PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

thirty-four → be safe?

It wasn't until too late did she realize that robots had stopped coming, instead now fleeing from the Avengers and fight as they realized just how horrifically they were losing. Her dark eyes were trained on a group of three and she barked out a spell, shoving her hands out towards them. Their bodies shook intensely before collapsing.

"They're trying to leave the city!" Thor shouted.

"We can't let 'em, not even one," Tony said. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it," Rhodey answered back before moments later, the Vision shot towards the fleeing robots and quickly destroyed them.

Steve looked to the others. "We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the other boats, I'll sweep for stragglers."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

Her eyes widened when she heard Wanda speak. "I'll protect it," the Sokovian girl said with a nod, and Aline turned to look at her. "It's my job."

While the others had nodded at her, already departing from the church ruins, Aline and Pietro had stayed behind. "Get the people on the boats," Wanda ordered.

"I'm not going to leave you," Pietro said and shook his head.

"I can handle this!" Almost like it was trying to prove her point, she whipped her body around, hands up. A burst of red shot from her hands and launched at a running robot. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." Her brother hummed, a slight sound of annoyance, and started to walk off. "Do you understand?" Wanda asked.

The speedster turned, smirking. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you." Pietro's blue eyes shone mischievously.

Wanda chuckled. "Go." She watched her brother run off in a silver blue blur, before turning her attention to Aline. She couldn't help noticing the worrying look Aline was giving her. "You need to go too. I can handle this, don't worry about me."

Aline raised a brow. "Yeah, no. I'm not leaving and if I lose you like I did 一" She cut herself off, clenching a fist. Madelaine's face flashed in her mind, and she felt her throat tighten. Not again, she thought, never again. "I can't, I can't lose you. I won't lose you."

"And you won't," Wanda said reassuringly, giving her a gentle smile. Some of her dark hair whipped in front of her face. "Go. I'll meet you on the helicarrier later, I promise."

"And if you die?" Aline said. "I won't ever forg一"

The tribrid was immediately cut off when a pair of lips pressed against her own, silencing her voice. It only took Aline three seconds to pass before she realized what exactly was happening. Wanda was kissing her.

Wanda was kissing her so gently, tenderly cupping both of Aline's cheeks as she held her close. While their kiss was short and soft, it held a lovely passion that she wanted to feel again. When Wanda pulled away, a devious smirk formed on her face when she saw Aline blushing. Her cheeks were burning bright red, and so were the tips of her ears. Despite them being in the middle of a battlefield, she couldn't help but think Aline to look very cute.

"Okay..." Aline said slowly, biting her lip and taking a slow step back. Clearing her throat, she rubbed the back of her neck. Her eyes were still wide and she pointed to the right. "So... I'm... going to go that way now... and I will see you later. Be safe?" Aline then awkwardly turned, starting her slow walk, and not noticing the big grin on Wanda's face.

___

The mini-helicarriers were filled with people, the last Sokovians of Novi Grad that had managed to make it to the edge. Aline had made it there after walking from the church a few minutes later. A blush was still on her cheeks when she jogged over to stand next to Clint.

Even though he was still looking over at the city, scanning for any survivors, he had noticed the way Aline was walking. "So how'd it go?"

Aline raised a brow. "Huh?"

"Don't tell me that you just left her there without doing something romantic," Clint said and elbowed her. "So tell me... did you kiss her?"

"Oh, my God, Clint!" Aline pressed her hands over her ears.

"Nat owes me money," he sang and Aline jabbed her in the ribs. "I thought it was gonna happen within the next few days. Nat thought it would be much later."

"You two are the worst."

"But you know who isn't?" Clint asked and Aline slowly eased her hands away from ears, afraid to hear the answer. "Wanda."

She took this as the opportunity to shove her fingers in her ears. "La la la la! I'm not listening, la la la!" God, this was so embarrassing. Her friends had bet on when her first kiss would be. Why?

Just as their little moment was dying down, with Aline placing her hands back at her sides, they could hear a woman calling out from the mini-helicarrier. "Costel? We were in the market." The two Avengers looked over to see a woman curled up securely in a blanket. "Costel?!"

Clint looked around, spotting a small boy trying to pull himself up. He gave a small sigh before jogging towards him.

At the sound of an incoming aircraft, Aline whipped her head around, brown locks flying. She spotted Ultron in the pilot's seat, and then bullets were sprayed from the mounted guns. Her eyes went wide as she spotted Thor and Steve jump out of the way, but the bullets continued to rain down towards Clint and the boy.

Clint heard the bullets and felt the wind rush past his face, but he didn't feel the pain. He didn't feel the bullets pierce his torso and end his life. What happened? Why wasn't he dead? There was no chance he had survived so why was he still alive? The archer slowly lifted his head. In front of him was a car sitting on its side, bullet holes in the metal, but still no wounds on his body. He turned his head and his eyes widened.

Forty-seven.

All together, Clint had counted forty-seven bullet wounds across Pietro and Aline's bodies, seeing how each wound made scarlet patches across their clothing. Pietro looked up and made eye contact with the man, staring at Clint holding the child with a look of disbelief. It almost looked like he was thinking, I got hit?

"You didn't see that coming," Pietro said, his voice a weak murmur, before he fell to the ground. Clint lowered the boy to the ground, before rushing over to Pietro.

Strong arms grabbed at her body, and she was thankful for them as she collapsed. A shuddering pant fell past her lips and she coughed, blood spitting out and coating her lips. She pressed a weak hand against one of the wounds, a bullet hole in her thigh, and she instantly regretted it. Pain flared from that spot and she whimpered, tilting her head to dig her face into Steve's chest. She'd "died" plenty of times, but each time still hurt like she was human. Wheezes escaped from Aline.

"Damn, this hurts," she panted, gulping loudly.

"Hey, Ali," Steve said in a gentle tone, holding her closer to his body, "you'll be okay." He held one of her hands.

"Duh," she muttered, her eyelids feeling heavy. She grit her teeth as one of her legs moved, pain flaring up again. "Oh, Stevie... do I... do I not recommend this, like, like at all." She took heavier breaths. "Tell Wanda I'll be okay, will you? Don't let her lose hope..." Her voice faded and her breathing became even more labored than before.

This wasn't the first time he'd seen Aline die 一 easily the ninth or tenth (because, of course, Aline was a reckless girl) 一 but that didn't mean it didn't hurt each time. He watched with a heavy heart as her eyes fluttered shut, her chest stopped moving, her head lolled to the side, and her heart stopping beating.

A/N: had 10 minutes until
my next class, so why not
update?? :)