𝑾𝑰𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑫 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴𝑺 ━━ 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜

22 Traitor

A week had passed, but the weight of the battle still clung to Edda like a shroud. She found herself back in Madripoor, a city that once felt like her only refuge, now a hollow echo of what it used to be. The docks, where she now sat alone, stretched out into the vast expanse of the ocean, the water dark and foreboding. The air was thick with salt and memories, but none offered comfort.

Edda stared out across the water, her thoughts spiraling back to Aeron. She could almost see him, the boy who had been so much more than a friend, who had seen the person beneath the weapon. The grief that had been simmering beneath the surface for days suddenly broke free, and she let out a deep, shuddering breath, as if she had been holding it in since that day. It was as though she had been drowning all this time, and now, at last, the emotions surged over her like a tidal wave.

A sniffle escaped her, and she cursed herself for her weakness. "I had him," she muttered, the anger in her voice tinged with frustration and sorrow. Her thoughts were consumed by the fight with the Winter Soldier, the raw violence of it, the way her blood had pounded in her ears, driven by a need for vengeance. "I had his head locked in. I wasn't going to stop until he stopped breathing, but then... he."

Tears began to roll down her caramel cheeks, warm and relentless. She didn't even try to stop them, didn't bother to hide the way her eyes shone like ice, the way they softened as the tears fell. "I don't understand the power that man has over us," she whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of her confusion and grief. "Even the Winter Soldier hesitated... Neither of us could complete the mission."

She rolled her eyes, trying to push the tears away with the back of her hand, but they kept coming, as if all the pain she had been holding in was finally breaking free. Amid her anguish, she imagined Aeron beside her, as he had so often been in her life. The wind brushed against her, and she pretended it was his presence, his comforting touch. She could almost feel his shoulder bumping against hers, urging her to smile, to find some light in the darkness. And somehow, she did. A small, sad smile tugged at her lips for a fleeting moment.

"I'm sorry I couldn't avenge you," she whispered to the wind, her voice trembling. Guilt gnawed at her, the sense that she had failed him and herself.

A stronger gust of wind blew across the docks, and she closed her eyes, imagining Aeron's voice in her ear, soft and forgiving. In her mind, he spoke to her, the words she longed to hear, the words that could ease the torment in her soul.

"That's not what I want," she heard him say, his tone gentle and filled with a love that she had almost forgotten. "All I wanted was to spend time with you, to make up for the biggest mistake I ever made. Turning you into Medusa... I've regretted it every day. You didn't deserve that suffering, and you don't deserve to keep living in pain. I don't need to be avenged, Edda. It's time for you to avenge yourself. To find your truth."