Elemental {Avengers}

25. I would find you in any lifetime

There was fire in his eyes.

The man's eyes, warm brown, scattered with flecks of gold and yellow and green. Like a forest. Like the very groundt, like the trees and the earth. He had raven black hair, and alabaster skin, made olive by the crackling fire, the flames casting shadows on his thin face. He was old, but handsome, looking into the fire with some sort of mystery, some sort of hidden power.

And then he turned to me, eyes wide and scared. How they had turned so quickly, what had made that change, I did not know. All I knew were his eyes, and his hair and the fire.

He started talking, mouthing hollow words that I did not understand. Looking towards me with a pleading sincerity, that I could not look away, shaking my head in confusion. In helplessness.

He noticed, and grabbed hold of me, holding me against his warm chest as if to protect me from something. From something that I knew was coming. Something that I could feel coming. Something within me. I tried to hold onto him.

I was torn from his warm arms, torn from the fireplace, and thrown into an empty darkness that swirled and pulsed and breathed . I tried to escape. Tried to run, but the chains holding me to the place were not physical, no, I couldn't escape them.

A voice, both male and female, both young and old, both ugly and beautiful, called out to me, echoing within the oily, writhing darkness.

n o e s c a p e

f r o m me

I sat up, clutching my stomach. My heart. My limbs. All still there. I was alive. I was alive. I was alive.

That dream. That nightmare. Nothing like I'd ever witnessed.

I panted. Wheezed. Looking around. Still in the same house, in the same room. The same life I had been living, it seemed like years ago. " Whoa, Maeve. Are you alright?"

" I need... to get to-" I looked around, panting. I could feel my eyes widen in fear. My heart clenching. Blood pressure rising.

" What? What are you talking about?"

" I need... to go to it"

" Go where?"

" I need to-"

My mind had turned into a labyrinth, and I stumbled around, looking for a way out. There. The exit. I tripped. Clutching onto a wall, onto something, anything to keep me from falling into that dark, oiliness again. And then I fell backwards. No, was pulled backwards. Those dark tendrils pulled me in, pulling me further down, down, down. Down to where no light entered, where no living thing ever dared to walk, down, down, down.

n o e s c a p e

Wham.

Iciness hit me like a truck. I blinked my eyes open, chest heaving in and out. I just had to breathe. In and Out. In and Out.

But I couldn't. Cold, murkiness interrupted my vision, and I choked. Swimming up. Up. Up. Up. And then I breathed in gulping mouthfuls of fresh air, breathe wheezing,  my eyes opening at last. I seemed to be in water. Cold, murky water.

" Maeve" I looked towards the voice, concerned. Scared.

It was Clint. And Loki.

" What the hell happen-"

" We were about to ask you the same question"

I looked around, mind clearing at last. I was in the lake behind the house, Loki and Clint at the pier, looking like they were about to jump in. " Can someone please tell me why the fuck I'm in a lake?!"