~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Never let a stumble in the road indicate 
the end of your journey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night was silent and still. There was no movement of creatures or the footsteps of the town burglar. Instead, there was the loud stomping of horses and men running toward Hydra's castle.  Determination filled every single soldier, everyone was full of determination to get the two missing princesses. They have been gone for far too long. 

Prince Steven was right in front beside Scott, who was leading him toward the place where he had heard the mysterious voice. Steven was not playing games anymore, he was gonna get both of them back, even if death was in the future. 

"Not too much farther," Scott announced as they rode closer to the point of the castle. "We should stop here in order to get a layout  of the land." He suggests as the group begins to slow down. 

"We don't have time." Steve said turning his horse to face the group "The more time we spend here its time being wasted that could be used to save them. We are on a time crunch, because before long half of you." He said talking about the Romanvia guards. "will have a king who will kill you all in less then a minute, so if you want to sit around and wait, well that's on you. I am done playing Mr. Nice Guy," He said and began to jump off the horse as to get a scan of how far they have traveled. 

"Steve," Clint said. King Stark and King Odison were following behind him. "I think Scott has a very good point, we need to have the army to slow down. If we don't then Alexie will ruin our chances of saving Natasha and Wanda." 

Steve put his hands in his hair combing through it. He sighed greatly, why was no one letting him just save Natasha and Wanda? Why did they have to make every step he took so difficult. He turned to look at them, and instead of ignoring their suggestions he decided it was best to do as they say because they also care about the princesses. 

"Okay, I will take a group of men and then we will invade the castle, the men who are staying out here are going to wait here will wait for our signal before coming in," Steve announced to them all. The armies waited for Steve to announce who was going, while Steve scanned over the group. 

"Hope and Scott you are coming with me, being the only ones who have seen a possible entrance. Stark, Odison you will come with me, I have heard tails of your victories, I trust you both. Clint, you know Natasha the best and James never leaves my side during the battle." He gave James a friendly and thankful smile, to which he nodded his head in return. 

"As for the rest of you, I will take a group of ten men with us as back up, the rest of you wait here and wait. Let's go." He turned around before turning around toward the castle once more. The others gave each other a look before continuing on. 

:
:
:
:
:
:
:

Natasha was in the room once again, getting ready for her wedding. She was dreading upcoming moments, the only reason she hasn't killed herself is that she had hope in Steve. 

The maids were working quickly making sure her dress was designed to perfection. Every so often a guard would come in informing them of their time limit, creating a new sense of panic through them. Natasha watched them trying to buy herself and Steve even more time. 

"The dress is wrinkled." Another voice said causing the girls to rush around to try and fix it. Natasha turned her head to see Ward standing there scanning her head to toe. Natasha felt discussed as his perverted eyes watched her every move. 

"Alexei is one damn lucky man..." He said and then looked at the maids. "Get out, I need to have a word with her." The mains were skeptical however allowed him to have a moment. Ward walked closer to her, and Natasha couldn't do anything around it because the guards had cuffed her hands down.

"You know if all women were as beautiful as you..." He said sliding his hand around her waist. "What a beautiful bride you make..." She thought he was gonna continue his actions, however, he moved away and sat down on the chair in front of her. 

"As much as I want to keep you here for my own self-pleasure, I wanna make you a deal." He said to her. Natasha frowned but didn't respond just yet. 

"As you know your fiance is a grand pain in the freaking ass. He has taken me to my boiling point. This whole ideal was supposed to be a partnership, however, he has gotten the girl, her kingdom and what do I get? This rundown rotten castle that has no use to me or anyone." He was clenching his fist as he spoke about Alexie. 

"If you have come to tell me what a grade A asshole Alexei is, just leave I have known that for quite some time," Natasha said finally speaking to Ward. Her voice was scratchy and on the verge of fading from lack of water. 

"Well, I don't want him to succeed, if he is not gonna give me my fair share he will get nothing at all. Now, this isn't really a deal, it's more of a warning." He said crossing his legs and placing his hands folded on top of them.  Natasha watched him carefully to see his intentions. 

"A warning? You can't expect me to believe that you would be here to help me in any shape or form." She told him but Ward shook his head, indicating that her statement was wrong. 

"I want to hurt Alexie the way he hurt me, and so I thought to myself, how can I hurt him? Well obviously death is up there, I will kill him, and then I remembered he cares so much for you, even if he doesn't care to admit it, so I could kill you right before his eyes. Now I have somewhat of a heart and I have decided to kill him and then take everything that was his. that includes you." 

"How is that a warning? I still end up with the same fate." She said angrily. She knew that he would in no way help her. 

