDS OF LAUGHTER FROM THE KIDS MADE WINTA SMILE. She would love to have her own, even though the kids at school were a pain. It would be a lot of work, but she would love them with all her heart. She liked how innocent children were and wished to have those years back. One of them looked up at her, and it was a boy with a beautiful big smile. He was holding a toy helicopter while making stupid flying noises. He smiled at her and walked over, handing the plane to her. She giggled and made the same stupid flying noises he was, causing him to giggle. She returned the toy to him, and he ran back to his mother as Mother Afolabi yelled, "Kids, over to the playroom! The meeting will start in five minutes!" More wakandans walked through the door, many new faces, many old. After the living room full of children was cleaned out, and then they started.

"Hello, I am" was said almost ten times, a new record. Mother Afolabi welcomed them as the rest of the group did, but the vibe shifted as they talked about Winta. "Aside from the fact that we found eight wakandans, we need to talk about Winta. You got into the army, right?" Winta felt like Mother Afolabi had put her on the spot. It's unsurprising, though; she was always the topic at the meetings.

"Yes, so I can figure out how 'powerful' I am," She hated these questions. She knew she could find more Wakandans during the war and protect her family and friends with these powers, but she felt like a weapon. She had a directive and had to do it well. But what would happen if she dies in the war or gets lost? How would Petiri feel? And, of course, she had to protect Petiri, ensuring that the favorite twin would help her parents in case something happened to her. It was a bunch of stress, and she needed breaks. When would she ever be able to get those breaks?

She had always thought about not going to war, staying at home without a care in the world. She thought about not having to think about the war and that it was never there. She also thought that if she wasn't adventurous, she wouldn't have these powers to begin with. She hadn't wished for it and knew she could not reverse it. She didn't have that kind of power.

"Well, I guess that was the last topic for the meeting, everyone you may go home, and newfound Wakandans, I hope you can rest well and make new friends at these meetings," Mother Afolabi told us. She lifted from her chair to walk into her room as everyone got up and started saying their goodbyes and getting their children.

Winta and her parents left the house, waiting for Petiri to come out since he supervised the kids. An awkward silence was present between Winta and her parents until Petiri walked out of the house, sighing as loud as he could, "Those children are hell. They started stabbing me with pencils even when I told them that it was not nice. They don't listen!" He seemed like he would start crying about it, but Winta didn't want to poke at him because of it, so she stayed quiet with a smile.

"I'm never having children," He muttered to Winta as they started walking home. Winta laughed, looking up at Prince with a wicked smile, "I'm praying for twins. You'll be their babysitter since you're so good with kids." She teased as Petiri rolled his eyes, "I mean, I deserve it for not going to your gig." He rubbed his head, "I'm sorry about that, again." Winta said, "I knew you weren't going to anyways." Petiri punched her shoulder, clearly hurt by her words, "I mean, you probably had the best night of your life after." He winked at her, causing her to gag. She didn't give Petiri all the details about her and Bucky's hangout, "You still want to know what happened?" She asked since it was very odd that he wanted to know about her relationship status. "I tell you about all of my relationships, it's not fair." Petiri pouted, making Winta push him away, "Yeah, but I never ask." Petiri kissed his teeth and rolled his eyes, dropping the topic.

They were almost home, and Petiri muttered, "Taye and Banji," Winta looked at him, confused, as he rolled his eyes, "Names for your non-existent twins?" Winta laughed as she pushed him away, "You're funny you, know that?" Prince laughed as well, humming in agreement.

The thought of the future made Winta's smile fade. She remembered how many days she had left till she had to go to the army campsites.

Three.

She never felt ready for it. She was only going to know her power. What if the purple goo faded? Or was there not enough for her strength to be affected by it? She could just be going in as fragile as a dandelion with the speed of a turtle. She was putting herself at risk. She wanted to stay because what if there was no power to reveal?

There could be some present in her that was not significant. When she was mad and held a coffee cup, she never broke it from how tight she held it. She was never the fastest when running to get away from getting tagged in grade school. Even when walking upstairs, she became out of breath because of it. She never had any traits of a black panther, so how could she be as powerful as one?

Winta was the last to enter the home. The lights that were once off were now turned on again, warmth reaching the glass. She went straight to her room and took off her clothes to get comfortable, to completely understand what her mind was telling her. She walked towards her mirror, staring into her eyes, hoping to get answers from her soul. She only asked two questions to her soul. One is easy to answer; the other only depends on the future. Question one: "Do I have the powers of the black panther?" Question two:

"Do I want to fight in the war?"

↳ABSENCE