04 // SCREAMING MURDER
"We are not watching The Lion King again." Harrison stated to his younger siblings as they sat on the couch.
"We voted and I'm almost one hundred and ten percent sure that two overrules one." Delilah's twin brother, Elliot, replied.
"Well I'm older so I have twice the votes." Harrison crossed his arms over his chest and smiled triumphantly.
"That' doesn't work on us anymore." Delilah and Elliot stated simultaneously. "Besides, Dad said that you have to keep us happy." Delilah pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "Please, Harrison? This is the only time I actually get to be a regular ten-year-old and not training."
"We're watching The Lion King." Elliot said as he got up from the couch and put the VHS into the VCR.
Harrison huffed and sat in the recliner next to the black couch. "You don't even like this movie." He said to his younger brother as he took a seat next to Delilah.
"But Delilah does." Elliot looked at the older brunette boy. "It was either this or Mulan." He pointed out.
"I'm naming my daughter Mulan." Delilah said with a smile, looking at her brothers.
"You've told us. Multiple times." Elliot pointed out with an eye roll.
Delilah was about to respond when her parents rushed through the front door, slamming it shut behind them. "We have to get out of here." Dexter told his children as Holly ran up the stairs.
"What's going on?" Harrison asked as Dexter kneeled down in front of his daughter. "Is it Hydra?"
Dexter nodded as he looked at Delilah. "Listen sweetheart, there are some bad people after us. If I tell you to scream, you need to do it."
"But Mom said—"
"It doesn't matter what Mom said." Dexter cut the strawberry blonde off, looking her in the eyes. "You do as I say, are we clear?" Delilah nodded her head quickly. "Good. If anything happens to me, just know that I love you more than anything." He looked at his two sons. "All of you." Dexter kissed his daughters forehead.
Dexter was about to stand up when there were gunshots outside. "It looks like they found us." He grabbed his youngest children and tucked each of them under his arms as he ducked. Someone shot the window in living room, making the glass shatter and more bullets come through. Dexter ran the best he could hunched over while trying to protect the twins and making sure Harrison was behind him.
"Holly, we have to go!" Dexter called up the stairs. "Go out to the garage. If someone is out there that you don't know, scream." He told Delilah. "Don't even think about hesitating." The father sighed, knowing this would most likely be the last time he would see his children, at least in this life. He pulled three envelopes out of his jacket and handed each one to the designated child. "Don't open these until you're safe. Phil should be here soon." He rushed out, trying to say everything he wanted in the limited amount of time he had.
"Why does this feel like a goodbye?" Delilah questioned, tears running down her cheeks.
Dexter gave Delilah a sad smile. "It's not a goodbye, baby. I'll see you again one day."
Someone kicked the red front door down, revealing men that resembled a S.W.A.T. team. "Give it up, Dexter. We found you. Now it's time to hand over the kids so no one gets hurt."
Dexter looked at his oldest son, nodding at him. "You'll never lay a hand on my children if I have anything to do with it." He said to the man as Harrison pushed his siblings down the hall.
"That can be arranged." The man said before firing his gun, shooting Dexter right through the chest.
"NO!" Delilah screamed and tried to run to her father who was now lying on the hardwood floor, blood leaking from his chest.
"We have to go!" Harrison picked Delilah up and ran to the back door, only to be greeted by more men.
"Scream." Elliot said quickly as Harrison set Delilah on her feet again. He grabbed his twins hand an squeezed. "Del, scream."
Delilah did as her brother told. As soon as she opened her mouth the scream rippled through her small body, the sound was deafening. It was so loud and high that everyone in the city of Fairbanks could feel it in their chest as their ears started to bleed. Delilah felt the house vibrate under her feet and every living thing around her drop to the ground.
Delilah stopped screaming after a few seconds, all her energy was gone. She dropped to her knees next to Elliot, trying to catch her breath. "Elli?" She asked in a scratchy voice, shaking her twin.
"I might be with Dad sooner than he expected." Elliot chocked out, blood spewing out as he spoke.
"No, no! You can't die on me!" Delilah sobbed and looked at Harrison, his face was covered in blood from it coming out of his ears, eyes and mouth. "Elliot, you're all I have left, you can't leave me!" Delilah watched as her twin tried his best to grip her hand.
"You have Nana and don't worry, you'll be fine. I'm your twin, I would know." Elliot said as he took his last breath.
Delilah's head fell on her twin's chest as she sobbed. She felt every death that she had caused but Elliot's was the one that made her feel like her heart was ripped out of her chest. No matter how cheesy it was, Elliot was always her other half. He was the only one that she could count on no matter what the situation was and she caused his death.
Delilah woke up screaming, it wasn't her supersonic scream. It was a horrified scream, one you hear when someone is so terrified that they almost can't make a sound. Delilah sighed when she looked around her room, knowing it was only a memory. Although it wasn't a good memory, it was easier for her than reliving it completely.
"Fucking hell." Delilah ran her hands through her disheveled hair. She got out of her bed and paced around the small room. She knew she wasn't getting back to sleep for the rest of the night, she never did when she had nightmares. Delilah jumped when the metal door to the room flew open. "Jesus Christ!" She put her hand over her heart, as if that would slow it down.
"Everything okay in here?" Steve asked as he looked around the room before looking at Delilah.
