twenty-two

(—and so time marches on)

MAEV BAREBONE-BARNES ducked, a knife flying through the space where her head had been seconds before. Her eyes narrow and she lunges forward, sweeping her left foot out and nearly succeeding in tripping James. He stumbles but regains his footing just as she throws a punch, his metal hand wrapping around her closed. His grip was firm but gentle and he pulled on her arm, sending her into his chest. He wraps his right arm around her waist, grinning down at her.

"Gotcha."

Maev narrows her eyes playfully and James leans down, their lips brushing lightly. His grip loosens on her slightly and she hooks her leg behind his knees, pulling with her leg and pressing her weight forward.

The two fall to the padded ground and Maev pins James's arms to the side, smiling widely down at him, "Gotcha." she mimics him, her braid falling over her shoulder, pieces of her bangs falling out of the bobby pin that had held them securely for most of the spar. James smiles back up at her and Maev can't help the warmth blossoming in her chest. It had been nearly three years since they'd started dating and she was still in awe every time she saw him, feeling a bit like a little girl with her first crush.

Her knees rest on the sides of his waist and she lets go of his wrists, leaning down on her forearms to kiss him sweetly. A disgusted noise comes from behind them, "C'mon guys, do you really have to do that in the training room? This is a communal place."

Maev lifts her left hand, still kissing James, and flips Sam off.

"There are children present!" Sam chastises her as she finally slides off of James, the two getting to their feet.

An offended, "Hey!" sounds out from across the room where Peter Parker is sitting, his hair damp with sweat and a water bottle hanging loosely in his grip. The teenager frowns in Sam's direction, "I am an adult you know."

Sam snorts, "Eighteen isn't that old, Queens." Despite Peter's best efforts to get everyone to call him Peter, Pete, or even Spidey, Steve's nickname for him had stuck.

"I'm an adult," Peter stresses, making the young man sitting next to him snort.

"Saying it like that isn't going to help you much," Harley Keener mutters, fingers flying across the laptop perched precariously on one leg. While everyone else was wearing some form of exercise clothes, the twenty-year-old was wearing ripped black jeans and a gray long sleeve shirt, earbuds hanging around his neck and an assortment of technology spilling out of the backpack at his side.

James's fingers intertwined with hers and as Peter starts arguing with both Harley and Sam the two make their escape, quietly exiting the training room and parting ways as they went into the locker rooms to change.

Maev exchanged her workout clothes for a pair of black skinny jeans and a mauve colored sweater Peter had bought her for her birthday because "Mauve and Maev are so similar!". She then pulled on a pair of black combat boots, lacing them tightly, and reaching up to unravel her hair from the braid. She ran her fingers through the black strands before taking out the bobby pin from the top of her hair, letting her long side bangs fall naturally.

She looked in the mirror situating the pieces of hair so she didn't look like she'd been caught in a hurricane, before sliding on her witch rings.

Elemental and Bone went on her right hand, the first on her ring finger, the latter on her pointer finger. Blood went on her left hand on her middle finger, and Maev put on James's dog tags next, the cool metal resting against her sternum. The witch then picked up the last piece of jewelry she had, the newest piece.

A thin silver band with an oval diamond glistened slightly in the light, two smaller diamonds resting on either side of the main one. She carefully slid it onto her left ring finger, a fond smile appearing as she stared down at it.

James had proposed a little over a year after the battle with Thanos, Steve's advice finally making sense when she saw James down on one knee.

Witches didn't wear rings like humans, instead, they got officiated by another witch with twin markings appearing on the two individuals. Maev got the best of both worlds, shown not only by the lovely ring James had gotten her but also by the overlapping circles underneath her collarbone, resting above her heart. One circle was riddled with poppies and the other was marigolds. When apart the petals of the poppies closed tightly into tight buds, blooming only when she was near James. For James it was the opposite, the marigolds only unfurling when he was near her.

The wedding itself had been a simple affair with only their close friends attending along with Maev's sisters. And then the two had spent the following three months exploring the world, jumping from country to country courtesy of Maev's magic, starting with Athens, Greece and ending at Machu Picchu.

Maev exited the locker room, meeting up with James, the two making their way out of the rebuilt Avengers compound and to the motorcycle parked on the side. It had been Shuri's idea to revamp Maev's old motorcycle from T'Chaka and she'd given James his own, claiming that there's no way two people could comfortably fit on one.

And yet, the two typically only used one, preferring to ride together.

James started the motorcycle, tapping his ear and the clear helmet Shuri had made him activated. If he got into a crash the helmet would solidify instantly, protecting his head, but for now, it looked as if he wasn't wearing one. Maev followed his lead before sitting behind him, wrapping her arms around his stomach and resting her cheek against his back, watching through half-lidded eyes as the world passed by in colorful blurs.

It took exactly forty minutes for them to get from the compound in New York to their apartment in Brooklyn, James parking his motorcycle next to Maev's identical one.

