Labyrinth

Chapter 21: ...guilty as sin?

Chapter 21 Calida Pov

Natasha, Wanda, Tony, and I sit in the living room drinking and listening to music. Tony is giving Nat and Wanda a music lesson while I stare off into nothing. Bucky, Steve, and Sam are on another assignment, still looking for kai. Clint walks in with Chinese food and nudges me, "you, okay?"

I smile, "I think so. Yea. I don't know." I chuckle to myself.

"you worried about the guys, its normal. I'm sure they will be fine." He hands me the dumplings.

I sniff it and frown, "I... I have been having these dreams. Its weird."

"is it part of your powers?"

I laugh softly, "I'm not a seer. But it feels very... real."

"tell me about it. maybe it will help if you talk about it." I watch as he bite into a eggroll. I look around to see Tony, Wanda, and Nat still at the bar talking about music. When I turn back towards clint, he is watching me expectantly. I open my mouth to tell him, I'm dreaming about a funeral. But I cant. I laugh it off and say, "its nothing." I try to shake off the cold feeling that covers me, but I cant. what made the dream weird, it was my funeral.

I stand up and say, "good night."

Nat ask, "are you okay?"

I arch an eyebrow at her and I say, "I'm still breathing." I spin and head to my room.

I shower and head to bed even though its still quite early. Its only 9 and I can still hear tony, clint and the girls out in the living room. I lay down in the bed with only the lights of the city streaming in. I am overwhelmed by this feeling of melancholy lately. if I'm being honest, since bucky and Sam left I've been feeling lonely and heartsore.

The cool sheets against my skin calms me since my body runs warm all the time. but it doesn't take long before I begin to cook under the covers. I lift my hand and look at it in the moonlight. I watch as the lights from the city bounce off the cuff and I frown. for the last month, tony allows me 1 hour a day in an enclosed fireproof room to use my powers. Its to keep me from overload and getting sick. But sometimes, I find that I can use my powers outside of that allotted hour.

It makes me wonder, is tony controlling the bracelet and somehow, he is alerted that im using my power. Or is the bracelet just a way to mentally keep me trapped here? either way, it would be a dick move on Tonys part. He should know by now that he can trust that I wouldn't hurt them.

I take a few deep breaths as real fear rips through me. I allow my power to flow through me naturally. I can feel it building up and then I create a fireball. With shaking hands, I wait for the pain. I wait a few minutes before I close my hands into fist and put the fire out.

Just to make sure its not a fluke, I create a purple fireball and then a blue one. I make them intertwine and swirl around each other before putting them out. I jump out of my skin when I hear Tony say, "I'm choosing to trust you. fury would have my head if he knew I shut off the bracelets."

Once the shock leaves me, I hope out of bed and run into his arms and hug him tightly. Not being able to use my powers has taken a toll on me in so many ways. My powers are tied to who I am. who my mother was. so not being able to use them made me feel very disconnected from her.

I begin to cry and tony says, "if I knew you were gonna act like this, I would have given you back your powers a while ago."

I release him and raise my wrist, "take it off?"

"no can do. we still have to create the illusion that I have all the control. so this is our little secret. Okay?"

I giggle, "absolutely."