Broken in Half - Avengers

Chapter 14 - The Meadow

She lost it. Her horrific screams filled the room, causing her throat to become raw and her lungs to gasp for air. Elytra felt the world tilt drastically beneath her, and the burning sensations on her arms increase. She heard faint yelling and felt her body being lifted and carried away. Is this what death felt like? Was she going to leave this harsh world and be reunited with her family once again? The corners of her vision grew dark, causing her eyelids to droop closed. That's all she's ever wanted, to go home. But, the world was not that kind.
_____________________________________________________________________
Blue eyes greeted her when she awoke in a field of grass and wildflowers. The wind kissed her face, and the grass brushed against her legs. "Pietro!" El reached up, as he pulled her to her feet. A young girl, about seven, ran up to the two with a flower crown in her hair. Calysta. She smiled at them, waving shyly before bounding off down the hill.
"Am I dead, Pietro?" Elytra asked, bending down to pluck a blue lily from the dirt.
"You are on the edge, El. But not quite. Not yet." He sighed, sitting down and twirling another lily between his fingers.
"I have to go back, don't I."
Pietro nodded slowly, braiding the flower into a thin strand of her shimmering hair, while she made a crown with the lilies growing around their feet. El tied the last two together and stuck the bouquet on his head. He chuckled, wrapping an arm around her.
"I don't want to leave." She cried, leaning on his shoulder. Two figures appeared at the bottom of the hill, approaching them quickly. Elytra was tackled by a mess of curly brown hair and sky blue eyes. "Mavi! Gods, your okay." She ran her fingers through the girl's hair, while Mavi giggled in delight.
Cameron sat down beside her, and Elytra stuck a second flower crown on his head. "Missed you too, ice-brain."
Cam ruffled her hair, making her groan in annoyance, struggling to push his muscled arm off of her head. But her arm went right through his. "Wait, I'm leaving?!" Elytra's body started to shimmer, and Pietro grinned. "They found a cure, El."
"Where are the other three? Are they gone too?"
"I'm here El, home, and we'll be here if you need us." Tundra's strong arm wrapped around her torso, and El leaned back. "I don't want to leave Tundra, there's nothing left for me there!"
"Yes, there is. What about Natasha, Wanda, Steve, Tony? They need you more than you think, El. We'll see you on the other side, at the right time, okay?"
El nodded, tears staining her cheeks. She forced a smile, brushing a hand against her face, as her body fell into ash and mist.
_____________________________________________________________________
Her body was still burning up, resisting the strong sedatives and medicine that coursed through her veins through the I.V. Tony sat at the desk beside her, mixing different chemicals, trying frantically to create an an antidote before El's body gave way to the fever. The heart monitor continued to beep beside them, but it had slowed drastically in the last few minutes. He reached out to touch her forehead, but when his hand brushed it, he quickly recoiled. "Son of a bitch that's hot."
"How's it looking over there Tony?" Steve called, coming into the lab. Tony had locked the doors, annoyed by the distractions the rest of them were causing while he tried to work, but Steve had insisted on staying.
"Not that great, Cap. How are the others?"
"They're in the training room. Wanda convinced me to lock her in the obsidian room, so she wouldn't hurt anyone, and the others are blowing off quite a lot of steam."
Tony put another purple liquid into a beaker, and poured the mixture onto a vial of scorching hot blood. It bubbled, and then exploded. "Damn it."
The only thing that was keeping the two from exploding was the steady breathing of the girl laying on the hospital bed next to them. The sound of light footsteps against the floor made them turn around. Tundra's eyes were a mixture of black and blue, his arms covered in criss-cross burns. He held a bottle in his hands.
Tundra walked over to the two men, putting the bottle on the table. "Tell her I love her, alright. Tundra, Cam, Mavi, and the others love her."
His gaze traveled to El for a split second, before turning back to meet their eyes.
"Tell her we'll be waiting for her on the other side, okay?"
And with that, he was gone.
Tony frantically uncapped the liquid and poured it into a syringe. The heart monitor started to flatline, and he quickly stuck the needle into El's arm. The blue medicine emptied into her veins, and the beeping stopped. Her fingers twitched, and a small pool of ice grew under her hand.
"I think she'll be okay, Steve."
"Physically, yeah. Mentally, I'm not quite sure." He put a hand on her forehead, relieved to see that her fever had broke. But her screams would probably haunt them all for the rest of their lives.