𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

𝐱𝐥𝐯

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 fingers in front of Adelaide's face, and her pupils dilated, filling her eyes with that ocean of blue once again. Natasha sighed.

'Addie, you're scaring me.' She shot her a small smile, and Adelaide looked around in bewilderment, hunching over as if she were going to throw up. Adelaide blinked, licking her lips anxiously.

'It's like someone's just... planted these random memories in my head. I don't know who... or what, for that matter.' Adelaide explained, and Natasha rubbed her back and looked around at them. Adelaide brought her body up, looking Nat in the eyes. 'Tasha I'm... I'm scared.' She confessed, her lip quivering.

'What did you see?' Natasha knew better than to ask questions about the horrors that taunted Adelaide, about the things that enslaved her inside her own mind. She'd received backlash from her prying before. A while ago now.

The screams were audible from upstairs, where most of us sat with our drinks in hand just staring at each other. The Avengers were my family, and I loved them to bits I still do but, God they really suck at comfort stuff. Each of us had tried with the new girl, except me. I was deemed 'Not sensitive enough' by the rest of the team, however I think that title could've easily have gone to Tony.

The cries from that girl's room weren't too dissimilar from the ones I'd heard years ago, in the Red Room. I hated the pain and the sheer terror that I could hear scraping down her throat but what I hated more was that none of my friends were doing anything. They all just sat there.

'Oh fuck it. I don't care what Tony thinks, I'm not leaving her on her own down there.' I sighed at the team, none of them protesting. In fairness, none of them actually knew what she'd do if I went down there. The girl had been with us for a few months, these nightmares happening almost every night, and in the morning we'd have the cleaners and tile layers and all sorts to sort out her room after it'd been singed and torn up by those terrors inside her head.

The heat hit me before I'd even got down the stairs, and those shrieks hit me second. I opened the door slightly, gently beginning to speak to her.

'Hey there...' She whipped her head around, her hair with small plaits in it. The girl panted, sweat marks covering her pyjamas. The room got hotter as I entered, and she cried for me to stop, to get out before she harmed me.

'I don't want to... I... He's gonna make me....' Her eyes darted around the room, looking at the damage she was causing. I sighed and went further in, and she screamed as she crawled away, off her bed and onto the carpet, black where her bare feet touched. I hushed her quiet sobs and stopped moving every time she made a sound, easing myself onto her bed.

'Who is he? That man you keep mentioning?' Her eyes shot to mine, that black in the centre so small I felt like breaking that solid stare. She shook where she sat. The paint on the wall melted as I practically felt the thoughts race around her head.

'I don't want to talk about him. I do.... bad things when I think about him I-' When she looked up I was at her side, a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at first, those eyes piercing and filled with fear. But I smiled nonetheless. I even grabbed her hand, and we walked together into the bathroom, those steps each creating hisses wherever they went. The tiles provided that coolness she needed, I could tell. She sat on the toilet seat, hugging her knees and trembling still.

My hand touched the faucet and she jumped a bit as the cold water filled the tub, splashing around the outside. My smile seemed to comfort her again, so when I beckoned for her to enter the tub she complied. She shivered at first.

'Yeah it's piss cold but it helped a lot when I was your age, I suppose.' She didn't look at me, her face just flushed pink gently. I looked to the ground, hiding my small smile at her embarrassment.

'Thankyou. They're all too afraid to come anywhere near me.' The girl announced, clutching her knees in the water as her clothes floated at the top of the water. She shook her head, sighing. 'But hey, maybe they should be scared. None of you really know me, what I've... done.' She stared at the water, taking long breaks imbetween her breaths. I leant against the wall and propped my leg up, crossing my arms.

'We are all scared of that which we don't understand. But yeah, what they're doing sucks.' I breathed, and she splashed around in the water a bit. I looked at her, and this time, she smiled.

'The beginning of the world.' Adelaide's eyes were distant as she seemed to remember those memories that were not her own. Natasha gathered her up in her arms, hugging her. 'Someone creating this, all of this. You, the Avengers all of you. I was looking through their eyes, watching as they crafted each of you.' Adelaide sobbed slightly and pressed her face into Natasha's neck. Nat pulled backwards, cupping Adelaide's face in her hands and putting their foreheads together, tears streaming down her face.

𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐢 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐢'𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 <3