ASCENDANCY / P. MAXIMOFF

paranoia

"Anastazya, wake up please," Pietro begged shaking her shoulders. He slapped her lightly on the cheek.

"Oh no," Wanda blubbered hysterically. "They will hate me! She will hate me! If she ever does wake up!"

"No, she will not. And she will wake up," Pietro told his sister firmly.

It was only a couple minutes later Anastazya let out groan, her eyes fluttering open, her head burning in a distressed sense of a headache.

"What happened?" She mumbled, before shrieking out in surprise when she came face to face with Pietro. Ana crawled away from him frantically, scooting back until she hit the bookshelf behind her, causing numerous books to fall on her. Ana yelled in pain.

"Dragostè! Anastazya! Calm down!" Pietro shouted, trying to get closer to his friend, when she threw him across the room with a strong gust of wind current coming in from her open window. Pietro hit his head hard on the wall behind him, causing him to cry out in pain. A noise that broke Ana out of her frightened, disoriented state.

She blinked a few times, gaze moving from a writhing Pietro, to a terrified looking Wanda.

"I-I am sorry," Ana stuttered out, wanting to go help Pietro but afraid she would hurt him again. He looked at her with wide eyes, clutching the back of his head. He removed a hand and cursed under his breath when he discovered that his hand was covered in blood. Ana's heart nearly fell out of her chest.

Her pants quickly turned into hyperventilation. The walls were closing in on her. What was going on with her?

Wanda reached out for Ana, but she flinched away, instead looking up at her with wild, blue orbs. Wanda retracted her hand immediately.

"What the hell did you show me?!" Ana demanded. "Was that some kind of sick joke? Are you trying to make me go insane?"

"I am sorry, I just showed you what you wanted-"

"Maybe you showed me what you wanted! That's not what I want!" Ana yelled at her. Panic rose up in her chest when she heart footsteps coming up the stairs.

"What is going on?" Steve demanded, eyebrows furrowing when he took in the scene in front of him. He rushed to a bleeding Pietro's side. Natasha moved towards Ana, but she pushed her away.

"What did you do Anastazya?" Steve asked, looking at her with his signature 'righteous look'. But this time he looked more disappointed than anything else. It made her want to burst into tears.

"She did not-" Pietro started.

"I-I didn't mean to hurt him! I just-" Ana cut her self off, scrambling to her feet. Natasha looked at her sympathetically.

Ana made a mad dash out of her room, down the stairs, and out of her front door, ignoring the protests she heard throughout her old home. The snow was still falling, and it was about 3 inches deep by now, but when Ana touched the surface of the icy sleet, it melted immediately. She had never run so fast, and from what? Millions of thoughts ran rampant in her mind.

Why was what I saw so horrifying to me? Ana thought. It looked perfectly fine! I inherited Stark industries, the world was at intergalactic peace, so much that the Avengers didn't even exist anymore. I lived with Clint and Laura his older children who basically worshipped the ground I walked on. I could drink! Everyone I loved was alive and together and happy! It was perfect! Why does it feel so wrong then?

Ana finally stopped running when she thought her legs might give out, by now she was in the middle of a random neighborhood in her old town, but all of it's inhabitants were locked inside their homes. There were no snow days in Russia. Everyone was so used to the bitter weather it wasn't even a joyous occasion anymore.

What is wrong with what I saw? Ana asked herself. Then she rolled her eyes. She knew what was wrong.

Pietro.

In the vision, they were dating. They were in love. He was about to propose to her for Christ's sake! Anastazya could never see Pietro that way.

She saw a reliable comrade. A talented fighter. A trusted friend. A goofy dork. A best friend. A horn dog. A speedy, annoying, cocky asshole. And she loved him. She did. But not in that way.

"Wanda was wrong," Ana muttered, shaking her head. "She is way, way, wrong. I don't love him. I don't dream of him. I don't want a future with him. I don't love Pietro," Ana told herself.

But there was something off about what she was saying. She didn't even believe it that much.

"I am just doubting myself," She whispered. "It was that stupid vision. Wanda's powers aren't meant to be used like that. It's her fault, not yours."

But why of all the crazy, incorrect, unlogical, things that could of popped into that dream, loving Pietro was it?

It wasn't that crazy of a thought.

Ana shook her head frantically, not realizing her teeth were chattering until she went to talk to herself again.

"This is crazy," Ana mumbled. "I just need to go back home."

But when she turned around, all she could see was bright, unadulterated white. Her jaw dropped. How could she have been so foolish?

She had walked out into the middle of a blizzard.