Ghost of You

f o r t y - t w o

I'm late. Extremely and probably inexcusably late. Unfortunately, when the army arrived, I still wasn't wearing the right clothes for combat and I didn't have any of my weapons. By the time I've run to my room to change, stashed a spare pistol behind my back and strapped a silver dagger to the outside of each of my thighs, both of the armies have almost finished lining up.

I'm not exactly thrilled about resorting to these daggers. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to be carrying them with me again but I had to be realistic. I was in new, uncharted, and potentially end of the world territory here. I had to put my best foot forward, even if it meant shoving down my pride and picking up the weapons my father had chosen for me.

I jog through the deserted streets, making my way towards the large field where the Wakandan's have decided to make our final stand. There's hundreds of soldiers lined up here, cutting off Thanos and his army from getting to Vision while the mind stone is being safely removed and then hopefully destroyed by Wanda.

I squeeze past the lines of soldiers, knowing the majority of the team will be right at the front. I spot Bucky and Sam from the back, and make my way towards them quickly.

"It's about time." Sam rolls his eyes in my direction then returns to field in front of us. I can see Nat and Steve off in the distance, jogging back in our direction after what I can only assume was a failed attempt at getting them to surrender.

"What took you so long?" Bucky adds with a smirk, lifting up his machine gun and flicking off the safety switch. "Touching up your makeup for Stevie?"

"Good one." Sam snorts and I shoot a glare in their direction.

"You two should be more careful." I grab the left dagger, flipping it over in my hand so the handle spins straight into my palm. "You keep getting along this well people might start to think there's something more going on here."

I point the tip of the dagger back and forth between the pair of them. Bucky's face sours and Sam's chuckling ends abruptly making me smile slightly.

Steve returns with Nat, lining up on my other side. He eyes the matching expressions on Sam's and Bucky's faces and the grin on mine, then he leans in towards me.

"What did you say to them?" He whispers, amused.

"I'll tell you later." I chuckle.

He's grinning too when he pulls back, although it falters slightly when he sees the dagger in my hand.

"You sure about this?" He asks, quietly.

"If you try to bench me again right now Steve I swear to God-"

"Alright, alright." He holds his hand up in mock-surrender, as his smile reappears. "Just save some aliens for the rest of us."

My gaze leaves his when a loud crashing sound echoes from across the field.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem." I mutter, eyes wide as I take in the scene.

Hundreds of aliens are forcing their way through the protective barrier. It's tearing them to pieces in the process, but they don't seem to care. They're just blindly following orders, killing themselves to weaken the shield barrier.