Soulmark

Josephine couldn't wrap her head around what had happened to her in life. Most of the time, she had learned how to ignore it. Had learned how to put that pain in a far corner of her mind so that she could focus on the work in front of her. She was an Avenger, she helped people that needed it and she had helped save the world on more occasions than she probably would admit. She didn't do this for the fame or the thanks or any of it - in fact, no one even knew her name. Or her story. The world didn't even know her name, or her face. She was kept a secret because her story didn't really have a fantastic beginning.

She didn't understand how it had happened, not really. The accident, it probably should have killed her. That's what the doctors had told her. Time and time again. And then, Josephine had realized she needed to disappear because who did you go to when you have to explain that you haven't aged? What would they say? There was no one that would be able to understand and she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach, one that she simply could not shake. No matter how hard she tried, who would she trust with such an important secret?

Steve had returned home, after his tour overseas. After Bucky had perished. And she'd cried. Cried and cried and the thing that she held on to? Steve had cried, too. He'd apologize between full body sobs, explaining that he was sorry that Bucky hadn't come home. That he hadn't been able to protect his best friend - and then the secret came tumbling out of her lips before she could even stop it. Josephine told Steve about it all. About learning she was pregnant and sending a letter that would never be read. About the accident and about having not aged a day since.

There was no one else she could hope to trust with her secret but Steve had known who to turn to - Howard Stark. The man took Josephine under his wing, welcomed her into his home. It had been hard, scary - because how did you trust a stranger? But Howard was trustworthy and he helped put her mind at ease. Put her to work because if she was immortal, and she was trained - she could be a deadly weapon. A weapon against the people that had taken Bucky from her. Howard had given her a renewed sense of purpose and she would be forever grateful.

Josephine found herself close to his son, Tony, after. After the Starks' accident because Howard was the only Stark left and Steve was gone. The only person in her life that didn't treat her any differently. didn't treat her like some sort of perverse God.

Years had gone by, and the routine was the same. Every night when the tower settled in and people were sleeping, Josephine tip toed into Tony's lab. There was a small couch that she curled up on and she sat and she watched as Tony worked because it was easier than living through the nightmares that tended to plague her mind. Ones that Tony could relate to because he still hadn't quite come to terms with his parents' deaths.

"Sometimes.. I wonder what it would be like. If Bucky was still here. Even if I lost the baby... even if the accident happened.." Josephine whispered, shrugging her shoulders.

Kylie could distinctly remember the day her soulmark had appeared on her wrist. She'd just turned fifteen and was laying in her bed reading her favorite book when she'd felt a rather odd feeling on her wrist, upon further investigation she'd realized that the name Thor Odinson was scrawled across her wrist in rather elegant writing. She'd remembered she'd stared at this name on her wrist for a good ten minutes trying to just make sense of it and she never did. So rather than try and figure it out and stress herself out Kylie decided to ignore it. In her mind there had to be some kind of mistake, because Thor Odinson wasn't real. Yes, he was her favorite Viking myth to read about but she believed that he was just that. A myth. Yes, Kylie loved learning about him, she liked to imagine him in different ways depending on the story she was studying, but he wasn't real. And she'd felt like somehow the universe was trying to pull a fast on one her.

And so the mark on her wrist was ignored.

Now here she was ten years later finding herself confused even more because all around her were aliens attacking her home, and The Avengers trying to fight them off. She'd heard rumors of course of all these avengers coming around trying to save the world but she'd never thought they were actually real, at least not real enough to be here in NYC fighting off aliens, which she also hadn't thought were real. And what made things weirder was that the mark on her arm was giving off a weird tingly feeling and had been all day, she also just felt this pull. She couldn't explain it, and she didn't know where it was pulling her to, but she knew that she felt it. And she was just holding out hope that everything would make sense soon.

---

Bucky had been giving a mission. And like always for the last 70 years he followed his orders. Of course not following orders had always been a fate worse than death. And while Bucky had always been a strong person even he could be broken. It hadn't been an easy 70 years, and honestly, Bucky didn't even remember a lot of it just bits and pieces really. But it was all so vague in his memory that he'd stopped trying to piece it all together a long time ago. For a while, after he'd been kidnapped Bucky had held onto whatever hope he could muster up believing that someone was going to find him and save him since it hadn't looked like he was going to be saving himself. Some days that had looked like him thinking of his friendship with Steve and believing that good ole Captain America could save him. Other days it looked like him thinking of the wonderful days ahead he had with Josie, the love of his life. These were the things that kept him going, that gave him hope while the people he was being held captive by tortured him like no man should ever be tortured.

Until one day they broke him. They got into his brain, crossed some wires, and jumbled up everything he'd ever known so much that Bucky wasn't even sure what his own name was. He was called The Winter Soldier, he was told to follow orders so he did. After all, he didn't know what else to believe, he couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. He no longer knew what was right from what was wrong, he didn't know anything anymore and just did what he was told. It didn't matter what the mission was, he did it without question.

Could he tell anyone why he was spying on someone named Captain America? No. He didn't even know that HYDRA was a bad thing. He just knew that he'd been told to keep an eye on a certain group of people and stop them from ruining the plans that HYDRA had in place. So that's what he did. No matter the cost Bucky was going to make sure he stopped SHIELD from foiling HYDRA's plans.

[ I really hope this was good! I had no idea where to really start so I just kind of went it with ]

{It's amazing!! don't worry }

Thor Odinson had lived for so long that he had grown to ignore the name scrawled across his arm. Kylie Lambert. He'd memorized it and wondered what it would mean for him the day that he met this Kylie, if he ever even managed to. He'd long since forced the name to the back of his mind and he did his best to ignore it. The fancy letters written across his arm were forgotten because if he still hadn't met his soulmate, would he ever meet her? Would he ever be united with the woman that he was promised to? Thor had given up hope, long ago.

That was why he ignored the tingly feeling in his wrist, even as he descended upon New York. It was a strange feeling, one he'd never felt before but he was far more focused on the battle raging around him. Tightening his grip on Mjöner, Thor stormed through the streets, attacking every alien that came toward him. Each one that he caught sight of, Thor destroyed with a swing of his hammer, a strike of lightning.

Thor was angry because Earth was so easily destroyed should the wrong being decide to attack that he deemed it child's play to attack - that and there were people on Earth t hat he had become close to. That he could not imagine being killed in such violent ways. The pulsing in his wrist only continued to grow stronger, with each step through New York that he took. And then all at once, it began to dulla nd it caused Thor's feet to stop dead in their tracks.

He turned back around, allowing his feet to carry him in whatever direction they cared because it seemed like his feet knew more about where he needed to go than his own mind. Thor frowned when he caught sight of a woman huddled behind a car that was nearly crushed against a wall. There wasn't a way out should things go haywire, it wasn't a very smart hiding place. Thor's frown only deepened as he knelt in front of the woman, holding his hand out to her. "Come. I will get you somewhere safe, human," Thor's voice sounded, trying to keep himself as small as possible. Humans were so easily spooked, he didn't want to scare her when all he was trying to do was protect her.

