(bad dream)

Visaena was still standing outside of the hospital when Jace found her. Her mind was all over the place, still seeing the shooter, Fury dying and now she started seeing small visions of colored stones. Her breathing quickened as she went over every thought in her mind.

"Mother, you must breathe." Her eldest son spoke to her. He stood in front of her, holding her arms in his hands trying to ground her. He found it odd, having to ground his mother, normally it was his sister. Visaena never used to struggle with visions. She would have the odd one here and there but they never meant anything. But recently it's like someone turned the dial to the max for her dreams.

"Jacaerys, why are you here?" Visaena questioned, her voice wavering slightly.

Jace's expression softened slightly, a rare occurrence. "Mother, I heard about the attack, and how it connects to your's and Eliana's visions. I couldn't stay away knowing you might need me."

Visaena took a deep breath, feeling a bit more grounded with Jace's presence. "Thank you, my boy. Your timing is impeccable."

Jace nodded, glancing back at the hospital entrance. "And besides, I needed a break from Celestria. The council meetings have been... tiresome." Visaena managed a small smile, appreciating his attempt to lighten the mood. She heard the hospital entrance open and saw her best friend rush out. Natasha barely glanced at her and Jace before rushing off to her car and speeding away. Visaena sighed, recalling the previous events. The woman decided she would go home, to check on her children.

⋆✩⋆

The next day, after checking on her children. Visaena found herself at the hospital from the previous night, with Natasha. The woman picked her up, telling her to wear normal civilian clothing. Nat didn't tell Vis much, just that something was going on, and Steve knew something.

"What are we doing here Natalia?" Visaena asked with a sigh, crossing her arms. The redhead didn't answer. She put a dollar in the vending machine choosing a number. The gum dropped. She then chose the same number, but instead of more gum-dropping, a hard drive did. Natasha turned to Visaena a knowing smirk on her face. She pulled Visaena to the side, locking their arms together.

They waited in the shadows until Steve showed up. When he did Natasha revealed the two of them, standing in the reflection of the vending machine. Steve turns to the two women, Nat staring up at him, smugly chewing gum. Steve grabs the assassin by her arm dragging her into the dark room behind them.

"Where is it?" He urges. Visaena stands close to Natasha, with her arms crossed.

"Safe."

Steve looked between the two women, frustration evident in his voice. "Do better!"

Natasha, holding the flash drive, met his gaze coolly. "Where did you get it?"

Steve's eyes narrowed. "Why would I tell you?"

"Steve, let her go."

He ignored her, continuing his interrogation. "Fury gave it to you. Why?"

"What's on it?"

"I don't know."

"Stop lying!"

Natasha sighed, a hint of a smile on her lips. "I only act like I know everything, Rogers."

Steve's jaw clenched. "I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

Natasha's expression turned serious. "Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."

"I'm not gonna ask you again." They kept going back and forth, while Visaena stood there, chewing her gum unfazed.

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So he's a ghost story."

Natasha's eyes darkened. "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me."

She lifted her shirt to show the scar on her side. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." Visaena knew the woman would still look amazing in bikinis.

Steve looked at her, a hint of a smile breaking through his stern demeanor. "Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now."

"Oh, I've seen. She looks great." Visaena smirked.

A flicker of amusement crossed Natasha's face. "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She held up the flash drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." Steve took the flash drive from her.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

⋆✩⋆

They stood in a computer in a Mac store. Natasha's fingers flew over the keyboard. "The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are."

"How much time do we have?"

"Uh... about nine minutes from..." She popped the flash drive into a MacBook Pro.

"Now."

Steve and Visaena watched her work. "Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?"

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." Natasha's eyes flicked to the screen.

"I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

An Apple employee approached them. "Can I help you guys with anything?"

Natasha smiled warmly, pulling Visaena into her side, "Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."

"Yeah, we're so excited!" Visaena said, in a valley-girl-esque accent, going along with the story.

"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?"

Visaena glanced at the monitor, seeing the signal traced to somewhere in New Jersey. "New Jersey."

"Oh." The employee looked up at Steve for a moment. The three were worried he recognized them.

"I have the exact same glasses."

Natasha chuckled. "Wow, you two are practically twins."

The employee laughed. "Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh... if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron."

"Thank you."

"You said nine minutes, come on."

"Shh, relax. Got it." Natasha pointed to the screen. "Wheaton, NJ. You know it?"

"I used to. Let's go." Steve pulled the flash drive from the computer and they walked out of the store. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro."

Natasha squeezed Visaenas arm, pulling her close. "Shut up, laugh at something I said."

Steve blinked. "What?"

"Do it!" Visaena quickly put her arm around Natasha while Steve laughed. Rumlow passed them on the escalator without a second glance.

"Kiss me," Natasha whispered urgently to the Queen.

"Now?" Steve said, exasperated from behind them on the escalator.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable."

"Yes, they do." Visaena cupped Natasha's face with her hands, smirking slightly before kissing her. This wasn't the first time they had done this.

"You still uncomfortable?"

"It's not exactly the word I would use."

"Gross."

⋆✩⋆

Once they exited the mall, Steve stole (or 'borrowed' as he liked to say) a car. Visaena got settled in the back, and once they were on the road, she called Criston to check how her children were.

She clutched the ornate dragon-embossed phone, her fingers trembling slightly. Finally, she pressed the number for her home. The line buzzed for a moment before connecting.

"Ser Criston," she said, her voice tinged with concern. "How are the children?"

"My queen," Ser Criston replied softly, the warmth in his voice doing little to ease her anxiety.

"They are as well as can be. We've just finished supper. Lucerys is continuing his studies, but..."

