One | Steve Rogers

45

She doesn't believe her eyes, nor should she. Her eyes say that her older sister is standing right here in front of her, and as much as her heart wants to believe it, her mind won't let her, for it knows the truth.

Natalia Alianovna Romanova is dead.

Her sister is dead.

Lauren's eyes prickle with tears as her heart and mind wrestle with one another, both fighting for a truth of their own as her mind is warped by a spell cast by the Scarlet Witch.

It flares her nerves and penetrates her way of thinking.

The lie is ever so tempting, that she's unable to look away. Her eyes are glued on the false reality in front of her.

Lauren takes one step, followed by a mountain of hesitation. She takes another step, and another, her legs feeling weighted down by gravity itself as she approaches the lie. She brings one shaking hand up to cup the cheek of the lie, and upon feeling the warm skin on her fingertips, she gasps.

Lauren stares deeply into the eyes of her sister as she holds her face in her hand, slowly falling into the trap and believing the lie.

She wants so deeply to give in, to accept this as true and to stay here forever, but she pulls her hand away.

" You're not real," Lauren whispers as she tries to see through the lie.

She begins to walk herself backwards.

" You're not real," She repeats, " This isn't real."

" What are you doing to yourself?"

The lie speaks, and Lauren pauses. She freezes in place, her eyes wide and unblinking as they stay locked on the lie.

" I'm..." Lauren starts, but finds herself unable to form a full sentence, " I'm..."

" Becoming the thing we tried so hard not to be," The lie states, " A bad guy."

" I'm not..." Lauren argues as she shakes her head, " I-I'm not a bad guy."

" Then why are you acting like one?"

It hits her all too hard, but she's in too deep to give up now. She takes a deep breath as she blinks away the tears.

" This isn't real," Lauren repeats as she stands up tall, " You are not real."

Mage closes her eyes to regain her focus and her composure. She inhales, and once she exhales her eyes open and the lie is gone. She doesn't allow her mind to be deceived anymore as she enters reality yet again. She can't stop now.

The room now sits barren and empty, and so she moves on from it. She walks through the temple to find an array of candles with the flame burnt out so recently that smoke still spirals from them. In the corner of the room is a pile of ash. Lauren kneels down next to it and picks up the ash in her hands, and as it falls back down, she feels the last bit of energy from the darkhold in her palm. It gives her a buzzing sensation in her charcoal clad hand, now dawning an appearance similar to Wanda.

She doesn't know how long she was trapped inside the false reality, but it was definitely too long.

Her elongated leather coat billow behind her as she walks to the outer training area of the temple. She looks up to the sky and sees the smoke rises up amid the death and destruction around.

Lauren lets out a huff.

Stephen is gone.

Wanda is gone.

Wong is gone.

And America is gone.

And she has no leads.