***BOOK TWO OF THE ELENA MAXIMOFF SERIES***
Elena's whole world had shattered. They had won against Ultron, but at what cost?
Struggling with her grief, Elena closes in on herself, cutting herself off from her friends, her family. Yet, nothing seems...
Hear the voices beckoning me towards the rocks. Lie awake, watch the city sleep. Silent road. Watch the crowds, leave their seats and the credits roll.
Eye of the Storm, X Ambassadors.
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Everything was an effort. Eating. Sleeping. Breathing. Who knew that I would be begging to be taken back to the times at Hydra, where I was tortured continuously just to see him. Just to be with him. I dared to look in the mirror yesterday. The sight is ghastly. Sunken in cheeks. Shirt that once hugged my curves now hangs loosely, barely keeping me warm. The mischief in my eyes had dulled, now all they were was haunted. My hair had lost its natural shine, becoming dry and unkept. The bags under my eyes were especially noticeable. I had looked like a ghost. But it was what I deserved. A gentle knock breaks my inner monologue. Walking over and opening it, I see Wanda, holding a tray out to me with a sandwich and an apple on it.
"Thought you might be hungry?" She asks. I scan her face and see the cracks in her mask. She tries to pretend to be her normal self, but each time she shows up at my door - offering me food, clothes, books, anything to snap me out of my numbness - I see her mask crack a little more. It's in her eyes. The once strong, defiant expression in them has changed to worry, concern and anguish. I don't deserve her worrying about me. I don't deserve her concern. I don't deserve anything. As usual I say nothing, she brushes by me, placing the tray on the desk next to another tray still filled with food. She sighs, I wait for her to leave like she usually does only she stays.
"You need to eat, Elena." She pleads with me, not even raising her eyes from my still full plate. I remain silent as I usually do, looking down at the floor in shame. In my peripheral vision, I see her one towards me. "Pietro wouldn't want this." She whispers quietly, and his name is like a stab to the heart. Hearing his name on her tongue, with so much casualty makes me want to scream. Makes me want to tear the room apart. Makes me want him back so much more than I already do. She reaches to place a hand on my shoulder, but I harshly grip her wrist before it makes contact. Tears are now freely running down my face as I look directly into her eyes. For a moment I see a flicker of relief in her eyes, relief that I have done something other than close in on myself. I drop her arm and walk away from her, crawling onto my bed and curling into a ball.
"Elena..." she starts again from the doorway, but I can't take it. I snap.
"Leave." I growl out. The first word I have said in weeks comes out raspy and strained, but firm. The shocked silence reverberates between us.
"Elena..." She breathes out, relief sighing out of her.
"Leave." I repeat more firmly. The silence stretches on, until I hear her leave. The door quietly shutting behind her. Time lapses and it is night, the stars faintly glistening, shining through the smog of the city, almost condescendingly. Judging me for not being able to push through. Over the past few days, I had given up sleeping, alternatively heading down to the gym downstairs. I silently make my way down while clutching the headphones Wanda had left, noticing the shadow following behind me. As I walk over to the treadmill, movement catches my eye.
"What do you want, Vision?" I ask tiredly, without turning around. He had been following me down to the gym ever since I started, just quietly observing. I appreciated him not interrupting, though there was a point when observing became more than annoying, became suffocating.
"Your sister is worried." He explains, telling me something I already know.
"I know." I say, stepping onto the treadmill. Having not glanced over to the android yet.
"Why have you been coming down here once everyone is asleep?" He innocently asks. I don't deign him an answer, only placing the headphones over my head. Immediately the swelling melody of Vivaldi's winter greets my ears, using the rhythm to pace my steps. The world blurs around me and all I can hear is the music, feel the burn and protest of my muscles, the sweat dribbling down my back and torso. Winter then morphs into Sibelius' Finlandia, the grand, sonorous brass modifying my rhythm. I run and run and run. Never halting, never breaking, never letting weakness seep through into my bones. It's at the point when I feel like I'm about to faint that I slow down, that I gradually grind to a stop, taking off the headphones, and leaving the gym. Though my legs feel like jelly, and my heart is racing a mile a minute, I push towards my room, no longer noticing Vision trailing behind me. Though I'm sweaty and hot, as soon as I spy my bed, I flop onto it, hoping that the run was enough to make me pass out, enough to keep the dreams at bay.
As I lay there, I look to the food on my desk, noticing the golden pendant gleaming in the moonlight. I still. Mind going silent. It was his. He always wore it. I don't know how I could have forgotten about it. It never parted from him. Never left his chest, and he said it never would until... A sob lodges in my throat, ignoring the ache in my legs, the tears beginning to run down my cheeks, I shakily make my way over to the piece of jewellery. With trembling hands, I gently pick it up, smoothing it over with my thumb, before clutching it to my chest. Pain spears through me. Not from physical drain, but emotional. I silently cry out the loss of my brother, holding on to the pendant as though it was a lifeline to reality. Falling to my knees, I cave in on myself, shaking with heaving breaths, attempting to remain silent, containing my grief to myself. Still silently sobbing, I pull the pendant over my head, letting it rest on my chest.
Slowly making my way to my feet, I clutch the pendant in my hand as I make my way over to the bed, falling onto it, I curl into a ball, laying there, tears still running, waiting for sleep to drag me under. Waiting for peace. Waiting for a world with no pain.
a/n: First chapter of the new book! Well, prologue, but you get the jist... anyways, hope you enjoyed it all!
updated a/n: Sooooo I decided to re-write the prologue to try and get the story to run a little more clearly.
