Divided |2|

seven

Just as Victoria made it to her room, Natasha caught up with her.

"Victoria," Natasha breathed out. "I'm sorry."

"I'm just hurt Nat. You and dad raised me to be a hero, to save lives. It's all I know."

"I know, sweetie. But, I wanted to ask if you would come with me."

"With you where?"

"Vienna."

"What's in Vienna, again?"

"The UN." Victoria opened her mouth to reject the offer, but Natasha hushed her. "I know, but I don't really wanna go alone."

"Nat, I don't even know if I'm going to sign it."

"I know." Natasha brushed the hair out of Victoria's face. "I just thought you'd want to see their side of it before you made a final decision."

Victoria nodded, and Natasha left her to pack. She was able to get her bag out before Pietro walked into her room. He sat down on her bed beside her bag, nodding towards it.

"Where are you off to?"

"Vienna," she returned to her bag with a change of clothes. "There's that UN meeting and Natasha thinks I should attend it."

"Right."

There was an awkward silence that fell between them. But Victoria couldn't help the image of Katja from crossing her mind.

"Where's Katja?"

"She went home."

"Asgard?"

Pietro nodded. "She says if this was what being an Avenger has come to, she wanted no part of it. She also said that her brother would need her help."

"Why? What's Thor doing?"

"She didn't say."

There was another awkward silence that fell. Victoria sighed, placing herself on Pietro's lap and resting her forehead against his. He broke the silence, speaking softly.

"Are you going to sign it?"

"You know I can't." Victoria frowned, looking into his eyes, though his own answer was clear in them. "You're signing it, aren't you?"

"It is the right thing to do, Vic."

"By who's terms?" She shook her head slightly and got off of his lap. "Tell me, Pietro. Because as Cap said, that document is just shifting the blame. We're supposed to help people, not sit back and wait for people to die first."

"The Avengers have made some very big mistakes, my love."

"And the accords will just make those vanish?"

"It will make them unimportant."

"So destroying half of New York doesn't matter?" Pietro opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again and Victoria took that as her cue to continue. "Washington? Completely destroying Sokovia, your home?"

Pietro flinched, shaking his head and standing. This set Victoria off, and she blocked his exit and crossed her arms.

"No. You do not get to just leave! Pietro, you know I'm right! I refuse to believe that you would just blindly follow the government when they want to force us to do something we don't want to do!"

"What you don't want to do."

"Excuse me?"

"It is what you do not want to do, Victoria. You, and about a handful others."

Victoria was taken aback. With the way he practically spat out the you, she felt her heart break. She uncrossed her arms and stood before him, feeling more vulnerable than she ever has before.

"So you've signed, then." It was more of a statement than a question, but Pietro answered it nonetheless by nodding. "Who else?"

"Stark, Rhodes, Natasha, Vision."

"Katja?"

"No longer an Avenger, so it seems."

"What about Wanda?"

"She will come to her senses soon enough," he paused, bringing her closer to him, looking at her through his eyelashes. "So will you."

Victoria let out a small, sarcastic laugh, placing her hands on his chest. "Every time," she shook her head, muttering. "Every single time I think we can just be us for a little while—just Pietro and Victoria—something interrupts it."

He grasps her hands gently, and brings them to his mouth. "We are far from normal, my love."

"But we are still in charge of our own choices. And the choice I am making, is what I know is right."

"By whose terms?" Victoria clenched her teeth together as Pietro mocked her previous statement. "You are making a mistake, Victoria."

"I've made many mistakes," Victoria swallowed the lump in her throat. "And one of them..."

"One of them?"

She turned them around, pushing Pietro out of her room. "One of them was trusting you again."

With that, she shut the door. She leaned against it and allowed the tears to flow freely down her cheeks. She heard Pietro take a short breath, and zoom off.

He didn't even want to try.

She had been mean, Victoria knows that.

But she wouldn't bend her morals for anyone, not even him. She resumed to packing, and within a couple of hours she decided to lay down. Sleep didn't come easily to her, her mind was constantly racing with thoughts of Pietro. She just longed to be in his arms again, with no drama.