The trip to Wakanda was unconventional to say the least; the speed alone had your head dizzied to try to work the equations of it, but what made it even harder to know the answer was the seclusion you were placed in so that you didn't have a frame of reference to reveal their secrets. Your phone had been shut down and was being held until you were to return home, and you hoped that Tony wasn't back there losing his mind over the disconnect. The panic that it would insight could be legendary.

"We have arrived," the pilot's voice announced softly. "The King and Captain await you."

"Thank you, but, just the two?"

She didn't respond immediately, and yet you didn't dare to move from where you had been directed to stay. As welcomed as you felt, and as courteously as you had been treated as a guest, you had the distinct feeling that to challenge anything would not be taken as politely.

"You sound nervous."

"Maybe a little," you conceded. "Only because I really haven't been told anything, so I have no idea what I'm being taken into."

"Then on behalf of the King, I offer our apologies. We are about to land, if you care to join me."

"Really?" you asked pensively, standing slowly as if she might suddenly change her mind. "I'd like that." Even when she didn't deny you in a last-minute change of decision, you moved carefully towards her to stand at her side as she brought the ship in towards open grounds next to a beautiful, ornate building that had to be T'Challa's home. No other structure looked close to similar, and it was definitely suited for royalty. "This is amazing. Your city...I've never seen anything like it."

"Not many have. You must be trustworthy to be included."

"Pfft, no pressure, right?"

For the first time, she smiled and gave a small laugh at your sarcasm, as if some unspoken tension had finally been broken. "I admit, I haven't done all that I could to relieve that feeling. It's not often that we bring outsiders here. My name is Okoye."

"(Y/N)," you smiled back, "but I guess you knew that already."

"Yes, I did. It's on your luggage, and you respond to the name when called."

"Like a dog," you snorted, covering your face in embarrassment, though now you were both laughing freely and you finally felt like you could breathe. You may never see this woman again, but she had definitely made a lasting first impression. "Wow, I think I just insulted myself."

"Not at all," she argued, "I love dogs. But do be aware that our King is more partial to cats."

"Oh yeah, believe me, I've heard."

~~~

Back at home, Tony wasn't nearly so jovial, but he agreed with your newest friend; you were trustworthy, and he was banking on that to keep him sane in your absence. The rules were made very clear before you stepped onto their jet; no phones, no communicators, no tracking. Every one of his tools had been denied, and for the first time, Tony felt like he was an ordinary man, with only his faith in your skills to keep you safe, and your promise to him to keep your word to return.

He admitted to himself, finally, that he wasn't in the best shape after his fight with Steve. It wasn't a great time for you to leave, with his mind so cluttered and his anger barely under control, but he wasn't about to deny you something that he could see that you had to do for your own security. He had to admit to himself that if the roles were reversed, you would do the same. His altruism wasn't perfect, however; it took amazing restraint to not pull you back as you let his hand go, because he felt as if he had lost everything already, and your loss would be too much.

"Hey, pouty boy, can you spot me?"

"Hmm?" Tony shook from his trance at his friend's voice, "oh, yeah, sure." He popped up immediately with a newfound burst of energy, hurrying to take his position to help Rhodey walk in therapy for the third time already that day, and it was barely 8am.

"Where did you go?" Rhodey asked gently. "You were lost in that head of yours again."

"Eh, nowhere, don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried, don't twist it. I was more curious than anything."

"Are we gonna make small talk about my psychoses?"

"Best entertainment around."

"Thanks," Tony chuckled dryly. "Speaking of psychoses, isn't this like, your hundredth time on the bars today? Obsessive much?"

Rhodey turned with a hard, cold stare, but it didn't stop him from taking the first step ahead, albeit shaky and uncertain. "My ass is right here, Stark. You want me to drop the pants before you pucker up?"

Tony coughed and choked on his own air at the visual playing in his mind, his laugh trying to break through as he fought to catch his breath. If there was anyone in the world other than you to bust his chops and set him straight, it was this guy. "You know I'm a visual thinker, you son of a bitch. Oh, god, the sight."

"My ass is beautiful. You'd be lucky to get that close to art like that."

"Okay, okay, enough! I've got it! Your ass is the eighth wonder of the world, you win."

"Mmm hmm," Rhodey agreed readily. He took three more steps, each with Tony close at his side and his arms out to catch him if he toppled in any direction. "Listen, Tone, I know how hard this has to be for you. You're running dark and you have no way to know that she's okay, I get it. But you trust her, right?"

"Of course."

"Then that's all you need, okay?"

"Yeah, I know you're right, but this is me you're talking to-"

"You're scared that she's gonna change her mind? That once she spends real time with him, she'll bail."

"Wouldn't you be?" Tony snapped back, the levity that had just filled the room now gone. "They're soulmates, Rhodes. That's universal, hocus pocus shit that I can't fight with anything that I could ever build. In all of time and space, I'm nothing. I'm...I'm a moment in her life. I'm disposable."

Rhodes stopped mid-step and slammed his foot down, twisting his body with a thrust of his hip to turn so that he was fully facing Tony. He put a hand over his as it rested on the bar, not allowing him to pull it away. "Now, you listen to me. I'm sick of that voice in your head that keeps pushing you down. Howard is dead, Tony. Stop letting him control you. (Y/N) has said over and over that she chose you during all of this. Hell, it's the last thing she said before she left. You have to believe her. If you don't, that's just insulting her and how much she loves you."

"I do believe-"

"No, you don't."

"Rhodes, I do."

"Tony, if you believed her, we wouldn't need to have this conversation." When Tony didn't say anything more, his only reaction to drop his gaze to the floor with a heavy sigh, Rhodes knew that he had the gears in his mind churning, and the pep talk was over. "That girl may know you better than you think, but don't you ever forget that I was here first, and no one knows you like I do. Not even you."

