The whole world fell silent. And Freya couldn't take it anymore.
She screamed. And screamed again. And again. And again.
She felt nothing but the pain at the place where Pietro once sat in her heart. She lost him already. And then she found him. And then she lost him again.
Distantly, she felt her powers erupting from her. But she didn't care.
Didn't care about the bullet in her shoulder. Didn't care about her powers vaporizing everything that came too close to her. Didn't even care about Clint and the kid on the ground.
Another part of her family. Gone. Dead. But that wasn't the worst.
It's my fault, it's my fault. I didn't save him.
And that hurt more.
Her screams turned into sobs and she fell. Her knees hit the ground hard, right in front of his body. She stared down at his silver hair, his blue, lifeless eyes.
"I'm so sorry", she whispered, choking on her words. She closed his eyes and stood up again, her legs shaking in numb pain. She looked up in the sky, at the helicopter with Ultron inside. And rage came up in her.
A cry escaped her lips, a battle cry. She spread her wings and wanted to fly up there and rip Ultron apart piece by piece, but a hand on her arm held her back.
"LET ME GO!" Freya turned around and raised her flaming hand, but Natasha didn't even flinch. Her eyes were shiny with tears.
"Please, you will die", she said, pointing to Freya's bleeding shoulder.
"Natasha, don't!"
"Please, do it for me." And that calmed Freya a little, eased the rage in her. The flames disappeared, making space for tears.
She looked at Pietro's body and whispered, her voice trembling: "I didn't even get to know him. He was my brother and I knew nothing about him."
"I am so sorry." Natasha embraced Freya, who leaned into it, into the only comfort she could get.
Suddenly, the whole city rumbled and Freya looked up. "Get on the ship", she said, her voice stronger than she actually was.
"Not until I know you save!"
"Do it for me." Freya looked into Natasha's eyes and saw, that she got her. "And take him with you. Please."
Natasha nodded and hugged Freya again. "Do what you need to do", she said. "And come back to me."
"Always." Freya spread her wings and with one last look back down, at Natasha picking up Pietro's body as if it weighed nothing, she flew off to the church in the centre of the city. But when she arrived, her heart ached again.
There was Wanda, kneeling on the stone floor of the church, tears streaming down her face and all around her, something that seemed like metallic dust all over the floor.
"No", Freya whispered and softly landed next to Wanda not to startle her. But she didn't even look up.
"Wanda." Freya put her hand on Wanda's shoulder and finally, she looked up, her green eyes full of desperation and sadness.
"How?", she asked, her voice shaking.
Freya didn't need to ask to know what she meant. "He sacrificed himself to save Clint and a child. He died a hero." And I didn't save him. She would tell her. But not now.
"I will kill Ultron", Wanda said and Freya recognized her own rage in Wanda's eyes.
"Don't", Freya said. "Please. Get on the ships. I..." She couldn't help her voice from breaking at that point. "I couldn't bear to bury another person I love."
Wanda nodded and stood up, her legs shaking. "You are hurt", she said, pointing to Freya's shoulder before she broke out into sobs.
"Oh, Wanda." Freya embraced her sister in a hug and held her shaking body, giving her comfort as Natasha did with Freya. Tears stung in her eyes, but for Wanda, she held them back.
After a few seconds, Wanda's sobs eased and she let Freya go. "You need to go", she said, wiping her face.
"And so do you", Freya said and rose into the air. Over her shoulder, she checked if Wanda really left before flying off to the bottom of the city.
"What do I need to do?", she greeted Tony, her voice sharper than intended.
"Hit that with your powers", Tony said and pointed to the middle of the city. "That should-"
Suddenly, a humming that Freya didn't even realize was there, died out. And a second later, the city started falling.
Instinctively, Freya let herself fall too, distantly hoping that everyone made it onto the helicarrier. She looked back, aimed - and shot.
Her powers seemed to crawl through the earth, spreading like veins. From the inside, she saw Thor's blue lightning streaks joining. Freya screamed and shot a second time.
The city exploded in blazing black fire, leaving Freya trying to dodge the falling pieces, her shoulder throbbing with pain.
She managed to get out of the circle of falling stones and watched as the last remains of the city crashed into the water. Somewhere in her mind, she remembered her dreams, the dreams she had years ago. A city exploding in black fire. It was that moment. It was true.
Freya watched as Tony and Thor came out of the water and together, they flew up to the distant helicarrier.
They landed on the empty deck and Freya was surprised, she was still able to stand upright. Blood dripped down her chest as she walked downstairs, sadness and guilt pushing her down.
Downstairs, she walked straight past Nick Fury and the rest of SHIELD, straight past Steve and the rest, even past Natasha. "Wanda!", she shouted and supported herself on a nearby SHIELD agent, sudden dizziness coming over her.
