And Then I Wrote Marvel

Prompts 6, 8, and 38

6. "I don't need you to protect me."
8. "No one's going to hurt you, okay?"
38. "You shouldn't be here."
Pietro Maximoff x Reader

Thanks to SaphireEyedJiuweihu for requesting!

You heard quiet voices outside of your door. Strange's voice was easy to pick out, but you couldn't identify the other man speaking.

"Be gentle," Strange said.

There was a pause before a soft knock came at your door. You still couldn't recognize whoever was on the other side.

"Come in," you permitted cautiously.

He opened the door and stepped halfway into your room. "So you're Luna's Shadow?" he asked, taking you in.

Now you recognized him, and he was impossible.

"You shouldn't be here," you blurted.

"I'm sorry?" he apologized. "I can leave, if that's what you--"

"No, as in you shouldn't be alive." You stood up quickly and walked past him to the door, calling for your mentor. "Strange, what did I do?!"

"Hey, listen, I am just as confused as you are," the young man told you, stopping you from exiting the room with a hand on your shoulder. 

You flinched from the contact and crossed your arms in front of you out of instinct. 

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, backing off. "I'm just looking for answers."

"Pietro Maximoff, I cried real tears over you," you stated.

"Have we met?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I don't know who you are."

"You're scaring me just a bit."

"She has that effect, yes," Strange agreed. "But that's just until you know why she's like she is."

"Strange, I don't--"

"He is owed an explanation, (Y/N)."

"And I'm not?"

"He doesn't know how he's here, either."

Both Pietro and Strange looked at you silently and you realized what they were implying.

"You think I brought him back?" you gasped. "But I didn't even bring myself here. How can that be possible?"

"Let's sit down and talk a bit," Strange suggested calmly, placing one hand on Pietro's shoulder and one hovering a few inches above yours.

--

You sat in the waiting room of the New York Sanctum, crosslegged in the corner of your favorite couch. You sipped on a mug of hot chocolate, mostly using it to warm your hands.

"Are we all comfortable?" Strange asked both of you, sitting in his chair and setting a glass of water down on the coffee table. 

Pietro snuck a glance at you, and you couldn't tell if he was concerned for or about you. "I am," he said.

"Me too," you agreed.

"Wonderful. Where do we start?" 

"You know I don't like talking about this," you reminded Strange.

"But he has the right to know."

"I know, but I don't know how to explain it in the first place."

"How about we start with you," Pietro said. "All I was told was that you are Luna's Shadow. I remember rumors about you from when I was with Hydra."

"I'm (Y/N). Don't call me Luna," you spat.

"I also remember rumors of what they were doing to create you. I can see that they eventually succeeded."

"I don't like talking about it," you warned.

"How much of it are just rumors?"

"I said I don't like talking about it!" you exclaimed, standing up and arming yourself with your sorcery.

Unlike Strange's glowing orange magic, you were equipped with dark strands of power that seemed to suck the light from around it. 

"Back down, Maximoff," Strange cautioned. 

"I don't need you to protect me," you snarled. 

"I just want to know how I'm here!" Pietro argued. 

"I want to know the same thing, don't you get it?"

"(Y/N), no one's going to hurt you, okay?"

"You're absolutely correct," you agreed, flashing your powers again. "I won't let them."

"(Y/N)," Strange demanded, grabbing your arm firmly.

You glared up at him defiantly, black creeping into the edges of your eyes. "Don't touch--"

He placed two fingers on your forehead and your posture relaxed immediately. The black disappeared from your eyes and left them blank and unfocused. You blinked once, twice, then shuffled back to your couch where you curled up and fell asleep.

"The longer she stays in this reality, the more unstable she becomes," he explained to a frightened-looking Pietro.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"(Y/N) was pulled into this reality from her own by experiments on old Tesseract technology. She knows us as fictional characters and therefore knows way too much about us."

"Where did the powers come from?"

"We're not sure, and we clearly don't know their extent," Strange sighed, gesturing to Pietro. "All we truly know is that we need to get her back home."