Rip My Heart Out (Avengers Age of Ultron)

Chapter 2

I was asleep, lost in a dream. I only knew this because nothing I'd ever seen was as beautiful as the sight spread out before my eyes now. I saw galaxies. I saw every color and different kind of light. All of it was so big and grand, yet so small at the same time. I could distinguish every little dot, every star from the other. Every one of them was beautiful in it's own way. Some were larger than anything I ever could have imagined and some were so small in comparison. Some burned with an intensity foreign to me, and a select few were on their dying breath. I saw it all. Not a detail was lost.

It all felt so strange and new, but at the same time eerily familiar. In my dream, I was free to move about them, to fly through the twisting, ever changing sea that was the universe. I explored for what seemed like an eternity. I visited every star and was overcome by its glory. Yet it wasn't enough. There was a hunger inside of me and it grew stronger the more I explored, rather than diminishing. I needed something else, something more. I needed power, control.

So I did something new. I changed the universe. I moved planets and stars at will, changing their orbits or sending them halfway across their galaxy with nothing more than the flick of my wrist. I watched them soar and shrink into the distance. I watched planets crash into each other and explode. I saw the fragments turn to dust. I felt the power surging through my veins, but it wasn't enough.

The galaxy shrunk in my eyes. I was big and it was small. As I moved the stars, chaos began. The fine balance of the universe had been disrupted. Stars began to explode and condense in on themselves, turning entire solar systems to dust in their wake. I watched it in wonder and awe. The destruction was beautiful.

Something in me changed then and the power and adrenaline in my veins quickly turned to poison. I felt it burning through me. A chunk of a planet flew past me, just barely missing my arm. The destruction wasn't beautiful any longer. It was terrifying. I tried to stop it, to contain it, but there was no stopping it. It was a domino effect. Star after star disappeared; only creating more chaos. The explosions came closer to me, but I could not run. The destruction only grew larger and larger until it was bigger than me.

And that's when it consumed me.

I sat up suddenly, gasping, covered in sweat. I was back in reality, wherever that was. The walls around me were unfamiliar. They were made of glass and metal. There were blinking lights and machines everywhere, but no living people to be found. There was a needle in my arm and a heart beat monitor clipped to my finger. The walls seemed to shake as I felt adrenaline rush through my veins, leftover from my dream.

I reached toward the needle in my arm, prepared to remove it when Steve burst through the door. He seemed alarmed. His posture and behavior was off. It was like he burst through the door ready for a fight.

"Whoa, Emelia. I'm here." Steve seemed to notice my distress. Within the blink of an eye, he was by my side and had me wrapped in his arms. He tilted his head back enough to see my face. He was confused looking at me. "You're okay now."

"Steve?" My voice sounded thin and strained. "Where am I?"

"You're in Stark Tower. You'll be safe here, don't worry." Steve held on to me and rested his chin on the crown of my head.

"Safe?" I asked.

"Do you remember what happened?" Steve gingerly let go of me. He grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and draped it over me. I hadn't even realized I was shivering.

"I-" Suddenly, memories flooded back to me; of the disturbing incident with the man from HYDRA and Steve knocking at the door.

"You owe me a new door." I said wearily.

Steve's muscles relaxed ever so slightly and the corners of his mouth twitched upward briefly.

"He was from HYDRA." I said, trying to remember everything.

"Yes, he was. Did he say why he was there?" Steve's ground his teeth a little, tensing his jaw.

"I thought at first that maybe it was because they had seen me with you. That maybe they were going to use me somehow to hurt you." I said, staring past Steve. I saw his head drop, as if he couldn't look at me. "But, he said he came for me. He said that they had been watching me. He made it sound like they had been watching me before I first met you, that they wanted me for reasons that had nothing to do with you."

Steve's head rose slowly and his eyes met mine. He knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "Did the man say why they wanted you?"

"No. I don't even know if he was telling the truth. Maybe he was just trying to scare me." I said.

"Maybe." Steve said, looking off into the distance.

"Are you okay?" The sounds of gunfire echoed through my memories. I looked Steve over. He seemed okay, but who knew how he healed.

Steve smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. I think I caught the HYDRA agent off guard. By himself, he wasn't really a threat."

"Hmph." I groaned in exasperation. "Maybe not to you. You know, my dad always told me I should get pepper spray. He always said I would need it someday in the city."

Steve put his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back so I was lying on my back again. "You don't need pepper spray. I'll protect you from now on, I promise. I'm not leaving your side until we know without a doubt that you're safe again."

"You mean you think they are going to come after me again?" I looked around, the glass walls didn't seem like such a great idea anymore.

"They can't get you here, I promise. As far as them trying, I'm not sure. Until we know why they were after you, it's hard to say."

"But what if they come back with, I don't know, like a tank or something? Are you sure we'll be safe?" I trusted Steve, I really did, but I needed to know if he was telling me the truth about this. I needed to be certain that we would be safe.

He chuckled quietly. "A tank? Now who's outdated? No matter what happened, whether they had a heli-carrier or a tank, we are safe here, I promise you. Do you remember New York and the Chitari attack? I'm sure you've seen the footage of the Hulk. Do you remember how he crushed everything trying to hurt the city?"

I nodded.

"Well he's here, and so is Iron Man and Hawkeye and Black Widow. All of my friends, the ones I told you about, they are here and they aren't going to let anything happen to you. You'll be safe here. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I trust you."

"Good, now try and get some rest. I'll send Bruce in here soon to check on you. You hit your head pretty hard, but other than the concussion, he said it looks like you'll be fine."

Steve started get up. I grabbed his wrist before he was out of reach. "Thank you. For saving me."

Steve's mouth formed a small smile before he quickly leaned down to my level and kissed me on the forehead.

"Get some rest." He said before turning and leaving.

A/N: So the dream is your first hint into everything that is happening in this story!! What do you think about it!

Also, is Steve not just the cutest over productive bestie, or what?

Let me know what you guys think by voting and commenting! I love to hear what your thinking!

Thanks for reading, lovelies!