---

Josephine was so thankful for Tony in her life, she didn't think that she would be able to ever properly thank the man. He was always willing to listen when she was having a darker moment, like she had been the night before. Like she was most nights when she let her thoughts drift too far down the rabbit hole. She never bothered Steve with those thoughts because she didn't ever want him to blame himself any more than he already did. She knew Steve well enough, she knew the super soldier blamed himself for Bucky's death. She knew him and she didn't want to burden him with the pain that she carried on her shoulders. She would always put on a happy face for him - but for Tony, Tony's father had seen her on her worst of days. Tony knew the thoughts that ran rampant through her mind when the shadows became too much.

But each morning was the same, a mission was given and the Avengers were to tend to it. Josephine sat back unless she was needed for she wasn't a known Avenger. The fame had never been a concern to her, she only wanted to feel like she had a purpose now. Josephine didn't want to find a new love, she would never have children - family would never be her purpose.

Josephine had expected that today would be a boring day, there wasn't anything that she was aware she would need to go to. Right up until Tony walked into the kitchen, looking all business and minimal play.

"We just received word that the Winter Soldier is going to be in town. We need to catch him, stop him before he leaves. He's caused enough problems around here, we don't need him causing any more," Tony explain, Josephine giving a distracted nod of her head. She was focused on the dishes in front of her.

"You too, Josey," Tony said, catching Josephine's eye when she turned. She raised an eyebrow, though she gave a nod of her head. "Whatever you say, boss. If that's what you want.." she gave a lopsided grin, already having written today off as a boring, typical fight. She'd heard tale of the Winter Soldier but she didn't think it would be anything spectacular. Off Josephine went to get ready, tossing on her suit and pulling her hair back into a tight bun before she readied by the front door, waiting for the rest of the Avengers to leave the tower.

Kylie turned and took the man's hand thankful he's shown up when he did. She hadn't been sure what exactly she was getting herself into when she made the choice to stay behind while her friends had all gotten out of town as quickly as possible when shit started to go down. But Kylie hadn't been able to go. She knew it was smart to leave while she could, to protect herself from the aliens, because this wasn't something she'd ever been taught how to deal with. Everything else you think of though she knew the drill of what to do and how to leave down and be safe. There was something thought keeping her in the city. Something about the tingly feeling she'd noticed in her wrist all day long almost like it was telling her not to go or she'd regret it. And it didn't make sense but at the same time she couldn't fight the feeling either, despite what she felt was a better judgment call based on the current situation.

Was it weird to just take the hand of a man you didn't know so easily and comfortably? Even if it was a scary situation. Really shouldn't the situation put her on high alert or something? Shouldn't she be freaked out at the thought of accepting help from a man she didn't know? After all what if he was working with the aliens? What if this was all his fault? She didn't know, because Kylie didn't know this man, but she took his hand like it was nothing. Kylie trusted the man in front of her with her life, and when she placed her hand in his for a second she could swear she felt a spark. Though she brushed it off as quickly as she thought it because it sounded insane.

"Thank you," Kylie told the man knowing that while she could've kept standing there and tried to fight off the aliens that came at her it really was much safer for her to be somewhere else. But she wasn't exactly at a good vantage point to fight anything off from where she'd been standing.

---

Bucky wasn't afraid of anything, at least not the Winter Soldier version of himself. Therefore spying on SHIELD so he could try and kill Captain America wasn't a huge deal for him. He was worried about being caught, he wasn't worried about someone being too strong for him to take on. Or even getting caught. He just had one thing on his mind, completing his mission and reporting back to the man in charge.

Being in the mindset he was in there weren't a lot of things that he remembered from before he was like this, and he didn't really think ahead much either to try and figure out different things that could go wrong that he should be prepared for. Plus HYDRA had supposedly wiped all those memories from him so there's no way that someone from his past could appear and mess things up for them. Though maybe HYDRA didn't realize quite the power that true love and friendship could have. Or how strong James Buchanan Barnes actually was.

Bucky entered the city and made his way towards where he knew his main targets were based on the coordinates he's been given, he found himself a nice place to hide and stake things out, and then he waited until the right moment to strike. This was what he'd been trained to do, hunt, attack, and kill the target whatever the cost. And if he couldn't complete his mission then he'd better kill himself because there was never an excuse for failure. Not when it came to HYDRA, and not for a winter solider.

So he waited, until the most opportune time to strike then he jumped out and made himself known. He didn't know what it was specifically about the man he was fighting that seemed very familiar but there was something about him that Bucky just couldn't place. Almost as if he knew the man personally or something. But surely he would know if they'd sent in another HYDRA agent, and if they had Bucky wouldn't be fighting him right now so he really couldn't place what was striking about the man.

Thor felt a jolt when Kylie's hand was placed in his but he thought nothing about it, far too focused on the battle that was raging around them. He was focused on getting the human girl to safety, before he was able to get back into the fight. He made sure to keep Kylie in front of him, his eyes roaming over the street in front of him. He was vigilant as he looked, his eyes never really stopping on any one thing. There was an ever growing sense of needing to get her to safety and he couldn't quite place why that was.

Thor stopped dead in his tracks, his arm reaching out and snaking around Kylie's waist. He pulled her tight against his chest, lifting Mjolnir and giving a hefty toss in the direction of an armored truck that stood, seemingly abandoned, in their path. It fell beneath the weight of his weapon, crushing the alien that had been hiding behind it. Waiting to ambush them. Thor's hand tightened around Mjolnir's grip, his body tensing as he looked down to the body he'd crushed tightly to him. Why? He didn't normally care to protect others in the middle of a battle but he was drawn to Kylie in a way that he had never felt before.

Dropping his arm from her waist, Thor cleared his throat as he straightened. "Please accept my apologies. Thee, uh," he paused, nodding toward where the alien lay crushed beneath the armored truck. "Was waiting to ambush us. Not very well, may I add but... he was trying to," Thor said, his face scrunching a bit. He was evidently unimpressed by the lack of the alient's ability. Huffing, he shifted his weight from one side to the other as he looked to Kylie.

"You are unharmed?" Thor asked, only concerned that his grip had been too tight, had harmed her in some way.

---

"Steve... something's off. Be careful," Josephine murmured as she fell in line beside him, the Avengers team filing out of the tower. She glanced to him with a small frown. She couldn't quite place what the feeling in her gut was because it was certainly something that she hadn't felt before. There was a nervous energy vibrating through her entire being, something that she couldn't quite shake even as she tried to simply remain focused.

"It's too quiet," Josephine said as they stepped into the square that their intel had led them to. Her face scrunched as she started to turn, her eyes scanning the horizon for some sort of clue. She straightened when she saw a flash of light from a group of trees by the edge of the clearing. Metal didn't belong in nature - "There!" Josephine called quiet enough that she hoped only the Avengers would have heard her.

The group surrounding her turned, starting in the direction that Josephine led them in. But it seemed like it didn't matter who they were going for because even as the Winter Soldier appeared, so did an array of other soldiers. Her attention was dragged from the Winter Soldier, to another who approached her.

Her chest heaved as she put the man down, turning to catch sight of Steve struggling against the Winter Soldier. For each hit that Steve got in, the Soldier delivered an equally powerful one. No. She would not lose Steve, she couldn't dare the thought.

