Heartless

62

"Ivy!" Yelena exclaimed, throwing herself on top of me. "I thought I'd lost you." She sobbed out, I hugged her for a few minutes.

"I saw them." I whispered.

"You saw who?" She asked, climbing off of me and letting me sit up.

"Tony, Kate, Peter, and Pietro." I whispered, I grunted Finn jumped onto me. He was eleven but he had the mentality of a six year old.

"How did you see them?" She asked, tucking my hair behind my ear. "They're dead."

"Wow, I wish I had known that." I said sarcastically, she laughed and let me continue. "Well I was dead too, right? For a few minutes?" I asked her, hugging Finn with one of my arms.

"Yeah."

"Well, I saw them. When I was dead. Kate said she was proud of me-"

"Did you speak to Pietro?" Wanda asked.

"Jesus, I didn't know you were here." I whispered, Finn laughed and climbed off of me. "But yeah, I spoke to him." I told her.

"Is he ok?" She asked me.

"Yes, he is." I told her while smiling. "Peter told me to tell you that he misses you." I said, turning to Finn.

"He did?" He asked, his eyes widening.

"Yeah." I nodded, he smiled and hugged me. "Where's Anthony?" I asked.

"He's sleeping, you can see him when he wakes up." Harley said, walking into the room. "I'm glad you're ok." He said vaguely.

"Thank you." I said, he smiled and rushed over to hug me tightly. "Wait, how is my throat fully healed?" I asked.

"Oh, um. Wakandan technology." A woman said from behind, I turned around and saw a short woman standing in the corner of the room. "My name is Shuri."

"Nice to meet you Shuri." I said. "My names Ivy."

"I know who you are." She said while smiling. "Word gets around when you're an Avenger." I smiled at her.

"Well, why are you here when you're from Wakanda?" I asked her.

"To save you." She said simply.

"No, it doesn't take ten minutes to get here, why are you actually here?" I asked her, she uncrossed her arms and took a step towards me.

"I've come to join you." She said.

"Well, you're going to have to take that up with Harley." I said, sighing and getting up.

"Who's Harley?" She asked, I laughed.

"You know that I'm an Avenger, but you don't know the leader of the Avengers?" I asked her, she shrugged and looked back and forth from me and Yelena.

"I thought that you were the leader of the Avengers." She said.

"No, I handed that responsibility over to him." I said, pointing to Harley. "That was months ago." I told her.

"Oh, I guess not everything gets around." She said, still smiling. "Well, can I join you?" She asked him.

"Um, that's not how this works, we recruit you, you don't recruit yourself." He said awkwardly. "But I can talk to you about it." He offered.

"Ok." She said, and followed Harley out of the room.

"I'm going to go see Anthony." I said, getting up and walking to my room, Yelena following behind me. I opened the door and saw him sleeping soundly in his crib, my heart warmed and I slowly stepped forward, watching him sleep peacefully. "How long has he been sleeping?" I asked Yelena.

"Since you left." She said, I nodded and then I hopped onto our bed.

"I'm not actually tired." I told her. "I mean I was dead for a little bit. I rested in peace; which was very relaxing."

"Let's not joke about that." She said in her thick Russian accent, lying down next to me and grabbing my hand.

"What, who doesn't like to joke about semi-traumatic experiences?" I asked her.

"A lot of people." She said, I rolled my eyes and sat up.

"Well, I am not a lot of people." I told her. "You know, when I was talking to them, I told them I wanted to stay."

"Stay where?" She asked.

"With them." I said softly.

"Stay dead?" She asked, I nodded and she looked down at the ground. "What did they say?"

"They said that you guys needed me, and that it's not my time." I whispered, she nodded and put her arm around my shoulders.

"They're right, you know." She told me.

"I know." I whispered, she kissed my temple and held my head against her shoulder.

"We love you."

"I love you guys too."