REASON TO LIVE

Curio wanted this war business done. He was tired - his arm had begun aching constantly, he hadn't been able to sleep a wink, and his thoughts either revolved around Thanos or his very likely to be dead friends. He had lost everything for this war, and now he was done. He wanted to surrender, and run as far away as he could.

He followed behind Okoye and T'Challa closely. Even though he knew they were talking, none of the words were processing. All he knew was that they pulled him out of the medical wing to drag him to meet their guests. He was that tired he didn't even question who the guests were. 

A hand gently clasped Curio's shoulder. He instantly froze up, heart rate picking up. The hand let go. His heart rate slowed down. 

"Curio? You okay?" Bucky queried, gazing at him with upturned brows. 

"Yeah." His voice was dead as he felt. "I'm just tired." Tired of fighting. Those unsaid words were a ghost haunting his lips, screaming to be revived. Curio just brushed it off. 

He gave Curio a weak smile. "It'll be over soon." 

Soon wasn't close enough. Soon was a word with no meaning - it was an infinity of time, and Curio hated that. He wanted it over now, and he wanted to live now. 

All Curio did was nod his head. 

It fell silent between the pair. Curio quickly averted his gaze from him, focusing on the path ahead. They were nearing a landing pad, where a wide, grey jet was occupying the space. The jet made a hissing noise, a walkway extending from the entrance of the ship. Footsteps clanged down the walkway. 

Curio couldn't bring himself to look up yet. His head felt heavy, and even the act of breathing exhausted him.

"Curio?"

And just like that, he was alive. 

His head shot up, eyes scouring frantically for the face in the crowd of heroes. They landed on her last, her delicate face worn down, with dark bags beginning to grow beneath her eyes and a misery lingering behind her expression. He didn't think twice about shouldering his way past royalty, running towards the girl smiling. He couldn't get to her fast enough, pouring all of his energy into reaching his beating heart. 

"Locusta!" Curio shouted back, collapsing before her. His arms instinctively reached for her, and she wasn't quick enough to ward him off. His arms encircled her tightly, almost crushing her ribs. Locusta froze. His head burrowed into her shoulder, sobs threatening to possess his body, his mind not once crossing the thought of the poison running through her veins. His heart was beating erratically, yet he didn't complain about this pace. The reason behind it was pure. 

All the beliefs, thoughts, dreams where his friends were dead dissolved. If she was alive, it meant the others could be okay. But for now, he was over the moon to have at least one of his friends - his family - by his side again. 

Locusta began squirming, pushing him away from her desperately. Curio gripped onto her tighter, uncaring about her hissing warnings to him in his ear. He could barely hear her over his relief and shaking sobs. If he didn't hold onto her, she might just disappear again. 

Her arms broke free, and she managed to push him away. He stumbled back, his hand lazily wiping at his weeping eyes. "Are you a fool?"

Curio shrugged, a grin glued to his face. "I'm surprised you hadn't figured that out already." 

Locusta brushed off his comment, continuing to glare him down. "You just risked your life to hug me? Was that really worth it?"

"Yes." Curio stated without missing a beat. 

Locusta visibly started stammering, shaking her head slightly. "It doesn't matter. You shouldn't just throw your life away like that." 

"You need to relax, Lo. You're covered from head to toe, okay? There was no chance of me hurting myself, unless I kissed you." Curio smirked, his lip quivering still. "Would you like me to?" 

"In your dreams, jackass." A small smile crept onto her face. Almost tentatively, she let a gloved finger poke his chest. He pretended to ignore how slowly the act took her to complete, and how she practically jerked away the moment she made contact. "We've got plenty of time to catch up. Now, lets do our job." 

"Yes Ma'm." Curio muttered, not even able to pretend to be annoyed. He turned around so his back was facing the jet, Locusta following the focus of his attention. The King of Wakanda was staring at the pair. 

"I assume this is one of your friends you spoke of?" 

"Her?" Curio frowned at her. "Nah, I just fancied some human contact." 

T'Challa simply smiled at his remark, his attention shifting to the people who'd left the jet alongside Locusta. "So how big of an assault can we expect?" 

The group began walking back into the building. Locsuta took her a step to follow them; Curio called out to her to wait. She swivelled her head to him, but still carried on. 

"Are you okay?" He recognised how she held herself. It was the same stance she had at the base whenever her blood felt as if it was on fire. 

"Are you?" 

Curio couldn't answer. He couldn't lie; he wasn't ready to tell the truth. 

"We should probably catch up. We're the only chance these sorry sods have in outliving Thanos." 

*

Curio had the route to Shuri's lab memorised off by heart. He knew it as well as he knew the back of his hand, and when Locusta told him of the whole Vision predicament he knew that's where they'd take him. The sixteen year old was a genius, and had more IQ points than people more than twice her age. He'd spent a lot of time in her lab over the past few days, with her constantly checking his arm. She tried to convince him to use her miracle machine that could heal paralysis - he turned her down time after time. As much as he hated the dead flesh curling up his arm, it proved as a reminder of why he was fighting. And he knew even if she managed to cure him, even if he was physically healthy, his mind would trick him into crumbling to the ground writhing in agony.