Kneeling, Josephine pulled a baton from her boot. She rushed forward, bringing the baton down on Bucky's back. It was her greatest weapon, if she knew that she was outmatched by her opponent and if this Winter Soldier was putting Steve to the test... she was certainly outmatched.

{I feel like this is terrible. I'm sorry }

[ no it was fine!! ]

Kylie nodded her head when the man asked if she was okay. "Yes I'm fine, thank you," she told him not sure what had just happened with all the sparks and weird knots she was feeling in her stomach currently but she didn't think she should mention that to him, and not right at this current moment. Kylie could tell though that there was something about this man that she was drawn to. She didn't know what, she didn't know why, but she knew there was something. And before she could ask herself any more questions, or even actually put them out into the universe she was pushing him with all the force she could muster so they didn't get attacked by the alien trying to come at them from behind which took them both to the ground and gave one of his team members a chance to shoot at the same alien trying to attack them from behind.

Of course, Kylie being herself had to catch herself so she didn't totally fall and hurt herself in the process of trying to save someone else. "Sorry about that," she told him sighing softly, "you just had your back turned and that thing was trying to attack you," she told him doubting that he needed an explanation but she gave him one anyway. And as she went to push herself off the ground so she could stand up again she caught a glimpse of her own wrist with the name Thor Odinsson scrawled across it and she thought her heart might've stopped beating for a minute.

A week ago she wouldn't have even thought this was possible, but today of all the days Kylie would've believed anything you told her because apparently even aliens were real. Not how she'd always seen them played in movies or on TV but still, they were clearly real. So if aliens were real then it was possible that this man really was Thor, the God of Thunder, whom she'd done so much research on just because she found his story fascinating. He could actually be the man her soulmark meant and maybe she wasn't insane or going to actually be alone forever. Or maybe she was just insane.

---

Bucky was caught slightly off guard when he was hit with something from behind, it distracted him enough to stop fighting the man in front of him he was there to fight so he could turn to the person behind him. And Bucky reacted, because he'd been wired to do nothing else. He reached out his hand and yanked the baton from the girl and threw it off to the side then went to react again but as he got closer something happened. He felt a jolt of something run through him and he hesitated ever so slightly as he felt like he knew this girl from somewhere, and he didn't think he would've hurt her in the past and he didn't want to now. But the winter solider over powered the small part of human Bucky that was left and kicked her with a great force before turning back to Captain America.

He took advantage of the situation at hand, which was the captain being slightly worried about his friend and threw a few more strong blows to the man before Captain America started to fight back and Bucky's mask flew off, which gave away a lot. He could see that it thew a few people off and knowing that he'd been compromised in that moment Bucky knew it was time to abort the mission for now and go somewhere where he could recoup and think go a new plan.

[ I feel like my reply was bad! ]

Thor hadn't been expecting Kylie to shove him, his eyes widening as he fell to the ground. He twisted, his brows furrowing at her. Had he not just saved her life? And now she was shoving him to the ground? The moment of confusion passed because the alien behind him let out a grunt of pain, drawing his attention to it as it fell to the ground. Thor exhaled slowly, wanting nothing more than to tear this entire damn alien army in two. For harming this planet that was as helpless as Thor felt it was.

The Avengers were fierce warriors, Thor was coming to understand but they had no clue what was really out there. What could actually be coming for them, from outer space. If aliens chose to attack, Earth would never be able to defend themselves from every angle. There would always be unprotected sides.

Standing back up, Thor offered his hand to Kylie. There was something different about this time when they touched. A jolt of electricity surged through him as he helped Kylie onto her feet. A pain surged through his wrist and he couldn't help but frown, his brows pulling together. That was a sensation that he had never felt before, even in his hundreds of years of existence. Thor's confused only grew as he studied the girl in front of him, tilting his head to the side.

"That was brave. I owe you my life," Thor commented finallyy, brushing the feeling off as nothing more than nerves from nearly being shot. Dropping his hand from Kylie's when he realized he was still holding onto her, he cleared his throat as he took a small step backward to create space between them.

"I must get you somewhere safe... do you have somewhere that you could go?" Thor started, giving a firm nod of his head.

Or maybe it was just that Thor wasn't ready to accept what was standing right in front of him.

---

Josephine grunted as the Winter Soldier kicked her, flying back several feet before she landed on her back, all sprawled out. She groaned as she rolled onto her side, pushing herself up hurriedly. Despite the pain that lingered, Josephine's attention was turned toward the fighting men in front of her. She had learned how to persevere, to ignore the pain and to fight when it was required of her because in situation like this, it had the tendency to turn to life or death. She was not going to lose Steve, ever again. She couldn't bare to.

Launching herself across the field, Josephine was nearly at the dueling pair when Bucky's mask flew off. Josephine swore that the air was knocked from her lungs, her feet forgot to move as she stared at the man in front of her. Her lips parted as if she wanted to scream, to say something but all that came out was a strangled noise.

Josephine locked eyes with Bucky and that's all it took for her to start running toward him. No. This wasn't her James, this wasn't the man that had loved her and swept her off her feet. Because the man that she had promised her heart to wouldn't be the source of all the pain that the Winter Soldier caused.

"James!" Josephine shouted his name at the top of her lungs, reaching out to him as an arm wrapped around her waist, cementing her in place. Tony's grip only tightened on her as Josephine began to struggle against him. "No. No. You don't understand," Josephine growled, trying to peel the metallic arm from around her waist. "Please. Please," she croaked, watching as the Winter Soldier disappeared over the horizon.

There was no denying that Kylie felt the spark between herself and Thor the moment their hands touched as he helped her up. And when he stepped back ever so slightly Kylie felt like she needed to step closer as if to close the already small distance between them. It was as if her body knew what her mind and heart were still trying to figure out. "I'm Kylie by the way," she finally said before sighing and pushing her fingers through her hair just trying to think of somewhere safe she could go. "I don't really know where to go, is there even anywhere safe in this city anymore?" She asked frustrated by the entire situation. She hated that this was happening to her home and that she felt so useless in this situation. Because Kylie loved her home, and she wanted to help defend it, but she didn't even know the first thing about defending anything from a bunch of aliens.

"It was nothing really, I was just trying to help," she told knowing that she would've done the same thing for anyone else had she seen an alien behind them as well. Though it probably wouldn't have been quite as hard or used as much of her energy as it had with Thor here because most people weren't as large as him but it still wasn't a huge deal.

That thought did make her wonder though if that was normal since Thor clearly wasn't from around there were all Asgardian men like this? He was larger in all aspects that she could tell anyway. And it was a good look for him, she honestly couldn't say it was a look she was used to seeing on anyone around here but he pulled it off really well. Now wasn't exactly the time to be thinking of that though she realized and tried to shake that out of her mind. They were clearly in the middle of a warzone so now was really not the time or place to be falling in love if you wanted to put it that way.

