I lower myself down to the forest floor, I don't know what brought me here. It's not like Scarlett will be waiting for me.
How can Steve seriously think I'm a traitor because I fought Mystique and was left alive? If Scarlett hadn't wanted to draw out my death like the psychopath she apparently is, I would've been dead before Peter even came through the door. My heart aches at the thought of Peter finding my body, he wouldn't have deserved that.
The leaves on the trees begin to blow wildly and I realise it's my powers. Before being kidnapped, it'd been years since I lost control of my powers – I guess I didn't have much to get super emotional about. I rarely failed my missions, and I was happy for the most part.
I go to close my eyes and breathe in and out to calm myself down but then I realise I don't want to, I want to feel this, I am allowed to feel angry at what Steve accused me of. Nobody's around so who cares if there's a strong wind?
I clench my fists; I can tell I've drawn blood again. Scarlett wasn't just willing to kill me, she wanted me to suffer first. Tears stream down my face, if somebody ever loved you, they wouldn't do that to you. Scarlett had no hesitation today and I know she'll keep coming back until one of us is dead, Mystique can't afford for me to be alive. I can't harm Scarlett, so what does that mean? I'll die at the hands of the person I once called my best friend.
Natasha told me to let go, but I don't know how. I can't just pretend it all meant nothing to me because at one point Scarlett meant everything to me. A fire starts and I can't find it within me to put it out. Is there a point to anything? Even if we defeat the x-men, they could rise up from ashes and rebuild and come back stronger, all it takes is Mystique being able to sneak out of the battle which she easily could.
Tears stream down my face and I slowly sink down until I'm on my knees. "Scarlett, if you're there, why would you do this to me?" I call out, we've been to this forest lots of times, some of our best memories were formed here. The only answer is the wind. I thrust my hand out and a bunch of water puts out the fire, I rarely use my water powers but I think I'm going to need every single power I have if I want to succeed in helping the avengers stop the x-men.
Fire starts up, my powers are dangerously out of my control, and I can feel my heart racing and my palms getting sweaty, panicking will make this worse, but I can't stop the fear that's rising up inside of me. Maybe that's what caused my lack of control, ever since I woke up, I've been terrified, terrified of my parents hating me, terrified of fighting my old friends, and terrified of losing my old friends which I have. Almost all my fears have come true, I've lost Scarlett, Ashton and Henry probably also hate me, and Natasha believes it's possible I'm a traitor.
A fierce wind begins and I silently watching it, unable to stop the panic in my chest. I could destroy this entire forest, if someone comes near, I could hurt or kill them. The amount of people I've hurt is already too high, it can't grow any longer.
"Scar" I say, my voice cracking. She's not out there, this place has no meaning to her anymore, but I need to know why, I need to know if this friendship ever meant anything at all. Did this friendship just start because I was ranked top of the class? "Answer me dammit!"
Again, there's nothing. I'm completely alone and not just in this forest. Once Peter hears the talk about me being a traitor, I'm sure he'll back off and not want to be friends anymore, who wants to be friends with a girl nobody can trust?
"Storm" a voice says, I stand up and whirl around and see Ned, MJ, and Peter standing behind me. They all stare at the mess behind me. I focus and slowly the fire and wind stop, and the trees begin to heal, it looks like nothing's happened at all thanks to my earth powers.
I don't look at Peter, too afraid to see if there's contempt in his eyes. "Hey, it's okay" Peter steps towards me and embraces me. "I know you're not a traitor, the avengers do too, they're just really scared."
Ned steps forward and joins the hug to my surprise. "We're here for you, Peter told us how you saved all those people." He sounds sincere, maybe now I have two friends instead of just one. Ned and Peter step back, they both at the forest in surprise. "You completely fixed the forest" Ned says, looking at me.
"I'm sorry about Scarlett" MJ says, stepping forward and hugging me. "I'm also sorry I gave you a hard time at the party." MJ is the last person who needs to be sorry, she was looking out for her best friend.
"I thought there was a chance Scarlett might come here" I say honestly, I also could feel myself losing control and didn't want to be anywhere near people. I can rebuild and fix a forest, but I can't bring someone back from the dead, I don't think anyone in the world can.
"She bashed your head in" Ned says, looking confused. "Are there two girls named Scarlett?" he glances at Peter who shakes his head in response.
"I had questions" I inform Ned, knowing how stupid it sounds. Someone tried to kill me and I willingly came to a place they might be because I had questions, because I want to know if the friendship we had was real.
"Storm, she's obviously willing to hurt you" MJ says gently, concern written all over her face. I'm glad Ned and MJ have accepted me, but does this really have to be the moment MJ turns into a wise, concerned friend? I can't defend Scarlett and her actions, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to hurt her.
I'm not sure if MJ just agreed to accept me because of my breakdown and loss of control of my powers in the forest but I also don't care. MJ and Ned are good, I don't need to second guess their motives and figure out if they're using me.
"And you're injured, let's go back to Stark towers" Peter says to me. Going home to rest sounds sensible considering my head is still pounding slightly, plus it's not like Scarlett's showing up here tonight, even if she did it would be to finish what she started, and I'm not prepared for that. Peter glances at MJ and Ned. "We could watch a movie?" he suggests.
"Yeah, that sounds good" Ned says happily, smiling at me. Ned's nice and easy-going. None of them can compare to the old Scarlett, at least not yet, but it does feel nice to have a group of friends again, people who are there for me. I'm not sure if I would survive this if I was alone, Tony is there for me but we're still figuring out how this whole situation works.
"Let's go" MJ says, placing her arm around my shoulder. I glance back, there's nobody else in the forest. It's just the four of us, my heart aches slightly but I know it's for the best. Even if Scarlett magically switched sides, I'm not sure if we could go back to how it was, I don't know if I can forgive and forget what happened today.
"Let's order pizza" Peter decides, I nod in agreement, pizza, and a movie sounds pretty good right now.
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Ruins
Action"Maybe there was a fleeting moment where I wanted to be a hero and believed I could be one, but the truth is I'm not, I won't ever be. My past does define me, it made me a villain" - Storm. Fifteen-year-old Storm is the daughter of Black Widow and I...
