A Failed Experiment

chapter 4

I sat on the foot of my bed, thinking over recent events; an offer Wong had given me, and Stephen, much to my disgust. The offer Wong had given me was, to train at Kamar-Taj for one year, and in exchange, I would work alongside Stephen," Get you both out of that lone wolf attitude" Wong had said, and Stephen, had I taken a liking to him ? I mean, he's not the worst person to enjoy the company of, and he has done a lot for me without even thinking twice. But my old trained instincts were kicking in , and I didn't entirely trust him. For me to ever admit I felt an overwhelming sense of debt to him, he'd have to earn my trust, be consistent. Yes, if he wanted to befriend me, he'd have to earn it. I looked out of my window. The moon was high in the sky, it had to be at least midnight, and I have training tomorrow, so I've got to get at least some sleep.

This time, I woke up when I was supposed to, but, being early December, it felt way too early, and the presence was less felt, " Stephen ?" I called out as loud as I would dare in the morning,
" Still here ." He mumbled back, it sounded like he'd been up and down all night, and I don't even know why he's still here, the first night, ok, but why again ? I stopped questioning his actions, and instead, got up and dressed as quickly as I could manage. For some reason, the knowledge he was there made a soft smile appear on my face, and the more I tried to repress it, the more stubborn the need to was, so I focused on tying back my hair and opened the curtains. Once both me and Stephen were ready to go, he walked with me to the courtyard again,
" It's less busy in the morning." He explained with a tired, husky hint to his voice,
" Why were you  there in the morning ?" I asked, he turned away slightly,
" You were having a nightmare, screaming, I just wanted to make sure you were ok." I smiled,
" Thank you, Stephen, I really do appreciate all you've done for me these past few days." He looked back at me, a sense of relief in his soft smile. I noticed the way anytime he smiled, there would be a dimple on the right side of his face, no matter the way he smiled, it was always there, " I know , Astor, and plus, I wasn't just going to leave you there. " We both laughed under our breaths producing that weird, condensation-y stuff your breath turns into when it's cold. I shivered, and Stephen wrapped an arm around me, like his mere presence could drive the cold away, " Thanks ." I muttered,
" I said I'd look out for you, didn't I ?"

We arrived in the courtyard, early morning frost sparkling around the edges of everything, " Ok, follow my lead." He began making unusual hand movements, and produced a slightly translucent orange circle filled with patterns I could have stared at for hours, " Now you try." I attempted to match his movements, it didn't work. I tried again, a slight sense of panic surging through my body. I failed again, " Give me your hand. " I did as I was told, his thumb ran across my wrist and paused for a moment. He pulled me slightly closer and pressed two fingers to my neck, I tilted my head to facilitate this, " Your heart rates rather fast, you have no need to be nervous, you have all the time in the world to learn. " I nodded, and tried to calm myself down. I tried again, a deep blue version of Stephens produced, then flickered out of sight ," How curious..." He muttered,
" Are they supposed to come in different colors ?" He raised an eyebrow,
" No, not usually."

I never thought I'd get to say I've been in a room of extremely powerful people making up theories about my existence. I sat there uncomfortably, but I noticed Aideen outside the open door, with, is that... exp.4692 ? It's got to be ! The Winter Soldier, we were shown his fights often, and he looked exactly like he did last time his assassinations were broadcasted. Aideen spoke to him, and walked in, " What's going on ?" Someone explained it to her, and she laughed , " Ok, ok don't kill me for keeping this from you Astor, but your powers are from another universe." Shock surged through me,
" Wha...what ?" she sat down,
" I heard this all from scientists and stolen records, your mother was attacked by an inter dimensional demon, the magic it used to harm your mother, who was pregnant with you at the time, gave you similar inter dimensional powers, and in said dimension, all magic is blue." None of this made sense in my head, all I could think was what in tarnation ?
"W-why didn't you tell me ?!" I yelled, she flinched hard,
" Because you would have went hostile, and I didn't think you could have calmed in time." I stood and yelled
" What the hell Aideen?!" I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists in anger,
" Astor.." I was  pulled from my emotions,
" What, Stephen?" I opened my eyes, but I didn't look at him, he stepped in front of me,
"Trust me when I say you don't want to do this, I understand your angry, but it will pass, and you will understand she was trying to protect you." He put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up slightly, forcing me to look at him, his calm, gentle blue eyes filled with concern. I started shaking, realizing how hastily I'd acted, I knelt in front of Aideen,
" Aideen I'm so sorry I don't know what happened! "She hugged me tightly,
" I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have kept that from you." I hugged her back,
" I promise to never to yell at you again." She nodded, and let me go, " I'm keeping Bucky waiting, oh yeah, that happened, byyyeee ." I chuckled, and left the the room as well.