Rip My Heart Out (Avengers Age of Ultron)

Chapter 12

The blue light was blinding. It had never been so bright. It surrounded me. It consumed me, so fully it was all I could see. I didn't know where I was. I spun around desperately, trying to see past the light, but it blinded me on every side. All I could see was blue. I tried to scream, to yell for help, but the blue light consumed that too.

There was no escaping it. It burned hot and seared my skin, but there was nowhere to run. I tried to rub it away from my skin, but I couldn't. Instead, my skin started to come off layer by layer. I stared horrified at the patch on my arm that was now skinless. It wasn't the lack of skin that was horrifying though, it was what was underneath.

The blue light; it wasn't just surrounding me, it was in me.

It was coming from inside me.

I sat up straight, awakening with a gasp. For a moment my surroundings were blurry, my eyes tired with sleep. My skin was covered in sweat, and I could still feel the adrenaline pulsing through my veins.

"Hey, Emelia! It's okay. You're alright!" I heard a voice, and saw the silhouette of a man approach me.

I was breathing rapidly, and my throat burned with dryness.

As the silhouette approached one face came into focus. It was the face I had so desperately longed to see for months. Tears sprung to my eyes, realizing what this meant.

I was free.

"Steve?" My voice was hoarse and came out hardly more than a whisper. It was strained with emotion, but also unsteady. I had been picturing his face in my mind for months. Could he really be here now?

"Yeah, I'm here. You're okay now. You're safe." Steve's voice was more gentle than I had ever heard it. His eyes were so focused on mine that I almost forgot there was anything more in the world, and I wanted to believe that there wasn't.

If there weren't, if it was just him and I against the world, then maybe I could really believe what he was telling me. If there wasn't an evil organization called HYDRA and there weren't Gods from other planets or blue lights or silver haired boys with sorrowful blue eyes, then maybe, just maybe, I could believe him.

But all of those things were real, and I was scared of all of them. I was scared of what they could do to me, or what they had already done. I was scared, and Steve couldn't save me from that.

Steve didn't need to know that though. Steve needed to believe that he could save everyone from everyone and everything, even themselves. So, I nodded, and swallowed my tears as best I could. I put a hand on his cheek and tried my best to convince him that I was okay, and that I felt safe.

I'm not sure if he believed it or not, but it was the best I could muster. He nodded back with a sad smile. Neither of us was fooling the other for a single moment.

"You got the scepter." The words left my mouth before I even realized they were in my mind.

I crinkled my eyebrows together trying to figure out where the words came from, and Steve mirrored my look.

"What do you know of Loki's scepter?" A booming voice asked from across the room.

Loki's name cut me like a knife, and for a moment, I couldn't fend off the image of him holding my heart in his hand as it beat for it's last time.

I flinched, and Steve immediately reached out to support me, as if he feared I would break, but I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile, and for the first time since waking up, I looked away from his face.

I looked around the room I was in, and quickly realized it wasn't so much a room as it was the interior of some kind of jet. The entirety of the Avengers team stood around it, their eye's all trained on me. Every one I had met was there along with Thor, whom I recognized from the footage of the attack on New York. Clint lay on a stretcher in the middle of the jet, clearly injured.

But I couldn't focus on him for long, because my attention was drawn to something more sinister. What I said was true. They did get the scepter. Behind Thor, the scepter sat on a table. I felt it drawing me towards it. It was as if the scepter was calling out to me.

I stood wearily to my feet and stumbled towards it.

"Emelia, what are you doing? I don't think you should go near that!" Steve called out.

Thor simply held out a hand to silence him. His face was one of pure curiosity.

I reached the scepter and held out a shaky hand. I wasn't sure if it was shaking because I was weak and tired or because I was scared, but either way, I hesitated before lowering my hand to the cool metal.

The moment my hand made contact, the dull pulsing in my chest picked up and sent electricity through my veins until it spread to my head. The air around me seemed to fill with electricity, and the jet began to tremble ever so slightly.

I could feel the power rushing through me and instantly I felt renewed. Seemingly out of nowhere wind suddenly whipped around me, tossing my already messy hair around my face.

"Emelia! Let go!" Steve's voice cut through the electricity in the air like a knife.

I immediately obeyed, knowing instinctively nothing good would come from me holding onto the scepter here and now, but the moment I let go I knew it wasn't the last time I would feel the power of the scepter.

My eyes lingered on the scepter for a moment longer before I turned to Steve once more. The look on his face surprised me more than what just happened with the scepter. He was confused, but more than that he looked scared and concerned.

"Thor, what just happened?" Steve asked, without breaking eye contact with me.

"I can't say, but I have a feeling the Lady Emelia could give us some insight." Thor replied. His expression was worlds apart from Steve's. Thor was not scared or concerned. He looked impressed.

"Emelia? What was that?" Steve asked, his eyes wide.

I glanced around the room, trying to figure out what to tell him, to tell all of them. I'd never had a group of people stare at me more intensely. Their facial expressions were anything but subtle, ranging from shock and confusion all the way to fear. What could I say? I didn't really know what was happening in my own body, let alone with the scepter.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, each Avenger's gaze making me feel like an ant under a magnifying glass on a sunny day.

"I-" I began nervously, my voice still hoarse and quiet. I took a deep breath and put my hand to my chest. I could feel the energy from the small blue light underneath. It was more power than I had ever felt in my entire life. I didn't know what it was, or what it meant, but maybe, just maybe, I could figure it out. Maybe I could finally stop fighting the blue light and just let it be a part of me.

"Thor, what do you know about the infinity stones?" I asked, my voice suddenly finding strength.

I've been weak and vulnerable all my life, and that's how I ended up in the grasp of HYDRA. Now I need to be strong. I need to be powerful.

It's about time for me to become more.

A/N: *dramatic music* I just want Em to be strong and happy, okay.. Lets all agree she deserves that!

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Thanks for reading!