𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗
𝘋𝘖𝘕'𝘛 𝘉𝘓𝘈𝘔𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘚𝘌𝘓𝘍

━━━ TO SAY THE TRIP IN THE SPARE JET TO WHEREVER TONY AND THE OTHER AVENGERS WERE WAS QUIET WOULD BE A TOTAL UNDERSTATEMENT. Not a single soul in the jet made a noise or sound, all sitting together either staring off into space or, in Apollo's case, sleeping on Victor's shoulder who absently pulled at stray strings on his pants.

Across the small jet, Meilani could see Adrian sat with Stiles ( or was he Void right then? ) as his eyes bored into the floor of the jet. Stiles' legs were pulled up to his chest with his cheek resting on his knees, talking softly to Adrian who would occasionally shake his head, not uttering a single word. Stiles' hazel eyes already looked glazed over and a faint dark circle was already forming around both eyes, making him look almost eerily just like he had back in junior year when Void had taken over his body the first time. Now it was happening all over again . . . and Meilani only blamed herself for it.

If only she had stopped Adrian from trying to bring Allison back up from the dead to give them tips on weapons and other things they could probably use. She could have called anyone else besides Allison Argent, right? Just because her father hadn't been around to answer, didn't mean she'd had to go to Allison next. Sure, Adrian had offered and even insisted that Meilani let him try the spell again — the same one that had even thrusted Adrian deeper into his necromancy in the first place. The same one that helped him see his late best friend Toby. The same one that went wrong the first time around so what made Meilani think something wouldn't go wrong again?

Meilani trusted Adrian more than anything, but she was also very aware of their past track record. Any plan they ever came up with always got blown up in their faces at some point or another because why should the pack have any luck at all? Now her best friend was silent and distant while her other best friend was possessed once again by the same spirit that had killed Allison and had nearly killed Meilani.

Guilt was heavy on Meilani's chest as she hid her face in her knees, Liam sat next to her as he rubbed her back soothingly. The pack had a vague idea of what happened thanks to Meilani as Adrian had all but shoved his way into the jet and plopped himself right in the back of the jet where no one would bother him. Despair, anger and worry all wafted off Adrian in waves and Meilani's nose twitched as she kept inhaling his chemo signals. Not that Adrian would ever admit to having any of these emotions to anyone, not even the wolves that could smell it right on him and call him out on it.

Adrian and Meilani almost never fought with each other. Hell, Meilani was pretty sure the only actual fight they ever had was back when Theo Raeken had come crashing into their lives in their senior year. He had quite quickly and effectively turned the whole pack against each other, leading Meilani to believe that Stiles had killed someone named Donovan on his own accord. A death that had been hidden from Meilani until Theo had told her about it. Granted, it wasn't Meilani's shining moment when she believed that Stiles had killed Donovan before he truly could help him as Meilani's big thing was never to kill anyone unless deemed absolutely necessary. Little did she know that Donovan had been trying to kill Stiles and the whole thing had truly been an accident, a pin falling from a rafter Stiles had been trying to climb to get away from Donovan and the rafting fall and punctured the boy through the chest.

Now wasn't as bad as that time since Adrian quite literally looked at Meilani as if she had killed his dog Prada. Looked at her as if she were the scum beneath his lacrosse cleats he used to scrape against the grass to clean in between plays of their old high school games. Now wasn't as bad as that time, no, but Meilani still felt the crushing weight of guilt. Still felt its greedy claws clutching tightly to her chest and squeezing so tightly it nearly had her gasping for air. He almost never sat anywhere but with her and Stiles and the fact he'd sat so far from her only sky rocketed her anxiety and made her overthink everything. Think this was finally the thing that would send Adrian into hating her forever, just like he had originally did with Stiles and Scott back before they all became friends thanks to the supernatural.

When did things get so complicated?

Meilani barely even felt the jet land in a desolate area where it was a singular ranch house and nothing but open fields and rolling green valleys. Trees surrounded the area as well, a green disguise that the jet hid in while the pack all clambered out of the jet together and out into the blinding sun. The sounds of the Avengers could already be heard as everyone stood in the grass, Steve and Tony in sight near the front of the house in front of what looked like a chopping block for logs for a fire.

Clint Barton stood out on the porch to the house and waved at the newly arrived pack, shouting to them to come inside so he could introduce them to his girlfriend and their kids. Liam had practically sighed in relief, shooting off towards the house as he had to go to the bathroom for the past twenty minutes and Isaac shouted after him to not run off before jogging after him, patting Clint on the shoulder as he passed him into the house.

Meilani's eyes flickered over to Steve and Tony where Steve stood at the chopping block, not even using an axe to chop the logs as he practically ripped apart the logs with his bare hands. His muscles strained harshly against the tight blue t-shirt that clung to his chest and Meilani blinked rapidly at the sight, snapping her head to the side when she heard Apollo snicker from next to her.