"That wasn't a warning," He walked up to her grabbing her wrist together with one hand and her chin with the other. He was becoming angry from all of her talking back. 
"I am warning you to not interfere with my actions, of you two will face death, and so will that princess downstairs...." He stopped for a moment before smirking, "Perhaps a fate worse then death for you tho, I needed a new mistress..." He muttered and released her roughly. Natasha was glaring at him intensely as he left the room. 

When she gets out of here, all of them are gonna pay. 

:
:
:
:
:
:

"This is where Scott and I heard her voice," Hope announced as the approached the area. Steve looked around and saw the small outline of the castle in the distance. It was easy to miss due to the tall trees surrounding them. 

"Okay, well from the looks of it, the castle it a good five-minute walk from here, the dungeon is deep in the castle," Steven announced. "Now where exactly did she give you this?" Steve asked holding up the chain. 

"Over here." She said and took them to the small opening in the ground. Steve walked over and looked at the hole and frowned, as Thor spoke what he was thinking.  

"Well at least we know that they are still there, no way could anyone get out of this." He said. 

"Well, I would actually hope that they would be out..." Steve said announcing his disappointment. "Okay, there is no way we could possibly get through this, we need to find a way in..." 

"Steve?!" Everyone froze at the sound of that voice. They all knew it, and it made Steve smile, a true smile, for the first time since the accident. 

"Wanda? Is that you? Where are you?" Steve asked, before realizing her voice was coming from the dungeon. He couldn't be happier to know that she was still alive.

"Steve please, please get me out of here." She cried out. "Help me!" She wanted to be free, she wanted to see the light, she wanted to go home. Now that Steve was here she couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief because now she had a chance of going home. 

"We are trying, we have to find a way in," Steve told his baby sister, trying to contain the happiness that she was okay. He heard her silent cries of happiness as she listened to her brother. 

"Wanda is the princess with you?" Clint asked her, in hopes that somehow Natasha was down there with him. They all waited patiently.

"She is upstairs with Alexei, he took her about four hours ago." Announced Wanda, "The wedding is today, Steve you have to hurry up! She is protecting me but if she knows you are here she won't agree to this!" Wanda said frantically. 

"Wanda we are working so hard! We have to find a way in," Steve said trying to think of a way to get in. Luckily for him, Wanda has been taken up and down the castle every single day as a threat for Natasha. She knew the ways around most of the castle, at least a way into the castle. 

"the south side of the castle there is a hole in it you can sneak in there but not all of you will fit. You will have to work fast because his guards take half an hour to walk across the castle." Wanda told him. 

"Okay." Steve took a deep breath. "Wanda I will get you okay? We will get you out of here and you will be okay." He promised her, and if he fails, well he would die trying. 

"Please hurry..." She said. Steve stood up and looked over to the group. They were all waiting for Steves orders. He needed to go into this carefully to make sure that no one gets hurt. He took another deep breath before beginning to speak. 

"Okay, James, Clint and I are gonna go in and get Natasha, from the looks of it Wanda won't be going anywhere. Alexie must be distracted, so we go in and find Natasha. Tony, you thor Hope, and Scott will go get Wanda because once Alexei knows we are coming he will use Wanda for his advantage." Steve announced to the group. 

"What about the armies?" Asked Thor, and everyone else nodded wondering the same thing. 

"They are waiting for our signal, if not they have an hour period before they move in," Steve told them, they all nodded, did a small prey in their heads. They knew that after this mission nothing would be the same. 

:
:
:
:
:


They had made it through the entrance Wanda told them about and the two different groups. Neither knew how they would be the next time they saw one another, neither knew if they would live to see one another once again. 

As they split up, James kept his eyes on Steve. The determination was one he had never seen before, and it was shocking. Of course, he knew Clint and himself were better at close fighting then the kings that it only made sense for them to get Natasha, he was quite confused for Steve's willingness to join the fight. More reasonably, he would be with the kings rescuing his sister, not here. To say the very least he knew of the small feelings roaming Steve's body, and he was a bit jealous. James has come to a liking toward the princess that Steve's new found admirations for her weren't welcomed. However Steve was his best friend, much less future king, he was engaged to her James was not. 

Pushing all these feelings aside he decided to focus his attention onto saving Natasha. As long as she was safe and free from this horrible place, he would be happy. 

They rounded the corner and saw some guards walking in full unison, between them was Ward. He was highly known around each Kingdom, he wasn't however as dangerous as Alexei. Steve put up his hand signaling the others not to approach him. 

They waited a few moments before he cleared the halls, and the sound of the guard's footsteps faded into the distance. Steve then told them to follow him into the room which Ward just left. They figured Natasha would be in there. 

To their disappointment, the room was empty, no sign of the princess. Steve cursed walking over to the window. The castle was huge that it would take forever to find where she could be hidden. 
"Steve she had to have been in here," James commented looking at the fallen earing on the floor. It was Natasha's. James took it in his hand as a piece of hope. There was a smirk on Steve's face. 