"But what?" Visaena's heart quickened. "Is something wrong?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "It's Eliana, my lady. She seemed distressed earlier."

Visaena's grip tightened on the phone. "Distressed? What happened?"

"She had another vision," Ser Criston said gently. "She spoke of everyone fading away, disappearing before her eyes. It troubled her deeply."

Visaena's breath hitched. "Did she say anything else? Did she describe it in more detail?"

"She mentioned dust and trees," Ser Criston continued, his voice calm but laced with concern.

"She kept repeating that she was alone, that no one was left."

Her heart aching for her daughter, she replied. "Did you manage to calm her down?"

"I tried, my lady. Jace held her, spoke soothingly, and told her it was just a vision, nothing more. Eventually, she settled, but the fear lingered in her eyes."

"Thank you, Ser Criston," Visaena said, her voice filled with gratitude.

Visaena sighed heavily, her heart heavy with the weight of her absence. "It's so hard being away from them. I wish I could be there to comfort her."

"You are doing what you must, my lady," Ser Criston reassured her. "They know you love them, and that brings them comfort. I'll stay with them tonight, keep watch over Eliana."

"Thank you, Ser Criston," Visaena said, her voice a mix of sorrow and determination. "I'll return as soon as I can. Please, keep them safe."

"Always, my lady," Ser Criston vowed. "They are my duty and my honor to protect."

Visaena ended the call, the car falling silent around her. She sat still for a moment, the phone still in her hand, her thoughts with her children. She closed her eyes, the exhaustion slowly taking over.

⋆✩⋆

"Queenie, we're here." Natasha woke her.

They pulled up to an abandoned military base. Steve looked around, memories flooding back.

"This is it."

Natasha checked the coordinates. "The file came from these coordinates."

"So did I." They walked around the base, the night air cold and still. "This camp is where I was trained."

"Changed much?"

"A little."

"This is a dead end," Natasha said, frustration creeping into her voice.

"Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

Steve noticed a building ahead. "What is it?"

They walked over to the building. "Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place." Steve was about to open the lock with his shield, but Visaena stepped in front of him, blasting it off with a green glowing fist and they entered. The lights flickered on, revealing an old SHIELD office.

"This is SHIELD."

"It's where we started it." They entered a room with old framed portraits of Rhaenys, Visaena, Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, and Colonel Chester Phillips. Visaena stopped in front of her and Howard's pictures. God, Tony was a copy of him.

"There's Stark's father."

"Howard," Visaena mumbled.

"Who's the girl?" Steve didn't reply and walked further down the room, stopping by a massive bookshelf. Visaena gave Natasha a look.

"If you're already working in a secret office..." He pushed the bookshelf, revealing an elevator behind it.

"Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

They descended into a room filled with old computers. Natasha frowned. "This can't be the data point, this technology is ancient."

She noticed a small flash drive port and inserted the drive, activating the ancient computer. "Initiate system?" She typed in the command. "Y-E-S, spells yes." The computer cranked up.

"Shall we play a game?" Natasha looked at Steve.

"It's from a movie that..."

"Yeah, I saw it."

Suddenly, an accented voice spoke. "Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Hightower, Queen Visaena. Born 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984." Visaena raised her eyebrows at it calling her by her title.

Natasha looked around, spotting an old camera. "It's some kind of a recording."

Visaena felt a strange sensation wash over her. Her vision blurred, and the world around her seemed to distort. She stumbled, reaching out to steady herself, but before she could react, her mind was suddenly transported elsewhere.

Bright flashes of light engulfed her vision, images flooding her senses rapidly. She saw figures locked in combat, the clash of metal, and the sounds of battle. She couldn't make out faces, only silhouettes and flashes of movement.

The scene shifted, and she saw a vast airport, figures rushing toward each other in an all-out fight. There were bursts of light and energy, reds and greens, figures shrinking and growing, and others taking to the skies. She saw a figure in red and blue clashing with another in red and gold. The chaos was overwhelming, the sheer scale of the conflict staggering.

Her vision shifted again, and she was in a darkened room, a figure standing over a table filled with holographic displays. The room felt heavy and tense. Another flash, and she saw a large man in armor, his hand adorned with a gauntlet holding glowing stones. He raised his hand, and the universe seemed to tremble.

She saw a world in ruin, desolation, and despair etched into every corner. Figures stood amidst the rubble, their postures depleted. A fierce battle raged in a dark, stormy landscape, figures fighting desperately against overwhelming odds. She saw a flash of lightning, a hammer crackling with energy, and a figure wielding it with unmatched fury. Then a dragon soared by, roaring and raining fire on their enemies.

The scenes continued to shift, now showing a large-scale battle on an alien landscape. Figures charged forward, clashing with monstrous beings, the air filled with the sounds of war. She saw a figure holding a shield, standing resolute against a wave of enemies. Another figure, surrounded by a glow, unleashing bursts of energy.

The vision shifted one final time. She saw a figure standing alone in a vast expanse, a sense of loss and determination radiating from them. A portal opened, and countless figures stepped through, joining the lone figure. The sense of unity and resolve was overwhelming.

Then, as abruptly as it began, the visions ceased. Visaena gasped, her senses returning to the present. The next thing she knew Steve was pulling her and Natasha into a hatch in the ground. Visaena could feel and hear the rumbling of explosions as Steve protected them with his shield. She saw Natasha slip out of consciousness. As the sound of footsteps and yelling got closer, Steve gathered Natasha into his arms.

Visaena used her powers to lift the rubble off them. Steve gestured his head to an exit, the woman following after him.

authors note

cute ig :3

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