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NEVER THE SAME!
epilogue
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THE WARM BREEZE was welcome to Diana's skin as she gazed out at the sunrise that shone beautifully against the lake in front of her, her hair blowing softly in the wind that surrounded her like a hug. The chirping of distant birds and the hum of nature around her brought a serenity that she hadn't held in a long time.

The giggling of the village kids behind her brought her back to reality and she looked over her shoulder to see Shuri approaching her. A smile adorned the young girl's face as she assessed the knee scooter that Diana was on.

"I have a boot that'll be ready for you this afternoon, how are your toes?" Shuri asked, and Diana furrowed her eyebrows.

"A boot? I'm still surprised to have a foot, what do you mean you have a boot?" Diana asked. She looked down at her toes that peeked out from the cast and wiggled them slightly. "I still don't have feeling in some of them."

"I'll fix that before we get the boot on but you should be walking on your own in your dirty converse in six months." Shuri smiled.

Disbelief flooded her senses as she looked out at the water once more. She had no idea what to say, Diana thought for sure that her career of fighting against world-ending threats was over.

"Thank you, really." Diana looked over at Shuri. "I don't know what to say."

Shuri smiled. She looked like she was going to give Diana one of her signature sarcastic remarks, maybe something about "Broken White People", but a rustling of the cover over the entrance to Bucky's hut stopped the princess. The two turned around to see a group of kids running out of the hut, giggling.

The young girl smiled once more as the kids ran up to greet them. Their hugs were endearing to Diana as they even gently hugged her, being mindful of the scooter she was in.

"Are you playing around with that man again?" Shuri asked the boy that still clung to her.

Protests sounded out as if they didn't watch the kids run out of the hut. Diana knew what they were doing— she'd woken up to them in her hut a couple of times before, sometimes requesting certain things to be made or replaced. Though Diana could only make so much, there was something about the vibranium; she couldn't make objects that contained the material, which was most things the kids asked for. It always broke Diana's heart when she had to tell their little faces "no".

"Yes you are, you're teasing him!" Shuri's laugh reverberated through her words.

When more movement came from the hut, it was like Shuri's chastising of the village kids faded to the background. Bucky stepped out. Half of his hair was up in a bun that Diana taught him to make and he wore a red tunic similar to Diana's but a sling to cover the spot where his arm should've been. The orange light reflected off his skin beautifully as he slowly made his way down to the water where Shuri and Diana were.

"Good morning, Sergeant Barnes," Shuri greeted as he slowly approached. He wasn't wearing shoes; Diana envied that.

There was a pause as Bucky stared her down, assessing her. A hint of a smile was on his face as he glanced over at Diana. She'd never seen him more at peace despite the things that she knew haunted him. She'd heard it before. At the night when the village was quiet save for the cicadas that sang in the streets along the water and the lapping of the waves on the shore.

She could hear his nightmares in the night. She wished she could get to him sooner than she normally did, but in order to get to him at all, she had to use the scooter that the princess provided her. The boot that Shuri promised will for sure aid Diana in reaching Bucky to help him.

"Bucky," he corrected the princess, letting her know that she didn't have to greet him so formally. Her brows pinched together into a calculating expression as she read him.

"How are you feeling?" Shuri asked. Diana couldn't get over the way his icy grey-blue eyes shone in the fading sunrise hue. Golden hour was soon retreating to return the next day.

"Good," Bucky answered simply, "thank you."

Shuri smiled a little bit more before she patted the two of them. "Come," she said, "much more for you two to learn."

Bucky looked out at the water like Diana had earlier in the morning before his eyes flickered to her. The serenity on his face faltered as he regarded some of her scars, but she was already moving towards the princess. She decided to squeeze his one forearm on her way past, beaming at him as she did.

She'd help Bucky learn to forgive himself for what he had done to her when he wasn't in control. Diana had forgiven him long ago, but she knew it would be a long time before he forgave himself. Diana was ready. She was ready to teach him to move on, once he accepted her help.

