Is this the life you chose yourself, or just how it ended up? Is that the yard you pictured when you closed your eyes and dreamed of children in the grass running through the sprinklers? Being somebody's wife, or were you living in another life?
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By the time the sun rose the next morning, Anastasia was out of Soroca Moldova and in Astana Kazakhstan.
She knew where all the safe spots were. With her tracker likely being at the bottom of the river, Hydra knew that she, too, had deserted them.
She had wanted to go to her home in Sokovia, though as she knew, there was nothing left for her there. She also knew that Sokovia would be one of the first places they'd go looking for her.
Kazakhstan was one of the safest spots for her, though she was determined to keep going east.
The coming weeks and month's landed her in Mongolia and then Japan, where she used one of her few powers to catch a free, unchecked flight into Los Angeles California.
From LA, she moved through a few other states and created an entire fake identity for herself. After years of learning American English, Anastasia had almost perfected it. Her Sokovian accent came out when trying to pronounce certain words like 'Target' and 'garbage disposal'.
Though just a month after her twentieth birthday — the first birthday she had cake on since her eighth birthday — she finally settled into a little neighborhood in Queens New York.
It was a bit further east than she initially intended to go, but New York felt right. She felt safe.
Across the hall was a boy and his aunt.
The neighbor to the right was an elderly woman in the early stages of dementia, whose daughter visited often with a home health nurse.
The neighbor to the left was a small family of four, the youngest of the two children being only eleven years old. The mother was an elementary school teacher and father had been in the Navy and made it clear to Anastasia that they were there for her if she needed them, seeing as she lived by herself.
Not to mention, she was twenty years younger than them at minimum. She kindly thanked them, despite not needing protection.
At introductions, she gave the name Anastasia Bennett — it sounded American enough to pass in her opinion and nobody questioned it, even when her accent slipped.
Rather quickly, the boy across the hall became acquainted with her. His name was Peter, he liked Star Wars and Lego's. The only thing he liked even more was Star Wars Lego's.
For his eighth birthday, she scoured the shelves of every store in the area on her days off from work, just to find the two sets that he had been begging for. She talked to May about it, the older woman couldn't afford them at the moment, so Anastasia did everything in her power to get the boy the Lego sets he wanted.
She also made his birthday cake from scratch.
The cake itself was chocolate, though the icing was black colored vanilla buttercream as requested.
Anastasia spent an ungodly amount of time piping words onto the cake and shaping colored fondant into figurines that vaguely resembled his favorite characters.
The words 'Happy 8th Birthday Peter' were in white lettering, surrounded by the fondant figurines. The cursive would've been much better if it hadn't been icing, though nobody minded much.
It was going to be eaten anyway.
The party was small, just a couple of Peter's close friends from school, their parents, Anastasia, and May. Despite being on edge the entire event, Anastasia managed to have a good time.
Peter loved the Lego sets and declared that Anastasia help him build them once the party was over so she had an excuse to stay a bit longer.
Once everyone had left, she helped him open the boxes, read the instructions, and set him off to do his own thing.
Anastasia ended up staying the night because May picked up an extra shift at the hospital.
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"Tell me a story."
Anastasia pondered for a moment. It was an odd request from Peter, but she knew she'd do it anyway. It was nearing Christmas and he was having a hard time with his parents gone. It made him feel better whenever she told him stories, no matter how bizarre or dark they were.
He found her voice calming.
"Well, there was once two lion cubs. . . They were two cousins, cut from the same cloth, equal parts ambitious, brave, and loyal. . . They knew they didn't fit in with their family, who were all Vipers, though they still tried to fit in because that's what was expected of them. However one day, as fate decided with a song, the lion cubs joined the other lions in the Pride Lands."
"Like the Pride Lands in the Lion King?"
"Exactly. . . Now, the vipers weren't pleased that the two lion cubs were in the Pride Lands instead of the snakes den, and they didn't like the company the cubs kept. So they disowned the cubs, though they didn't care all that much. They were with their own and even made some wonderful friends. They had found their home and everything was alright, until a widely feared viper attacked, weeding out the young lions one by one."
"What happened to the cousins?"
"One was murdered personally by the viper and the other. . . No one is sure what happened to him. So let's assume he lived a happy life, yeah? Someone in the story deserves a happy ending."
"That works for me."
Anastasia smiled at the boy and stood from her spot, ensuring he was tucked in snugly. "Get some rest, alright? I'll see you in the morning."
