Flames - (avengersxreader fanfic)

Burning Walls

Flashes of light flare over your sight. Echoing screams sound dully in your head. Round and round they go. Dark shadows appear in the corners of your vision, morphing into human-like figures. Suddenly you fall, plummeting down and down in a blinding tunnel of light.

"Ahh!!!," you scream as your body collides with the floor. Your face strikes it causing your eyes to water and blur your vision. Staring down at the barren ground you make a startling discovery. It was patterned with faults and scars and from the in between the cracks flames curled and crackled skywards as far as the eye could see. Staring further towards the heavens all you could see was oblivion.

Then, it came into focus.

You were trapped inside an arena; high steel rose all around you in a circle ending with balconies which were staring down at you - mocking you. The ceiling, a dome of pure light, illuminates the spectators - everyone you've ever known seems to be up there. Children and adults from the orphanages and foster families, the Avengers, your friends, and anyone who had ever even made the slightest impact on your life (there were a surprising number of mice up there). In front of them all stood two shadowed figures, their faces indistinguishable. As you glare upwards the walls catch on fire, towers of flames start creeping towards as the arena becomes smaller. It would be suffocating to anyone but not to you.

You smile inwardly at yourself, "this should be easy."

You swirl your hands in front of you, commanding the flames to do your bidding; you were gonna burn those who looked down on you. But, the wall of burning heat just continued in its monotonous pace towards you, unchanged.

"Fine," you thought. "I'll just get rid of you." Snapping your fingers, the fire should've disappeared. Instead it licked the side of your face. The intense heat making your eyes water, the tears sizzling on the scorching ground. You couldn't breathe, hot air swirling around you, blocking all your airways. You feel your skin burning as the fire engulfs you. Everyone looks down at you smiling horrifically. For a split second you could see the faces of the shadowed figures. You start to scream

Blue.

The calm blue of your ceiling is a welcome sight. You sit up gasping for breath, pulling as much oxygen as you could into your lungs. You door is flung open and in staggers an exhausted Rhodey.

"Are you okay, I could hear you screaming - you sounded like you were dying," he explains- he seemed to be wearing military camouflage pajamas.

"It is fine, go back to sleep Rhodey it's 3:00 am," you say while you turn to look at the clock beside your head. "It was just a nightmare I'm fine," you assure him.

He sleepily smiles at you and wishes you goodnight before closing the door. The truth was though, you were not fine. You had been having the exact same nightmare every day for the past month, each day more and more people came to watch you burn alive. Every night you'd wake up screaming. Every night you'd be defenseless.

Tossing and turning you fall back to sleep, but it was short-lived. Breathlessly you wake up again, the clock now shows that it is 4:15am. Looking outside the sky is pitch dark but thanks to jetlag you are wide awake. Well better get the day started.

You walk over to your wardrobe and select a pair of black jeans, a blue top and a black hoodie - you exchange your dirty trainers for a pair of new black combat boots. You stare at your outfit in the mirror quite pleased with yourself. It felt nice to wear a new set of clothes, everything you had owned before were hand-me downs.

Turning off the light in the room you wander into the kitchen to make some breakfast: the fridge was brimming with possibilities. You decide on some waffles and stack them high with blueberries, strawberries, slices of banana and drown it all in chocolate sauce. Wolfing it down you thought about what you were going to do next. Deciding on finding the gym you head past Rhodey's room - you could hear him snoring contently inside - and head back down the stairs and into the lobby.

You can hear your footsteps echoing as you stroll towards the space where the men were fighting yesterday and emerge in a long dark room. You fumble along the wall looking for a light switch and illuminate the room. It was a state-of-the-art gym. In the front corner there was a work - out area (you can tell I don't go to the gym often :)) filled with treadmills and weights; a boxing ring stood in the middle; some gymnastics equipment was fixed along the back wall and a shooting range down the free side. Another door leads off from here into a spacious hall clearly used for martial arts training and sparring. Both rooms' ceilings were made of complete glass as neither had any windows and you could see the early morning sky streaked with clouds stretching high above you.

"This will do," you thought to yourself as you started summoning fire. The only time when you felt truly peaceful and safe was when you were using your power. It was like a balm to all your anxiety and fear - it was something that protected you. You make the flames dart all over the room and summon balls of intense heat and cast them at all walls. Swirls of burnt red passion flew all around you as you defied nature more and more. Finally, you cast a wall around you, like the ones from your dreams, and set it on its ever familiar path. You allow it to close in on you so close it burns your trousers then, right as the heat starts to caress your face, you push it away and turn it into a small flame between your fingertips before diminishing its light. Nothing is left except a scorch mark on your jeans.

"See, you can protect yourself there is nothing to be afraid of you'll never lose your powers never," you whisper to yourself, your voice slightly shaking. You start to hear someone clapping; looking over to the entrance a man was standing there with a silver hand. Bucky had been watching you.

"That was pretty impressive Flames," he smiles while striding into the morning sun - you'd been on your own for over an hour. "I particularly liked it when you set your own hair on fire, it's still burning a bit."

You whip your head around and hastily extinguish the fire. His eyes widened as you did this, "you didn't know?"

"No," you say whilst laughing at your idiocy. "I didn't! Thank you for mentioning it - how long have you been standing there?"

"Uhh...From the second verse of 'Till I Collapse until the end of Dance Monkey, you have a good taste in music and a lovely voice," he compliments you. You only ever sang whilst practicing.

Flushing bright red your eyes find the floor, you've always made a point of never singing in front of anyone and yet someone who you've only known for a few minutes has already found out. "You're Bucky, right?" you might as well get his name right.

"Yes, I am, now tell me Flames, are you any good in hand to hand combat," he questions whilst removing his jacket revealing his fully gun metal arm.

"No, I've never really been in a proper fight, most people stay away from me once they know I spit fire. Both metaphorically and literally!" Nobody had ever won an argument against you, in one of the homes your nickname was even the silver-tongued witch.

Bringing your eyes back up to meet him, you realise you are too late. Pouncing on you Bucky brings you to the ground, clamping his hands over yours so you can't fight back. You can feel his hot breath on your neck. You try to squirm away, but all attempts were futile.

Whispering into your ear he mutters, "Well we'll have to change that if your gonna fight with us, aren't we!"