---

Bucky had only barely gotten away from the situation because something inside of him felt like those hadn't been the people he should've been fighting. That man had known who he was, he'd called him Bucky and looked so shocked to see him alive almost. And then that girl he'd heard her call him James, and he'd seen the way she reacted when she saw his face. She clearly knew him and was probably more shocked that he was alive than the man had been. But he couldn't quite place either of them right now. And he was sure that when he got back to headquarters they wouldn't tell him anything. He was probably going to get so much shit from the men in charge for not completing this mission.

He did what he always did after a mission, he made his way back to headquarters to give a mission report. The only difference between this time and all the other missions he'd completed was that he hadn't completed this one. He'd gotten himself more or less caught by the so-called good guys and had to abandon the mission before he could complete it. That didn't go over well with the men in charge. And before Bucky even knew what was happening he was being put in the chair. He knew what this meant, that he'd failed them and now he needed to be punished. Because this was his life, when he did things right he didn't get tormented, when he messed up it was nothing but.

"Wait!" he said before the started everything, "who were they? That man and woman I was fighting today?" He asked them, "because they felt familiar, and they seemed to know me. Do I know them? Should I know them?" He asked, and he should've known they weren't going to tell him anything, but he'd tried anyway.

"You don't know them, and it's not important who they were. Now let's begin,"

Then Bucky was getting a mouth guard, being strapped in, and it began.

Thor hadn't even thought to ask the human girl's name because as far as he was concerned, she was just another human that needed to be protected. He was Thor, God of Thunder. He would protect her, it was his duty as he had the power to. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing else that he needed to consider when he decided he was going to help get her somewhere safe. But that Kylie went and she introduced herself and his heart skipped a beat. His lips parted as he spun around to face her, his gaze softening after so slightly.

"We need to get you somewhere safe. Now," Thor's voice was hard as he spoke, the sudden fear that flooded his system was something that he hadn't been prepared for. He wasn't ready to be smacked with the idea of his soulmate in the middle of such a violent battle. He swallowed, reaching out to Kylie again. His grip this time wasn't as gentle. Instead it was demanding, almost too tight as he raised Mjornir. In an instant, their bodies were racing through the streets, only coming to a stop on the steps of Stark Tower. He looked up, eyeing the building warily.

He couldn't stay and he hoped that Kylie would understand. That there was a battle going on around them that Thor could not ignore, no matter how badly he wanted to with his soulmate standing in front of him. He cleared his throat, looking down at her with a look of determination set on his features. He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Kylie Lambert," Thor said, a breathless laugh sounding from his lips. "How I have yearned for you, for so many century," Thor breathed, not even realizing he hadn't introduced himself.

---

Josephine was still as a board the entire trip back to the tower she had called home. It was her home and yet even as she stepped through the threshold, Josephine wanted to turn around and run right back out the doors. Bucky was out there. He was out there and he was... hurt, she thought. She had no idea what was going on but she didn't even have to question it that something was wrong. There was no way that Bucky would have hurt her or Steve of his own free will.

A conversation needed to take place between her and Steve but right now... Josephine needed to be alone. The moment that she was alone, her legs crumbled beneath her. She didn't even bat an eye when her knees hit the ground, fear and anxiety washing over her in rogue waves. Ones so large that they swallowed her whole and she was left gasping for air, kicking as hard as she could and yet she kept being swept beneath the water. No. No. No.

Memories of a lifetime that had passed kept running through her mind but it didn't matter. She dragged herself across the floor, settling against the leather jacket that had once belonged to Bucky. It was the only thing she had left of him but it was hers and it was the only thing that could calm her in moments like this.

Kylie didn't exactly have time to process what was happening before she was practically being scooped up by this man and taken to the Stark Tower, and his entire demeanor had changed since she'd told him her name which was a little odd. But it all clicked when she realized that she had felt a spark when she'd touched him earlier, and with how he'd apparently been yearning for her for so many centuries. "Thor," she said in more of a questioning voice than anything trying to actually process what was going on. Kylie understood that everything she was feeling, and all the signs were there saying that this was Thor Odinson her soulmate. This was the man whose name had been written across her wrist for the better part of ten years. It all made so much sense, yet at the same time, Kylie found it hard to believe that her soulmate could be from another planet.

"Is this real?" She said pushing her fingers through her hair trying to really figure out what was going on. And why did it have to be right now that they would meet? Who meets the person they're supposedly destined to be with in the middle of a battlefield, and like this? There was an actual war going on beneath them between The Avengers and the aliens. And it didn't look like the aliens were going to be stopping anytime soon. Though Kylie had no idea what was even allowing the aliens to come to earth or that there was a plan in motion to put an end to everything once and for all. What she did know was that in front of her stood Thor. And taking a really good look at him at the moment even though he was covered in dirt, sweat, and maybe that was blood, he looked good. This was probably the most attractive man she had ever laid eyes on.

Kylie sighed to herself, of course, this is real. How could this not be real? If everything happening right now weren't real then Kylie had a pretty good imagination and she knew that wasn't true about herself. Kylie never would have thought crazy things like what was happening right now up. This was all so beyond what her mind could come up with on her own.

---

This time around was the hardest. Bucky couldn't actually remember the last time the torture had felt that bad, and he had an idea that it was because things were beginning to trigger his memories. And not the ones HYDRA had led him to believe, but the memories of James Barnes, not the winter soldier. But it was still really hard for him to differentiate between the two. He knew that there was no denying he was both, after all, he did have the memories of both but it was all still very fuzzy and he couldn't tell which memories belonged to who really. The best way he would've been able to describe what he was going through to someone else was that he knew he was fully Bucky but also fully the winter soldier, and he all these memories from both compiled in his brain that he couldn't sort through. He was for lack of a better term actually going through an identity crisis.

"Here is your new mission. We want you to end Captain Rogers and his friend whatever the cost," Bucky was being handed a folder, and inside the folder was everything that he needed to make sure he didn't fail this time. And he was sure that the men in front of him had high hopes that seeing Captain Rogers and the girl he'd seen that day wouldn't trigger something else in him and mess everything up again.

Bucky took the folder and nodded. He understood what they meant. Bucky knew then and there that they were telling him this was his last chance to prove he could complete his mission or this would be his last mission. They may not have been wording it that way, but he'd seen it happen too many times before. Someone couldn't complete their mission for whatever reason after being given a second shot they were dead. HYDRA didn't give three chances, and some people didn't even get two changes. So in order to save his own life, Bucky knew he had to kill both Steve and Josephine. That was his mission.

Thor let out a bitter laugh as he brushed a bit of Kylie's hair behind her ear, raising an eyebrow. "If this is not real, I will kill the man who wakes me from my slumber," he said effortlessly, his lips hovering just above her own. Thor was aching at the moment, desperate to reach out and kiss her. Take Kylie as his own because he'd been waiting so long for her. So, so long... and yet, they were in the midst of a battle. He couldn't abandon them, no matter how badly he wanted to.

"Go inside. Tell them that I sent you, and that I said to keep you safe at all costs," Thor began, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth for just a moment. He knew that the security at Stark Tower was world renowned. He knew that Kylie would be safe inside but Thor also knew that he would be able to whisk her away to Asgard... where no one would dare even dream of harming her. She would be safe there. But there was a world here that needed to be protected. Kylie's planet. He couldn't just abandon it, with her by his side. She probably had connections here, people that she loved and she would worry about.

