Heartless

61

A month had passed, it was almost Christmas again, there was still a month until Christmas, but it was still close. I was on a mission with Wanda, and we were almost done and ready to get into the car to go back to the compound. "Stop." I turned around to see a woman with long blonde hair standing there.

"Why?" I asked her.

"I can't let you take that." She said.

"Oh I'm sorry, we didn't take anything." I said while shrugging.

"Stop Ivy, you're going to get yourself killed." Wanda said into her earpiece.

"I know Wanda Maximoff is in there waiting for you to get in." The woman said, I scoffed.

"You really don't know anything." I told her. "Well I have to get home, groceries are in the car."

"I'm sorry, I can't let you do that." She rushed forward and put me in a headlock. I rolled my eyes and played along. "One movement and you're dead." She said, holding a knife against my throat.

"This is kinda kinky." I said while laughing.

"Shut up." She said, pressing the knife against my neck, beads of blood started leaking out and I winced at the sudden pain.

"Ivy, now is the time to kill her." Wanda said into the earpiece.

"I'm kind of occupied." I whispered. "Trying not to die here." I said.

"What did you say?" The blonde woman asked, pressing the knife harder against my throat. There was no way I could move without killing myself, so I was stuck.

"Let her go." Wanda said, stepping out of the car.

"Give me what you took." The woman said, Wanda shook her head. "Well then I guess that I'll have to do this." I felt a blinding pain and then everything went black.

"Hey kid." I opened my eyes to see Tony standing above me, holding out his hand.

"Am I dead?" I asked him, taking his hand and standing up, I looked around and saw myself surrounded by a beautiful horizon.

"Right now you are." He said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

"Well you're dead right now, but Wanda brought you back to the compound and they're working on bringing you back right now." He explained.

"So you're actually here?" I asked him, he nodded and held out his arms with a huge smile on his face. I rushed forward and hugged him tightly. "I've missed you so much." I said happily.

"I've missed you too kid." He said. "I need you to know that I don't regret saving you, ok? Because I know you feel guilty about it everyday."

"Ok, ok." I said, nodding against his shoulder. I pulled away and wiped a happy tear off of my cheek.

"Don't cry." He said, still smiling.

"They're happy tears." I told him, I slapped my hand to my mouth as I saw Kate, Peter, and Pietro all walking up to me at once. "You're all here?" I asked them.

"Of course." Kate said, I rushed forward and hugged her tightly.

"I've missed you so fucking much." I whispered to her. I pulled away and I saw her smiling sadly at me. "What?"

"You better say your goodbyes to everyone else because it looks like you're gonna be back to the land of the living in a couple minutes." She told me, I smiled back at her. "I'm so proud of you." She told me. I had to stop myself from ugly crying so I turned to Peter.

"Hey." Was all I was able to say. He smiled and looked at me with an understanding look.

"It's not your fault." He whispered into my ear, patting my back.

"Everyone misses you, you know." I told him.

"I know." He said, patting my shoulder as I pulled away from him.

"Finn loved you." I told him. "You saved him from Hydra, he misses you." I sniffed.

"I miss him too, tell him that when you go back, ok?" He asked me, I nodded and turned to Pietro. I almost knocked him over when I threw myself at him to hug him.

"That's a warm greeting." He said, I laughed and pulled away, we did our secret handshake and I saw Kate laughing out of the corner of my eye. "Tell Anthony that I love him, and that I miss him very much, and I'm looking forward to the day I get to see him again." He said while smiling softly.

"Well, when he's old enough to understand I will." I said, everyone laughed and I saw that they all had a sad look in their eyes. "I want to stay." I said softly.

"What?" Peter asked.

"I want to stay here, I don't want to go back." I said in a more confident voice.

"That's not your choice to make." Kate said, I shrugged.

"I don't want to lose you guys again." I said, sniffing and wiping the tears from my face.

"They all need you down there, more than you know Ivy." Kate said, walking towards me and pulling me in for another hug. "You'll see us again, I promise."

"When?" I asked her.

"When it's your time." She said simply, I nodded and looked down at my hands, which seemed to be slowly disappearing.

"Tony, what's happening?" I asked in a panicked voice, I stumbled towards him and collapsed against him.

"I got you." He whispered. "You're going to be gone in a minute Ivy."

"No, I want to stay here with you guys." I pleaded. "I want to stay here."

"No kid, they need you down there." Tony said, I felt Pietro, Peter, and Kate all join in on the hug. "It's not your time to be here Ivy." I felt him kiss the top of my head and I felt the rest of my body fade away.

"Goodbye." I whispered. "I love you guys."