I carefully moved under the shadows, making sure no rocks or twigs would be under my feet to give out my location. My reptile eyes were keenly on the two in the clearing, the oblivious, weak humans.

I could feel the buzz in my veins, running up and down my back as I loved like a flicker of a shadow. I learned from my wild, nearly untamable instincts all about nature, the way it works, helps and holds. How to blend in, how to find food, place to sleep and most of all, how to survive and keep my distance from humans.

I leaped out from the safe shadows, my dark scales glistening against the sweet sunrays for the first time, shiny and healthy looking like diamond dust.

I hooked my long, sharp talons around the two bodies, hearing them let out a surprised, horror-filled scream for a second.

I could sense their adrenaline in the air and hearts that rummaged against their ribcages as I flew faster and higher, not daring to go over the clouds just yet.

I glided closer to the familiar farm, over the small house Bucky and I lived in and dropped the two on the rooftop, hooking my own talons on the roof so I wouldn't slide down.

“Atlas!” I lowered my head, making sure Clint didn't see me from the other side of the house. Frankly, he had decided to take time off from work, which was a bust for me. Laura allowed us to do a lot more fun stuff then Clint.

I heard Lila and Cooper giggling frantically as they sat on the roof, looking down at their agitated father. “You think I can't see your enormous wings, Atlas? Come on kids, get down from there!” I carefully raised my head, peeking over the rooftop to see the familiar archer there, his hands crossed as he tapped his foot.

I let out an annoyed sigh as I curled my tail carefully around Cooper and gently, placed him down from the roof. I did the same with Lila and watched with interest as the siblings ran towards the man and attacked Clint with hugs. “When I said come down kids, I meant you too Atlas. Get your scaly bum here, you haven't finished your daily chores.” I chirped unhappily, laying my head down on the steady roof, feeling a lot more unwilling now that he mentioned the chores. Clint's eyes snapped up again, he looked actually pretty amused. “get down from our roof. Or do I need to call Bucky?” I huffed at him, showing my obvious agitation with Clint as I slid myself down the roof, landing with small that as I shook my wings.

“Here are the clothes, come inside then, Laura made lasagne. After that, you'll finish the chores.” Clint said firmly, placing a pile of clothes in front of me as he made his way back into the house.

As I was pulling on the sweats and flannel, angrily mumbling under my breath, I felt someone's heavy hand rest on my shoulder. “you have to stop playing around when it's work time Atlas.” Bucky said firmly, leading us towards the house.

“but Bucky! It was one time! Besides, they like me, why shouldn't we have fun?” the ex-assassin raised an eyebrow at me, making me look away. “Fine, I'll try not to mess around when we are supposed to be working.” Bucky smiled at me, taking off his muddy boots as we had entered the house.

We had been with Clint and his family for nearly two years now, it is amazing what this place can do to someone who's been held in the captivity their whole life. The small house Bucky and I lived in had been Laura's parents', but when they passed away, it had simply stayed there, empty. Clint and Laura had decided to give it to us since this kind of environment helped with healing.

Much later, Laura had allowed Bucks and I to take some animals over to our place. So now Bucky had four goats he carefully tended to. It had been quite interesting to see how much he liked to work with animals. Laura and Clint had three horses and some sheep as well, who all needed to be looked after.

Not long after we moved in did we come to the realization that working with those animals made Bucky a whole new man. He smiled more, talked more and wasn't always stuck in the past.

It took the animals some time to get used to my presence, apparently, most animals are not very fond of dragons. Unless it's Lucky, who some nights found himself whining behind our front door. We'd let him into the house and he'd curl up in front of the fireplace as if he'd been doing it every day.

The nightmares that had plagued the supersoldiers dreams came to me. I'd wake up some night, sweat covered and pale as snow. I'd puke or there would be this odd, salty liquid escaping down my cheeks like it has never done before, my limbs would be heavy and my mind would be groggy. Bucky had learned that unless I had my claws retracted, it wasn't a good idea to confront me. He'd talk to me with his soothing voice, making us both some hot chocolate and giving me time to calm down. He knew the drill.

“how was the paddock, honey?” Laura said halfway through the meal. Asking Clint about the sheep and why Lucky had been barking the whole morning. The archer sighed, taking another mouthful. “The wolves again, they seem to be super interested in our sheep this year. I guess that they have a lot of pups they need to teach. I suggest after Bucky and Atlas have finished their chores they could help me with it?” Clint said, raising his eyebrow at me quizzically, knowing well that Bucky would be more than glad to help out. I sighed, making Clint snort and Bucky nudge me with his elbow. “yes, sure, I'd be delighted to help out.” Laura tried to hid her smile, which she was failing to do.

As we had finished with the lasagne, Bucky and I headed back out to finish chopping the firewood. As Bucky chopped it, I had to stock it. “It's one thing running from Hydra kid, but you can't run from Clint's chores,” Bucky said after some silence, making me frown.

“Clint can't fly,” I mumbled half-heartedly, making the man snort and turn to me. I looked away from his disapproving glare.“We are in his home, Atlas. The man is generous to let us live here, the least we can do is help him out.” I nodded, knowing he was right.

I couldn't imagine where I'd be if it weren't for Clint's family taking us both under their wing. It was honestly amazing.

I had learned so much about myself while running in the woods and hunting for myself and others. For example, I had no idea I could climb up trees and purr like a cat.

I had always thought that the instincts in me, the horrible beast was a curse. Some ways, I still found myself a monster. But the way Cooper would mock fight with me and Lila would giggle as I offered them a ride made it all bearable.

Loki had visited me as well, no one else had known. At first, he had asked me about the ring all the time, but later he stopped. His lessons were brutal, it made my brain ache quite often. But in the end, I had managed to read The Comedy of Errors till the very end and actually make sense of all the big words.

He had also tried to steer my mind in the direction of learning magic, but that was something I had refused again and again.

I didn't want to be that different.

I didn't know where he went or where he came from, he wouldn't say either. I thought he was trying to just live in peace as well. But when it comes to Loki, there's nothing sure.

He could be seemingly taking a vacation, while in reality, he could be destroying a whole country.

There was a night when we had had a bonfire in the backyard of the Farm. I never knew what those were. It was fun, Clint made grill and Laura had made a cake and a table full of snack. Both Bucky and Clint had been drinking this thing called beer, which they hadn't let me try.
So, I had morphed myself into the smallest version of me and slithered myself in the bottle.
It's safe to say, my first bonfire was very memorable.

The two-story house we lived in was quite small and had almost no modern tech in it. Honestly? I loved it this way, the humming that came with electricity didn't hurt my ears anymore. It was minimum. Tony had given Bucky and I a laptop and phones so we could reach out to them if needed, yet neither of us knew how to handle those.

There was a long period of time where we didn't hear anything about The Avengers, which spiked Bucky's anxiety, he hid it well though, but no emotion is ever hidden from me.

After repairing the fence and stocking the firewood, I had taken off again. So many years of captivity had held me back from everything that there was to experience. After a long flight that made my wings shudder with the need to rest, and my joints ache, I felt recharged. It made my heart soar and it lifted my spirits. I also didn't mind the mass of muscles that came with long, healthy flights.

As I landed behind Clint's family house, I could smell him before he managed to speed right at me.

It is not the end, it's just the beginning of something new.

A\N

And its finally here guys.

Thank you all for reading and bearing with Atlas and the company through this story. I apologize the horrible pixels at the first gif.

If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask.

I love you all, from the bottom of my frozen heart.

Yours Truly
Kaisa