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THE LAB SHURI that brought Diana had blown her mind. Loud music in the Wakandans language blasted through the walls that were decorated in abstract designs. After getting to know the princess, it was definitive that the space oozed with her personality. Diana loved it.

Diana was by the window, watching transports full of vibranium whizz by as Shuri did some finishing touches to the boot that was currently being attached to her foot. Diana had already undergone another surgery for her foot, the feeling in her toes was regained and she could only see it as being a step closer to restoring herself to how she was before if that's even possible for her now.

"Okay, take a step towards me, the boot should shoulder the weight of your foot and spread it up to your calf to your knee," Shuri instructed, stepping back to give Diana space to turn around and focus on her direction.

Diana looked down at her foot, concentrating hard on not falling as she hesitantly took a step forward. It was weird for her to not feel her foot as she stepped on it. Instead, it felt like her leg ended at her calf. The boot supported her, helping her stay upright. Diana let out a shaky breath that she was involuntarily holding, it turned into a small chuckle as she got used to the feeling.

"Science is so fucking cool," Diana looked up at Shuri now as she got closer, "you are a literal genius, never ever change, your highness."

"I'm flattered," Shuri laughed as she turned to her table, writing down what Diana assumed were notes, "so for the next six months you'll be wearing this boot while we fast track the healing for your foot, though making a prosthetic foot would have even more fun."

Diana shuddered at the memory of when she first arrived at Shuri's lab. She wasn't used to the royalty's sense of humor despite T'Challa's warning; she had actually cried when Shuri told her that they would have to take her foot from the ankle down and replace it with a prosthetic.

After that, Diana had to take special care in reading the princess's expressions and mannerisms to see when she was joking. It helped that almost every day was spent with the princess learning about wakandans culture and practices, including the language. Although Diana figured she would only be here until she was healed, she didn't want to disturb the ways of the village she would be residing in. It was a new experience for the two, Diana and Bucky were some of the first few outsiders and may possibly be the only ones that were welcomed in, so there were no protocols or rules to follow when it came to handling them. It was all dictated by T'Challa or his Queen Mother.

"Do you have any suggestions, is there any discomfort?" Shuri asked as she studied Diana.

The blonde only shook her head.

"No, this is great, thank you so much," Diana answered the girl and looked up. The princess didn't seem to like that answer, it made Diana's brain rack through suggestions, "uh, maybe a pocket for me to keep my rocks?"

Shuri only wrote that down, muttering to herself in Wakandan, only a few of the words Diana could understand. The pause in the conversation had Diana pushing herself to ask the question that had been lingering in the back of her head.

"I do have a favor that I want to ask of you, on top of the one you've already done for me if that's okay," Diana's face burned as she realized that she was calling on multiple favors to an actual princess.

"What is it?" Shuri asked, seemingly genuinely interested in what Diana had to ask.

"So I keep this burner phone on me for my family to call me in an emergency, but the force fields disrupt the reception, is there something you can do to the phone to allow reception to it, just in case they need to call me?" Diana asked, holding out the phone.

"Of course! I'll let you know when it's ready, now you and Bucky have goats to tend to last I remember," Shuri gave Diana a small wink with her smirk before shooing Diana off.

The blonde blushed once more, "Thank you again, Princess, I'll see you tomorrow."

Diana was headed to the door, a guard ready to escort her.

"Diana!" Shuri yelled out just before Diana left the room. She spun around to give Shuri her full attention, "focus on the goats."

Diana blushed and turned around, heading for the village. Heading for Bucky.

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THE EPILOGUE!! This is the worst epilogue I've ever written but I thought it was important to give you this information before book three. And hopefully I can make it up to y'all with the prologue of book three. I want to thank you all so much for your support on these books, Diana's story is my passion project and I just love Bucky so much.

I cant wait for you guys to see what I have in store for book three I've been planning it since chapter three of the first book and I'm so glad to finally be able to tie things together!!

writing dianas story is so fun for me so thank you all for reading it and I hope to see you at the meme gallery and book three!

-greta