❨ 𝑽𝑰𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶                 . . .                 𝑏𝘰𝘰𝑘 𝑖𝑖 ❩
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
━━━ 𝙱. 𝙱𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙴𝚂 / ❛ i will 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡,
𝙨𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 of 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 ❜

━━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘༄⋅°
𝐓𝐖𝐎, 𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒚

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝚆𝙾 !

DIANA SAT BESIDE Steve, her hair in a twist at the back of her head, wearing a black overcoat,  dress, and heels. She wore a solemn expression, her hand in Steve's as reassurance. "It'll be alright," she whispers to him as the ceremony starts. Steve was one of the six men that carried the casket to the stage, fighting back unwanted tears.

"Thank you for being here. You didn't have to," Steve says, his chin wobbling as the urge to cry became too strong, taking a deep breath as Peggy's niece made her way to the podium.

"Don't worry, if one of your friends needed help, would you be there?" Diana asks.

"In a heartbeat," Steve answers, Sharon clears her throat before starting her speech.

"Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD. But I just knew her as Aunt Peggy," Sharon starts, blue eyes sweeping the room. "She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But, it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related. I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage at a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either.

"And she said, compromise when you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move. It is your duty, to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, 'No. . . you move,'" Sharon catches the blue eyes of Steve, quickly averting her eyes somewhere else.

THE CEREMONY ENDS, everyone shuffling out of the pews at an agonizingly slow pace. "When I came out of the ice, I thought that I had to ignore it. When I found out she was alive, I was just...just lucky to have her," Steve tells Diana. He leans on one of the pews, head bowed.

"She was lucky to see you again, Steve. She thought you were dead, but you were alive," Diana placed a soothing hand on his arm, "you made her last wish come true when you came to see her."

"Who else signed it?" Steve asks as Natasha walks up to them.

"Rhodes, Vision, Tony."

"Clint?" Steve plays with the cuffs of his shirt.

"Says he's retired," Diana replies.

"Wanda?"

"TBD. I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There is plenty of room on the jet. Just because it's the path of least resistance does mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together," Natasha says.

"I'm sorry Nat. I can't sign it," Steve shakes his head.

"I know," Natasha answers. "What are you doing here?" Steve asks. "I didn't want you to be alone," Natasha replies. She sees Steve's slumped posture, "c' mere." She pulls Steve into a hug, patting his back softly.

"MY MOM TRIED to talk me out of enlisting, but not Aunt Peggy. She bought me my first knife holster," Sharon tells the two super soldiers as they walk to the elevator.

"Very practical," Steve presses the button on the wall. The elevator dings as it opens.

"And stylish," they get into the cramped space, Diana folding her hands on her lap. She barely talked, only talking when it was needed and if a question was directed towards her.

"CIA stationed you over here now?" Steve asks.

"In Berlin, joint terrorist and task force," she answers, glancing at Diana from the corner of her eyes. She trusted Diana, but she was confused as to which side she would pick.

"Sounds fun," Steve sarcastically replies, smiling a bit. "I know, right?" Sharon scoffs, licking her chapped lips. "Listen, I've been meaning to ask you when you were staring at me from across the hall -"

"You mean when I was doing my job?" Sharon interrupts, looking at Steve.

"Did Peggy know?"

"Peggy kept so many secrets," they walk out into the cafe area, the walls made of glass, "I didn't want her to remember you. Thanks for walking me back." Diana and Steve catching sight of Sam sitting on a four-legged stool at the main counter, TVs in front of him.

"Men made a world where standing together is impossible," Diana shakes her head.

"Steve, Diana, you might want to see this," he points to the screens, Steve and Diana jogging over to him.

"A bomb hidden in a news van blast through the UN building in Vienna." The woman on the screen says as a picture of the suspect comes up.

"Who's coordinating? More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead. Including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect, identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations," the reporter says, fixing the papers on her desk.

"I have to go to work." Sharon leaves, Diana setting her jaw as she stares at the little screen.

"I'M VERY SORRY," Natasha sits on the creaky wooden bench next to T'Challa. "In my culture, death is not the end. It's more of a...  stepping off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green valley where you can run forever," T'Challa says slowly, thinking.

"That sounds very peaceful," Natasha gulps thickly.

"My father thought so. I am not my father," T'Challa says his words carefully, fiddling with the ring on his finger, shaking his head.

"T'Challa," Natasha sighs. "Task force will decide who brings in Barnes."

"Don't worry, Miss Romanoff," T'Challa glimpses at Natasha in the corner of his eye. "I'll kill him myself."

"Really?" Natasha asks.

NATASHA'S PHONE RANG, immediately answering it. "You alright?" Steve's deep tones were heard. "Ah, yeah, thanks. I got lucky. I know how much Barnes means to you. I really do. Stay at home. You'll only make this worse for all of us. Please," Natasha looks around, seeing if Steve was anywhere to be found.

"Are you saying you'll arrest me?"

"No. Someone will if you interfere. That's how it works now," Natasha answers, seeing Steve's hidden face. "If he's this far gone, then... I should be the one to bring him in," Steve clenches his jaw, looking at Natasha through the blue-tinted sunglasses.

"Why?"

"Because I'm the one least to die trying," Steve retorts, he presses the decline button, walking away.

Natasha realizes what he's going to do, letting out a small 'shit'.