This Is Stella's Reality

April 28, 2015

Wake up.

Wake up.

Wake up.

My breath burned with the floating embers that twinkled before my eyes.

I have to be dreaming, I thought.

The world around me was desolate. Deeply black and sparsely lit with dying flames. Inky pools of bubbling liquid streamed around me, and my whole body felt as if it were on fire.

I choked on the air, dry and reeking of the metallic iron of blood. My eyes were blurry from the tears that were starting to form.

A figure was walking towards me in the distance. They were broken, wobbling and crooked as they made their way closer. Blood rushed through me as I watched their silhouette creep closer.

My lips parted, hoping to cry out for help, but no sound came out of me. No matter how hard my vocal cords strained, nothing happened.

I gasped, falling to the rocky earth beneath me and focusing my thoughts. Wake up, I screamed.

The world screeched with a thousand sirens, like a kettle poised to boil over. White lights flashed through my eyes as if I were on the highway being passed by hundreds of speeding cars.

And then I awoke.

I was in the compound, in that same hospital bed. The lights were completely off, but the TV was on and glowing with late night television. I looked at the clock beside me. It was nearly 5am.

The boys were gone. Maybe they had gone back to our room. It was eerie in the hospital wing without them nearby.

A shiver ran up my spine as I recalled the nightmare I'd just experienced. What was that place? Hell? I shook the thoughts away. I needed to find my boys.

Carefully, I undid the IV drip and other devices Tony and Bruce had hooked up to me and walked out of the room.

The floors were cold under my bare feet as I padded through the empty halls. A soft glow emanated from the conference room down the hall, and I heard heated arguing amongst the team.

I opened the door. The team stopped abruptly and stared at me. Bucky rose from his seat and smiled. "Sorry, doll," he said gently. "We didn't want to wake you." There was something in his voice that sent a tidal wave of worry through me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Thor cleared his throat and looked away from me. "Loki has requested your help," he said. A shiver ran through me. "In June, Odin is putting him on trial for his crimes in New York. Loki wants your proficiency in memory work to help him build his defense case."

"I'm not letting her go," Steve said firmly.

The rest of the team nodded their heads in agreement.

Thor's fists clenched. "He is my brother, and I know you may hate him, but he was very adamant that it was not he that meant to destroy Midgar." His eyes turned to me with heartbreak written clearly in them.

I stepped to his side and placed a hand on his arm. "Well," I said softly. "Luckily for you, the boys don't tell me what I can and can't do." I looked at Steve and Bucky, daring them to challenge me. They did not.

"I'll help Loki," I said firmly. "If he says he didn't do it, then I'll find out for sure and give the evidence to Odin."

The room was silent. Nobody wanted to tell me otherwise though I heard their disapproval loud in their thoughts. Steve and Bucky flourished in anger, but they held their tongues.