~~~

You didn't have to ask Okoye to stay at your side as you disembarked and made your way not to the palace as you had first thought, but into an underground structure carved into a mountain just outside of the city. It was striking in its technology, and the energy from every direction around you was invigorating. You tried to soak in as much of the sights as you could, committing it to your memory and praying that it would stay; your thoughts went to Tony, and how much he would love to see this. It made your mood shift and become sad, and the joy of what you were seeing started to fade.

"This way," she commanded, glancing back over her shoulder to be sure that you weren't falling behind, "the Captain will see you first. T'Challa was called away for a moment, but he will return soon."

"Okay, thank you," you said quietly. "But, can I ask a question?"

"Of course, though I can only answer those that are allowed. Some things are meant to be guarded."

"Right, I understand. I just want to know-" you stopped abruptly with a loud gasp, and your feet followed, freezing you in place. The two of you had just turned into a room filled with bright light and equipment that looked like it was from the future, with people moving around as if hurried to work, though they were completely silent. At the center of their attentions sat Bucky, watching a man cover the shoulder where his arm had once been connected.

"Go ahead," Okoye instructed. "This is why you are here."

You ran past her with barely a nod to acknowledge her, but you would have to apologize for your lack of manners later. You had tunnel vision on only one goal; only one person in this room meant anything and nothing would stop you from reaching him.

"Whoa, hold on just a minute! There's no running in my lab!"

If your wits hadn't still been with you, you would have run the woman over as she stood to block you, but her voice broke through enough to avoid that disaster. "I'm...I'm sorry," you panted in shock, "I didn't mean to-"

Bucky was drawn from his attention and towards you now as you came into his sight, and his face brightened into a smile like you had never seen from him in the few times that you had actually laid eyes on him. He hopped down from the table to go to you, but the IV that he was hooked up to stopped him. That, and a harsh command that scared him to his core.

"No! Sit down! If you pull that out then we have to start it all over! Do you really think that anyone wants to hear a grown man cry over a tiny little needle again? Sit!" When Bucky had sat down to her liking, she turned back to you with a roll of her eyes and an exasperation that you knew she had come to know only because a certain Captain was likely trying her patience. "I'm Shuri. You must be (Y/N)."

"Yes," you smiled, with a hand extended, but she didn't take it. Instead, she laughed and slapped her own against it to greet you, giving you a sense of how young she really was.

"Wonderful! Now that you are here, maybe this one will shut up about how much longer?" she joked mockingly with a distinct pout in her voice. "Is she here yet? Did she call? I can't stand it for one minute more, but T'Challa won't let me put him in the freezer until he sees you."

"Put him in the freezer?" you asked, looking past her to Bucky worriedly. "What do you mean?"

"It's for the best, (Y/N)," Bucky answered for her, despite her stare of warning. "I can't trust my own mind. So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing. For everybody."

"And Steve is okay with this?"

"It's not up to Steve. Now come here, so I can see you one more time before she starts." Bucky held out his hand and waited for Shuri to step aside so that you could pass, his eyes practically begging her to let you.

"Five minutes," she warned with a point to each of you. "I have plans tonight, not that anyone asked..."

"Thank you, Shuri," he laughed softly with a small bow of his head, though his eyes never left you as you came closer. "Wow, what kind of a pair are we? Put us together and we've got a full set." He turned his body slowly to show his left side, nodding towards your right and the sling you were still wearing.

"That's hilarious."

"I thought it was," he shrugged. "Come on, don't look at me like that. This is the right thing to do, (Y/N). It's the only way to be sure that I can't be triggered again. The last time...I almost killed you, and I'll be damned if that will ever happen again, to anyone. Besides, you're not really losing anything here. We barely know each other, and you have a big, fancy wedding to plan."

"It feels really selfish of me to say this, but I won't get to know you at all."

"Hopefully, this isn't forever." Bucky turned towards where Shuri had stopped at the table next to you both, waiting for her nod of agreement. When she finally complied, he had found his smile again. "See? This is just putting things on pause for a while."

"Okay," you sighed and dropped your gaze to the floor, feeling strangely defeated. He reached out to take your hand, but you pulled back to not let him connect.

"Hey, look at me." You followed is direction, but your eyes were filled with nothing but regret that this is where it was all ending. "(Y/N), you're the best person I know. I mean, I like Steve, but I might be thinking that just because he told me that I do..." he paused, thinking it over for a second before starting again. "Anyway, listen, you were nice to me when no one else was, and you had no reason to be. You were the only friend I had, and it got me to thinkin'."

"About?"

"That soulmates can mean more than one thing. That we can love more than one person in this life, in all kinds of ways. That hopefully, someday, I can shake Tony's hand and congratulate him for finding the best girl in the world."