Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 38 - A Nightmarish Party

The world around her was in disarray. People were screaming for all they were worth, running around like scurrying ants. Robots with gleaming blue eyes were emerging from the asphalt below her feet, cracking it open as if the very Earth was birthing them, giving them life.

Out of instinct more than anything, she threw a punch at the nearest robot, wanting to knock it into the stonewall. But she stumbled, her fist just phasing right through the robot's skull. "What the hell?" She mumbled, looking down at her body.

She could see it, but it was as though she was bathing in mist. Holding up a hand, she saw to her surprise that her edges were slightly blurred. Was she a ghost? Another loud rumbling drew her attention, and she felt the ground underneath her feet shift.

"You take away my world, I take away yours." A deep, unknown voice rang out, silencing all the screaming around her. It became eerie silent, the words echoing around the square, the people around her frozen in time.

But the rest of the world didn't stop. The rumbling grew louder and as she looked around, her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Deep cracks were emerging right in front of her, dividing the Earth. The houses on the other side of the crack sunk, or was the ground she was standing on floating up? It didn't take long before she realized that it was the latter.

A piece of the Earth was flying.

"Do you see... the beauty of it? The inevitability. You rise, only to fall." The voice echoed again, causing the people around her to start moving again. The screams once again filled her ears, and the thoughts of the moving crowd invaded her senses like a tsunami, washing over her and threatening to drown her.

"You, Avengers, are my meteor."

Keira opened her eyes, staring up at the grey ceiling. She rolled over to her stomach, fighting to get out of her bed but the sheets tangled stubbornly around her legs, trapping her. She fell over the edge and landed with a loud thud, but the sheets had given up on holding her prisoner.

On shaky legs, she staggered to the bathroom in a daze, barely seeing what she leaned against for support. Breathe, she needed to breathe.

Her chest was constricting painfully, and every breath she took was just a weak wheeze, not supplying her body with enough oxygen. Keira almost stumbled into the glass door of the shower, narrowingly missing it and she turned the knobs, gasping as the ice-cold water hit her skin, drenching her pajamas within mere seconds.

She sank to her knees, unable to keep herself upright anymore. Her tears washed away, mixing with the water as she sat there, her shaky breaths rattling through her trembling body. She was hugging her knees, hiding her face against them, trying to focus on her breathing.

Why couldn't her brain just let her rest like a normal human being for once? To let her be free of nightmares, giving her at least one peaceful night of sleep? She was so deep in thought, rocking back and forth, that she didn't notice the new presence in the room, only tensing up as the splashes of footsteps could be heard.

"Hey, Key. You're alright?" Clint's soft voice asked, knowing the answer but he knew that the best way to get her calm was to get her talking. Ignoring the gushing water, he crouched down beside her.

Keira opened her eyes, throwing a glance at him. Shit, she had managed to wake him? She didn't believe she'd have the strength to talk, so she slowly untangled her arms from her legs in order to be able to sign the answer instead. "I will be. Just go back to sleep, Clint." It took her a few moments to get the words right, her hands trembling too badly.

Clint didn't answer but merely shuffled closer so he could sit down beside her, avoiding the heaviest stream of water gushing from the showerhead. It didn't take long before his pajamas were just as soaking as hers was, the water around them growing by the minute since Keira was sitting on the drain.