"Pick your chin up off the ground, McCall. You're drooling," Apollo sang, skirting around Meilani and shouting a greeting to Steve as he went. He shot a wink over his shoulder to Meilani as he told Steve his form looked really good when ripping apart the logs.

"I am not," Meilani grumbled, her hand still coming up to her chin to dab at the nonexistent drool that Apollo mentioned. "Victor, control your boyfriend."

"Nah, I think I'll leave him. I'm not his father. Plus, if I leave him alone for long enough, he tires himself out. Better for the last bit of sanity I have," Victor responded.

Meilani huffed while Victor carried on after his boyfriend, greeting Tony, Steve and Clint as he went along. She glanced over at Adrian and Stiles who had finally began to move away from the jet to make their way in the direction of Clint's house. Her eyes sought out Adrian's but he simply avoided her eye gaze, tugging Stiles along and shouting for Tony to follow him because he needed him and Bruce to help him with a "problem".

Great, Meilani created more problems that they didn't need.

"You okay?"

Meilani startled at the sudden voice in her ear, glancing up to see Steve staring down with her worry etched across his features. She hadn't even realized her feet had moved her over towards the house next and had stopped near Steve, Tony having left his own post with ripping apart logs to follow Adrian and Stiles into the house. Steve's light eyebrows were drawn together and his hand twitched like he wanted to reach out and place his hand on her arm, but thought better of it at the last second as not to make Meilani feel uncomfortable. However, something deep in Meilani yearned for the touch from him.

"Me? Um . . . yeah. I'm fine," Meilani said, even though it sounded fake even to her own ears. She exhaled deeply when Steve just stared at her, silently urging her to tell him what's up. "Okay, no I'm not. Adrian's mad at me."

Steve's eyes softened, knowing how close the two were with each other. They had practically been attached at the hip ever since they got here, Meilani being one of the few in the pack to get a genuine smile or laugh out of the Martin boy besides Stiles. If he hadn't known any better, he probably would have thought the two were together had it not been for Stiles, which was something that wasn't uncommon when the duo met new people. And, if Steve were honest with himself . . . probably would have been jealous of Adrian. Even though he couldn't really explain to himself why he would have been. "Did something happen while the team and I were gone?"

Meilani scoffed out a laugh and tugged a hand through her curls, shaking her head. "It's a very long story."

Steve gestured to the logs behind him with a small smile. "You can keep me company while I rip up these logs for Clint's fireplace. Raymond and Bucky used to tell me I was a good listener, so I'm all ears for you if you want it."

Meilani chewed the inside of her lip, wanting to talk to someone who wasn't in the pack about it. Typically, she would just wallow in her emotions alone as to not bother anyone in the pack with her more sensitive emotions. Emotions that had been heightened more once she was bit and made into a werewolf. Maybe talking it out would even help the raging anxiety stewing inside of her over thrusting Stiles right back into something that he'd been truly afraid of the last time it happened. "Okay . . . but don't judge my rambling."

As Steve picked up an axe this time to slash through the logs, Meilani had gone into what happened back in high school. How she, Stiles and Allison had all sacrificed themselves to find out where their parents were being kept at the time. That it had basically killed them in a way and they were out for well over sixteen hours in the ice cold baths that had been made for them to do the sacrifice in. On the bright side, they had been able to find their parents and save them, but on the other hand . . . it left Meilani, Allison and Stiles' minds wide open. Allowing anything that wanted to to worm its way right into their minds and take over.

Unfortunately, Stiles had been the one to draw the short straw on the whole thing and, what the pack had dubbed Void, possessed Stiles. He was a trickster spirit that had brought down chaos and carnage in his wake all in Stiles' body. Done things that Stiles was very aware of doing and remembered still to this day. How Void had stabbed Meilani right through the chest, twisting the sword from his demonic soldiers in a way that had Meilani seeing stars and feeling the white hot pain spread through her body while it tried to heal but couldn't with the object protruding from her chest. How Allison had died at the hands of that same sword when the same demonic soldiers pushed it right through her heart.

It had taken Meilani and the pack days to even figure out how to get Void detached from Stiles in the first place. When the ritual worked to getting Stiles separated from the evil spirit and have them be two separate vessels, Meilani's hope had spiked through the roof. They had been able to take down Void by Meilani biting Void and essentially turning him into a werewolf which was deadly to him. He had disappeared into dust and Meilani had thought she'd never see the evil spirit again.

Yet, now here he is again after pushing through from the other side. How the spirit even had that much power and energy to even get through and push Allison out of the way was beyond Meilani's understanding. All she knew was now that Void was right back in Stiles' body and, this time, seemed more powerful than ever if he had the abilities that Hell gave to him. It only created a bigger mess for the pack and Meilani was starting to think it would be almost impossible to get Void out of Stiles' body this time. That it might be this way for a while now . . . or even forever. And that thought terrified her.

