─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Avengers Compound
Peter's POV:
I watched as Mr. Stark put the device on Maia's head.
I knew that eventually they would discover her new powers, but I didn't think that they would happen this frequently. She just discovered that she has Precognition and now she has a new superpower that nobody can determine what it is.
She gives me a nervous look which makes me feel bad, I hated all the things she had to go through. I just give her a smile which seemed to calm her down but not for long.
"Hey kid, you okay?" Sam asks me as I turn to look at him. "Yeah-yeah I'm fine. I'm just worried about her." I admit as I sigh. He just pats me in the back.
"Everyone in the compound can tell that you both have feelings for each other. She'll be alright. Tony or any of us wouldn't let anything happen to her."
He was right.
Everyone had grown to care so much for Maia. Everyone treated her as if she was their own daughter.
She even grew on me. The more time I spent with her, the more I began to fall for her.
How could I not?
She's smart, beautiful, kind, talented, and she has an amazing personality.
She has it all.
Since the day I met her, I could tell that I had feelings for her, but I didn't do anything about it until today. I'm so glad that she said yes to our date because I seriously thought she was going to say no.
She had told me about her friends and her boyfriend back in LA. How she still cared for them deeply and I understood, which is why I thought that she still wasn't over the death of her ex.
Maybe she's starting to accept it.
Mr. Stark then begins to countdown, meaning that the experiment was about to begin.
3...
2...
1...
Suddenly, a screen pops up in front of Maia, it started to play a video of her mom.
There was a little girl there, who I assumed was Maia, and her mother talking and playing dolls with her.
"Emily! Say hi to the camera sweetie!"
"Hello!"
I look at Maia, I noticed that nothing was happening. I could see Mr. Stark sigh and then I could see that he got another idea.
He turned off the machine and said, "I'll be right back. Hang tight sweetie." He leaves the lab and I take this as my opportunity to check up on Maia.
I walk into the lab and go up to her and see that tears began to brim her eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey, It's ok. It's ok."
I understand how she feels. I lost both of my parents too, and I'm sure I would have the same reaction if I were to see a video like that.
"I know. I just miss her so much." She whispers to me. I squat down and grab her hand and squeeze it a bit. She smiles at me and I get lost in her eyes.
Suddenly Mr. Stark walks in and I let go of Maia.
I stand up and whisper a "you'll be fine" to her as she nods and I go back outside to watch from the window.
It takes a minute, but Mr. Stark eventually starts up the machine again and counts down.
3...
2...
1...
The screen pops up again, only this time her friends from LA pop up on the screen.
They were hanging out at the same house that was in the previous video, and it looked like it was Maia's birthday, which was in November.
She was opening her gifts and I could hear her friends in the background.
NOVEMBER 3rd, 1995
Emily's House:
Emily sits on the couch, wrapping paper scattered around her as she goes to open the next gift.
"Open that one! It's from me." Alex says as she grabs a bow with pink wrapping paper on it.
"Okay, okay!" Emily says while laughing and taking off the lid. "Awww, I love it!"
Reggie asks what it was as Emily pulls out two friendship bracelets and a set of matching rings.
One engraved with a moon and the other with a Sun.
She hands Alex the pink bracelet, while she keeps the purple one, and gives him the sun while she keeps the moon.
They both hug each other and Emily goes back to her seat on the couch.
"Here's my gift." Luke says as he hands her a small box while taking the spot next to her on the couch.
She opens it, only to find a gold ring with a small moonstone on it.
"Babe it's....it's beautiful. Is it..." Emily says as her voice trails off, still in shock of the beautiful gift she had received.
"Yeah, it's a promise ring. I know that we're not eighteen yet and we can't get married, but I already know that you're the one for me, you're the one I want to marry in the future." He says, not taking his eyes off of her.
Emily smiles as she simply whispers a, "thank you," still feeling speechless.
Luke grabs the ring from the box, and while placing it on her finger, says, "with this ring, I promise that one day I will be able to officially get down on one knee and propose to you. With this ring I also promise that I'll always be by your side, loving you til eternity."