"She is leaving us a message..." Clint said, finding the reason for Steve's smile. 

"How does she know we are here?" James asked the obvious. Clint shook his head, indicating that he believes Natasha doesn't know. 

"She has hope, she knows that if we managed to get in here then leaving us some sort of message would give us a hint," Clint told them both. 

"How do we know that she didn't just drop it?" James asked being highly skeptical about the whole ideal. No one answered because they wanted- needed this to be a message that she was okay, that she was waiting for them. 

Steve led them out of the room once more and down the long hallway. They all felt the chill in the air, making them all shiver. There was no guards or any other sound for that matter besides there own breaths. Steve signals for them to slow down. 

They stop and then the small echo of music begins filling their ears. Wedding Bells. James then recognized the angered look on Steve's face and before he could do anything about it Steve was taking off down the hall toward the sound, with Clint and him following right behind him. 

They seemed to be on the second follow of the castle, and there was an opening looking into the built-in church. It was full to capacity by the guard's maids, and people who were kidnapped from raids brought up from the dungeon. 

Steve took a look and saw Alexei walking into the church with a crown placed on top of his head. Right behind him, surrounded by at least four guards, was Natasha dressed in a white dress with her face covered but her red hair was visible from the white clothing. 

They approach the stand where a priest with shaky hands awaits them both. Steve looks around and sees the large curtains which were bolted to the ceiling and then a plan begins to form into his mind. 

:
:
:
:
 

Standing on the altar was supposed to be a wondrous moment shared with a man she loved, or willing choice to spend her life with. Instead, she was standing beside a man who plans to ruin her life. 

Looking to her left besides Alexei stood Ward who had the wicket smirk across his face. He had every intention to do as he said he would, however, she knew that Alexei may have other plans for this day when he began to speak. 

"Before we get started I would like to make an announcement," Natasha raised her eyebrows as he spoke. "I have planned today as a special day full of enjoyment and for me to show my worth to this world." He turned to Ward. "and unfortunately I didn't come here as a funeral." Before anyone could react Alexei stabbed Ward, right under his neck. 

"Did you really think you could plan to kill me in my own castle and have me not find out?" He asked before pulling his knife out and Ward falling to the ground. There were gasps around the room, but no one went toward the dying man. "I suggest no one else try and mess my day up." Ward was still alive but the pain of his cut veins was preventing him from moving anywhere. 
"You may continue." 

Natasha was stunned, there were dead men laying at her feet as she married. She took a deep breath not listening to a word coming from the priest's mouth. There was a ringing in her ear and was beginning to feel light headed.

"Is there anyone who objects to this marriage," Alexei smirked at the silence and the priest nodded. However, before he was able to continue the sound of guards swords filled the room. Natasha turned her head to see Steve, and James standing in the middle of the room with curtains falling around them. 

"I object." Announced Steve. "Alexi Shostakov, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Princess Wanda of Rogerteria and future queen, Princess Natasha of Romanvia." A laugh came from his mouth before he began speaking toward Steve. 

"You are in MY Castle and you are telling ME that I am arrested?" Alexi laughed even more. "Are you forgetting you are surrounded by MY armies? Your Highness, you are greatly outnumbered." He looked toward Natasha. "Did you know of this? Because we had a deal, Natasha, get the girl!" He told the guards who rushed out of the room. 

"She is long gone by now, and I suggest you let the princess go," James said to him. Alexi watched James movements carefully and then laughed once more. 

"You think you three are so clever don't you?" Alexi asked. "Attack." He spoke in a serious tone. All of his guards stood up at once, while all the prisoners ran out of the room. Steve and James pulled out their swords beginning to protect themselves from oncoming attacks. 

Natasha watched in horror as guards were swiping their swords around in Steve's direction.  James was jumping over people and flipping them over. Even in the worst situations, he is still uplifting to watch. Natasha looked at Steve and saw a tall man rushing toward him with a sword, that he hasn't seen. 

"STEVE!" She yelled trying to warn him, unfortunately, he didn't seem to fear him. Natasha was crying out, and the man was about to hit Steve, luckily an arrow came out of nowhere hitting the man in the head. Natasha was shocked to see Clint perched up on the ceiling shooting arrows in every direction with a smirk written across his face. 

"they can't beat me, even with bird brain up there," Alexi said standing directly behind Natasha. "My army is far too strong..." Before he could continue the doors came rushing open, and Romanavia guards and Rogerteria guards, plus guards from other kingdoms were spilling in, while Hyrda soldiers came from every direction. 

"You know sometimes it's better to let someone think you're stupid rather than proving they're right" Natasha smirked in his direction. Alexi glared at her before walking up to her pointing the knife used to stab Ward with, toward her throat. he shoved a cloth down her mouth, preventing her from speaking. 

