No bargain with death (MCU x reader)

12. stay

When Stark and you broke apart both of you were crying. You couldn't do anything about it, the tears just kept running. They didn't care if you wanted them or not and they didn't bother to explain themselves. It was you who had to find out where they had come from and why they were so desperate to break free and display your inner feelings.

Now, what was it that made you cry?

You felt loved for the first time in your life and now you knew that you had been loved every day since parting ways with Stark. Maybe even before. It was an amazing feeling, breathtaking and warm. It provided the days sunlight and warmth. But if it was colourful and nice, why would it make you cry? Because those tears weren't tears of happiness. they burned their way down your cheek, hot and merciless.

You were crying because of an unbearable pain that wasn't your rips. It came from deeper within and it was horrible.

It was the loneliness of the years passed by catching up with you and dragging you down. What had felt totally fine had turned into a nightmare within seconds. Or had it been fine?

Of course it hadn't. You had just become an expert at denying it. Now your facade was tumbling down, crumbling to ash. While you were being watched by three adult men. Great.

"Tissue?" , offered Stark. You nodded and took it, drying your tears and blowing your nose.

When you were in control of your basic body functions again you looked at the men. Banner was looking at you and it was clear that he wanted to ask questions but also too polite to interrupt a crying person. Strange was embracing Stark, not paying you any attention. So you turned to Banner.

"You've got questions?" , you asked. He nodded keenly and then he started to ask them.

"So you can actually bring people back to life? Like, really?" , he inquired. That guy was a scientist and it showed. You were quite sure that he was very close to pulling out a notebook and writing things down.

"I can also take their lives away. There is no limit to taking, in fact, but a limit to giving" , you explained. Banner frowned, scratching his forehead.

"That means that you can only give a limited amount of lives back but take away as many as you please? That would mean that you are working in death's favour" , he stated.

He wasn't completely wrong. In a way you were working for death but in another way you were working for life. It was a strange thing and hard to explain. Especially because you didn't understand it yourself. But there were things you understood Banner had not yet realised and which you could explain further.

"There is no set limit to taking, not one that I am aware of" , you began, shrugging and looking at Strange and Stark who were still embracing each other but listening too now.

"I can directly stretch the amount of lives I can give by taking more. I can only give a life I have taken. If I take your life I can bring one other person back to life but not more. If I take two lives I can give two lives. It's that easy" , you said. Banner nodded. He was writing things down now. You weren't surprised.

To give him time for his noting you turned to the food. Plenty of it and inviting at that. In that exact moment your stomach rumbled and you sighed. Being the servant of death was all nice but you still had basic human needs such as eating and drinking. And apparently social interaction.

"I am more of an instrument of balance I guess, with the ability to work in death's favour" , you stated. As Banner continued to write things down you discovered a donut placed in the middle of the food plate and you went for it.

"How long can a person be gone for you to bring them back?" , asked Banner. You hesitated. if you were totally honest, you weren't sure. You hadn't tried that. And you didn't feel like digging up a skeleton and bringing it back to life. Would it be a living skeleton then or would it regain all the necessary organs and muscles and bones to continue living? Could you create zombies? You really didn't know.