He kisses her hand as Emily says,
"I love you."
To which he returns with an,
"I love you too."
•
A knot forms in my throat from not only the video, but from the yellow glow that appeared in Maia's hands.
That was her new superpower.
I could see tears falling from her face from watching the video, and I could also see that she still wears the ring that her ex had given her.
I didn't know how to feel. On one side I understood that they meant a lot to her and that she can't let go of her past life overnight, but other the side of me is jealous and worried that she might not be ready to start something with me.
Soon enough, Mr. Stark turns off the machine and the video turns off.
Maia's glow from her hands disappear and we all go inside the lab to see the results.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y. how long are these results gonna take?" Mr Stark asks. "Ten minutes sir." She replies.
"How you feeling?" I ask Maia as I get a good look of her face.
The sight breaks my heart.
Her eyes were red and teary, proving that the sight of the boys still hurt her a lot.
"I'll be okay." She says, barely above a whisper. I look at her hand and see the promise ring from the video. "Does it bother you?" She asks which catches me off guard. "Hmm?" I ask as she looks at me seriously.
"I know that...we haven't gone on you know what yet but...does it bother you that I still wear it?"
A part of me wanted to say yes and that I wanted her to forget about her past and focus on our future, but another part of me knew that would be selfish of me.
"No...it doesn't bother me. I understand that he meant a lot to you." She gives me a small smile and mouths a "thank you" to me.
Wanda walks up to both of us and checks up on Maia, making sure that she still had some energy.
"Can you make an orb for me, just to make sure everything's fine." Wanda uses her telekinesis to form a red glowing orb in her hand. Maia does the same, only her's is purple.
Wanda then tells her to copy her. She moves the orb around and moves certain items in the room.
After being able to do every task, Wanda was satisfied and hugs Maia before walking away.
"Sir, the results are ready, shall I read them aloud?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. asks as Mr Stark agrees.
Maia's POV:
"Based on the results from the test, it appears that no known superpower was a match. However, a similar energy source appeared in another state."
Everyone looks at each other with a confused look. "What state?" My father asks as F.R.I.D.A.Y. pulls up a map.
My heart drops as I see the state that pops up on the screen.
"California" she says as my dad gives me a questioning look.
"Do you have an exact location?" I ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. as she begins calculating. After about a minute she finally gives an answer.
"The energy source came from 2546 Forth St. in Los Angeles California." She says.
"That's the garage." I say out loud.
"I have to go back. I-I have to go see why this power is connected to the studio." I ramble as my dad goes up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders.
"Honey... do you really think it's a good idea to go back? After all, you still don't have one-hundred percent control of your other powers, what if it becomes too much and-"
"I'll be fine." I say, cutting him off.
"I'll just go for a couple of days and try to figure out what's going on. I'll come straight home when I'm done." He looks at me for a second until saying, "ok...I'll book you a flight for next Friday. Also Nat and Wanda can accompany you since they help you with your powers the most. Is that okay with you guys?" He asks them as they both agree.
"It'll be fun, maybe you could show us around." Nat says as they both go up to hug me.
• TIME SKIP •
After the events that happened today, I decided to go to the one place that always eases my mind, the studio that my dad made for me in the compound.
I had written a couple of songs in here that had special meaning to me, but today felt different.
My mind went back to the song that I had started yesterday.
I've never been this scared before; feelings I just can't ignore
I start to write based on those lyrics, and within an hour, I had a full song.
I created a beat within another hour and I was finally able to record.
I start to sing my lyrics but I eventually stop the recording for a second since I wasn't too sure about the next verse.
"Can I come in?" I hear Sam ask as he knocks on the door and walks in. "Sorry, I heard you singing from outside and wanted to see what was going on."
I sigh as I look at the next verse that I had written in my songbook.
"I really like how it's going so far, but I'm not too sure about the next verse. Do you wanna hop on the song?" I ask him, and he seems a bit shocked at first by my offer, but gladly accepts and goes to the mic.
"I actually used to freestyle when I was younger, so this will be easy. Can I listen to the beginning just so I can get the jist?" He asks.
