𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗢𝗢 - 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹

𝟭𝟵: 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟

AEI: 🎵 i'm going in for the kill, i'm doing it for a thrill, oh i'm hoping you'll understand, and now let go of myyyyyy hand 🎵 (someone please know what song i'm referencing).

anyhow!! 

gracie does quite a lot of talking towards the end of this chapter, which is very difficult for me to write, because i basically never write her saying more than a few sentences. so, i'm kinda modelling the way she speaks based off judith from twd??? that's how she sounds in my head anyway. idk man speech patterns are really hard. 

Maria says she's sorry. She means it, she really does. So much so that it feels like it's splitting her in half.

Gracie doesn't care.

In fact, Gracie doesn't look like she cares about anything at all.

She just asks to go home. Quietly at first, but when Maria doesn't reply immediately, she sweeps everything off of Fury's desk, her eyes shiny and narrow, and she screams it. It's so loud that Maria's ears start ringing.

She doesn't have much choice but to obey.

That was four days ago.

Gracie hasn't come out of her room since.

They've tried everything. Of course they have. There's an endless stream of people flocking to and from her door; pressing their faces against the wood, whispering and coaxing and pleading with her. Gracie just won't come out.

It's all their faults. Every last one of them.

The war with Ultron is over on Day 2 of Gracie's isolation, and when Maria is forced to face the Avengers – bruised, bloody, teary-eyed – Nat is so angry at what happened with Gracie that Clint has to practically drag her out of the room to calm down. It isn't pretty. Nat is a mess; broken and snarling like a wolf.

Steve is silent. It's almost worse. He fixes Maria with this look of complete betrayal – disgust, even – and it's so deserved and so Gracie-ish that Maria wants to throw up.

"Why would you say that to her?" Steve asks later, his voice low and bitter. They're sitting in Nat's living room, listening to her talk to Gracie through the door. "Why would you tell her something so untrue?"

That stings like hell. The way he phrases it burns. Not 'why would you tell her something so horrible? So awful? So mean?' No. Just, why would Maria make her believe lies about herself? Why would she tell her she was unimportant?

Why would she confirm Gracie's worst nightmare?

Maria isn't really sure herself. She was just so angry. At herself, at Fury, at the whole damn world. They could've saved Gracie. They could've. Maria could've. She could've spoken up. She could've made it right again.

But she didn't.

And it was eating her up on the inside, it really was. Fury's words ringing over and over in her head, the guilt having her dry-heaving from nightmares at 2AM. She failed Gracie. She let it happen just to appease Fury.

Her words were an attack on him more than anything. She wanted him to remember how ready he'd been to throw away Gracie's life. The little girl in front of him; chewing on her sleeve and staring up at him. Those big, blue eyes. So completely trusting.

Maria had wanted Fury to hurt. She'd needed him to.

Gracie, as usual, was just collateral damage.

And now they're here. Four days of no Gracie, and yet her presence still hangs thick in the air. Suffocating all of them. What the hell is she doing in her room? Just sitting by herself? Rotting with the knowledge that she wasn't important enough to be saved?