Ephemeral // Pietro Maximoff

Prologue

Prologue

Agnessa Pavlova was standing in front of the viewing window with her husband Markov Pavlova watching their newborn daughter sleep in her crib. The hospital in Sokovia was quiet with only nurses and doctors around as the birth had occurred in the middle of a terribly stormy night. Lidah Pavlova was the only baby in the nursery at that time.

As the mother leaned tiredly against her husband and smiled with absolute love at her baby, the night echoing the sounds of thunder. They held each other closer as they continued waiting for the moment they could take their baby to the safety of their home.

"Dr. Kovskia wanted me to alert you that the storm has gotten so bad, you must stay and take shelter for the night, as there is no road access." A young nurse with a slight Russian accent spoke to the couple with a worried crease in her forehead.

"When we will get to be with our child?" Markov questioned with a thicker Russian accent.

"She's to stay in the nursery until it is clear for you to leave safely, sir." She replied.

Although Markov looked upset at the thought of not being able to be with their daughter, his wife calmed him down by saying, "Moja ljubav, it is only for her safety."

Markov rubbed his forehead with a sigh and returned his gaze to his peacefully sleeping daughter.

Crackling thunder seemed to shake the walls minutes later, and little Lidah started squirming out of sleep. Agnessa stood from her seat against the wall beside her husband, and placed her palm against the glass separating her from her daughter. Just as her daughter began to open her eyes, a booming clap of thunder shook the glass and seconds later a blinding flash of white light struck the room full of empty cribs. That is, empty except for one.

Screaming, Agnessa banged her fists against the window as she tried to see her baby through the blinding light. Markov was up beside her in an instant and he ran to the door to rush into the nursery. The light was too blinding, and seemed to last forever although it was truly only a few seconds. Agnessa screamed with not only the terror of what was happening in the room containing her baby, but also with the pain of the light exploding in her irises.

As Markov barged through the door, the light stopped in an instant. The room instead filled with the faint sniffles of his baby. He would have been by her side immediately, but the gentle glow of pure white light emanating from Lidah's crib stopped him. It was bright enough to cause his eyes to squint, but weak enough as to not cause any pain.

The wails of his blinded Agnessa and sounds of the staff running to the scene snapped him out of his trance, and he bounded over to the crib.

Inside, wrapped in a pale pink blanket, softly crying and trembling was his little Lidah. Except she wasn't the same as how she looked when he and his wife had been watching her earlier. In awe, he stared as two small, shimmering orbs of white light floated on both sides of his daughter, as if attached to her small back.

"Markov! Markov! Our baby!" Agnessa wailed from outside the room.

As doctors rushed into the room to help the baby, Markov acted in an instant and picked her up gently but quickly, and pulled the blanket up around her small body and over the orbs emitting from her back. With a sigh of relief at the fact that it seemed to drown out the light, he turned around to the faces of the shocked doctors with Lidah in his arms.

Shoving into the hallway, he gathered his wife who was a blubbering mess, but could see once more, and they hurried away from the questioning doctors and ran out into the night.

Markov knew he could explain to his wife later, but he also knew he had to keep his daughter away from anyone who might try to harm her if they saw what exactly had happened to her on that mysteriously memorable night.

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Translations:
Moja ljubav - my love