Of Life And Hope

·.¸¸.·♩♪♫ 🄲🄷🄰🄿🅃🄴🅁 6 - 🄰 🄵🅁🄸🄴🄽🄳 ♫♪♩·.¸¸.·

"I recommend we make lunch now," Vision said in a tone that left no room for arguing and floated up. The Avengers mumbled in agreement and scattered across the couches to wait.

-~:~-

You plopped down where you had sat in the morning and this time, Loki spared you a glance. He even looked like he wanted to say something but then reconsidered and went back to his book.

You stared at the ceiling in boredom, and oh so conveniently, your phone rang. You fished it out of your pocket and when you saw the caller ID, a smile came to your face and you gladly stood up to go and walk to another side of the room to answer it.

"Hey, silver," you greeted, your voice semi-loud, not too quiet for speaking on a phone but also not disturbing the others.

"Y/n!" the Russian-accented voice greeted gleefully. "I just got the last of my memories! There are no holes anymore!"

"Woo, congratulations," you grinned from ear to ear, happy for your friend.

"I have so much to tell you, I'm coming over."

"I actually live at the Avengers' new compound now, I don't think you can-"

"Alright, see you in a minute." He hung up.

You stared at the phone for a few seconds, dumbfounded, but then drew the attention of the people in the room to you. "Hey, guys, um, a friend of mine called and kinda said he's coming here with no room for arguing and then hung up so he'll be here at any seco-"

There was a gust of wind and a hand landed on your shoulder, draped lazily over the other one, too.

The Avengers gaped.

A plate clattered to the ground, breaking.

Your eyes darted around, taking in the shocked faces of everybody on the couches and Wanda, standing at the door, a broken plate in front of her feet, and staring at the man behind you.

"Didn't see that coming," Clint muttered.

"Sister," the Russian-accented voice of your friend said softly and he darted over to Wanda, hugging her.

You just stood there kind of awkwardly, not knowing what to do. So, you decided to break the silence with a question. "What's going on?"

"We could ask you the same," Tony countered, springing to his feet and gesturing to your friend who was hugging the sobbing Wanda. "He's supposed to be dead."

"Uhm, he's... not?" you stammered miserably. "You guys know each other?"

You wanted to hit yourself. What kind of question was that? Of course they knew each other! You portaled him from Sokovia... accidentally, but still.

"Wanda's my sister," Pietro answered and then looked over the confused faces of the Avengers before turning to you. "Maybe you should tell them what happened."

You raised a sarcastic brow at him. You don't say. And you were about to talk but your eyes trailed to the broken plate. "How about we eat lunch before, it will get cold if we don't."

Wanda nodded gratefully but still held onto Pietro's arm, as if he would disappear again if she let go.

In a minute, everyone had their plates. You all ate in an awkward silence, most of the curious and confused gazes directed to you. Or maybe Pietro beside you, you couldn't tell.

When everyone was finished, Steve let out a content sigh and leaned back on the couch. "So, are you going to tell us what happened now?"

"My room was right next to the lounge of the orphanage," you began, digging into your memories, "and there was a radio in the lounge and the reporter was talking about what was going on in Sokovia." You looked down at your lap, playing with your fingers. "And I wanted to help but I knew I couldn't possibly get there without portaling and making portals for that big of a distance could've turned out really bad, y'know?

I could get stuck in between the portals and believe me, it's not a nice place - feels like you're sleeping but at the same time you're awake and you can't really do or see or feel and all you have is your thoughts-

Sorry, you apologized, realizing that you had been sidetracking. "So anyway, as I wallowed in my despair and helplessness," your tone was joking enough to get a few chuckles out of your new housemates while others seemed rather concerned about your mental wellbeing, "boom, he fell down from a portal. He wasn't even breathing, honestly."

"But how is he alive?" Tony cut in.

"I'm getting there," you nodded. [The upcoming information is probably not correct, if we're talking about our reality.] "His brain was still working, however, and I managed to catch a brainwave, which were very infrequent and hardly seeable by the way, and then I manipulated his brain into making his heart work again.

But, as he was that close to death, I did not manage to bring back his memories." A tone of regret was laced into your voice as you ended the story, the Avengers gazing at you with varying emotions. You could feel it but you still didn't dare to look up from your lap. It was a weird story and you weren't quite sure they would believe you.

"And I've been recollecting my memories since and found the last today morning," Pietro added, giving you a supporting and comforting side hug.

"Still, how?" Bruce asked. "He lost a lot of blood."

"A miracle?" you questioned, looking up to meet his eyes. "Honestly, I doubted he'd make it at first. He lived in the wardrobe for a few days and I had to bring him food but he got better and everything was fine." You frowned. "Maybe except for the fact that I had to convince the caretaker that I was fine, given that I insisted on eating in my room and getting two portions."

"You talk about weakness when you passed out after that," Pietro commented.

You frowned, glaring at him. "I hadn't done anything like that before. And I saved your life, have some respect." He simply chuckled.

"Well, kid," Tony spoke up. "I can say on the behalf of all of us that we are impressed."

You smiled.

"And grateful," Wanda added, making you turn to look at her. You noticed her eyes were filled with genuine wonder and happiness. "How can I repay you for bringing my brother back?"

"I- It's alright," you assured, taken aback. You hadn't expected anything in return. "Everything I have right now is more than enough."

"You have low standards," Tony quipped, standing up from his armchair. "Come on, kid. I'll show you my lab."

You were surprised but excitement welled inside you - Peter had told you a lot about the place. "Okay," you agreed before following him out the door.