They walked into the room, not blinking twice at the sight of the android laid on the table, being scanned with what appeared to be beads, a hologram suddenly appearing out of them. Locusta marvelled at the technology as Shuri flipped the hologram over with her hand, the projection resting over her palm. Curio just smiled slightly at Locusta's reaction, his attention fixed to her from the corner of his eye. He wasn't going to lose her again. 

"Whoa, the structure is polymorphic." Locusta shared Shrui's amazement. Curio only frowned - he had a feeling he was about to hear the most confusing conversation of his life. 

"We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce added, his hands shoved into his pockets. Curio thought it sounded smart, but with the way Shuri retorted with a solution, it was clear that he wasn't the smartest guy in the room. He cleared his throat uncertainly. "Uh, we didn't think of it." 

Shuri gave the man a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you did your best." 

As reassuring as she tried to be, Curio knew she wasn't fooling anyone. It didn't matter about your best in war - if your best didn't win the battle then it wasn't enough. He bit his tongue from saying this out loud - everyone was already glum enough already. 

"I can do it, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shuri turned to her brother, her thick accent solemn. "It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve inquired, speaking the one question on everyone's mind. Curio gulped. He had never been a master at combat, excelling more in undercover work but for now that didn't matter. These people didn't need a spy - they needed a warrior. Not the first time that day, Curio wished Octavian and Messalina were here. 

"As long as you can give me."

"What about you?" Curio asked. All heads snapped in his direction. "Surely you're not going to be safe here all alone." 

"I will have the Dora Mijale, the best warriors in all of Wakanda." 

Curio shook his head. "That's not enough. Our plan rests on your shoulders, you're going to need back up." 

A meek voice broke the silence. "I can do it." 

Curio spun around to see Locusta, who despite her weak voice was holding her head high, staring them all in the eye. He had to hold back the urge to stumble back - the Locusta he knew would never give strangers eye contact. This mission had changed them more than he knew. It broke his heart. 

"No." Curio objected, turning his back on the Avengers. He didn't care if it was rude; all he cared about was his one tie back home. "I just got you back. I'm not losing you so soon." 

Locusta's determination wavered slightly. Her face became softer, and she took a hesitant step towards the man. Her hand twitched towards him. "You won't lose me."

His voice betrayed him. "How do you know that?"

Locusta opened her mouth to respond, a flurry of calming words on the tip of tongue. It was slammed shut as a chime echoed throughout the room, and Okoye brought the bead to her hand, a hologram projecting from it. A globe with a pulsing location marker met their eyes, and Curio instantly knew what that meant. 

"Somethings entered the atmosphere." 

Curio froze. His stomach dropped, and his heart started beating at a hundred miles per hour. He felt as if he couldn't breathe, the reality of what was about to happen hitting him like a truck. With his mediocre fighting skills, he would be dead before the battle truly begun. 

"Locusta?" Curio begged her, eyes pleading. "Please don't leave me alone out there." 

He saw her gulp. Her lips parted, a sorrowful frown planted on her face. He knew what she was going to say before he would hear it - the mission is to save others, not ourselves. They shouldn't consider the personal cost if it resulted in the outcome they never saw. He couldn't help but be selfish - these people should be thankful they'd come to help them in the first place, the least they could give Libertas was the ability to choose not to die. 

Wanda cut her off. "I'll be here too, you two stay together." 

Locusta looked questioningly at Wanda, as if making sure it was okay. The witch nodded her head, and Locusta huffed a large breath. "Guess I'm joining you on the battlefield." 

"I'll protect you." Curio swore, not enjoying how Locusta didn't appear reassured by it. 

The floor began to shake under their feet. Curio was rocked off of his feet, stumbling into Locusta and desperately trying to stay upright. As he gained his balance, his eyes naturally looked out of the large glass window, showcasing the outside world. 

His breath caught in his throat. 

What had been an alien ship was destroyed, having collided with the protective dome. The debris scattered and tumbling into the Wakandan forests. Curio wanted to let his shoulders sag in relief but he knew this wasn't the last one. It just marked the beginning of the battle. 

Just like he predicted, three more ships followed the wreckage. 

Curio and Locusta exchanged a glance. Guilt started to creep into his heart. Maybe it would be safer for her to stay with Shuri. He shook this thought away - he wanted her by his side. If she died, he didn't want to be in a constant limbo of not knowing her fate when he could witness it instead. 

Vision struggled to sit up, sliding off the exam table. "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now."

Natasha gave him a warning look, advancing on the android. "Get your ass back on the table." 

"We will hold them off." T'Challa made way for the door, his guards and Okoye following closely behind. Curio and Locusta shadowed him without a word, making their way to the armoury. If they were going to fight for their lives, they were going to need guns. 

-

hey guys! i hope you enjoyed this locusta and curio reunion, honestly i absolutely loved writing it!

can i just say HOLY FUCK THE NEW TRAILER?! of all the titles they went with though, they choose that? still super pumped for it though.

i only have 8 more chapters to write and part one is done. i am so sad but so excited too - its going to be so interesting to adapt this plot to what happens in avengers 4.

you guys seen the trailer? what are your thoughts?

hope you guys enjoyed this, see you soon!

-thirdwheelchurchill