10

UNITED

𝕀n Luna's head, there was only dread. 

Fear of being exposed. And there was only one thing she could do: pray that no one killed them. The only way out was to command this brain to capacity, to oblige resolutions instead of this vortex of eddying worry. So though it feels as if her bones have no more energy and her fibres were frazzled, she still had the advantage to linger calm, to be quiet enough to decide how to fight. 

And that was exactly what she did. 

Luna, gifted with the endowments to manipulate gravity, had forcefully conjured a black hole in her apartment. It was a slow vortex that edged into oblivion, engulfing every single piece of scrap around her homestead into it. It was necessary and Kit had been so upset to see his favourite toys, comics and television burn into it. Before the sun had begun to rise, Luna had nothing on her except her son and her sword, with the keys to the apartment left outside her doorstep.

She had dressed Kit in warm clothes; a chunky sweater, pants and running shoes. She had dressed the same, pulling the hood over her head as she walked into the morning drizzle.

She had to calm herself all few minutes, convincing her mind that this was the only way. Kit had questioned her every move forward, his voice edging on irritation. She could only tell him that it was for the better and heading out into the rising dawn. 

'Why are we here, ma?' Kit asked into her neck as she ducked past the fences that lead to the solitary playground that namely belong to her son. He felt him wiggle to catch a curious glance as she swerved past the swingset and into the semicircular arch of woods beyond. 

'I'm scared,' he breathed out as she stood in front of the imperious virescent shades at the periphery with a gulp.

Her instincts flew to console him. 'No, no, my heart. Don't be. We're very safe.'

It was at this moment that Luna realized it was time to reveal the truth. She used her free hand to break the illusion she had cast over the playground, the perception breaking out into ripples in water. The convolutions of the vision got larger by the second and with a confident hand through the barrier, she walked in. A gasp left her son's lips.

Beyond the equivocal boundary, in the middle of the clearing, there stood a starship. A battleship, large enough to house at least ten humans and darkened with a misalignment of red and grey panels. It was streamlined, resembling a mechanical bird and the wide wings of the hatch braced to the earth. 

'What,' Kit said, 'what is that?'

'It's ours,' she smiled at him. 'The only thing we have left to call our own.'

'You said it was destroyed,' he piqued, his amber eyes entertained.

'Well, I lied,' she said simply. 'Come along.'

Luna let her son to the ground, watching him kick the grass with glee and race to the ship. He reached the entrance hatch first where he beckoned her to come forward and get the ship freed. With an amused shake of her head, she used her fists to form a personal gravity around herself and reach for the external lever that would extend the hatch to enter. When she followed her thoughts, the engines whirred with an effort of having not been used with along time and suspending out the rusty incline.

Kit's impish squeals ceased as he disappeared inside the ship and Luna's fear died out in an instant. They were safe, she told herself. No one could find them inside here. The illusion would hold them in and when night fell, she would take off from the planet and find a new homestead. Find someplace to keep her son safe and not cause harm to this world she had come to love. 

'Lou.'

★

Bucky's hand trembled for what seemed like the twentieth time that hour when he looked across the hall at the empty apartment. It felt strange, unaccustomed and hollow to be the only one living on the floor and hearing the hours tick by. He couldn't think, couldn't sleep and couldn't stop his pacing.

How could they have vanished in a night? In a single night, there were no shreds of evidence of their disappearance. The room was wiped clean, no traces of a family even existing and the lone keys left out in the corridor. Bucky had sifted through the apartment thrice, finding zero indications of where they could have departed to. 

'What if someone took them?'

Steve Rogers had fled to the scene as soon as Bucky had rung him in the morning. He was inquisitive of the disappearance as well, brewing a cup of coffee and seating himself beside Bucky. He pushed the cup towards his friend.

'No one took them,' Steve said quietly, quenching his fears. 'Their lease must've ended or something.'

He tried to push away the fact about how that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. Shooting the estranged soldier a grimace, he looked back at his twined hands. The silver tangled with his peach flesh, tightening ever so slightly with his concentration.

'We'll find them, Buck,' Steve sighed. 'Stop stressing yourself out.'

They weren't going to find the mother and son. Bucky knew what their plan of action would have been, following their utter disappearance. Luna was going to leave this planet for good, escape whatever the hell that was coming their way and head in search of Kit's father.

He didn't know how to feel about them leaving. The weight of losing their normal lives seemed to burdened over his shoulders. If it weren't for his sudden revelation that blew up in their faces, they would still be here. He would still have hope for turning a new leaf for the better good. He should've done so much more. 

His reverie was jangled by a loud string of footfalls that emanated from the hall. Steve was the first to walk out of the ajar door to inspect the sound, signalling to Bucky to lay low in case it was government officials. He was still being searched around the country, it was too hard to forget.

'Bucky!' A child's voice echoed into the hall making his back go ramrod straight. The soft thuds paused, a small gasp resounding a just as soon.

Impatient and on his feet, Bucky dashed out to the hallway. Outside, Kit with the weird-shaped brunette hair and blazing golden eyes was watching Steve with flabbergast. His tiny jaw was agape nearly catching flies.

Bucky didn't care at the moment if the kid was meeting his favourite superhero, pushing past Steve to clamp the kid's shoulders. He shook the little boy out of his trance.

'Kit,' he muttered, letting his gaze merge with the Kit's shocked ones. 'Kit, what happened?'

'Captain America,' he whispered in awe. Steve let out a resigned sigh from behind.

'Yeah, I know, kid,' Bucky grunted blatantly. 'Where is Luna?'

'Mom's,' he gulped in response, looking back at Bucky. 'Mom's at the park.'

'The park?'

'Our ship was...'

'What?'

'Father found us, Bucky.'

★