Into the Fray {Marvel} ||4||

17. The New Avengers Facility

From the time I got myself changed, showered, and let out of my room, I didn't get a second's rest.

Todd was my escort for the time being. Currently, he was being a pain in the ass about a request I asked of him.

"Kiara, no."

"Todd..."

"Need I remind you that she tried to kill you?"

"Yes, you made that abundantly clear. But I want to talk to her, myself. I want to make sure there's no bad blood between us. Not that there ever was, but apparently there is since I lived and her brother..."

I knew Wanda Maximoff's grief, I did. I mourned over a former lover, though, not a blood brother. I knew that her grief was different than mine, but in general, grief was grief.

"I don't want you to end up in a coma again," Todd said worriedly. "She did a number on you guys before. Steve told me."

"Look, if things get bad, then they get bad."

"You're not suggesting you take her punishment if things get out of control, are you?"

"If that's what makes her feel better..."

"Kiara," Todd scolded me. "No, that's a bad idea."

"I have to do this. It'll make me feel better, whether or not I get the outcome that I want from this. You have to let me do this. One time, and then I won't do it again." I looked at him.

Todd sighed heavily. "You're lucky I love you."

"I'm the lucky one, huh?"

"You have to be, you survived bullets."

He did make a fair point there.

Todd led me to Wanda's room, which held not only the Maximoff girl, but Aria as well. Both women acknowledged us, and Aria put a hand on Wanda's arm. I was apprehensive, seeing the Maximoff girl's eyes glow red, but the color faded.

"If anything happens, you call me," Todd whispered.

I nodded as he left. I stepped into the room, and it was thick with tension.

"We heard you woke," said Wanda. "You look well."

"So do you." I wrung my hands. "I heard what you did, or tried to do."

"I'm not surprised. I would want to know if someone tried to kill me, too."

"I know why."

"Do you?"

I nodded slowly. "You were in pain."

"I still am."

"Wanda," Aria said gently. "Let her speak."

"I get it, you're in pain," I told Wanda outright. "You lost your twin brother. It's not something that goes away overnight. The suffering, the grief, it takes hold of you. We can't bring him back, and unfortunately, we know that. You know it, and I know it. Hurting me won't do anything but, well, hurt me." I shrugged.

"How do you know what loss feels like?" Wanda said coldly.

"I've felt it. And it sucks, to be honest with you. I lost someone I loved, deeply, and it tore me apart. I lost him, twice, before he actually died, and when he did. I lost the man that I fell in love with on my home realm of Asgard. He became something that I could not love. And when he actually died...it was final. He was never going to come back. I didn't lose a sibling, but I lost someone. I know the two griefs are different, but they are grief all the same.