"I promise you that I will return to you. By the time the sun sets on the horizon, I will be by your side," Thor promised. He cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb over her cheek before he took a step backward. He gave her a gentle push toward the stairs that led up to the building. "Go on. I assure you, you'll be safe," he spoke again, wanting her to understand the lengths that he would go to to keep her safe and sound. He would never let harm come to her.

---

Josephine's heart had broken in two, she was sure of it. She felt like she was going to be sick. She hadn't even recognized Bucky's scent. The one that she had clung to. Bucky had always smelt like home to her. Whiskey, spices, leather - and now? His scent held no semblance to the one that she remembered and that made her ache. It made her want to cry, just thinking of it. She didn't have any answers as to what Bucky had gone through but for an alpha's scent to change that drastically, she knew that it had to be something awful. Something that would tear her in two, if she knew about it.

Swallowing around the lump in her throat, Josephine let out another sob as she hung her head. She wanted nothing more than to launch herself out of the room and go off, on a search for Bucky. But she had no idea where to look, what his motive had been. All at once, a realization dawned on her. One that made her even more sick to her stomach, to even consider. The man they had battled was the Winter Soldier and if that same man was Bucky... then Bucky was the Winter Soldier. What had made her sweet alpha become such a monster?

By the time that she had dragged herself to her bed, Josephine felt completely worn out. On nights like these, she would typically head down to Tony's lab and read in the corner. She would simply exist with Tony, each enjoying the comfort of the other's presence while they tried to dull their pain. But Josephine didn't have the energy to do anything more than lay on the bed, still in her clothes as she stared at the wall. Her eyes were dry and red, they hurt to blink but even the thought of trying to sleep was too much energy. So she blinked and she laid there, her entire being felt like t was going to burst if she thought too much about her newfound pain.

"Just be careful please," Kylie said before she felt her entire body ache nodding to Thor and turned to walk up the stairs away from him. She didn't quite understand why, but she assumed it had something to do with the soulmate bond, and she didn't like it. Kylie had never felt this way before, and she wasn't even sure what she was feeling. She could tell though that he wanted to keep her safe and he thought this was the best option for that. She wanted to help, truly she wanted to be out there with him doing something but she didn't argue because Kylie knew he was trying to keep her safe. And right now the most important thing was that she remained safe that much she'd put together.

She had never been to Stark Tower before, though she'd never had a reason to be there, and it was much different than she'd always pictured it, most things were though. Kylie had no idea what she was supposed to do in this tower by herself or even how long she was going to be there given it hadn't looked like anyone was getting anywhere with the alien invasion. So she paced back and forth for a few minutes trying to figure something out, and in hopes that it would help take her mind busy rather than thinking about Thor. Ever since she'd left his side she'd felt more uneasy than she knew was possible. She was safe where she was but she didn't know if Thor was safe, or if this was ever going to end, and this wasn't what her mind should be on right now.

After a few moments of being alone in the tower, Kylie hid behind the bar hoping that she wouldn't get caught because she heard someone nearby, and after sneaking around the best she could she'd put together that whoever was out there on balcony was the man responsible for all the madness going on in her city. And she felt like she should do something, anything to help stop him. He was helping destroy her home after all, and what kind of person sits by and lets someone destroy their home without even attempting to fight back? It didn't exactly work out in her favor, however, as before she could even sneak up on him the man had turned around and was grabbing her by the throat as he looked her over with a sick smile.

"Of course my brother would be destined to be with a weak woman of earth," he scoffed, "nevertheless, you're going to be extremely useful to me," he told her before he ran his hands over her hair sending a shiver down her spine. All Kylie hoped was that somehow Thor would know that she was clearly in trouble and come quickly. Because this was a situation where Kylie could and would admit that she was in well over her head, and she did need him to help her.

---

It had been a few days now since Bucky had been released from his torture and send back into the world to complete his mission of killing Captain Rogers and Josephine. While he knew that was his mission and that it would easily mean his death if he went back empty-handed, he couldn't seem to shake one thing from his brain. He knew them. He couldn't exactly place how he knew them right now, but he was sure that he'd known them in the past. There were vague memories that had started to un-fog over the last few days and it was honestly becoming hard for him to differentiate between memories and reality. He also seemed to be having a hard time getting this scent out of his mind.

Ever since he'd gotten into that fight recently with the girl and he'd caught a whiff of easily the best thing he'd ever smelled it had been clouding his mind. It was all so familiar to him but he honestly didn't know why. Because as far as Bucky could remember he couldn't place this girl, and he felt like he wouldn't forget someone like her. How could he forget someone like her? At the same time though he was honestly confused about a lot of things anymore. He didn't understand why he even had this mission, to begin with, he couldn't figure out why HYDRA would let him live after his screw up the first time, he didn't know why these people were so familiar to him, and he couldn't for the life of himself figure out where to go now.

Bucky knew that he was in the right area, he knew easily how to find the people he was looking for, finding people and killing them were kind of his specialty. But he didn't know how to move forward with all the information that he had, he already knew where they were, or at least had an idea on where they were. And even if he was wrong he constantly had someone in his ear teling him where to go or what was going on so he was always in the loop. Bucky's issue wasn't finding the people he needed to kill, this time around it was actually going through with it, because how was he supposed to do that when he was pretty sure they were two people important to him. Even if that was in a past life.

Thor had been in the middle of a fight with aliens coming at him from what seemed like every angle. It was fun to him - he had faith in his abilities to defend himself. It was just as he turned to the last alien who was struggling to get up, that a jolt of panic flooded his system. His back straightened as he snarled, beginning to swing Mjölnir. He flew through the alien's body, not even batting an eye when guts sprayed up and over his form.

There was not a damn thing in this world that would keep him from Kylie if she was in danger. He didn't think that even his obligations on Asgard could keep them separated. He had waited so long to be able to hold Kylie in his arms, he was not ready to have her taken from him so quickly. Thor would apologize to Tony later on, about the front doors that he shattered as he let Mjölnir guide him to his soulmate.

His feet hit the ground but his attention was already on the pair in front of him. Thor sniffed, his gaze turning dangerous as he assessed Kylie. He could see a bit of bruising forming on her throat but other than that, she appeared to be fine. He prayed that she was fine because he wasn't sure that he would be able to contain himself if anyone hurt Kylie. "Loki," his voice was dangerously low, his eyes narrowing to thin slits as he turned toward his brother.

"Do not do this, brother," Thor spoke, taking a slight step forward. Surely Loki wouldn't be stupid enough to tear Thor from his soulmate. They were brothers, despite all of their disagreements. His grip tightened on his weapon as he cocked his head to the side, "Harm a hair on her head and..." he trailed off, the unspoken threat all but daring Loki to hurt Thor's soulmate. He was angry but he'd played this games with his brother so long that he was beginning to understand how he needed to play them, to come out on top.

