What Wicked Lurks Within (Avengers x Reader)

Chapter 12

"I do not intend to die in here!" Tony tried against the heavy wooden doors but how could mere mortal flesh achieve a feat that had deceived super soldier metal arm? Fighting the clutches of despair, he frantically searched for another escape. 'The windows!'

It was impossible to tell whether the house had entirely forgotten about them in its maniac frenzy of murder but Tony deemed that immaterial. One window in particular seemed large enough for the three of you to squeeze through, not with much dignity but if it spared death to his team, he didn't care. Grabbing your hand and motioning Bucky with a tilt of his head, Tony ran toward life.

And life turned its back on the ailing Avengers. The window snapped shut, resulting in Tony missing escape by the skin of his teeth. All of it alluded to some kind of cruel joke - as if the window had been rendered open only for a calculated amount of time in order to dangle a breath of relief when there was none to be had.

"Please, don't go. Stay." The command that came was softer than what any of you could have imagined, debilitated and if you had not known better, sounded more along the lines of a miserable plea than a demand. However, what managed to turn Bucky's warm blood into tiny icicles was the fact that the voice was familiar.

"Don't leave me alone with....them." Wanda sustained with no sign of ease or ebb. She had uttered the last word with such disdain, it would have been impossible to speculate that the 'them' she was speaking of was inclusive of her. Something about her had changed, deeply and ominously, which none of you could figure out even as she stood there marred and mangled, except for the obvious fact that she would no longer account in the population census anywhere at all.

Bucky staggered back. He had seen all sorts of wrong in his life and his instincts were telling him this was much, much worse. They had been telling him the same about the house but he had chose to ignore them and that had got him nowhere good.

Tony stepped ahead, teetering on the fine line between bravery and stupidity. "Wanda? Are you alright?" A sudden urge to put a gun in his mouth ensued. 'What kind of question was that? Are you alright? She's fucking dead, that's how she is!' Tony supposed the curiosity stemmed from concern, that he was seeking assuagement in the form of his teammate's eternal rest but all of that supposition could jump off a cliff because Wanda stared impassively at Tony and returned her attention to you.

The blatant stare held no attempt of concealment in its message, which swayed from unrecognition to inutility. Tony was not Wanda's purpose, the house would deal with him come time. You, but for all that, she seemed to flicker in her place and reassemble right in front of you - hands clasped around yours - icy and stinking of roadkill left out for days.

With tears in her eyes that were marbled with blood, Wanda fell to her knees, gaze never leaving yours, her otherworldly eyes possessing a maelstrom that would scare a pragmatic person out of their wits but instead you only felt a crushing sadness that threatened to swallow you whole. You settled yourself onto the floor and placed a hand on her cheek.

The sound of tearing flesh was heard. You immediately withdrew your hand and noticed that Wanda's severed neck had now severed some more, due diligence to mindless effort on your part. Tears of your own broke free. You stared into her eyes and Death stared back - the moment being so fragile, had anybody interrupted it you would have died simply from the pain of estrangement.

"I'll stay." The stillness in your voice had caused dynamism in the entire room and for a moment even the ghosts of the house quietened to watch. "(Y/N), n-" Tony proceeded and was promptly halted by Bucky, grabbed roughly by the shoulders and pushed in the general direction of the exit. "Get out of here." The super soldier instructed, as if the doors would open now when they had displayed their reluctance before.

All because Bucky had seen what Tony had not. Not yet, at least, and he intended to keep it that way. On top of the stairs where darkness had fallen so heavy it gave the illusion of oblivion glowed two red eyes, eyes chillingly familiar to Bucky. He would bet that the face they belonged to was white as bone and its mouth, black as plague. That bet could be taken to the bank.

Tony Stark considered himself to be many things, a fool was not one of them. Although, when he chose to remain unheeded to Bucky's instruction and in their stead lifted you up in his arms, attempting to incite wakefulness into your wandering eyes - that made him the biggest altruistic fool that ever lived.

A dash to the door was fruitless yet again. You were weeping into Tony's shirt - why, he did not ask, for he was experiencing similar urges. The house was patient, it was inexhaustible.

Wanda's face had altered down to its elements - it now came across as more sodden with rot and her dark hair hung forward, giving away glimpses of her eyes, which possessed a look that would frighten demons back into hell. Thunder clapped in a clear night sky and the lighting that came before allowed a brief break of sight into the dull room.

For a fleeting second, the room appeared teeming with people. People would not be the right term - the decrepit and the forgotten - suffering in the veil between life and death and looking to inflict the same upon anyone that came their way. They were so many in number, their presence hung heavy in the air and Tony felt pangs of claustrophobia building within.

Wanda smiled. A wide grin that bled and issued a warning to make all others bleed. The silent house broke out in violent sound - the doors and windows rattled like the wings of a cornered bird; something laughed and something cried, something screamed and something stared - all at once. It was in preparation for Death's march, and Death was close, the three of you could feel it in the undercurrent that skimmed under your throats.

It all happened so quickly - Tony fell, so did Bucky. You whipped your head to the right, then left, watching each man collapse, chocking on the very air you were allowed to breathe. That fact on it's own made you feel akin to a murderess, forming an insinuation in your head that you were somehow the poison that was killing your family, and when you looked up your eyes were beseeching.

Fervently blinking to prevent tears causing any distortion to your vision, you sought for the house's inhabitants - the ones who had been living there long before you did and would continue doing so long after. You sought them so you could offer to them yourself in alternative to Tony and Bucky, or in addition, at this point you could not find it within yourself to care. It was you who had promised to stay after all.

The house convulsed - with satisfaction or rebellion was nobody's place to say - it convulsed and something fought its way out of the morbid oblivion. Something that held place in your recognition. There, standing right next to Wanda, was Clint.