mixingbowl | No light in the distance

No light in the distance

[It's a tiny mistake that costs her everything. After her father's features had been transformed in the most horrible way possible, it had been a mad rush to flee from the crazy triangle and his friends. At first, Pacifica had thought they would make it, even if she and her mother had been slowed down by dragging her father's stumbling form between them. Then, they'd gotten separated by the crowd of townsfolk trying to escape, Pacifica torn away despite her grip on her parents. By the time she'd fought her way back out, her parents were nowhere in sight. Instead, she'd been greeted with a madness bubble heading straight for her.

She doesn't remember anything after that, Pacifica realizes, as she sits up with a groan. Her head aches--actually, scratch that, her everything aches--and she's coming to the unpleasant conclusion that she has no idea where she is. The trees around her are eerily silent where she expects to hear screams from terrified townsfolk, and there is dirt where there should be asphalt. How did she get from the middle of the street to...well, this?]

Hello...? [Pacifica calls out tentatively as she shakily gets to her feet.] Is anybody there?

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[She's...taking that as a "yes". Figures that the guy she'd end up traveling with for a couple days would be the mysterious type.

His next question manages to replace her burgeoning curiosity with chagrin, though. She already knows the answer, but she glances down at herself anyway. She remains as empty-handed as ever.]

No. They caught us by surprise. [She bites her lip, suddenly worried about the amount of time it'll take them to reach the nearest town.] What'll we do?

[He hadn't expected her to have any, not if she was snatched by surprise as she claims, but it's still not a good thing to have confirmed.

He digs in the ratty backpack he's wearing and tosses her a wrapped homemade cheese sandwich.]

I've got enough, you can share with me.

[He's got the endurance with the serum not to need it as much as her, he'll go without.]

[Once again, she's floored. A memory niggles at her now--Handouts? It's called sharing!--as she catches the sandwich. For a moment, she stares at it.]

Thanks. [The word rolls awkwardly off her tongue, like she doesn't say it too often. She slips the sandwich into the pocket of her jacket.] I'll--I'll pay you back somehow.

Forget it, you don't need to pay me back.

[It's not so much generosity as it is him not wanting to give her reason to seek him out affer they get to the city. Though he honestly wouldn't have expected payment anyway, she was just a lost kid and it was only some food.]

Tell me more about what happened in Oregon.

[He glances up at the darkening sky between the trees, not night but a storm cloud. Well damn.]

[Her eyes narrow at him, but she tosses her hair over her shoulder and figures she'll bring it up again later. She does not want to be in someone's debt.

Besides, they have more important things to talk about right now.]

Some weird stuff started happening over the summer, but it was nothing compared to what happened today. [Pacifica's arms fold across her chest as she frowns, voice lowering as she remembers the terror on everyone's faces as they fled.] A tear opened in the sky and this.. thing called Bill showed up. He looked like a triangle with one eye. Called a bunch of his monster friends to join him, too.

[Triangle with one eye didn't ring any bells, it definitely didn't match up to the description of any of the aliens he had heard about. Not Chitauri or Asgardians, then. But that didn't mean there weren't weird triangle aliens out there.

He accepts this with a soft grunt of acknowledgement, eyes constantly scanning the treeline for threats in a practised and slightly paranoid manner.]

Something that big'll have been on the news, SHIELD are probably involved by now. [A pause, slightly hesitant.] Maybe even the Avengers.

[Which means he definitely doesn't want to go anywhere near Oregon now. He should ask her name, but that would probably lead to the same question in reverse and he's not ready to answer that to himself yet.]

They'll protect everyone they can, there's nothing you can do right now out here.

[While she doesn't doubt the news would have caught on by now--the tear in the sky is pretty visible and hard to ignore--the rest of his words make her frown again. This time, it's in puzzlement.]

You're saying them like they're supposed to be important, but who the heck are the Avengers? And SHIELD?

[He's momentarily surprised. The Avengers have been world news since Iron Man first took to the skies nearly seven years back, and SHIELD went viral after Black Widow released all their files to the wider world.

But people could be wilfully ignorant sometimes, especially in small communities, maybe this was a case of that? Or she could be lying, of course.]

They're-- [Heroes?] --people who protect the world from things like this.

[She continues to look unimpressed, lips still pursed slightly.]

Maybe they're famous in this area, but I've never even heard of them. Besides, there's no way there's been that many attacks like this. We would have heard something on the news by now if there were.

You didn't hear about New York?

[No, of course not. If she had, she'd know who the Avengers were. But who hadn't heard about the attacks on New York? Something-- something wasn't right here.]

Portals. Aliens. Two years ago.

Um, no. [The look she gives him says obviously 'aliens, really?'. It softens into something more curious and hesitant when she gets a better look at his expression. He's not joking.

She gives into her curiosity. Something about this isn't adding up, that's for sure.]

Assuming this is all real, what happened?

