Time Unchanging

Chapter 155

⚠️*TW: Child Loss, Torture*⚠️

This chapter may be hard to read for some. It is graphic in nature on a sensitive subject and you are free to skip. The section where this takes place can be skipped if desired.

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Sam gave Bucky a peck on the cheek before leaving for a mission. Bucky pulled him in for a hungry kiss. It was only for a few hours, but that didn't mean he wouldn't miss his bird brain. Sam smiled and shook his head.

Eva ran to the bathroom after Sam was gone, holding her hand over her mouth. Steve felt bad, but he was glad Wanda was with her to help. He wanted to be the one to rub her back, to hold her hair. However, he had no idea what to say or do, so having a woman in the room with her would be best.

With his fiance gone, Bucky became somber, saying, "She's so scared, Lokes. Eva needs this baby to-"

Loki said, "I know, brother. I was there. Hel, I need them to survive." The memory of the child's life flared in his mind before feeling it destroyed so violently. "After everything, they must-"

"Why is she scared?" Tony asked. "She isn't near us right now."

"She lost one child brutally," Bucky explained, his voice holding a growl. "Watched as She did everything vile to-"

Steve's head snapped to Bucky as he asked, "How do you know that?"

"I shouldn't have said that," the dark-haired super soldier bowed his head, swallowing bile, "but I accidentally saw the memory."

Loki saw the look in Bucky's eyes. He had more than seen the memory. He had to watch from Eva's point of view and feel it all. Loki had lived it with Eva, their minds connected as he tried to shield her from the pain. It hadn't worked since it was an emotional pain, not just physical.

Steve looked at Eva's brothers and said, "I wish she would tell me. I want to understand more. I feel the pain but-"

The girls walked in, Wanda rubbing Eva's back as the purple-haired woman said, "I can show you if you want." She played with the hem of her shirt. "So you can understand why I'm so scared."

"Do it." There was no hesitation in Steve's voice.

With a flick of her wrist, Eva's memories of the day Death Widow learned of the baby played before his eyes.

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Loki held Eva. She had grown thinner in their time in the safe house. The pair had managed to hide the morning sickness for the last three months. Three months. That's how far along she was. She hoped to hide her child longer. However, she was already starting to show. She knew the next time She would use her body, there would be no way to keep Her from seeing.

"What are we going to do, Mischief?" Eva asked.

"I don't know, Eva," Loki replied. "I feel how strong this little one is. If we can make it one more month-"

"You know we can't." Tears formed in Eva's eyes. "She'll see." She gripped Loki's ragged shirt. "She sees everything."

He couldn't deny this fact. He had tried since his capture, but the longer he stayed in the cell, the more the Widow proved this fact. There were no cameras and she didn't have the All-Sight like Heimdall, so this fact was more disturbing.

Then, said tormentor entered the room their cell was in. Eva fought the urge to cover her stomach. But the slight movement caught Nat's attention and her ice-blue eyes narrowed. She unlocked the cell and grabbed Eva.

"Do you need to tell me something, любовь - love?" the red-head asked.

Eva stared in horror as Loki said, "There's nothing!"

Nat kicked Loki, hard enough to knock the wind from him. When Eva began to fight, Nat threw the blond from her. Eva caught herself in time, but then she felt a strong hand take hold of her hair. Nat began to drag Eva from the room as she screamed. Loki was locked in the cell, yanking on the door to open it but to no avail. He knew the room Eva was being taken to, and the god yelled, begged, and pleaded with Nat to leave Eva alone, to let the child live.

In the room, Eva was strung up by her wrists. She fought the restraints, only to have the metal cut into her skin. Tears fell like a waterfall. The flash of instruments on the table in front of Nat frightened Eva, knowing that the way she was strung up left her unable to protect her stomach.

"Don't you worry, любовь - love," Nat said, placing some brass knuckles on her hands. "I will fix this."

The first blow sent vomit up her throat. The pain was excruciating before Loki began to help numb it. Fear for her child was like a monster breathing down her neck. Eva felt more like one of Steve's punching bags than a mother, even though she said and promised everything she could to let her baby live.

But the blows kept coming as Nat said, "I will get that abomination out of you. If you had told me, I could have made this painless. But you need to know what the consequences are for keeping secrets, любовь - love."

Then, she felt it. Blood ran down her legs. The fleshy sound of her unborn child hitting the floor was loud, sealing the baby's fate. Nat grabbed some sterile scissors and cut the thin umbilical cord. The snipping was a death toll to Eva. Then, Nat began stomping on the already dead fetus until it was nothing but mush on the concrete.

But Eva had gone numb. In fact, she felt faint. Blood continued to drip from her. After washing the remains down the built-in drain in the floor with a hose, Nat finally looked at Eva. Panic set in for the Widow.

As the world around Eva started to fade, Nat released the limp woman and ran back to Loki. She laid Eva next to Loki outside the cell. Loki looked at Nat with a lifeless expression.

"Save her!" Nat demanded. "If she dies, I will make your life a living hell."

Loki reached out his hand to touch a cold and clammy Eva. A single tear fell. With what little strength Eva had, she gripped Loki's hand.

"I need more power," Loki said in a monotone.

Nat gripped his wrist, stating, "You will save her with what power I allow you to have! Do it!"

Eva passed out as she felt Loki try to save her life. She hadn't wanted him to. She wanted to be with her child, to hold them. But the sense of Loki needing her, the knowledge that Steve was looking for her, and the growing need for revenge drove her to fight to live. Natasha Romanoff would pay.

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Steve ran to the bathroom and vomited hard. Eva followed him and rubbed his back. The strength of the memory coupled with his own disgust caused him to empty his stomach with enough force that it sent pain throughout his body. Part of his mind refused to accept the pain as reality after what he had seen and felt, but the hand moving over him told Steve he was out of his wife's living nightmare.

When he was done, he sat down hard and cried as he said, "How could- I can't-"

Eva pulled him into her arms as she comforted him, saying, "I've got you, Stevie."

He held her tight, as if that alone would protect his family. "Nothing's going to happen to either of you."

Eva could feel Steve shake. Without him knowing, she used her magic to distance Steve from the memory. She wouldn't remove it, but she didn't want him to be burdened by the pain and hate like she had been. No, Eva hadn't moved on, but now, she was starting to heal from it. She would not let it keep her from living or stop them from having a family.