It was a dark night, and the moon was hidden beyond the treetops. The cold wind was tugging at her hair while the snow swirled all around her, stinging her eyes. Stars looked down at her, unblinking and indifferent to the scene happening beneath them, unobscured by any clouds.
Despite it being past midnight, she wasn't tired. She knew exactly what she had to do, her instructions were crystal clear.
The air was thick with the smell of iron and the fire crackled wildly, devouring everything in its path. She just watched as the flames danced, bathing the snow in an orange light, the only light source for miles. The sounds of children screaming reached her ears, but she didn't do anything about it.
She felt no joy, no remorse, no sorrow. All she felt was emptiness.
People scrambled through the broken windows of the building, trying to escape the burning flames. Their skin melted off their bones as they tumbled out into the snow, screaming for their life. It was admirable that they kept fighting even when it was pointless.
The heat burned her face as she watched it all happen. Then, suddenly a loud rumble could be heard, and the upper floors came crashing down, the walls caving in and the whole building teetered dangerously. Thick black smoke swirled into the air, covering the stars more thickly than any cloud any could.
If not for the dancing flames, the scene would be covered in darkness.
Most of them had gone quiet by now. Either they had been crushed as the upper floors came crashing down, or they had suffocated due to the lack of oxygen in the air, smothered by the smoke.
But some were still fighting. Crawling through the crumbling foundations of the building, not giving up hope. It was to no avail, however. There would be no help waiting for them, even if they made it outside. All that awaited them was a slow and painful death.
And even as the fire slowly died out, she wouldn't leave. She couldn't. So, she just watched it all burn.
There was something in the orphanage that HYDRA desired, and they would get it, no matter the cost. She had no other choice but to wait for the fire to settle. She needed to get in there before the authorities arrived, but without getting burned. Without anything to do, she crouched down and traced some figures into the upper layer of the thick snow.
As the fire slowly died out, running out of fuel to devour, she stood up and slowly walked down the hill, treading carefully. She glanced back to see how heavy her prints became in the deep snow, but considering the snowstorm swirling around her, the last traces of her would soon be eradicated.
The once high building was nothing more than a ruin now. Its roof was caved in, the windows blown out by the heat, and shards of glass littered the snow all around it. Something small and brown on the ground, next to the stone stairs drew her eyes, and she wandered over to it to pick it up.
It was a teddy bear, its fur scruffy and burnt. Half of it was covered in soot and it was missing an eye. But the other black eye was staring into her soul, asking her why she had done this. And why had she done this? Because she was ordered to, and orders were all that mattered. She carefully brushed off some of the soot from its ear and tilted it around and saw a singed tag sticking out from its back leg.
'Anya, my sun.' The tag said, half of it burnt away. She didn't know what made her do it, but she glanced upwards and noticed an open window. Something was sticking out of it. It looked like a burnt twig, but in her heart, she knew better. A child's last desperate wish to save their stuffed animal before themselves.
"At least you survived."
She didn't sound like herself. Her voice was hoarse, and it felt strange to talk after so many hours of silence. The mask over the lower part of her face did nothing to aid her in speaking either. Its design was almost like a muzzle, warning the subject to keep quiet. But she didn't have time to linger. Even if they were out in the wilderness, someone, somewhere, had surely seen the flames licking the skies above.
She held on to the bear and fished up the key to open the padlock to the chain blocking the grandiose wooden door. It clicked open, and with one hand, she slithered out the chain from the handles. Opening the heavy double doors, she was forced to jump back as something tumbled out of the entrance.
Bodies. Dozens of bodies.
They were almost completely disintegrated by the fire. Some still had parts of their skin intact, others were just bare skeletons. They were piled on top of each other as they had tried to break the doors down in their attempt to escape the flames.
The skeletons were the ones that bothered her the most. The black abyss of their eyes was emotionless as their jaws hung open, their quiet screams echoing in the burning silence. Even without facial expressions, she could see the fear etched into their bones.
A few of them were grownups, the one closest to the door. The ones who had the biggest chance to get the doors open. But the majority were small, fragile bodies.
Children.
Judging by the size of the scattered bodies and skeletons, most of them hadn't even reached puberty.