---

Josephine knew how dangerous it was but she'd stopped taking her suppressants since the day that they had all run into Bucky. Her body was aching, desperate for an alpha's touch. She was doing her best to ignore the little jolts of pain, hoping that once she found Bucky, that her familiar scent would help bring him back to reality. She had no clue what had happened to him and she wasn't sure that she even wanted to know. If she managed to get Bucky back, she'd do just about anything for that.

She'd dreamed of being in his arms for so long that she'd forgotten what it was like. She'd forgotten his scent, what his smile looked like, how his laugh sounded. The thought of forgetting all of those things made a pit grow in her stomach. She did her best to ignore that pit, knowing full well that if she focused too much on any of her pain, that she would never be successful.

Josephine knew that she was beginning to drive the alphas in Stark Tower crazy. An omega that was starting to approach her first heat in nearly twelve decades would drive just about alpha crazy.

Swallowing, Josephine stepped out of Stark Tower with a bag on her back. It was the middle of the night and while she knew Tony was likely in his lab working, most of the Avengers were asleep. Which meant it was the best time for her to make a run for it. She didn't really have any damn clue where she was running but she needed to find Bucky. Before her heat began.

"Or what brother? You'll hurt me?" Loki pretty much spat at Thor before he was pulling at Kylie's hair causing her to whimper in pain. "You actually care about this pathetic and fragile human girl? Well have fun cleaning her off the streets," he said before he used his strength to throw her over the balcony edge they were already near.

Kylie had never been so frightened or screamed quite as loud in her life as she did right then. Of course, she had never been thrown off a building to her death before either so that was something new. Plus it all happened so fast that she hadn't even been sure how to react or respond to anything going on, and all she'd been able to do was close her eyes and wait for an impact, hopeful only that when she hit the ground it would be over quick and she wouldn't suffer. However, that impact never came and instead she had a brief moment of flailing before she realized that someone had caught her on the way down.

"Hey, you're okay, I've got you," Iron Man told her as he slowly lowered them both to the ground and set her down. But Kylie was so shaken up that she wasn't even sure she knew how to stand properly in that moment. "Thank you," she finally said wishing she could get herself to stop shaking but she had just been thrown off a building and that was kind of a huge deal. If Iron Man hadn't been there when he was she knew she would've died. "It's not a problem. And luckily Jarvis informs me of everything that goes on in my home and discreetly told me that you were in danger and to get there as quickly as possible which also happened to be right when you were falling off a building," he told her happy he could be helpful. "Now you wouldn't happen to have figured anything out that could help us end this did you?" he asked her hoping this would all be over soon because he did not want a civilian to watch after while Thor fought his brother.

Kylie tucked her hair behind her ears and continued to tell herself to breathe, that she was safe here, and that everything was going to be okay. "Um, all I noticed was his staff looked a little suspicious. It had an area that was blue and glowy and I'm pretty sure it could be used to close that portal somehow. Someone would just have to get him away from it long enough to figure out what to do. Is Thor going to be okay up there alone?" She asked worried suddenly for her soulmates safety as much as she'd just been worried about her own.

---

Bucky wasn't sure where he was at the current moment, all he really knew for sure was that he was dropped off near where Hydra believed that the Avengers were living. Apparently, there had been some kind of facility built for them all to stay and train, and Hydra knew all about it. So of course since Bucky had failed at his last mission which hadn't been quite this stealthy they decided to up their game and make it an even more stealth mission. He was supposed to find the entrance, find a way to sneak in, and then end the Avengers. Or at least as many of them as he could, and preferably among those they wanted Captain America because they'd apparently hated him the longest.

On his way closer to the facility though he would occasionally pick up on the sweetest scent he had ever smelled, he had no idea where it was coming from, or why he was smelling it, so he tried to ignore it. But the closer he got to his destination it the stronger it became, and the more familiar it felt. He was trying his best to figure out why, and he felt like it was on the tip of his memories but he just couldn't quite place it. He couldn't place anything more though, everything in his brain was nothing but a blur if he were honest. There were some days that he actually couldn't even remember his name though he could always remember the number he'd been assigned, almost like Hydra was trying to actually wipe everything about him away to build an entirely new person. And sometimes the new guy won out, blurring out even more memories that he wasn't sure he'd ever get back.

It was a constant struggle every day to remember small things like his name, and most of the things he had started to remember had only been recent. Because for the longest time all he had were the winter soldier memories, he had been brainwashed for 70 years after all, which took a toll on a person. Recently though, since his last fight with Captain America he'd been having moments where he would remember things, they were always very vague, he hardly knew what they meant, or even what to do with them. But as he smelled this sweet smell longer and it became more familiar with him as he really tried to think about it he realized it was coming from that Omega he'd fought a couple of weeks prior to this, the one he was certain that he'd known before all the brainwashing. And knowing that he knew it was going to be harder if not impossible for him to complete this mission. Partly because he could already feel himself wanting to cave. He wanted to find her and rip all of her clothes off then show her what an alpha like him could make her feel, which he hadn't done in a very long time.

"Hurt you?" Thor asked as he tilted his head to the side. His anger was given away with the way he adjusted his grip on Mjölnir. The way he shifted his weight from one side to the other as he studied Loki. He had turned his attention away from Kylie because he couldn't dare to look at her right now, not with the way she was being caused pain. Because of him. Because of his brother.

The way that his stomach lurched when Loki threw Kylie out of the window broke him in half. He launched toward the window, not even concerned about his brother. He'd just been about to launch himself out the window to catch her but he turned his attention back to Loki the moment he saw that Tony had caught her. If Kylie was safe, he could focus on the thing that mattered most right now. She was safe, he could destroy Loki. Make him suffer in the same way that he had been so close to making Thor go through. The thought of losing Kylie after just a few moments of being with her... after centuries of waiting? No, Thor was not willing to give that up. Not now, not ever.

Dipping his chin as he turned to Loki, his gaze hardened as he took a step forward. "You're going to pay dearly for the crimes you've committed today, dear brother," Thor spoke, a low growl sounding from deep within his chest. Thor had been angry before, had fought in wars and had ended many people, but he didn't remember the last time he'd felt such a raw sense of anger.

Thor raised his hammer, smirking at the momentary fear that flashed across Loki's face. It disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared as Thor flew through the air, sending Loki out the opposite window. They wrestled through the air, coming to a rest in the concrete below as it broke from the force of their fall. At the moment, Thor didn't even think of ending this assault on Earth, but instead of punishing Loki for nearly taking his soulmate away from him.

---

Josephine knew how risky it was, what she was going to do. She knew it was risky to try and hunt Bucky down, especially without her suppressants but she was going to do just about anything to get her Bucky back. She had made him a promise so long ago that she fully intended to keep. She had thought that she would never get the chance to see Bucky again but now that she knew he was out there, that he was alive, Josephine couldn't let herself just give up the chance to see Bucky again. To know his touch, to love him, to be his mate.

She'd longed for the purpose that Bucky had given her. An omega without their alpha was nothing short of torture but Josephine would go through it all over again, if it meant that she could be with Bucky again. There was a nauseating sense of realization that dawned on her as she sped away from Stark Tower. If Bucky wanted to claim her, even in his current state... would she allow it? She didn't want to admit to it but the longer that she drove, the more she came to the realization that she likely would.

