New Avengers: The New Initiative

CHAPTER X

THE SOUL STONE'S POV

No one witnessed it all: the uneasiness, the anxious mannerisms, and her skin's extremely and instantly unhealthy shade. She was suffering, enduring unbearable agony within her own mind. But no one else saw it or understood how to alleviate the internal anxiety and emotional turmoil; no one other than the Soul Stone himself. The Infinity Stones all shared a familial relationship, but no one ever competed with the more profound bond between the Mind Stone and the Soul Stone. No one knew of the reason for their instant connection at birth, whether it was the similarity in human and mental capabilities or the relative closeness in physical age. But it was like the two understood each other even better than themselves, and, more often than not, verbal communication wasn't even necessary.

No one noticed how discreetly and quickly she took off from the meeting, no one other than the Soul Stone. Once he successfully snuck out of the conference room, he followed the Mind Stone into one of the vacant guestrooms, where he discovered her on the bed, making an effort to prevent, what the mortals described as, an oncoming anxiety attack. The Soul Stone hated whenever those occurred, but at least, what the mortals deemed, the panic attacks he struggled with only arose when a soul had escaped from the Soul Realm, which happened very rarely, and even then, he would make a swift recovery in seconds. The Mind Stone wasn't so fortunate, as the slightest inconvenience or issue triggered so much stress in her, and when they occurred, the duration was inconsistent. The others didn't know how to comfort her as they had never experienced the turmoil; no one other than the Soul Stone. "You are in internal anguish and misery," the Soul Stone declared bluntly. He would never beat around the bush when it came to her. The Mind Stone suffered enough due to mortals manipulating her with their paragraphs of false promises and empty words of reassurance. She deserved someone direct and honest with her, not someone who couldn't resolve the current issue at hand because they were too afraid to express their genuine emotions. Therefore, they are not able to communicate with her satisfactorily. "What is the trouble?"

"I am surprised you were even aware of my sudden absence."

"Are you honestly? Because it seems to me that you are surprised that someone even noticed your absence at all. Please, tell me what is on your mind."

"I... I feel a disturbance. I am not sure where, but it is... somewhere."

"What or who is the cause of it?" As if he even needed to ask that question. If the Soul Stone's assumptions were correct, the person responsible for her torment must have been...

"Wanda Maximoff." Of course, it was her. Who else would it have been? "But it is not in the way that you think."

"What? What does that even mean?"

"I am not too sure, but I can hear her inner thoughts. She sounds insecure and somewhat regretful over her actions."

"Seriously? How can you be so sure? For all we know, she could have figured out a way to mess with your emotions."

"No, she could never be intelligent or capable enough to accomplish that, but it all still doesn't feel right."

"We should notify Tony and the rest of the team about this new development. She could become even more of a major threat than before."

"No, at least not now. We don't have enough information, and I don't want to cause a panic, especially when we already have a crisis on our hands."

"That isn't a good idea. We should warn them while the time is still on our side."

"Not until I have a clear sense of what is truly happening. Please, I am trusting you with this."