She moved forwards again, carefully stepping over their bodies and trying not to look at the half-burned faces of her victims. Their ghostly screams echoed in her head, even as she tried to shut them out. Stray fires were still dancing in parts of the building, feeding off the last remaining scraps of furniture.
Already having studied the layout of the orphanage so many times that she knew it as well as the back of her hand, she had no trouble navigating through the broken-down corridors. More and more skeletons revealed themselves as she ventured deeper into the building.
Some of the kids were still in their beds, their faces melted off as the flames had devoured them completely. Their skeletons had blackened, being in the grasp of the dancing fire for too long.
Even if the big fire was already out, the heat was still eminent, and sweat was pearling on her forehead. She did her best to block out the stench of burnt flesh and hair, trying to keep her breathing to a minimal. Weaving through the hallways, she soon saw the place she had been aiming for. The main office.
No.
She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to relive this horrible part of her life. Not once had she gotten to hear the reasoning as to why HYDRA wanted her to burn the orphanage to the ground. She could have just as easily sneaked her way in, considering that she wasn't much older than the kids there. But no.
Instead, they let her doom sixty-three children to a fiery death.
Pulling the office door open, she suddenly stopped with her hand still on the handle. The metal burned her palm, but she didn't release it. This wasn't happening. This wasn't her. She had already lived through this, and looking at it now, it felt like a lifetime ago.
It was a memory.
With great effort, like pulling herself out of quicksand, the blackened corridors melted away. The smell of burning flesh and wood got replaced with a damp, cold, and stony scent. A woman, her face pale and her face scrunched up in what appeared to be fear met her eyes, and she realized where she was.
"Hey, hey. Look at me. You're okay, you're okay." Keira said softly. Wanda's hands were trembling against her temples, so she carefully grasped them in her own and lowered them into her lap, squeezing them gently.
The brunette's eyes shot open, the red fading away quickly, giving them their normal green shade. "W-What was that?" She asked shakily. Her eyes were wide in fear, and she bit down on her lower lip to stop it from trembling.
Keira squeezed Wanda's hands gently, trying to reassure her that everything was okay. "It was... an old memory of mine. One I didn't even realize I still had actually." She said slowly, her gaze on their joined hands.
It was weird to have someone invade your mind, to dig up the deepest parts of you, the parts you thought were buried forever more. Sure, it wasn't the first time Wanda had dived into her mind, but it didn't lessen the strange feeling.
Wanda shook her head vigorously, pulling her hands from Keira's grasp and cradling them in her lap instead, anxiously dragging down the sleeves over them. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't- I didn't mean to. I was aiming for another memory, but I missed." She excused herself, her gaze firmly on her hands. The stormy sea that was Keira's mind was difficult to navigate on the best of days, and this day, the water had been more restless than normal.
Keira didn't know how to feel. There were certain parts of her past that she wished would never see the daylight again, but now one of them had gotten the spotlight. It was conflicting, because she knew that it wasn't good to suppress her past. "Hey, Wanda, look at me." She urged, her hand slightly outstretched, Wanda's warmth still lingering on her fingers.
Reluctantly, the brunette ripped her eyes from her hands and met the steely gaze of the blonde.
"I won't lie and say that the memory didn't rattle me, because it did. It's a part of my past that I hoped to never have to relive again. But it wasn't your intention to drag that memory to light. You tried your best, so who am I to blame you for a mistake?" Keira said softly, keeping the eye contact steady.
Ever since they had started working on Wanda's telepathic powers, she had noticed that confidence was the thing that the brunette lacked most. There wasn't anything wrong with her abilities, because Wanda truly packed a powerful punch when she wanted to, but when her confidence wavered, that's when it turned messy.
Wanda just shook her head, biting down harder on her lip. She didn't understand how the blonde wasn't reacting more than she was. It had been a horrible memory to just witness, so she could only imagine how it felt to relive it.
But Keira had been taught how to not let her emotions show, but right now, if you looked closely enough and knew what to look for, you could see that she was unnerved. The slight twitching in her fingers, the grey storm clouds in her eyes becoming dull, and her jaw clenching and unclenching, almost mechanically.
On the inside though, a tornado was tearing through her. She had buried that memory so deep within herself that she didn't even dream about it anymore. But now, the old wound had been ripped open, more old memories bleeding out of it.
