𝙷𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝 ↠ 𝐂𝐀𝐂𝐖

Pained Truths

Blaire's POV~

Once in the air, I had assumed we were in the clear. From in front of me, I can hear my father punch in some coordinates in the jet.

But, just when I thought that the hard part had been over, we were faced with yet another problem. I could feel the jet lurch forward a bit. He must have pushed the throttle. But I didn't avert my eyes from the back window. I watch one of the two Iron Man suits fly towards us in an effort to stop us. Shortly after, the actual Iron Man joins as well. But to my relief, Sam also shows up.

I watch as Sam fires a missile towards the darker colored Iron Man suit. Though it hadn't done much damage or caused it to slow it down. Not a moments notice later that pestering yellow beam shot up once again, aiming for Sam. Luckily enough, he managed to dodge it by flying down.

It hit something, just not the intended target. The darker colored Iron Man suit begins to crash towards the ground at lethal speeds. My hand clutches my mouth in horror. The other Iron Man notices and immediately dives after him in an attempt to save him. Sam was quick to follow the two.

Though neither of them were able to get to him before he hit the ground. But as their figures get smaller, it makes it harder to see. However, I did see Sam get blasted back and that android floated to the three of them.

I wanted to watch more, but I felt Winter's cold metal hand rest on my shoulder. It diverted my attention, and he guided me up front where the two of them were residing.

I took a seat on a bench where I let a magnitude of thoughts cloud my head. Was he okay? Were we going to make it? But one odd question in particular arose in my head, and before I could stop the words from exiting my mouth, they'd already been said. "Where is my mother?" I instantly regretted it, but curiosity piqued my interest.

Silence filled the quinjet, and nobody uttered a word. It stayed like that for a moment. Quiet. Until my father sighed and spoke hesitantly. "Blaire...."

He hadn't even finished his sentence because I already knew what he was going to say. And quite frankly, I didn't want to hear him finish it either. I felt my heart plummet to my stomach. The world around me seemed to just tune out. She can't be. I refuse to believe that she's gone. I broke my promise, mum...

I'm so sorry.

"God... What would she think of me now?" I put my hands in my hair, and I tugged at it in frustration. I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. "She died thinking her only daughter was dead! But no! I've been nothing but a monster for the last sixty damn years!" I paused, taking in a shaky breath. "I broke my promise... I never even got to say goodbye."

"Blaire, you need to understand." I cut Winter off. "What is there to understand? She's gone." My father tried to interject. "Blaire, what Buck is trying to say is that you're not a monster." I turn my gaze towards him and scoff.

"That's rich coming from you, Captain. What would you know about having the blood of the innocent on your hands?" My statement put a look of hurt on his face, but I chose to ignore it.

"Why can't you see that? How many have lost their lives to me? How many lives have I ruined? How many dreams have I shattered?" I turned around so my back was facing them, and I took a moment to regain my composure.

"It's not fair." I began to go quiet. "You're right." My tear-stained face turned back to look at Winter. "You're absolutely right, Blaire. It's not fair. It wasn't fair that you got robbed of your childhood early on. It's not fair that you never got to say goodbye to your mom. None of this was ever fair. To either of us. We've all been dealt cards from life that have fucked us over, but it's our job to adapt and persevere. Because the world is not going to stop and wait. Not for you, not for me, not for anyone. Because whether you like it or not, the world goes on."  

I could see he was upset. But so was I. "But do you think it was fair that I never got to say goodbye to any of my family?" He looked at me waiting for an answer. I remained quiet. "How I lost my left arm, and got this stupid hunk of metal as a replacement. How many hours I spent clawing at my skin, desperate to get the horrific thing off of me?" Nothing but a lone breath came from my mouth. "How many hours I spent in my room worrying about your safety. Where you were, if you were alright, if I would ever see you again. For two years, Blaire! Two years! Do you think it was fair?!" 

I stood there silently. Silent tears traveled down his face. He didn't notice or he simply didn't care. He took a few ragged breaths, wiping off the trail of where the tears were. "We've both had our issues. We've had our lowest moments. But the point is, we're still here, are we not?" 

I huffed out a reply, wanting to be done with the conversation already. "What does it matter now? I lost the one person who truly knew me." With nothing left to say, I returned to the bench and tuned the rest of the world out.

Hours must've passed because I noticed the terrain became rockier. I suspected we were in the Alps. I cooled down from the argument, but now guilt seeped in where the anger once was. I weakly called out, some part of me hoping that he wouldn't hear me. " Зима."

I looked to where he was standing, and his eyes met mine. I knew it was too late to back out so I continued. "Можешь прийти сюда, пожалуйста?" (Can you come here, please?) I saw him get up from his chair and slowly walk over to me. He eventually sat adjacent to me on the bench. I wanted to apologize, I did, but the words just became caught in my throat. "я-я." (I-I) I took a deep breath so I could get the words out of my mouth. "Прости, зима. Я не должен был говорить всего этого." (I'm sorry, winter. I shouldn't have said all those things.) I gave him a hug.

He looked at me for a moment, stroked my hair and then replied. "Я прощаю тебя. Я просто ненавижу то, как ты говоришь о себе. Это не верно. Потому что это не ты сделал все эти вещи." (I forgive you. I just hate the way you talk about yourself. It's not right. Because it wasn't you who did all those things.)

I let go of him, and I smiled at him. He gave me a playful smirk back. While his words did make me feel better, it didn't erase all the guilt that's been piled up. I got up and walked towards my father. "What's going to happen to your friends?" He doesn't say anything for a moment, only sighs. "Whatever it is, I'll deal with it." I look back towards Зима before turning my gaze back onto my father. "I still don't think I'm worth all of this." He looks at me sadly. "What you did all those years. It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice." I looked at him nonchalantly. "I know. But I still did it."

He didn't say anything more before turning his attention back to the wheel.

A/N: I rewrote this chapter so many times, and I still don't really like how this one turned out, but I don't wanna keep anyone waiting. So I hope you at least somewhat enjoy this chapter. The next one will arrive when it does. I won't keep you guys waiting too long. (Hopefully). Anyway, stay safe and enjoy. 

-KK