Scorpio

TWENTY NINE - Family Comes First

Estella shuddered at the last memory, looking at her hand. Nothing was happening.

The trail of red on her forearm seemed to be getting bigger, but...maybe it was just something funny with her eyes. Everything seemed so... wavy. Like steam in the sunlight. Was she steaming? She couldn't tell.

Do I normally have four arms? ...why is the world spinning?

She squeezed her eyes shut, and slumped forward onto the couch seat.

********

Stay with me.

Estella could feel the prodding at her subconsciousness, urging her to open her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered open for a second to catch a wave of burgundy hair across the face, and quickly shut them again.

She'd rather keep her eyes closed, thank you very much.

And Scorpio wasn't physically there, anyways. She didn't have to listen to him.

Ouch. Now that's just petulant.

Estella ignored him.

You know how hard it is to keep you in Limbo? Scorpio's voice continued, knowing full well that Estella could hear him no matter how hard she pretended otherwise. I've got to piece together every ounce of your being with dust, and you lose more than you gain. It's like cleaning up after a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner. Dreadful.

Estella opened her eyes, successfully lowering the volume of Scorpio's jargon for a moment. Wanda was binding a bandage around her hand, and once she saw that Estella was conscious again, the sorceress offered a smile. Estella tried to return it.

Technically, it would be a lot easier to just throw you in the mountains, somewhere, Scorpio was saying. A Kronan would be a lot easier to handle. Quality dust is seriously so difficult to come by, and your being demands droves of it every day, even without you burning your hand on a potted plant.

Now he wasn't making any sense at all.

Why am I made of dust?

You can become flesh and bone, if you want to.

Then... Why aren't I?

Because you haven't chosen your home yet.

Estella furrowed her brows at the sky through the glass top of the solarium. Wasn't she already home?

That depends on where home is.

I know where home is, Estella thought, thinking the question a little ridiculous. She spent her whole time on this 'universe', as Scorpio dubbed it, looking for one. It was obvious, wasn't it?

Is it in the Indlu Emthini Maisoarbe, Wakanda; with Wanda, Sam, Captain Rogers and his vigilante Avengers?

That's-

She meant to snark back with a comment about how he preferred her to be a hobo on a train, because where else could she go?, but Scorpio barreled on, not listening to her thoughts for once.

Or is it 5976 Ricksford Drive, Canada; with Mikael, Catherine, and the rest of your Robins family?

It was as if something clicked inside her, finally, and Estella was overwhelmed with feelings of both confusion and agony. Wanda had risen from the couch, busying herself with dinner prep as soon as she deemed Estella alright on her own - even though 'okay' was far from what Estella was feeling right now.