Age Of Miracles | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Forty-One: We All Burn, And It Never Ends

Music is "Merlin's Staff" by Steve Jablonsky from the Transformers: The Last Knight OST.

Picture is The Watchers and their informant from Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2.

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"You always knew what you had to do. No one ever told you. You had the resolve, even then. Nor were you afraid of the dark, or what waited for you there. But sometimes...sometimes I wish you had been...

"...You can't run from your past. Once there is blood on your hands, they will never again be clean... What you carry with you, it weighs you down. My past is my own. And no one will ever know my full story...

"...We all burn. We burn in fire, we burn in blood, we burn in dreams, and it never ends."

- The Black Widow comics

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CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The next day, more of the same follows: an early morning, more training with Killbane and the Gauntlet, and dodging his ridiculous forms of "sneak attacks" to help "hone my skills."

I think he just likes throwing stuff at me and seeing how I react.

A whole morning of that, along with random training sessions with Pietro and the other Avengers, which are a breeze compared to Killbane, we've all headed to the mess hall to get a quick bite to eat. FRIDAY is serving the mutates, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Guardians, Runaways, and all our other guests in the yards outside. The original Avengers, and some closer family and friends, have decided to stay inside and enjoy the quiet.

Killbane and I finish our last training session for the morning and start our descent down the elevator when a thought occurs to me. I turn to the man riding in the elevator in silence and ask, "You said you knew me in some of your previous lives. You mentioned it first when you met me in Manhattan. You said...You said we were lovers in your first life."

Killbane's eyes avert mine and he nods. His dark eyes look to the floor, and he almost looks...sad. "That I did."

"Was that the truth? Or was that another manipulation?"

Killbane side-smiles softly. "Like I've told you before, Gloria, you may not always like what I tell you, but I will never--and have never--lied to you."

A soft breath escapes my lungs, and I stare at him. All this time, I've seen a man who's killed, a man who is my enemy, a man who is deranged and unhinged. But maybe I should've just seen...a man. "We loved each other?" I ask softly.

He nods. "We had three children, lived in San Fransisco, but I think I told you that."

"You did." I swallow. "What were their names?"

A look of sorrow and pride crosses his face. "Sarai was our daughter. She was all dark hair and a silent, thoughtful spirit. She thought about everything. Yan was our oldest son. He was red-haired and green-eyed, like his mother. He had my anger, though. Rurik was our youngest son, youngest child, and he looked equally like us both. He had your creativity and my willpower. He was our everything. They all were."

I turn away, sensing unusual emotions filling me. I shouldn't feel for this family, those aren't my children, but they're children of another version of me. It's the strangest feeling in the world. "They sound wonderful," I say at last.

"They were."

I turn back to him, pushing the lump in my throat away. "You said something happened, that something horrible happened."