Title: Consequences
Author: Sgt. Pepperony
Fandom: Avengers (MCU)
Rating: T for Adult Themes
Pairings: Steve/Wanda, among others.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or the music used.

So this was a fanfic I wote in 2015 after I watched Age of Ultron (literally published the same day I saw it). I am fond of it but I needed some tweaking so I have proofread the story and shrunk the story down so there are less chapters overall.

Chapter One

Ouch, I have lost myself again,
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah, I think that I might break.
I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe.

The battle had been won, though not without cost. There was now a giant hole in the middle of Eastern Europe. Some dead civilians despite the Avengers best efforts. They had even lost one of their own. Lying on the ground was Wanda Maximoff, curled into a ball next to her twin's dead form in the hospital bed. He looked so peaceful. Like he was just sleeping. Maybe she could find a way to bring him back to life. She was not entirely sure what limits her powers had but it was worth a shot.

Looking through the other side of the window was Steve Rogers. He had a pang of guilt. This girl – he never really asked how old the twins were, for all he knew she was a woman – now had no one in the world. She looked so lost and scared and broken. Common sense made him think that he should leave her there. She would only flip out. Then again, he and common sense had always been in a strained relationship.

"Wanda?" he asked opening the door.

"Go away," she growled.

"Come on, you shouldn't be in here."

"I'm not leaving him." While he had to admire her stubbornness, Steve knew that the nurses would try to get rid of Wanda, only less gently. He did not really want to picture that scene. Instead, he picked her up. "No!"

"If it is all the same with you Wanda, I think your brother wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life staring at his corpse," he explained as he walked out of the morgue with Wanda in his arms.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"Just to the main control room. Everyone is there."

"I don't want to see anybody."

"Tough."

"You suck." Steve smiled. She at least had some semblance of a sense of humour. He knew there was no way of making her smile, but he could at least comfort her, or at least try to empathise with her. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a photograph. "You carry a photograph in your battle uniform Captain?"

"I carry it everywhere." Wanda looked at the date on the back: October 1943. "There's me. That is Agent Peggy Carter. Colonel Phillips. Howard Stark – Tony's father. And that is my best friend Bucky."

"Are all these people dead?"

"Phillips and Stark are. Peggy… she's got Alzheimer's disease, so it depends on the day. Bucky… that is a lot more complicated."

"How complicated?"

"I thought he died. We were on a mission in 1944, and he fell. Very far. I thought until very recently that he was dead. Instead HYRDA were just using him as a weapon. When I thought he died, I just froze. Like I had lost the best half of me. Like I had lost my brother. I want to say it does get better, but truth be told, you still feel like there is something missing."

"Like what?"

"Just some void. Like there is a life that should have been led but didn't. Bucky could have gotten married, had kids and lived out the rest of his life happy. Instead he was tortured and frozen, only taken out when some person needed him to kill. Pietro could have had a full and happy life."

"Is this meant to be comforting because you are really doing a shit job?"

"I am just trying to say that I understand how you feel Wanda. Bucky was all I had too."

At that point, the demeanour she had been holding up crumbled and she broke down in tears. Steve knew that taking her into a public setting was a bad idea, so he diverted to the bunkers. He sat on the bed, rocking her gently as if she was a small child. Soon, the sobs turned to hiccups and Steve grabbed the bottle of water that he had gotten earlier from the bedside counter.

"Are you okay?" he whispered as she sipped the water.

"No." The eyeliner had ran down her face, her eye's puffy and swollen. "Do you believe in God Captain?"

"Please, call me Steve. Though to answer your question, yes, I do believe in God."

"If there really is a God Steve, then he would have let Pietro stay."

"It does not really work like that Wanda. But you know what, he went out like a hero, and I think you should be proud of him for that."

Wanda sniffed, "I am proud of him. Can I just…" Steve nodded and wrapped his arms around her. Tony later found them lying together, Wanda sound asleep on Steve's chest.

He dared not to make a comment.