I nod and play the beginning of the song that I had just recorded. I stop before he comes in with his verse and soon enough he tells me that he's ready. When he starts, I had to admit that he was really good at free-styling.
After his verse, he recorded some background vocals, harmonies, and we duetted together.
The song sounded perfect.
I thanked Sam for everything and he suggested that we should play this live tomorrow night for my dad's party that I didn't know about.
"My dad's having a party, since when?" I ask him as he explains. "Well he figured that since this week has been a bit stressful, he would throw a party to relieve some of that stress before you go back to LA."
I think about it for a second before agreeing. Singing this song at the party will be fun. I could even try to write another song while I was at it.
"Alright, we can perform this tomorrow. Be ready!" I tell him as he chuckles.
He leaves the studio and I add a few more harmonies and runs to the song before saving it.
I then decided to go back to the lab and look for the video that my dad had showed earlier.
It was my birthday that day, my 17th birthday which was a month before the boys passed away.
My mom wanted to make that day extra special, so she had invited the boys and some of her friends from work to join us.
I find the video and play it. It starts off with my mom trying to see if the camera was on.
"Is this thing on? I can never tell. Reggie sweetie, do you mind checking to see if this camera is on, I can never tell if I did it or not."
Reggie then gets in the frame and I could see him looking around, checking to see if the camera was on. A smile plasters on his face.
"Yup! It's on. You just have to check to see if that little red light is on, if it is, that means it's recording." He tells her as my mom thanks him.
My mom then points the camera towards me. I was sitting on the couch by myself surrounded by gifts.
"Alright Em, you ready?" Alex asks me as he goes to sit on a chair not too far away from me.
"Let's do it!"
I go to grab Reggie's gift first, which was a flannel that was just like his.
"You always tell me how much you love my flannel so I decided to get you one! I hope you like it!" He says as I go up to him to give him a hug.
"I love it Reg! Thank you!"
I stop the video for a second, realizing just how much I missed Reggie. He was like a brother to me apart from Alex.
Before Luke and I started dating, and even while we were dating, Reggie would always comfort me whenever I needed him.
He would also tell me funny stories about the boys and what life was like before we had all met each other.
I miss his stories, I miss his hugs. I miss him.
I play the video again and it continues from where it stopped.
"Alright my gift next!" My mom says as she goes to grab her gift.
It was a gift wrapped in purple wrapping paper since she knew that was my favorite color.
I open it and see that there's a picture of the two of us from when I was a little girl.
I was five years old, and we were at the park and she took some selfies of us on a disposable camera. I had always wanted her to print out those photos but she never had the time.
There I was holding the pictures with tears brimming my eyes.
"I love them mom, thank you." I go up to hug her and she does the same. We hold each other for a minute until she tells me that there was something else in the box.
Confused, I look in the box to see that she was right.
Inside there was a new microphone that I could use to record my songs.
"A new microphone?! Thank you!"
Everyone smiles at my enthusiasm and next was Alex's gift.
•
I officially stop the video since I had already seen what happens earlier and I knew that if I watched anymore, I would be a teary mess.
I look at the camera for a while before building up the courage to see if there were any other videos on it.
I found a few short videos of my mom and I doing things like baking, cooking, cleaning, and even singing karaoke.
I missed her so much too.
She was my rock for seventeen years my of my life. Now all I have are her memories.
I was interrupted by Nat walking in. "Hey kid, how you feeling?" She asks as she goes to grab a chair to sit next to me. "I've been better."
She gives me a sad look, knowing everything that I've been through since that night.
"I know it's hard, and I know that a million questions are probably going through your head. Just know that it'll all work out in the end."
I smile as I remember that Betty said the same thing about Luke and I.
I hope they were right.
"I'm just a little nervous to go back. I don't want my emotions to go out of control, putting other people in danger."
It was a scary thought, me being able to hurt innocent people with just a wave of my hand.
"You're gonna be fine. Wanda and I will be there with you every step of the way. Nothing bad is going to happen, promise." She holds out her pinky for me to take and I smile as I wrap my pinky with her's.
