ASCENDANCY / P. MAXIMOFF

lullabies and goodnights

Anastazya woke up in the middle of the night with her eyes burning and stomach growling. She was a midnight snacker, that was for sure. She propped herself up on her elbows and narrowed her eyes to look at her digital clock across the room. The red letters were too bright for Ana's liking and it hurt to read, but after blinking rapidly, she could see that it was 11:27 P.M.

"My god," Ana grumbled. "I'm going to become obese."

Ana slithered out of bed. She dragged her feet across her carpet floor and out of her room, heading towards the kitchen. In a daze, mind still floating somewhere in the Twilight Zone, she began humming a tune from when she was younger. She usually blocked everything from then out, but she decided that the song was too pretty to force out of her head.

Ana hopped onto the counter and kneeled on the surface, reaching up for her special pack of cookies. When she retrieved it, she noticed it felt lighter than before.

"Hmm, trying to be sneaky, eh Clint?" Anastazya mumbled to herself, already plotting his downfall. She hopped off of the counter and back onto the floor, cringing when she heard metal scraping against the tile surface somewhere a level up. Ana shoved a cookie into her mouth and muttered incoherently to herself. She gradually moved sluggishly up the stairs.

'Don't do this Ana,' She thought to herself. 'Don't be that stupid girl in the horror movies. We always promised we would never be that girl.'

"Screw that," Ana muttered. "I'm a badass, damn it."

She began jogging up the stairs, wincing again when she heard the wretched noise. This time she noticed it came from the infirmary.

Ana turned the corner, looking through the glass walls of the infirmary to see Pietro was writhing around and mumbling things in his sleep. He was still on the operation table, so whenever he jerked, he made the noise. Ana rolled her eyes. He must have been having a nightmare. She entered the room, mumbling curse words to herself as her bare feet came in contact with the cold tile floor. Ana made it to his bed side and sat down, not exactly sure how to wake him up.

"Psst," she whispered in a hiss. "Pietro."

When that did not work, Ana slapped him on the back of the head.

"Au! Ce dracu! Doare!" he exclaimed, sitting up immediately. He glared at Ana.

"Shut up," Ana hissed back, returning his glare.

"Why are you here?" he demanded.

Ana sighed tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear with her free hand. "I was up to get cookies and I heard you making a lot of noise. You were having a nightmare," she informed him.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed, wiping the sweat off of his brow before eyeing the cookies in Ana's left hand. "May I have one?"

Ana blinked. She was slightly surprised at his innocent question. How could he transition from being angry to seeming so childish like that? "No."

"Why not?" he asked with his bottom lip out in a pout. "The Bird Man had the nerve to go chomping down on them while Wanda was in operation."

Damn Clint.

Ana rolled her eyes and reluctantly picked a cookie out of the packet. She handed it to Pietro, muttering profanities the entire time.

"Thank you, Princessa," he said with a sly smirk.

"Don't fucking call me that," Ana sneered. She was upset about having to give up her special treats, and to him of all people.

"Why not?" Pietro asked, the grin still pulling his lips up. "It is a good name, unless I am mistaken?"

"It's stupid," Ana stated, and Pietro chuckled.

"Alright, I guess I must keep calling you that, then."

"You're annoying," Ana growled with her eyes narrowed into slits. She was done with him and his snarky attitude.

Pietro smirked. "And you are intolerable. We have been over this already, no?"

Ana rolled her eyes. She went to stand up and retreat back to her room, but Pietro stopped her.

"Hey, do not leave just yet." Pietro commanded, trying to sit up himself. He wore a noticeable grimace of pain on his pale and bruised face.

Ana pushed him back down on the table with a thump. "You are injured. Stop moving."

"You were humming a song earlier. What was it?" Pietro asked curiously.

Ana raised a suspecting eyebrow at him. "You were asleep."

"I am light sleeper," he replied with a roll of his eyes. His broken English almost made Ana smile. "Now answer my question."

Ana sat back down on the stool next to his bed, resting her head on her hand. "It's a lullaby from when I was younger. Though, I thought you might know that since you seem to know everything else about me."

Pietro groaned loudly before looking at her, piercing blue eyes softening. "I am sorry for what I did."

Ana shrugged. "I'm still pissed at you, but it's whatever I guess. You were under orders; you believed you were doing the right thing."

Pietro sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Actually, I did not. I was under orders, and while I did believe Ultron was going to help my sister and I, we still knew that what we were doing to you was horrible. I thought that telling the Bird Man where you were headed after you escaped would ease my conscious, but I still feel guilty."

"Wait, you told Clint where I was?" Ana asked, failing to hide her shock. She had been convinced it was Wanda. Pietro didn't seem like the type to try and save her life if it came down to it.

He smirked at her again. "What? You did not see that coming?"

"What the hell, dude?" Ana questioned in a slightly loud tone. She took her chin off her hand and leaned back in her chair. "I mean, what is that? Your catch phrase or something?"

"What do you mean? I have only said that one other time."

Ana rolled her eyes again for what she believed was the hundredth time in the last hour. There was a comfortable silence between them before he decided to speak.

"You are humming again."

Ana blinked a few times before she realized she was absentmindedly humming the lullaby. She shook her head and cut the tune off abruptly, standing to her feet again.

"Sorry. I will go now," she told him. "I hope you do not have anymore nightmares."

Pietro shrugged, wincing slightly as he rolled over on his side to sleep. "As do I. Goodnight, Princessa Anastazya."

"Goodnight, asshole."

Pietro chuckled, causing Ana to turn around. He looked uncomfortable, like he wasn't going to actually sleep for a long time. Ana could see he looked paler than before in the lack of light. There were bags and purple lines from lack of sleep under his eyes. She felt sympathetic for some reason. Ana sighed and walked back over to his bedside, peering down at him as he looked up at her expectantly. Begrudgingly, she handed the pack of cookies to him.

"If you need to talk to someone about anything, I suggest it be me," she said in an emotionless tone, turning on her heel. "Goodnight Pietro."

There was a pause, but then he answered. "Goodnight, Ana. Thank you."