PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

forty-seven → no, you move

PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
( no, you move )

ALINE HAD ONLY MET AGENT Peggy Carter on one occasion, just once, but her respect for the woman had only grown in their one meeting. Despite her old age and everything, the woman still had her wit and intelligence about her, and she adored seeing the love between her and Steve. She'd been glad her friend decided to introduce her to Peggy, who also took a liking to her. Peggy had such a kind soul, she noted, and even after all these years still held a candle for Steve. The tribrid did feel like a major third wheel being around the two lovebirds, but at least she knew what Rome had felt like when she was with Madelaine, or how her new friends felt around her and Wanda. And when she saw Peggy go through one of her coughing fits, tearing up and sobbing at the sight of Steve, Aline's heart broke. I couldn't leave when I knew my best girl still owed me a dance, he had said, reciting the line as if he'd done it a thousand times. She had a feeling he has.

She greatly admired their love story, beautiful and downright tragic, so to hear of Peggy Carter's passing hurt Aline. There was no doubt in her mind that Steve was hurting, much more than he ever had when he first woke up in the twenty-first century. That's how she found herself on a plane soon after, sitting between Steve and Sam, and awaiting another two hours until the plane landed. There wasn't much she could do now 一 sleeping on planes was the most uncomfortable thing for her despite her small stature, her computer was almost dead so she couldn't watch anything, and she'd been too dumb to bring something else to entertain her. She did have her phone, but the battery was almost dead, and Sam was passed out and leaning against the closed window.

"The Accords," Steve said. She turned to look at him, only seeing his eyes were on the lights and call button above them, with his hands resting in his lap. "What do you think?" His voice was quiet.

Exhaling deeply, Aline shrugged. "I don't know," she whispered back. "Tony has a point, I get it 一 so many people died, Steve. People died because of our fights, our decision, and I've... I've killed plenty more people than anyone here. With the things I've seen and done, I wish there was someone to have... regulated me. That's what Rome and Maggie had been for me, if only for a short while. But..." Aline tilted her head back, rolling her shoulders. "But I just got my freedom back. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been on my ass for decades and I couldn't even breathe without them knowing. I get to do things because I want to and I want to help people, right my wrongs. The governments of the world will be dictating our every move and they get to decide if something is worth it or not. Hell, the U.N. might not have even allowed us to go to Novi Grad last year or even stopped Loki before that. And well..." She looked over at Steve, who had turned to look at her fully. "They were the ones that decided to send a nuke to New York to stop the Chitauri; how can we trust them if they didn't care about those millions of people?" Aline brushed her hair out of her face. "Every fight is worth it, no matter how small. We need to protect the people who can't protect themselves. No one saved us.

"No one was there when we were bruised and broken. Hundreds and thousands of people have experienced the kind of pain we go through on the daily, and if I can stop just one person from being hurt like us... being hurt like me..." Aline lifted her hand, slowly watching as her nails elongated into the dark brown of her claws, some fur growing atop her hand, "it'll all be worth it."

___

Dressed in the formal black dress Wanda had packed her (because she simply knew Aline had no nice formal wear), Aline sat in the pews next to Sam, tightly clenching her fists as she watched Steve and several others carry the casket down the aisle. She could see the way he was struggling to hold himself together, hear the way his heart beat and shuddered with each shaky breath he took, and Aline bowed her head. As soon as the casket was placed in the front, settled gently on the ground, Steve walked down the aisle to sit between his friends. She immediately reached out and grabbed his hand, stroking her thumb across his knuckles and settling their joined hands in her lap.

Words couldn't begin to describe the gratefulness Steve was feeling at having Aline and Sam here. Sam had lost his best friend, his partner, years ago in a fatal mission that broke his heart. Aline had lost the love of her life, a sweet girl who had gotten caught in the crossfire. Their three situations were different, but they all knew what it meant to have lost someone. It was nice to have people who understood his pain, who grabbed his hand and told him that everything would be okay in the end. Slowly, he looked at Sam then Aline and mouthed, Thank you. They turned their attention back to the priest at the front, who had continued speaking without the three truly paying attention.

"And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words."

Everyone was silent as they watched a blonde woman walk to the front, heels clicking quietly against the ground, to stand at the podium, but her stare lingered on Steve for a moment. When Aline turned to look at her friend, it appeared that Steve looked shocked to see her as well. Aline leaned further to lock eyes with Sam, and then mouthed, They bang or something?

Sam had managed to suppress his laugh, but grinned and shook his head. They wish, he mouthed back.

Sharon then cleared her throat, moving her gaze to the rest of the audience. "Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy. She had a photograph in her office 一 Aunt Peggy standing next to J.F.K. As 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." She added that last note, mainly directing it to Steve.

The tribrid nudged Steve with her elbow in a teasing manner, winking at him. It was one thing to be at your ex-lover's funeral, but another to find out that someone you liked was related to that person... Steve shook his head dismissively at her.

"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. But where you can't, don't. Even if someone 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.'"