"We are gonna leave this hell hole, we are gonna be married and then a tragic death will come toward you," he said before shoving her along. 

From the corner of his eyes, James saw Natasha being dragged away and saw that Steve was preoccupied. He made a split second decision to go after her. Steve saw this, however, couldn't follow him quick enough. 

"You have one goddamn annoying prince out there." Mumbled Alexi, "It's too bad you two would have made the perfect couple." 

Natasha was being shoved along, and if it wasn't for the chains on her wrists she would have shoved Alexi into a wall smashing his brains. She didn't know where they were going, never seeing this part of the castle before now.  

"I am so tired of all of this shit, now that we have god as the witness I will finish our wedding. No one has to know, your death will be announced shortly after our marriage and I will finally get everything I deserve." He said turning her to face him. 

"The only thing you deserve is death." They both turned to see James standing with a sword pointed at Alexi's head. 

"You have to be kidding me." He laughed. "Do you really think the solider can save you?" asked Alexi. "please, don't make me laugh." 

"I can kill you, and I will save her," James said confidently before Alexie got a smirk on his face. 

"What is this? Love? Yes, it has to be, look at that look in his eyes." Alexi laughed out loud. "Do you think saving her will get you her hand. Even if I fail, which I won't, she will never marry you. You are her fiance's friend, you are nothing to her." 

"I am may be nothing to her, but she is everything to me." 

"Aww how cute." Alexi mocked. "since you are showing her how you love, might as well show her how you bleed" The two men were still only for a second before charging at one another. The sounds of their swords hitting one another filled the room. 

Natasha watched in horror, trying her best to get the cloth out of her mouth along with getting her hands free. She had to work fast. She finally was able to release her gag, but she turned and saw that James was pushed to the ground. 

James was on his back with his sword preventing Alexi from hitting him. Sweat was coming from his head as he tried to fight him off with all of his power. 
"You can not beat me," Alexi said trying his hardest to push his sword down into his chest. 

James's energy was beginning to fade and his breath was only increasing. He had stab wounds in his leg from an earlier battle with the soldiers, and Alexi was sitting on his legs only making his pain increase. He was barely holding on. 

Natasha was working to release her hands, which Alexi ties to a pillar, to keep her in place. She needed to help James, no one knew they were down there. 

Steve was still in the grand hall, trying to follow James. There were so many of them that when one fell another would come. 
"Steven" Announced Thor, "We need to find Alexi if we kill him the army will surrender," Thor said stabbing another one in the chest killing him instantly. " Tony and I will handle it in here, go find Alexi." Steve nodded, finally getting the clearance he needed from Thor to go and find James. 

Steve ran fast down the fall, killing men who tried to follow him. he began to hear the sound of Alexi's raspy voice as he spoke, to who he guess was James. 
"She will never love you, I will let you die knowing that you failed her." Steve was still too far off to see anything that was happening, but he heard a heart wrenching female scream. 

Natasha screamed as she watched Alexi do the move she knew all too well. He released his hold moving back causing Jame's sword to fall down from exhaustion, and then quickly Alexi raised his sword up once more. James was too slow to his actions before Alexi's sword came crashing down into his chest. 

Natasha cried as she saw blood start to fill the floor, a quick motion. She finally got her hands clear, and took the knife, still covered in Ward's blood and ran toward Alexi. Alexi was still to overjoyed in his kill to see Natasha coming, she was able to stick the blade right below his head into his neck. 

She pushed him off of James, and since she hit a nerve he couldn't move around to stop his bleeding, however, he was still alive. Steve then came rushing into the room, his heart almost broke to see blood surrounding Natasha, but it did when he saw James on the ground, and Natasha pressing her hand into his chest. 

Full of anger, Steve rushed toward Alexi grabbing him before shoving him against a wall. He found a new found strength. 
"YoU'rE a MoNsTeR!" Steve yelled, and all Alexi could do was look at Natasha and laugh. 

"I told her not to double cross me. I warned you all not to come after me," he began laughing, Steve heard Natasha's calls for help and so he dropped Alexi's dying body to the ground and ran over to them. 

"Steve he is dying!" Announced Natasha, Steve stood above them, he knew that there was nothing he could do. A tear fell from her face to James's due to their close proximity. James let out a painful caught as she helped him. "Don't leave me," 

"You..will.... do great things." He said having trouble releasing his words. Natasha cries became a louder as his voice faded. "You both will. Steve..." 

"James, hang on please." She begged him. Steve couldn't move as he watched his best friend's life slowly fade away. It was almost as if his feet were glued to the ground. A violent cough left his mouth, causing Natasha to cry harder. Seconds past and the only sound in the room was their own breaths. Natasha cried as she pressed harder against Jame's wound. 

It didn't matter. 

James Barnes was dead. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No one ever told me death felt so much like
fear

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~