Her omega was yearning, desperate to get back to her alpha. The only alpha that had ever truly mattered to her.

Swallowing the lump that formed in her throat, Josephine drummed her thumb against the steering wheel. SHe'd gotten a tip that Bucky was staying in a hotel nearly an hour away from the city and she was heading straight there. It was smart to stay a bit outside of the city because there was less of a chance of him being discovered.

Josephine's heart was racing as she climbed out of her car nearly an hour and a half later, her nose scrunching as she tried to pick up on Bucky's scent. It was so different that she wasn't able to discern his from any of the others. Josephine only hoped that he was here, that he would sense her, that he would... come to investigate. Because surely there was still some sense of who she was, inside of him. Right?

"Jarvis I need this girl checked out, make sure she's going to be okay and get her a drink," Kylie heard Tony say as he'd walked her into a ground level of Stark Tower, then he turned to her and helped her sit down. "Please don't leave this room unless your life depends on it okay, Thor might kill me if I let something happen to you. Now this will all be over soon enough. And I'll let him know you're okay," he told her before nodding and then heading back into the world outside of these walls where the war was going on.

Kylie found herself pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin on top of them, it didn't make her feel safer or calmer and she was pretty sure the only thing that would be able to make her feel either of those things was Thor. Even though she'd only just met him and knew very little about a soulmark or what it meant or how it would make her feel she knew that the moment she was with him again everything would be okay. She would be okay. Kylie wasn't sure if or when she would see him again though was the thing. He was out there somewhere fighting with the man who'd thrown her out a window over a balcony and even though she wasn't with him she could almost feel how angry it had made him. And Kylie knew that when this was all over and done with Thor wasn't going to stay here with her. He wasn't going to stay on earth with her. He had royal duties on Asgard and she probably wasn't allowed to go back there with him.

It simply didn't make sense to her. How could he actually be her soulmate? How could destiny possibly think that a Demi-God prince from Asgard who would live so much longer than she would, he already had lived so much longer than she ever would, should be destined to be with a mere human? Kylie didn't have any special powers, she wasn't going to live nearly as long as him and she would start to age eventually while he didn't, none of it made sense.

She sighed while she sat and waited for the war to be over and for Thor to find her, deciding to do a little studying in the meantime. "Jarvis, am I reading this correctly?" She asked him as she read a passage aloud about a Goddess on Asgard known as Idunna and her magical apples that could make someone 'immortal'. "I do believe so Ms. Kylie. It seems that if you were to eat one of these magic apples you remain young forever. Of course, I'm not sure how much truth there is to that so maybe I'm not the right person to ask. I do know a lot of information but it's mostly all earthly knowledge," Kylie laughed softly and made a mental note to bring it up to Thor when she saw him next, which was soon hopefully.

---

Bucky knew his mission was to sneak into The Avengers Tower and kill everyone in their sleep but he couldn't do it. Not even halfway there he'd nearly fallen to his knees after he'd caught that scent again, and this time a lot stronger than ever before. Bucky had to figure this out, he needed to know who she was and why this was happening, so badly it was making his bones hurt. So rather than sneak in anywhere and kill anyone he turned around and headed back to where he'd been staying.

He cocked an eyebrow when he'd arrived back and there was someone there standing outside his door. He hadn't been expecting that one, but he could tell before he even got close enough to see her face that the scent was coming from her, and it was much stronger than the last time he'd seen her. If his nose was working properly still her scent was mixed with a few other emotions. Desperation maybe? He couldn't really tell what it was but whatever it was made him ache everywhere suddenly. He needed this Omega and soon. He just wished that he could piece his memories together a little bit better so he could place her name and why she was important to him. But he knew she was important to him.

"How did you find me?" He asked after he finally approached her willing himself not to let The Winter Soldier out to hurt her. Because he wanted to, and badly. "And you know it was stupid for you to come here right?" He asked her as he unlocked the door and walked in. "I barely have any control over myself right now, I have a monster living in my head who wants to kill you and a mind that can't remember who you are to save my life but it's telling me that we were important to one another. I want to throw you on that bed and claim you because I've never smelled something so nice in my life that I can remember. But I also want to kill you because I was given a mission and if I don't complete that mission I will be on the run from Hydra for the rest of my life because they will kill me," He told her not intending to hold back what he was dealing with because she should know what she'd walked into.

The only thing that halted Thor’s hammer from making Loki’s skull one with the ground was Tony’s shout to him. That Kylie was indeed okay. That his eyes hadn’t failed him when he saw Tony catch the woman before she hit the ground. He very nearly started back toward Stark Tower without a care that Loki’s assault still needed to be dealt with. But then Loki was laughing and Thor saw red again, his grip tightening around the handle of Mjolnir. Tony started talking again and that’s when the smirk fell from Loki’s features - Kylie had pointed out that there was something strange about Loki’s staff.

Thor couldn’t help the laugh that sounded from his throat as he glared down at his brother. “Seems my soulmate is just a bit smarter than you, brother,” Thor’s words dripped with the venom that still coursed through his veins, his body vibrating from the rage that he was barely containing. He snarled as he saw Tony pick the spear up off of the ground from a few meters away, where it had been abandoned when Thor got the upper hand in the fight.

- - - - -

It had been nearly an hour after Tony had left Kylie that Thor returned. His body was no longer running on adrenaline, instead the aches and pains of a hard fought battle slowed his movements down. He swallowed as he dropped Mjolnir by the door to the room that Kylie had been left in. There was no need for him to worry about someone moving it; no one here was worthy.

Thor swallowed, finding that he felt far more nervous than he could ever remember feeling. He looked up, his eyes accessing Kylie but he didn’t dare take a step forward. She seemed to be fine but she was real and Thor was afraid if he went any closer, she would disappear before his very eyes. Clearing his throat, Thor couldn’t help the smile that grew on his lips when Kylie looked up.

“My other half is smarter than even my brother. I can’t say that my brother was all that pleased but...” Thor trailed off, a laugh sounding from his lips. He couldn’t deny just how pleased it made him to know that Kylie was intelligent. he had never longed for a dimwitted mate who needed simple things spelled out for them.

---

Josephine’s back stiffened as she caught the first whiff of Bucky’s scent. He was here. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth. It wasn’t like her to be nervous but she knew how dangerous her little plan was. How badly this could go if Bucky’s instincts didn’t take over. If he was so broken down that his alpha instincts didn’t even recognize who Josephine was... she could likely end up the first victim of the Winter Soldier’s mission. The thought was enough to break her heart. She wasn’t afraid of death, no, but the very thought of it being at Bucky’s hands... no.

She couldn’t even bring herself to look back at Bucky, afraid of what she would see if she did. The thought of having completely lost the man, the alpha, that she had fallen so deeply in love with tore her in two. But knowing that he was still alive? Josephine would go to the ends of the Earth if it meant saving him. She knew how broken Bucky would be, if he truly remembered who he was. To know that he had hurt so many people, had destroyed so many lives.