"That was one hell of a scream." Natasha said as she followed Steve's actions.
"That's nothing compared to what she can do." Phil pointed out as he pushed his way through the crowd of people. "Are you okay?" He asked, pulling his godchild into his chest when he saw her tears. Delilah wrapped her arms around him, getting some amount of comfort from the hug.
"I sure hope so, some of us need our beauty sleep." Tony pointed out from the back of the crowd. "I'm talking about you, Dr. Banner."
"Oh, you're hilarious." Bruce sassed back to Tony.
"I'm fine." Delilah assured, ignoring Tony and Bruce. "Listen to the Tin Man and go get some sleep." She said, pulling away from Phil and smiling up at him.
"Maybe I should stay with you." Phil said, not completely convinced.
"It was just a bad dream, go back to bed." Delilah sighed and looked around at everyone. "I'm sorry, I don't usually scream."
Phil sighed and rubbed Delilah's back comfortingly. "Alright, I'll see you in the morning. I love you, kid." He said before kissing her head and making his way out of the room.
"I love you, too." Delilah said as everyone slowly left the hallway and room besides Steve. "What?" She asked, looking up at the blonde man.
"Are you sure you're okay?" The super soldier asked as he looked at Delilah. She didn't look fine; she looked like she just barely survived a train wreck with her wild hair and tear stained cheeks along with her wide eyes, but she still looked beautiful. Delilah could be a zombie and Steve would still think she was beautiful.
"I'm fine, Spangles. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before." Delilah waved her hand at Steve. "Don't worry about me."
"What was it about?" Steve asked cautiously, not knowing if he should ask the question.
"Just reliving the death of my family. Same old, same old." Delilah said sarcastically.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not necessarily." Delilah responded quickly.
Steve nodded in understanding and walked towards the door. "Well goodnight, ma'am."
"Don't call me ma'am." Delilah said causing Steve to stop in his tracks. "Just call me Delilah, please. Ma'am is so old fashioned and makes me feel like my grandma." She said without thinking. "Shit. Sorry." Delilah said, cringing at her words.
"It's fine, ma-" Steve stopped himself when he saw the look on Delilah's face. "Delilah." He corrected with a smile.
Delilah watched Steve walk through the doorway, ready to close the door. "Actually, could you stay with me? I don't feel like being alone right now."
Steve furrowed his brows. "I can go get Coulson."
Delilah shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I love him but he has enough to worry about. It's fine, you don't have to stay I just—"
"No, it's fine." Steve said, stepping back into the room. "I don't have a problem with staying." He looked around the room, not knowing what else to do.
Delilah walked back to her bed and sat down. "You can sit on the bed. You're not gonna get any kind of disease." Delilah pointed out.
Steve slowly made his way over to the bed and sat down next to Delilah. "Is there any particular reason why you want me to stay?" He asked, looking at the strawberry blonde who raised a brow at him. "I'm sure your great company but I don't understand why—"
"Steve?" Delilah cut the man off, "shut up. You're rambling." Delilah laughed at Steve's expression. "I think it's cute." She gave him a smile before shrugging. "You're really the only person I know here besides Phil and Natasha. I kind of know Fury but he's not the best company for this."
Steve felt his face heat up when Delilah called his rambling cute. "I know you're not okay." He said. "You wouldn't be crying if you were okay." He pointed out.
"Yeah, that tends to happen when you relive killing thousands of people, including your family." Delilah felt the tears well up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, it was a stupid to ask you to stay." She said as she looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears from coming. "It's all my fault."
Steve's eyes went wide at Delilah's tears, not knowing what to do. "No, it's fine! I'm glad you asked me to stay. And It wasn't your fault, at least from what I know." He looked around the room for a moment before looking back at Delilah. "Do you want a hug?"
Delilah let out a laugh at Steve's awkwardness and looked up at him. "Could you be anymore awkward?" She asked.
"I don't think this is the most awkward I've ever been." Steve let out a short laugh before Delilah put her head on his shoulder. "Oh, okay."
"Please don't take this the wrong way but when was the last time you had an actual conversation with a female?"
"The last time I had a conversation this long with one was with Edith."
"She always talked about you." Delilah said as she took her head off Steve's shoulder. "I hope you don't think I'm her. I love my Nana more than anything, aside from my twin brother, but I'm not like her."
"Trust me, in the day that I've known you I know that you're not like her." Steve smiled down at the tired female. Delilah was more blunt than Edith was, Edith was also a little bit nicer but that didn't bother Steve, he kind of liked it. "The sarcasm seems to run in the family though."
"You have no idea." Delilah grabbed Steve's hand and squeezed it before looking up at him. "Thank you for staying with me. I know you don't want to be with a crying mess like me." Delilah wiped her eyes with her free hand.
Steve looked down at Delilah's hand that was resting on top of his. He didn't know what to do, he didn't even know how to comfort her, let alone what to do when she was touching him. He decided to squeeze the strawberry blonde's hand in comfort. "You are the furthest thing from ugly, Delilah. Even when you cry."
*****
not edited but when is it ever?
the stelilah feels are so strong uGh they're precious and yeah, this chapter is basically focused on delilah's family death, you'll see what the letter says one day, maybe in the next book