The first time you saw that flash of silver was in Wakanda, when he sped past Steve to grab you as you lost your footing on the slippery cargo ship floor and nearly fell to the hard and unforgiving ground a hundred feet below. Despite his speed, he slowed and stood you firmly on your feet, giving you a smile that you would likely never forget. It didn't matter who's side you were on, he wanted to be at yours and come to your rescue.
The second time you marveled at the silver ribbons passing by was in Sokovia, when he sped past you to reach Clint just barely in time to save him and the small boy in his arms. For just a millisecond you felt him pause to kiss your cheek as he flew by, his speed creating a breeze that pushed you back before you could reach out to stop him. It would be the final time that you would see that color; it was the final time that you would allow yourself to.
The third time you saw what you thought was that familiar flash of silver, you were just about to enter the tower, spinning to see the light that had caught in your peripheral vision. You shook your head, believing that you were hallucinating him; that your mind was showing you what you wanted to see, rather than what was really there. Pietro was gone. You saw him die. Your mind was cruel, and that was the only explanation.
"Hey, girl, where have you been? I was just about to give up on you."
"Sorry, Sam," you sighed, leaning over to give him your customary welcome kiss on his cheek. "I guess I lost track of time." You leaned back towards the door and looked down the sidewalk, hoping to see that familiar flash again.
"What's going on?"
"I thought I saw something, but I guess not."
Sam regarded you for a moment, trying to read the emotions in your face and seeing a hint of disappointment in your features. You had planned this day out together to do birthday shopping for Steve, and you had seemed really excited, so he was confused as to where your good mood had gone. "(Y/N), I know you better than that," he smirked, nudging you in the arm with his elbow. "Spit it out."
"I don't know," you sighed, shaking your head and still looking out the large windows, "I could've sworn that I saw Pietro. I'm crazy, right?"
"Right."
Your mouth dropped open in shock and you quickly reached out for his arm with a resounding slap. "You don't have to be so readily agreeable, you know."
"Then stop sounding crazy," he laughed. "Come on, sweetheart, we've got our work cut out for us. Steve is the hardest guy to shop for, unless they bottle freedom, justice and the American way into a nice cologne or something."
"They do, don't you remember? The cologne that they made for each Avenger right after New York?" A wide smile and a mischievous giggle escaped your lips, "his is called Patriot. With a name like that, it had better smell like freedom."
"If we can't find it, they've got plenty of other team merch. We can grab a tie, a Stark Industries jacket, t-shirts, shoes, and even underwear! Can you believe that?" Sam held the door open for you and quickly slid his sunglasses down over his deep brown eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I love Cap, but I can't have him hanging around downtown."
~~~
After the long day together, Sam took the bags of your shopping successes upstairs while you took a few minutes alone outside to catch your breath and look for that familiar color, hoping for just a glimpse to prove that you weren't actually crazy. It was a long shot, but it was one you needed to take.
"You're not imagining it."
You stood quickly at the voice you didn't recognize; it was cold and harsh, with an ominous tone that drowned out the busy city noise around you. There was no face to go with it, however, leaving you feeling even more anxious. "What am I not imagining, exactly? And who are you, anyway?"
"It's him. Pietro Maximoff is very much alive."
You felt your heart sink into your stomach and a slight wash of nausea come over you at the thought. You saw him die. You saw it with your own eyes. You saw Steve carry him to the boat and lay him at Clint's feet. You held his hand as it grew colder on the way back to the helicarrier. You felt him die.
"You're very much a liar," you huffed, turning to go back into the tower as your feelings of unease only grew by the minute. "And I think you need to leave." Before you could open the door, a small gust of wind pushed towards you, with a figure stopping only inches from you at your side. You squeezed your eyes shut and held your breath, opening them slowly as you turned your head and let out a loud gasp.
"Pietro?"
Before he could answer, and before you could even take another breath, you were lifted off your feet and had become a part of the beautiful silver flash that you had so desperately longed to see.
~~~
He finally stopped running at the edge of the city, hurrying into an abandoned building that was filled with moisture and darkness; so much so that it was hard to see him standing right in front of you. Pietro again swung his arms beneath you and lifted you onto a cold, hard metal table, reaching for the worn leather straps on each side to tie you to it.
"This should keep you secure," he said flatly, "until the procedure can be started."
"Procedure? Well, that sure doesn't sound like the first date I had in mind."
"Once we filter the genes from your blood, the ones that give you your power, we can study it for replication," he said with an uncomfortable flat tone.
"Why do they want it?"
"That's really not my concern," he replied with a slight sigh. "Once we have it-"
"Stop saying 'we'. You're not one of them, Pietro. You're an Avenger, and whatever they've done to bring you back and brainwash you has to be a part of something that you would never let happen. Think of Wanda. Don't you want to see her again?"