Wanda turned around from her place at one of the big windows and worry replaced the sadness in her eyes as she saw Freya stumbling towards her. "Freya, what-"
"I'm sorry", Freya managed to get out before collapsing.
In her dreams, she saw everyone she has ever loved. Mum. Dad. Pietro. Wanda. Natasha. Dying, because Freya couldn't save them.
When she woke up, the first thing she realised was the bed. The mattress was incredibly soft, just like the pillow and the blanket.
She looked around the room. She was lying on one bed in a room of multiple, her head resting on a white pillow. When she sat up, she realised that the pain in her shoulder reduced to a dull throbbing and when she looked down, she saw bandages over it.
Outside of the window, the night sky passed by. How long have they been flying?
She turned to her right and only now saw Wanda lying in the bed next to hers, her red hair falling over her face. Silently, Freya tried to sit up, but she couldn't stop the silent grunt of pain that escaped her lips.
Wanda woke up with a start and sat up, still in her dirty clothes from the fight. She looked at Freya's and within a second, she was next to her. "Hey, shhh, lie down, you need to rest." Wanda put a hand on Freya's shoulder and gently tried to push her back down into the pillows, but Freya didn't miss the sadness in Wanda's voice.
"Wanda", Freya whispered, choking on her words. "I am so sorry."
"Hey, none of this is your fault", Wanda answered and sat down next to Freya.
"It is." Freya swallowed. "I... I tried to save him. I steered the bullets away from him, but I missed one." She shook her head, the sound of Pietro's body still echoing in her ears. "I pulled you all into this. I shouldn't have allowed you to come, nothing of this would have happened if I just did something." Freya looked up into Wanda's eyes, filled with tears.
"Listen, Freya." Wanda took Freya's hand, her thumb stroking over it like their mum used to do it. "I do not blame you for this. None of this is your fault. He knew what he was doing and he wouldn't blame you too."
"But I could have-" Freya got cut off by Wanda's finger on her mouth. She fell silent and a tear dropped on Wanda's finger.
"Don't." Wanda smiled for Freya, but her eyes were still full of sadness and grief. So young, Freya thought. And already lost so much. "It. Wasn't. Your. Fault." With every word, she tapped Freya's lips. "Don't you ever say that again."
Freya nodded and Wanda lowered her hand again, tears shining in her eyes. "Should I get Natasha?", she asked, standing up. "You got yourself a really good girlfriend, it took a lot of convincing to make her leave the room for some time."
"No, wait a second", Freya called out and took something out of one of the pockets on her suit.
The picture of her family was miraculously intact, only the corners were a bit damaged. Freya handed it to Wanda, who looked at it with an open mouth.
"How-" Wanda took it, her hand shaking and looked at the drawing. "I thought it was destroyed with the explosion." She looked back at Freya. "How did you get it?"
"I don't really know. A few years ago I dreamed that I was back home. And I found this in my room, and somehow I could take it with me." Freya took a few shaky breaths. "In that dream, I saw the explosion. That's why I thought you were..." She didn't have to finish that sentence.
Wanda looked down. "We were having dinner, the four of us. The first shell hit two floors below and Mum and Dad fell in." Her voice was trembling and she closed her eyes, probably trying to shut out the images in her mind.
Freya closed her eyes as well and went into Wanda's mind. She was lying under a bed, the ten-year-old Pietro next to her and even though Freya was just watching through Wanda's eyes, she could feel her fear.
"Pietro grabbed me and we rolled under the bed", the present-Wanda narrated and in her mind, Freya could feel Pietro's hand against hers/Wanda's. "A second shell hit right in front of us, but it didn't go off."
Freya watched as the shell hit the ground right in front of her face and stared at the name painted on it. STARK.
"We were so afraid." Freya could hear the voice of present-Wanda breaking as she was thinking about what happened. "We didn't dare to move in fear that it would go off. Two days long."
Freya ripped herself from Wanda's thoughts and stared at her sister, who still had her eyes closed. "We were trapped there for two days until HYDRA found us."
"Wanda, I am so sorry", Freya whispered and embraced Wanda in a hug. When she let go again, she asked: "A Stark missile killed our parents?"
Wanda looked at her, a confused look on her face. "How do you..."
"I'm sorry, I looked into your mind and saw the shell." Freya shook her head. "I am sorry, I should really stop doing that."
But Wanda only nodded. "Yes. Stark Industries. But I am sure that Stark didn't have a lot to do with that. He just saved billions of people. He doesn't seem so bad."
Freya thought back a few months ago, when Natasha was injured and Tony threatened Freya to torture and kill her.
"Yeah", she said and for Wanda, she put a smile on her face. "He's not that bad."