It kept flashing behind her eyelids every time she closed her eyes, the smell of burnt flesh returning and disappearing with every single breath. There was a reason why therapy hadn't been good for her. She hated to relive her memories, which she had to do when talking about them. And most therapists weren't prepared for the horror stories she could tell.
Keira glanced up at Wanda, who seemed to be more distressed than she was. "Hey, Wanda. Listen to me. We're okay. It was just a memory. The past can't hurt us." She said soothingly, still with her hand slightly outstretched.
What if she thinks I'm a monster?
No. Don't think like that. Wanda wouldn't think that. Or would she? After all, what she had done was absolutely horrible, so Keira wouldn't blame her if she did.
"Only if we let it..." It was barely above a whisper, and Wanda's voice was quivering slightly, but she met Keira's gaze quite steadily. As if she was made out of glass, Wanda grasped her outstretched hand and took it in her own. "I'm sorry."
She was sorry for all of it. For forcing Keira to relive that painful memory, for knowing that the blonde had been forced to live through that back in the days. For not being good enough and succeeding in showing the memory she had actually aimed for. One that wouldn't have been painful.
Keira nodded serenely, her heart skipping a beat as Wanda grasped her hand. "Don't apologize. None of us have full control of our powers yet. And mistakes are a part of life. We gotta stumble and fall before we learn how to walk. I know you didn't mean to hurt me with that memory, so please, try to let it go alright?" She pleaded, not wanting the brunette to feel guilty about her mistake.
Mistakes were a part of life, and without them, you wouldn't have the chance to develop.
It might've worked, but Wanda could feel the twitching fingers in her hand, and she quickly deduced what it meant. "You're lying. Your thoughts betray you, and so does your body." She glanced down meaningly at their hands, a small blush creeping up on her cheeks as she became uncomfortably aware of their closeness.
Keira pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. "I'm not lying." She said firmly, releasing a breath through her nose. "But when a buried memory sees the light after so many years, I tend to be a bit unnerved. So, excuse me for not having my feeling completely under control." She finished, rather more harshly than she had meant to. So, she hung her head and let a sigh escape her lips. "I'm so-"
"Don't say you're sorry." Wanda interrupted her. "You have the right to be upset. I- I didn't think." She continued, shaking her head slowly, the auburn locks swaying slightly as she did so.
"So, wanna pay for my therapy bills?" Keira said with a lopsided smile on her face. The mood in the cell changed quickly, but Keira didn't want them to argue about who was in the right or who was in the wrong. Keira didn't blame Wanda for showing her the memory, and Wanda didn't blame her for being upset.
"Absolutely not."
They both just smiled softly at each other, resting their eyes on one another. It felt oddly normal. Like they weren't in the hands of a terrorist organization, but rather two people just stuck in their own bubble.
Keira slowly released her hand from Wanda's grasp and instead traced the lines of her palm with her finger. She felt Wanda tense up underneath her touch at first, but she quickly relaxed, letting her follow the lines without protest.
Just as Keira opened her mouth to say something, they were rudely interrupted as the door their cell swung open, slamming the wall.
"Topaz, come with me."
It was Alexandra, and behind her, a very stern-looking Dr. List. While the man was in his lab coat, Alexandra's clothes looked awfully casual. Keira didn't think she had ever seen her without a coat on, and it felt a bit weird.
Per automatic response, she was up on her feet before she even had time to consider the order, withdrawing her hands from Wanda's grasp. "What's happening?" She questioned, coming to a halt beside Alexandra and leaving a puzzled-looking Wanda behind her.
"That's none of your concern. Come." And without another word, the two scientists turned around and walked out of the cell.
Keira was right on their heels, and her mind was mulling over what the hell she had done this time. Were they worried about her behavior with the twins? Had she become too familiar with them, and they wanted that to end? They could just give her an order to do so, and she would have no choice but to obey. But this seemed like this was something different.
Wanda had gotten back to her feet, and her eyebrows were knotted together. "Where are you taking her?" She asked, hesitantly following the group.
Alexandra stopped in her tracks and leaned back into the doorway so she could see Wanda. "Like I told Topaz, it's none of your concern, miss Maximoff."