Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

77. Day Six

When Peter leaves, the overthinking starts. How is she ever supposed to accept that she's a usable object to most sorcerers? She's a chicken that you put in a pen and every morning you take the eggs, only to leave them behind again for the rest of the day. After they have served their purpose. She'll be tossed aside the second she can't provide any service anymore, at which point she'll probably just die. That's another thing Daphne's suddenly incredibly afraid of: death. She's not exactly scared of what happens afterwards; it's the way she dies. Will she die by someone else's hands? A sorcerer who would make a reckless decision and take too much from her? Which sorcerer would that be? A friend? A foe? Or will she die of old age in the comfort of her own home, never having met a sorcerer that actively wants to use her?

The question that haunts her the most, however, is whether or not she will die in captivity.

She didn't really discuss any of this with anyone. She's bothering them enough already. Though, it was clear to the people she spends the most time with, that her mental health isn't exactly what it once was. Her paranoia was dialed up to eleven. Especially with her memories completely returned to her. Loki managed to leave out that he literally brought her back from the dead. How convenient for him. Why wouldn't he tell her that? He said she was dying. He didn't say she died. She really wants to discuss this with him, but she already told herself she wouldn't bring it up during his December visit. She wants the Christmas performance to be a positive day. A day she doesn't have to worry about any of this stuff. Just dance and have fun at the gala afterwards.

Then there is the issue of David's parents. Whenever she thought about him, her headaches would get worse again, but she couldn't bear the thought of being responsible for the death of his parents. Where are they?

"Only you would know where they are, love."

What does he mean with that? Why would only she know? She can't think of any location where his parents would be other than his home and Daphne's certain they already checked his entire apartment complex, their work, et cetera. But this conundrum isn't the only thing keeping Daphne up at night.

She bombards F.R.I.D.A.Y. with questions when everyone else is asleep. She's fairly certain Tony can see logs of what Daphne asks his AI, but she doesn't care. She can't look at a screen and her brain needs to be soothed with answers and possible solutions to this mind control issue, so F.R.I.D.A.Y. is all she has. Daphne scoffed at the hundreds of search results that suggested hypnotism files that supposedly build up resistance. How do you build resistance to mind control if you let your mind be controlled to build said resistance? 'I will hypnotize you so you won't be hypnotized.' There's simply no logic to it. At least not to Daphne.

Other search results include certain herbs that should make you more awake and in the moment. Or that she should meditate to become more mindful. Nothing really seems to have any scientific proof attached to it, so Daphne remains skeptical. She doesn't want her mind to be taken from her, but she also has no clue what to do about it.

During the day she found herself opposing orders more and more. When someone brought her food and told her to eat it, she simply wouldn't, even though she's hungry. Even the little ballet classes with Natasha became more of an issue as the days continued, as Daphne purposefully did something other than what Natasha told her to do. The only one she still listened to was Peter. He's the only one she trusts unconditionally. However, her attitude created friction between her and the others. And now, on day six, she wakes up from a nap with someone unexpected sitting in the chair next to her bed.

"Afternoon," Bucky says simply as he cocks an eyebrow at her. She's used to Bruce being in that chair at this time of day, so spotting a silver arm in her peripheral vision made Daphne tense for a second.
"Hi," Daphne replies a little wary as she keeps herself covered in the sheets. Her voice is still a little coarse from sleeping. He has his brown hair in a half up-do, to keep it out of his eyes, and his clothes are plain: a pair of dark jeans and a grey T-shirt. Daphne has a hard time looking away from his arm, reflecting the light from the lamps.