[There is definitely something going on here, something beyond a little girl being transported across the country. It sends tingles down his spine, as if someone has him in their sights.

He glances back at her just once, but he does start to explain.]

About four years ago a portal opened over New York and hundreds of aliens, Chitauri, came through. There was a battle, a lot of people died, but the Avengers managed to push back the aliens and close the portal.

[Not the longest or best explanation, but he had been on ice at the time.]

[She stares at him, completely failing to keep up her prim and proper appearances.]

What are you even talking about? I've been to New York in the last year and we've never heard of an attack like that before.

[Pacifica knows how gossip works, has spread a few herself in her time--Something that big couldn't have been covered up.]

It happened.

[His voice is sterner than necessary, but that's because his mind is working too fast to pay attention to his tone. Why wouldn't she remember? Why wouldn't he have heard of strange things happening in Oregon? Why weren't the Avengers a constant?]

This might sound insane, but maybe the portal brought you from another world.

[If there are other worlds, why not alternate ones?]

That's crazy. [Pacifica immediately protests, just on principle. Then, she abruptly falls silent, crossing her arms over chest as she recalls something.

For one trillion years I've been trapped in my own decaying dimension, waiting for a new universe to call my own.]

Wait... [Her arms prickle with the memory of Bill's eerie laugh.] The triangle guy said he was from another dimension. You think there's...more worlds, and I just got pulled into one of them?

[This is kind of crazy to Bucky too.

But he's dealt with a lot of crazy in the last seventy years or so, so he's better at taking it in his stride than others might be. It still frightens him slightly that she might be from an actual different world.]

I'm not sure, I'm no expert on alternate world theory.

[There's a lot of skills HYDRA thought were useful for an assassin, advanced parallel universe theories weren't one of them.]

But you mentioned portals and it would explain why neither of us has heard of world events that should be commonplace.

I guess it'd explain everything we can't agree on. And, hey, I'm not an expert on all the geeky science either, that's Dipper's thing. He probably has something in his dumb book about all this.

[Pacifica trails off, not quite managing to keep up the exasperated act. Everything's matching up, and it's starting to sink in.

More softly, she says the one thought that's begun to surface:] If this really is another world, how am I going to get home?

[It strikes him then that she's just a little kid far from home. Of course he knew that already, but she hadn't looked so vulnerable until right that moment. His heart twists in sympathy, but he's not so bowled over as to do something stupid like promise to get her back home himself.]

There are people here who know about that kind of thing. You can go to them, they'll get you home.

[The Avengers themselves, or there had been a lot on the news about a Dr. Selvig.]

Some people even from other worlds, they'll figure it out.

[Indignation wells up in her, quickly overpowering the confusion and panic. She props her hands on her hips, every inch the heiress with her disapproving frown.]

Um, excuse me? You're not suggesting I try to find these people on my own, right? I don't even know where I'm supposed to go from here!

[A pause.] Except for that town, which you're still taking me to.

[And that sympathy is gone again pretty fast when she starts acting like a brat. He glances down at her, eyebrows raised and expression mostly blank.]

I'm suggesting you go to the authorities when we get to the town and they'll help you find the people you need to. I said I'll take you to town and I will, that's it.

[He's skulking around in the forest days from civilisation, does she really think he wants to get involved with anyone?]

[She's not even attempting to hide her scowl now, frustration written all over her face.]

I don't know how to speak their language. Whatever is it that they use here.

[She bites out, finally, in full sulk mode now. It's as close as she'll get to admitting that she needs his help, when she's in this mood.]

Romanian.

[It's a short, curt sort of answer. His footsteps slow to a halt and he turns to look her dead in the eye, expression blank.]

I'll take you to town, but I'm not your sitter. You can find your way from there.

Fine. [Temper flaring and getting the better of her, Pacifica smaps.] If you're going to be like that, it's probably better this way. Bad enough that I'm stuck with you for two days already!

[She falls silent after that, struggling with her own warring thoughts. Whatever brave front she's trying to put on, the thought of being completely on her own scares her more than she wants to admit. No family, no wealth to fall back on. What is she supposed to do?

Lost in her thoughts, Pacifica's expression takes on an uneasy, worried edge.]

[He doesn't bother arguing with her. He's not one for idle threats and, no matter how bratty she's being, he's not going to abandon a kid in the middle of the Romanian forest. Not when there are dangerous creatures in here such as bears, lynxes, and wild boar.

Bucky simply falls silent and continues leading the way for another half hour or so until the smell of acrid electricity in the air gets too strong, a clear precursor to a storm about to hit.]

We need to catch food and make shelter. Do you know any wilderness skills, kid?

[By this point, the silence has begun to weigh on her, though resigned herself to it. When he suddenly speaks up again, Pacifica's head snaps up in surprise.]

I've seen people fish before. [Translation: I've never done it or anything similar myself.] What else am I supposed to know?

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