“Why do you think I’m alone?” Josephine spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. She gulped, looking up then as Bucky unlocked his hotel door. She hesitated for a moment before following him inside. “Because Steve would wring my neck if he knew where I am,” she said, letting out a dry, humourless laugh as she turned to face Bucky.

Josephine looked up to him, fighting back her instincts. She wanted nothing more than to move up to him and undress, present herself, and worship her alpha like he deserved. Her body ached for it, her heart longed to. Her lips twitched upward in a sad sort of smile. “I made a promise to you, so long ago now that I would wait.. and I always have. I’ve never... lain with another alpha. Never so much as let one touch me,” she uttered, as if her confession would mean anything to Bucky.

Raising her chin, Josephine looked him in the eye. “But if you must, if you are truly afraid of what Hydra will do to you. You kill me. I won’t resist,” Josephine whispered, forcing her legs to remain upright. “But if there’s any, and I mean any sense of you that remembers... or just... wonders,” Josephine mumbled, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. She felt like a fool, being here. It was dangerous but she was right; she had promised James that she would wait for him. And if that meant a little work on her end, so be it. “I... I have somewhere that might...” she paused, drawing in a shaky breathe. “That might be able to help you.”

Kylie smiled when she saw Thor in the doorway seeing him there in one piece took all her anxiety away. She could sense his nerves from across the room, and it was understandable that he would be a little nervous. They were just not officially getting to meet really. Sure they'd introduced themselves briefly but that had been amongst a war where there were so many other things going on that thinking about being soulmates wasn't at the top of. "No need to be nervous, I'm real and not going anywhere," she told him assuming that everything she was feeling right now was part of the soulmate bond, as she'd never been able to feel the emotion from someone else before in her life.

She felt a sense of pride rise within her at his praise of being smarter than his brother. She knew a little of him from the things she'd read a little girl and Loki was supposed to be very intelligent so being told she was smarter than him, at least in a moment did kind of boost her ego a little. "Glad I could help," she said softly tucking her hair behind her ear before she closed out of the book she'd just been reading through so she could focus more, all, of her attention to Thor.

"What do we do now?" She asked him wondering if he knew more about how all of this was supposed to work. "I mean I know what it means that we're soulmates. I could explain to anyone how that works, how destiny pretty much took one soul and split it into two bodies hence the marks. And I know that with this comes a lot of new feelings like how I could feel how angry you were at your brother when he pushed me out the window, or how nervous you feel right now. And I'm sure you could sense how scared I was during all of that. I also know that being apart hurts, the further away from one another we are the more we could ache to be together again. And from what I've read our bond is supposed to make everything feel better," she said blushing as she thought about that part again. She'd done her research, and she wasn't going into this thing with Thor totally blind, but even with everything she knew about how the bond worked, she didn't know what it meant for her and Thor.

"None of those things tell me what we do now though," she said sighing. Was he going to go back to Asgard without her? Were his royal duties more important than her? Was she even allowed to go with him? And if she did go with him would she even be accepted? Kylie just felt like while she'd gotten answers to so many things over the last hour she'd also been left with more questions.

---

Bucky ran his hands over his face and he growled trying to pull himself together. He had never wanted to be The Winter Solider and he didn't want to be him now. But Hydra had such control over his mind, and he had been The Winter Solider for so long now that he couldn't even remember who James Barnes was. He was sure of one thing, and that was that even if he did ever remember who he'd been before who he was now he wasn't even sure he'd believe it. Who he was now was who he'd been much longer than who he used to be.

He also knew that he wanted to be good, he didn't want to be this man who went around just killing people because someone told him to. He wanted to be free from that and maybe if this girl could offer that to him it would be stupid to pass it up. Bucky turned to the girl and slowly approached her, he kept his breathing steady hoping for the best. "Shh," he cooed as he cupped her face in her hand and wiped her tears away. "I'm not going to kill you, Josie," he said softly shocking himself that he'd called her by her name. Something about looking her deep in her eyes though had sparked something in him. He couldn't tell her anything else about herself, but at least he'd remembered her name and that had to be something good.

"I don't think I could ever hurt you," he said before he pulled her closer to himself so he could rest his forehead against her own. He was actually fighting back every other instinct he had right now telling him to just end her then go to the tower and end the rest of them, complete his stupid mission and be done. She just smelled so sweet, her skin was so soft, and every part of him ached to be with her. Clearly, even though his mind could barely remember her his body hadn't forgotten. And he thought that because she wasn't the first Omega he'd run into over the last 70 years yet she was the only one he couldn't keep himself together around. Any other one he'd even caught a whiff over the last 70 years had almost made him sick. Not that Hydra had really given him the freedom to just be with someone.

“I don’t think you understand quite how close I was to killing Loki. We have,” Thor paused, his voice far colder than it had been even a moment ago. Containing his rage even now was a challenge to him because each time he thought about it, all he could envision was the picture of his soulmate flying out the window. The scream that had torn from her lungs. All of it made his body ache in a way that he’d never felt before. The thought of Kylie being in danger, or worse, was something that Thor wanted to prevent for the rest of time. He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage it but he was the God of Thunder, he would find a way.

Kylie was rambling about what she knew about soulmate bonds and what were they going to do now when Thor was overwhelmed with a need to have Kylie in his arms. He’d been afraid to touch her before, as if she would disappear in his very arms but at the moment, he had an all consuming need to touch her. Thor closed the distance between them in four, long strides. His arms slid around her waist as he leaned down, his lips crashing to her. Thor groaned, pulling her tighter against his body.

Thor only pulled away when Kylie gave his shoulder a light push. “You will come with me to Asgard. Screw what Father thinks, screw what Loki thinks... I have waited far too long to hold you in my arms, Kylie Lambert of Earth,” Thor spoke, his voice rough as he leaned his forehead against hers. “Nothing will separate us. Never again. Do you understand?” He asked, cupping her cheek with one hand. The other still held her close to him, not wanting to ever let her go.

---

Josephine couldn’t help the way she flinched as Bucky raised his hand. She wanted so badly to believe that he wouldn’t hurt her but she’d barely been standing in front of him for more than a few minutes. There was no saying what was going to happen between them. But when he cupped her cheek and spoke her old nickname, Josie’s walls came crashing down. She knew in that moment that even if Bucky chose not to go with her, she would go with him. She would stand by his side and protect him from anything and everything. He was her alpha, she was a strong omega - with one helluva will that wasn’t going to be stopped any time soon.

Laughing, Josie leaned into Bucky’s touch as she willed her tears to stop. A few still fell but they weren’t nearly as sad as they had been before. She reached up a shaky hand, placing it over Bucky’s. She stood there silent, just brushing her thumb back and forth over his skin. The feeling of him being in front of her was something she couldn’t describe. Josie was elated but so afraid at the same time that Bucky was going to be ripped out of her grasp.

“I... can answer questions. If you want me to,” Josephine spoke, her voice quiet. She was afraid that if she tried to speak any louder, her voice would break and she would dissolve into a fit of tears all over again. “But we should get on the move by morning. The team is probably going to come running when they realize I’m missing,” she said with a small huff. What she wouldn’t give to stay in this hotel room forever with Bucky. It wasn’t luxurious by any standard but it had Bucky and that was enough for her.