The name finally brought him to a stop, his hands resting just over the final strap to be tied to your wrist. He stood silent for a moment, looking as if he were deep in thought, though a pained expression crossed his features. "Wanda?" he whispered with a slight shake of his head. "Wanda...?"
"Stop talking," a woman with black and silver hair, dark eyes and striking, pale features commanded, stepping up next to Pietro. "It's time to begin." You winced slightly at the force he used to tie the final restraint, causing him to glance at you curiously.
"So, Cruella, how much of my magic juice are you taking?" you asked the woman with a sneer.
"All of it."
You nodded introspectively, trying to figure out how to get yourself out of this, with a teammate who had no clue about anything, apparently, and no way to contact your team. The best you could do was to stall. "Well, that sounds...a little greedy. You can separate genes with barely a drop of blood. Why do you need all of it?"
"Because it's the cleanest way for us to kill you. I don't like messes," she said, standing over you and observing with a distasteful look. "And we can't have you running off to your team, now can we?"
You looked at Pietro, who was still trying to place Wanda's name in his head. "It's interesting that you should say 'running'. How did you bring him back? Why him?"
"We knew he would catch your eye." She took a step back to allow another man to take her place and unceremoniously shove a wide needle into your arm. "Ugh, blood," she murmured. "So unsightly."
Only moments later you began to feel the dizziness of blood loss; much sooner than you would have expected. "Woah, that's really fast," you mumbled, closing your eyes to stop the room from spinning and beginning to feel the pain in your chest as your heart began to fail. "Really...fast. Pietro..."
"Wanda is my sister."
"Yes..." you forced out, fighting your body's demand for unconsciousness. "Pietro...get me out of here...and I will take you to her." Spots began to form in your vision, and you knew you didn't have much time. "She needs you...I need you."
"Don't you dare move, Maximoff," the woman scolded, but was stopped from going any further by the silver flash that pushed her down as he took your side, ripping the needle from your vein and the restraints from your wrists and ankles at lightening speed. Within seconds you were in his arms and feeling the rush of wind come over you again.
"Stay here," he said quietly, setting you down in a small wooded area to protect you from being found as he ran back to exact his revenge. You kept your eyes shut tightly to avoid the nauseating spin you would see if you opened them, but if kept you from seeing one of the enemy men sneaking up on you. When you opened your eyes at almost the last second, he was only inches from you; you raised your hands and gathered every ounce of strength to freeze the moment and keep him away from you. With your final push, you moved yourself out of the way and to the safety of a nearby tree before you released him.
"What the hell..."
Before the man could make sense of the situation, Pietro appeared and knocked him out cold. The last thing you saw was his face next to yours, staring intently into your eyes and asking you over and over to stay awake, but that was asking the impossible.
~~~
Pietro burst through the tower doors with you unconscious in his arms, yelling for help from anyone who could hear him. Tony and Steve saw him first; Tony spit his drink nearly across the room, but Steve was calm enough to rush to your aid. He would seek answers later and was focused on the task at hand. Bruce met him only steps away, trying to not stare too long at Pietro. The scream that Wanda let out could've woken the entire city, but it didn't phase you at all and it worried the soldier carrying you, picking up his pace to get you to help.
"Put her on the table, here," Bruce pointed, beginning to hook you up to vital sign machines to see your condition better while listening to your heart that was threaded in its beat. "What happened?" he whispered to himself, looking at your limp body. "Get him."
Steve grabbed Pietro and dragged him into the infirmary will a tearful Wanda trailing behind and clutching his hand with a fear of releasing it again. "Can you help her? They took her blood. So much..." Pietro's voice trailed, standing next to you and doing his best to block out the sounds of monitors so that he could focus. He leaned in closely to your ear and whispered, "I need you too, (Y/N). Don't leave now that I've finally returned."
Bruce had left and returned with bag after bag of blood, hurrying to get an IV in your arm and beginning to squeeze the dark viscous liquid into you. "What were they trying to do?" Bruce asked urgently, "who were they?"
"I don't know," Pietro replied quietly, his free hand now pushing the few strands of loose hair from around your face, watching intently for a sign that you were waking again. "But I promise to find out." For a man who lived at high-rate speeds and saw everything around him as so much slower, he was certainly still as he looked at you, now frozen in the moment without your powers to create it.
About an hour later, your eyes finally began to flutter and open; he insisted to be the first thing that you would see so that he had your full attention. Pietro kneeled down next to your head and gave you a wide grin at the sight of life in your eyes again.
"Hello, (Y/N)."
You tried to reply, but he put a hand up to stop you. "Thank you for making me see. I'm sorry about all of this," he sighed, waving at the bags of blood yet to transfuse into you. He stood slightly to kiss your cheek, being ever the gentleman. "But I promise you, our first date will be nothing at all like that."