Face to Face with Someone New *Damned coda* Matt Murdock*

Pt.1

If read as a part of 'Damned', set about three months after the epilogue of 'Ready to Suffer, Ready to Hope'.

Matt's POV.

This thing actually was on some sort of a bucket list of mine. There's also a soulmate AU, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon :)) So enjoy this one?

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It was a strange darkness that surrounded him. Waking up never felt like this – there was always something, something more. But now he could only sense a few things; the bed he was lying in, soft sheets, not even covering him, door in the corner and something mechanical above them. It was a speaker, he realized. The flames of his world shrunk to the one single room he was in; the only thing he was perfectly aware of was himself – his own body, his own heartbeat.

Before he could panic, he remembered. He was at the Avengers tower. Young woman with very long hair, smelling of daises and something dangerous, had tried to— she had tried to... restore his vision. The Scarlet Witch hadn't been sure herself if it would work or how long the effect would last, but she had been more than willing to try. It was supposed to be an engagement gift (what that was, Matt had no idea) or an early wedding one; in case it wouldn't work, Stark had something as a back-up plan, Matt had overheard him saying that. Honestly, Matt didn't care much for it; he would be delighted if he was able to see for even five minutes and that was something no money in the world could provide.

He swallowed, the sound too loud in the sound-proof room. He was scared to open his eyes. What if really it hadn't worked? Or... what if had? The world on fire was everything he had known for the past twenty years. What if he could actually see now?

He took a deep breath, promising himself he wouldn't be disappointed if nothing changed. He wasn't good at keeping promises.

He opened his eyes.

And he saw... darkness. He blinked several times, his heart speeding up. It didn't work.

"Matt?" mechanically changed voice creaked, bouncing off the walls – and illuminating the room better for Matt's senses.

One of the walls wasn't in fact a wall – it was made of glass. When Matt looked at it, he realized there was a faint reflexion. The room wasn't pitch black, no, just really dark. Another wall was lined with extremely weak lights – were they weak? Matt couldn't tell. He didn't quite remember what amount of light was normal and he was too busy to think about it, because holy fucking shit he... saw.

"Matty-boy?" sounded the voice again through the fog of Matt's freak-out and Matt realized he knew that voice that seemed to be concerned by his furious fighting for air. He hadn't noticed before that he was in fact hyperventilating.

"F-Fo-ggy?"

"The one and only, pal. How are you feeling?"

Matt considered the question, slightly dizzy as he sat up on the bed, forcing his breathing to slow down. The outlines of the room were getting clearer – Matt had no idea if the lights were getting brighter or his eyes fucking adjusted to the dark.

"Weird," Matt admitted, shocked when he stood up and he saw with the corner of his eye that the reflexion he couldn't make out very well did the same. What did 'very well' mean anyway? He had no clue how good his sight should be, he fucking couldn't reach the memory in his brain-

"Understandable, I guess. How are your eyes?"

Matt gulped. "Not useless."

"Cool! Uhm... you mind if we hit the lights? Like make them a little brighter? Don't worry, we'll go slow," Foggy offered him gently and Matt could hear someone muttering under their breath about treating Matt like he was about to lose his virginity.