Disappeared- {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 19

"I couldn't get pregnant with your father."

Alex's hand jerked, nearly spilling the tea her mother had painstakingly made. She had only been at the house for five minutes but it seemed Alex didn't even need to say why she was here as her mother went straight into it.

"And for a very long time, we struggled with that. There was never one explanation for it either— your father's side of the family had a history of it but only sporadic cases. Then one day, your father's brother visited us. He lived in England and hadn't been to Italy for a long time, so we offered to host him."

"He was born in Italy but lived in England? For how long?"

"Fifteen years, or thereabout." Something about that didn't feel right, suspicion gnawing at Alex's heart, "As I said, your father and I had had many problems conceiving and that affected our marriage. He wasn't the man I had fallen in love with, and I'd dare say he felt the same way about me. And Alessandro, his brother and the man we named you after, was such a gentleman to me. It only happened twice, he cut his trip short out of guilt but then my period didn't come."

"Oh my god."

"I never told your father, but I think he knew. When Taio was born, your father never bonded him with the way I did. For me, he was a miracle. You though...you were your father's miracle."

Alex shook her head, "Why did you hide Alastair from me?"

"We were ashamed. And I love Alastair, I was scared you would go after him if you knew."

"You still love him?"

"I love you, Ena, but fourteen years ago I made a choice of you over my son. And I will regret that choice every day."

Alex pushed herself back from the table, so fiercely the china rattled, "And family time is over. Thank you for your help but I'm done."

"Where will you go?" Alex needed to stop hesitating in front of her mother— it was an admission and she always used it to further her point, "I was right, wasn't I? Those people you chose over me weren't your family. Even that boy has left you again."

"That boy is called Pietro," Alex snapped, leaning over the table, "And you know what? He hurt me, so much, almost as much as you did, but I still love him. Because he apologised. He promised that he wanted to make things better and that he would do whatever it took and he earned my forgiveness. He's taught me that that should be the standard. That I shouldn't just forgive people who ask for it, like I would have done with you, as many times as you asked for it."

Maria's next words were chosen carefully, cruelly, "You don't deserve him."

Alex ignored her, "As for my brother, I just wanted to know more about him, about who I was. He came after me first, but I've only realised it talking to you...Alastair, you named him after his father too."

"Alessandro, the Italian version of Alexander. Alastair, the Scottish version of Alexander."

"Yeah. I never thought Thor's lectures about names would pay off but there we go, I actually remembered something. S.H.I.E.L.D had face-changing technology, it makes sense that somewhere like C.R.Y.P.T would too. Change of name, change of face and you can do whatever you like."

"He just wants you back."

"Pity. He's dead the next time I see him." The thought that Alastair had tried to kill her more than once, had drugged and kissed her, maybe even done so much worse that she didn't know, made her head ache, "I came in here for answers and I've gotten them. Now I want nothing to do with you."

"One day you will realise the pain you cause people, Ena. You shouldn't have existed, you weren't meant to and that's all that Alastair wanted to show us. I knew all along that you weren't natural; you're a mutant and you shouldn't exist."

Alex shook her head and tried to leave but her mother went in for the kill, "If you go now, you only prove that I'm right."

Alex stopped.

Maria continued, "You go, and all you will leave behind is damage and pain. You stay here and talk to me, we can get through this and maybe we can fix you. I know you can be helped if you just let someone love you instead of running away."

"I hope you learn one day that these tricks don't work on me anymore. Whether you believe it or not, I am a good person. I've been through so fucking much and the fact I can still confidently say that is impressive." Alex took a deep breath and walked out the door, deliberately so she could savour the hurt expression on her mother's face one last time.

The moment she made it out though, her face collapsed and she began crying softly. Theundruk wasn't around to control her teleporting so she kept doing it accidentally, disappearing and reappearing at random across the fields as she kept walking to the cliffs.

The scene was a familiar one— Alex staring as the sun set on a new world. The ground was soft beneath her bare feet and it was all Alex could do to not let herself fall to the ground and succumb to the dark.

There was a sudden breeze behind her and Alex shivered, pulling Adelaide's coat tighter around her. Her knees buckled and as she collapsed, someone caught her.

Through her half-closed eyes, she saw flashes of familiar white hair, aquiline nose and blue, so much blue. His eyes, his top, his aura, a colour that Alex, without even thinking about, had begun to associate with happiness. A smile grew as hands held her up, one on her waist and the other cupping her elbow as she steadied herself.

As soon as she was though, the hands dropped away, leaving behind two patches of warmth that spread through Alex's entire body and dried her sadness.

It couldn't last long, there were so many questions bubbling up inside her. Only one came out, in a quiet yet accusatory voice that Alex hadn't meant to use,

"Why are you here?"

Pietro didn't reply.

Alex sniffled pitifully and then his arms were around her, hugging her from behind with his arms around her stomach. She carefully rested her arm over his, holding him as tightly as he held her and together they watched the sunset. At one point, he slowly rested his head on Alex's shoulder and she turned into the touch, raising her other hand to hook around his neck and keep him close to her.

They stood like that for a long time, longer than Alex had ever known Pietro to stand still for. And Alex knew too that Pietro would be there for as long as she needed him, just as he always was.

The realisation didn't hit her, it was too tender, too gentle to do so. Pietro had never left Alex, not once, not properly, no matter how many times she had doubted him or indeed left him. He was always either by her side or fighting to get there.

She wished she could understand why.

Pietro hadn't deserved Alex before but now she felt as though she didn't deserve him. The urge to leave him was overwhelming— cut him off, cut everyone off because that was the only way they could remain unharmed.

Alex was the dangerous one. Had been from birth, or was that just her mother's words confusing her? She had killed so many, some as a hero but others as a villain. Those were the ones she never forgave herself for but, thinking about it, wasn't she always the villain? The people who she'd mindlessly slaughtered on the train were her enemies yet in their story, they were the heroes.

Wherever she went, damage followed and Alex could not let Pietro suffer through that with her. Not when he had changed in a way she could only dream off.

Alex knew what had to come next.

"You have to stop fighting for me." She whispered, and she could have sworn Pietro only held her tighter.