Steve had done as he said, listening intently as she spoke while he continued to make firewood. The thudding from the logs were soft as they hit the grass at Steve and Meilani's feet, but that didn't stop Steve from hearing every word Meilani said. How she felt Adrian hated her now because she felt it was her fault the whole thing happened. "I don't think he hates you, Meilani. It more sounds like he's just pissed at the situation. There was nothing you could have done and you couldn't have known, either."

Meilani blinked rapidly, not even realizing she'd started to tear up until she had felt the wetness on her now rosy cheeks. At that point, Steve had finally stepped forward and wrapped her up in a comforting hug. Her soaked cheek pressed to Steve's chest and her arms were crushed to her sides as he hugged her. The action had stilled Meilani momentarily, not expecting the gesture but feeling grateful for it as it helped her a bit. "He wouldn't even look at me on the jet, Steve. I just — Adrian's been through enough in his life and now to add this to it for a second time?"

Steve rubbed her back comfortingly, the motion helping Meilani calm down a little more. "You know, back in the forties, I was left behind while Raymond and Bucky went off to the war. I had wanted to go so badly, you know, to help fight for our country, but I was too small and had too many health risks to join. Before Raymond and Bucky left, they both practically yelled at me to not do anything stupid while they were gone. So . . . I went and did something stupid by allowing myself to be experimented on becoming the Steve you see now. I thought Raymond was going to rip my head from my shoulders when he saw me again because I was much bigger than when he left me."

"I take it he didn't do that," Meilani mumbled into Steve's chest, cheek still pressed to it as she secretly clung to the comfort that his hug brought to her. "You still have a head."

Steve chuckled softly, a sound that had Meilani's heart beat picking up slightly. Almost like it was a musical note that she could play over and over. "No, he didn't take my head off. He was pretty mad and, at first, I did think it was at me. 'Cause here Skinny Boy Steve was not being so skinny and little anymore and having gone to do something stupid when he asked me not to. Now as mad as he was, he wasn't mad at me. It was over the situation, a situation that I couldn't necessarily control. Sure, I gave myself to them, but I couldn't control what it would do to me or any of what happened after. So . . . much like that time, Adrian's not mad at you, he's mad at the situation and just needs some time to get his mind around what's going on. I'm sure if you were to sit next to him within the next hour he'd be as Adrian as he can be at the moment. Don't be so hard on yourself, okay?"

Meilani was quiet for a long moment as she took in Steve's words, missing the way he almost brushed his lips along the top of her head when he moved. Missed the way his heart rate sped up momentarily as his brain whirred over why he had the sudden impulse to kiss the top of her. It was like he was holding Peggy Carter in his arms again . . . but different. A better different that he couldn't describe even if he wanted to.

"You should have been a motivational speaker instead of an Avenger. You're good at it and I don't know how I feel about it because that's my job," Meilani mused, earning herself another small laugh from Steve. "Raymond and Bucky sound better and better every time you talk about 'em, you know. Shame I couldn't meet them."

Steve smiled sadly and ran a soft hand over her head seconds before Meilani finally released herself from Steve's hold and put a few inches between them so she could look up at him. "Yeah . . . think they would have liked you."

Meilani seemed to perk up at that, beginning to feel a little better now that she'd talked out the situation with someone. An outside person who would be able to give a nonbiased opinion on what was going on. She just hoped he was right about Adrian. "So where's Thor, by the way? His heartbeat is the only one I don't hear."

"He leapt off to find some answers. Didn't say where he was going," Steve explained, scratching the back of his neck with a sigh. "I have no way of knowing where he is or if he's okay because I have no way to contact him. It's a waiting game at this point, honestly."

Meilani nodded and opened her mouth to reply when the front door to Clint's house banged open and the duo turned their heads while still facing each other to the door. On the porch stood Tony with a dead pan expression on his face, practically oozing annoyance.

"Come inside, you two. We got company?"

Steve furrowed his eyebrows, arm brushing along Meilani's as he turned to face Tony and a small jolt ran down both their arms that they both ignored. "Who?"

"Nick Fury."

word count: ( 3.1k )

— PEEP THE NEW COVER FOR CHAOS THEORY THAT I AM VERY PROUD OF, THANK YOU!

— another chapter that didn't necessarily follow a scene from the film! we will be back to normal film scenes next chapter when we get to see Nick Fury enter. it's gonna be an interesting time, lads! we are officially down to the final hour of age of ultron and i cannot wait to get past the end and get into civil war that is fully plotted and ready for me to write already! thanks ellis for fueling my never ending rants about civil war.

— the character RAYMOND that was mentioned will be making an appearance once civil war comes round. he is one of ellis' original characters and, as you can probably guess, will be with bucky barnes. i am so excited for him to make his appearance because i am in love with him && i am just ready for the angst that comes with both him and bucky entering. it's gonna be so much fun to write . . . for me. you guys will all yell at me BUT IT'S WORTH IT!

— also don't forget meilani has an instagram account now based off this fic called meiwoof. so go follow her! she's got a few posts already!