"You should get some rest, we're gonna go dress shopping for the party. You're dad also excused you from school tomorrow since today was pretty tough. We can have a girls day tomorrow with Pepper and Wanda, sound like fun?" She asks as I nod my head yes. She smiles and leaves the lab.
I go back to my room and plop myself on the bed. I sigh and place my hands in my face, so many questions going through my head but I decide to get up and grab some pj's so I could sleep.
When I do, my hands begin to glow again and another orb floats out of my hand.
The orb makes its way to a camera that was on my desk, one that was filled with videos from the boys that I had watched a couple of days ago.
Once the orb comes in contact with the camera, it glows and a video starts to play.
I had never seen this video before, but it was Luke in the garage and he had his guitar in his hands, strumming it a few times.
Suddenly another orb floats out of my hand and makes it way to my ukulele. I walk up to grab it and sit down on my bed.
"L.I.V. can you take the video from the camera and expand it please?" I ask her as she plays the video on a hologram.
As I watch Luke play with this guitar, I notice that an idea pops up into his head and he begins to strums the melody to a song that I knew all to well.
We wrote it when he had to leave to visit his family for a while in Denver. We each wrote our own two songs and combined them together when he came back.
I strum my part and I begin to sing the song.
(You can play the song above now if you'd like)
Maia is Italic
Luke is Bold
Underlined is together
I think of you when the wind blows
Every night, I've been countin' the days
I see your face almost every night
'Cause I just wanna be there when you wake
Sure, maybe LA is not close
Denver always seems so far away
But I'm still breathin' you in the air
But I hope you know that we're still close
Because
The best part is knowin' there's somethin' in my dreams that always makes me smile, it's you
Even when you and I are worlds apart, I hold you in my heart
The best part is knowin' there's someone in my life that makes it all worthwhile
Even when I'm a thousand miles away, I wish that I could stay with you
It's you
Luke's POV:
I was singing the song and I could hear her. It was almost as if she was in the room with me, but how? I just assumed that it was all in my head and continued because I didn't want it to stop.
I wish you were here
There's no need to be blue
Because
The best part is knowin' there's somethin' in my dreams that always makes me smile, it's you
Even when you and I are worlds apart, I hold you in my heart
The best part is knowin' there's someone in my life that makes it all worthwhile
Even when I'm a thousand miles away, I wish that I could stay with you
It's you
You, you, with you
You, you, it's you, With you
I wish that I could stay with you, It's you
The songs finishes and I smile to myself, we haven't sung that song since the day I came back from Denver and we decided to combine our songs together.
I still wondered how I was able to hear her, but I'm honestly just thankful that I could.
Maia's POV:
It felt like he was in the room with me. Us singing in a perfect harmony was something that I had missed dearly.
The video then turns off and I frown a bit, wishing that I could do it all again.
Wait a minute...it was a video. I could watch it again.
I go up to the camera to watch the video again, but I couldn't find it. That's weird.
Why couldn't I find it? Where is it?
I thought about it for a second before realizing that the garage did look a little different from what I remembered.
I think it was clean, which it definitely never was back then.
I think I also saw plants and fairy lights in there, which definitely weren't in there back then.
Why had it changed?
It couldn't have been a current video because the boys were gone and they definitely wouldn't have looked the same since I last saw them.
Maybe I'm just overthinking, maybe this didn't even happen at all, I'm probably just going insane.
Nat was right, it was pretty late so I changed and went to bed.
The duet kept on replaying in my mind over and over again. It was definitely one of my favorite songs that we had written together.
I even realized that the lyrics corresponded to how I felt right now, I see him almost every night in my dreams and when I do, it makes me feel as if everything's ok.
Even though we're probably thousands of miles apart, I still hold him close to my heart.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
AN: I just HAD to include the new song from HSMTMTS, it's so cute! I've had it on repeat all day! But anywayssss, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We're also getting close to the drama in this story and I'm really excited for you all to see where this goes! I hope you all have a good night/day! Love you all!
-El <3
[Edited: June 10th, 2021]