Avengers: Liberation

Chapter 35- Bare

As soon as my body hit Eric's bed my body gave up fighting. Exhaustion had destroyed me, saving Eric had destroyed me. Every movement was agony, my physical body begged for the end, as my muscles twitched in pain, and my skin grew bruised and taut over my bones. This was my price for saving him. I had never saved someone so close to the edge of death. He was so close, the memories and voices I heard was his life flashing before his eyes, and yet I had pulled him back from the brink of death.

I screamed out as my body bled. This was my price for saving him.

I felt Eric's hands on me as my own healed wounds reopened, as blood gargled and dripped from my mouth. Tears streamed from my closed eyes, as I lay there in the land of the unconscious, trapped there until my body saw fit to allow me to take control once again. Eric wiped away the blood pouring from my body only for it to turn to ash, as soon as he pulled away from my skin. My body twitched and buckled from the pain.

He was there for hours, tending to me as I lay there unable to do anything but scream. Soon he tended to me less and less as my skin slowly healed, as the blood receded and as my body saw that it was fit for me to return. My skin knitted together agonisingly slow, as I felt my eyelids fluttered, the pain was excruciating. I awoke gasping for that much needed rush of oxygen. I arched as pain coursed through my body. My breathing was heavy and pained as I lay there on my side. My hairs were matted to my forehead and scalp my sweat and blood, but never my own blood.

My eyes darted about the room looking for life, as I moved my fragile body. I bit into my lip hard swallowing the screams that wished to escape my throat.

"Eric?" my voice was raw and hoarse as I called out for him. I sat on the edge of the bed hugging my own body, as if I was about to fall apart. I slid from the bed and stood on shaky legs and waited for an answer. But there was nothing, just silence. I wiped away straying tears as my joints cracked and ground together. As I stepped towards the open door which led to the bathroom.

I clutched the edge of the sink and looked at myself. Blood had dried and caked over armour, blood spatter covered my face except for the trails of clear pale skin that travelled down from my eyes to my chin, and down my neck. I released the clasps of my armour and watched it drop heavily to the floor. I stood there bare in Eric's bathroom, covered in dried blood and ash. My scars stood out more than ever, the etched scars which sat proudly on my shoulder were filled with my enemies' blood, the thin silver scars which lay between my breasts and across my stomach stood out metallic red underneath the dried blood.

I waved my hand over my armour and watched it vanish in a haze of bronze and silver. As I stepped into the shower, I pressed a silver button and pushed the leaver over to the highest heat setting. The water quickly changed from ice cold to scolding hot, as the water hit my sodden skin, red quickly washed away. Each drop of water chipped away pieces of dried blood, I grabbed an already red tinted bar of soap and ran it over my body, the scars on my shoulders still held onto the dried blood of hydra soldiers. I scrubbed away with the bar of soap trying to dislodge the offending blood but it would not be moved. Tears ran from my eyes as I slumped against the shower wall.

My nails dug into the fractures of my scars and pulled. Pulling away pieces of my skin. Each piece of scared flesh I pulled away quickly turned into black rock as it hit the bed of the shower. My blood mingled with the water and as it fell from my body it turned into ash turning the water deep grey. I clutched at my raw shoulders and felt the skin return, scars and all, even more so deeply etched into my skin. I ran my fingers over the cobalt blue scars and sat there in the clearing water, holding myself. Tears ran down from my eyes as my body screamed for the pain to go away, but with each movement the pain intensified.