They took the elevator up to their apartment, Maev unlocking the mustard yellow door and dropping her keys unceremoniously into the bowl resting on the small table next to the doorway. Her stomach grumbled and she made her way to the fridge, opening it up and peering inside.

She frowned at the lack of food. She and James had been gone for about a week, having gone to California to assist Sam with a small terrorist group that had acted up, apprehending the individuals and staying at the compound for an extra day to tie up any loose ends.

"Why don't we go get something to eat, doll?" James asks, coming up behind her. She nods, following him out of their apartment once more and choosing to take the stairs this time.

The two walk hand in hand down the sidewalk, the noise of cars and always hurrying people surrounding them. The air is cool and there's an occasional breeze that flits past them, Maev content to gaze at the commotion around her as they walk. Bright images on a display of tv screens catch her attention and she glances over at it, watching the brief news clip play. An anchorwoman is talking and the headline reads THE NEW AVENGERS: CAPTAIN AMERICA, WHITE WOLF, AND VOODOO SAVE CALIFORNIAN SCHOOL. 

Amusement flickers through her at the name the outlets had dubbed her. Maev was well known in the political realm to the higher ups so on any missions she participated in with Sam, she wore a uniform that had a mask that covered her face from the nose down, leaving only her eyes visible, though she also used her shadows to cover parts of her face.

Sam had jokingly yelled, "Catch Voodoo girl!" during one of their fights, and some citizen had caught it on tape, thus resulting in the news outlets calling her Voodoo.

The familiar chime of a door opening brings her attention to the present as James pushes open the door to a local diner, picking to sit in a corner booth. They come to this place quite often, the waitress recognizing the two and greeting them with a kind smile. They eat mostly in silence, content with the other's company as the soothing jazz music plays in the background. As always, James finishes before Maev and he places his hand on her leg, absentmindedly tracing lines along her thigh with his thumb.

Once she finished they left, wandering around the streets as the sun started to set. Before long they found themselves approaching a familiar alleyway, one that had once just another street in Brooklyn but was now quite famous.

This particular alley was home to what was called the Wall of Heroes. No one knew who did the paintings, but the first one had appeared a few weeks after Tony's death, depicting a beautifully done image of Iron Man. Over the course of the next few years more superheroes were added by the same artist. First it was the original Avengers, and then soon Spiderman and the new Captain America were added.

People paid tributes to the heroes in candles and flowers, most underneath Tony and Natasha's pictures, but a few scattered by the other murals.

James and Maev had taken to walking down the alley whenever they could, mostly so they could remind themselves why they did what they did, so they could see the hope in people's eyes and the thank yous written on scraps of paper left by wilted flowers, and also to pay tribute to their friends that were no longer with them.

Maev wasn't a hero, not in the way Tony, Nat, Steve and the others were, but it was still comforting to see the impact the Avenger's presence had on the world. James and her were content to help from the shadows, assisting Sam when needed and training the others when asked.

"I wonder what's going on." James murmured and she followed his gaze to where a crowd of people stood, staring up at the section of the wall near the end of the alley. She follows closely behind him, squeezing between people and bumps into him when he comes to a sudden stop.

Her apology dies on her lips as she sees the look on his face, shock visible in his vibrant eyes, his grip tightening on her hand. She then looks at the wall, mind going blank at the sight in front of her.

It's a new mural, the spray paint still bold against the brick. There are two figures: the first one done completely in black with only eyes visible, arms outstretched with whorls of black spilling from their fingers, the swirling lines encasing the two. The second one is standing behind the first figure, almost as if they're back to back, head tilted slightly to the side to allow a glimpse of a sharp jaw and brown hair. A metal arm is visible through gaps in the shadows and wholly black eyes glare out at them, hyperrealistic and somehow vibrant against the tan skin.

Her breath catches in her throat, tears pricking at the back of her eyes. She felt overwhelmed staring at the mural because that was them on the wall, the two people who were still struggling to make peace with their bloody pasts. They weren't heroes, they were just two soldiers from vastly different worlds, fighting to erase their demons and unable to live mundane lives after being in war after war.

It's titled V & WW signed with the initials m.a.s.

Maev doesn't know when she starts crying, all she knows is that there are silent tears running down her face as she reads the message written neatly in the looping cursive the artist was known for. James wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and pressing his lips to her temple, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, understanding pulsating down the tether between them.

To the heroes born out of suffering and made out to be villains, thank you for showing us that it's possible to defeat the darkness not only in our world but in ourselves.

and that's it folks.

i will be posting a closing chapter with a proper thank you, and would like to encourage you guys to ask me any and all questions you have about this story so i can address them in the chapter as a little q&a sorta thing :) 

these questions can be anything about what happens after this (after all i'm comfortable ending this story with an open ending, allowing you guys to envision where they go next) and any questions you have about the process of me writing this story, creating the characters, certain scenes, maybe things i never explicitly answered, etc.

i hope you all enjoyed this ending and i can not thank you enough for joining me on this journey of writing maev & james.

i love you all so much xx