Then his voice echoed, and suddenly I wasn't lying in his arms anymore. I was standing behind him. Crying.
"Eliza?" I heard him whisper.
I walked up closer. I could see my eyes. Cold and dead staring up at the sky.
"Eliza wake up." He muttered.
"Wake up. You have to wake up, they're here, you'll be fine. You're not gone. You can't be. We're supposed to have our forever." He choked out.
I felt tears falling down my face even now. I knelt down beside him putting my hand on his shoulder which surprisingly didn't go through. I rubbed small circles, unknowing if he could feel it or not.
"I will always be with you," I whispered to him. And then finally. For the last time.
"I love you." I traced my fingers on his face for a moment and left a kiss on his cheek knowing it probably felt like a gust of cool air going past him. He looked up and back.
He looked straight at me.
Or should I say straight through me.
I watched him pull my limp body closer and nuzzle his face into my neck.
I heard him muttering.
"You can't be gone. You're still here. This isn't real it's a nightmare. A real and cruel nightmare. I'll wake up next to you, sleeping peacefully beside me. Nothing wrong with you at all."
Sadly that couldn't be further from the truth. But it broke me. I finally fell to my knees and cried. I was dead. I could never tell him I loved him anymore. No more goodnight kisses. No more pillow fights. No more after mission showers where we just stood together, just helping wash each other off. No more stargazing on the tower roof. No more stealing his shirts and hoodies. No more teasing each other. No more relationship.
I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I looked up and then behind me and saw Pietro.
I looked at him and then glanced over to see his body with multiple bullet holes in it.
"You are not alone. I am gone too." He said. We were alone. Together, dead. But no longer with our loved ones. Where we wished, we could be.
I quickly stood and looked at him. Him towering over me and seeming almost solid but when you moved you could see the transparency.
"I don't like being gone," I said.
"Neither do I." He responded.
Pietro and I watched as Steve carried me to the Heli-carrier. And then we watched as they took him and laid him down on there as well.
We watched with sadness in our eyes. Steve was still holding my body in his arms. It was like he thought I would suddenly just start breathing and moving again. But I wouldn't. Because I was gone for good. And nothing was ever changing that.
Pietro and I exchanged sad glances as we watched the new few scenes unfold. Wanda stood beside Pietro's body and looked down at it tears forming in her eyes. She knelt down and shut his eyes. She sat in the seat his body was in front of. He put her face in her hand. She looked devastated. And that's when Pietro broke our silence.
"I can feel it." He whispered.
"Her grief, her anger, everything." He murmured, his eyes locked on his sister he had just teased about being 12 minutes older just minutes ago.
I looked at Steve who was once again still holding me in his arms. He brought my hand up to his face even if it was cold and unmoving. Natasha stopped in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder, said a few words, and then shut my eyes. I looked like I was sleeping.
Steve finally opened his eyes again and looked at me. He had a small, sad, smile on his face.
"It's almost like she's just sleeping." He mutters. He then shakes his head and gets a depressed look on his face. I finally looked away unable to stand watching him anymore. That's when I locked eyes with Thor. He nodded towards me. It was like he could see me.
Wait, he could see me.
I quickly pointed to myself and said me unknowing if he could hear me as well. He nodded and then nodded towards Pietro. What does this mean for us now? We quickly walked toward the Heli-carrier and stepped on avoiding people even if we weren't physically standing in their way anymore.
We stood around, not getting tired at all until we got the people to safety and followed the team back to the jet and back to the new facility.
All we had to do now was find Thor.
But while Pietro and I were looking around and trying to find him, I felt this wave, of grief, anger, sadness, and much more, wash over me. This must've been what Pietro was talking about.
I think Steve finally realized and possibly accepted that I was gone.
What would happen to us? Pietro and I? Would we just stay here until we passed on? We'd stay stuck together in this limbo between life and death?
I never thought things would turn out like this, but they did.
Pietro and I continued to walk around looking for Thor. And we finally found him. He was in the small morgue the facility had. He was standing in between us. He was in the middle of the metal carts with our bodies on them.
His eyes were shut, and he was whispering words in Asgardian that we couldn't make out. His hands were extended out over us, and Pietro and I gave each other a weird look because what was he doing?
Slowly he lowered his hands. He looked up at us and smiles just so slightly. But he still looked sad.
"Friends," he spoke "I am happy to be able to say I can bring you back, but only one of you. The choice is up to you."
Pietro and I looked at each other.
"Pietro you need to do it. Go with him. Your sister has lost everyone she can't lose you; you're her other half. Please go with him."
"No. I have to decline. Thor, you will take her. My sister is strong, and I have faith in her. She can grow better, and she has a new family, even if I am not in it. Eliza, you deserve to go. My sister has time; she can grieve; she has the time. Captain does not. He needs to have you there with him because without you, he will become more reckless and he will meet his inevitable end soon if you do not go with Thor. The team needs their leader. And he needs you. Go." His accent was getting stronger as he kept talking.
"Pietro I can't possibly-"
"You are. No objections. They need their leader, and he needs you."
I parted my lips to say something, but nothing came out. Pietro gave me a look that had sadness written all over it.
"Go." He said. "For me, for Steve. For my sister. Please. She will understand." He sounded broken.
"I will." I hugged Pietro and thanked him and promised him that he didn't die for anything. And that I would prove that he didn't die in vain.
I watched as Thor nodded and put a shell of some sort around my body. It slowly started disappearing, and the world around me started changing, and I saw Pietro fading more and more until my surroundings were solid.
I was in Asgard.
We were in a strange room. The lights were dim and on a table in the middle of the room, still encased in the shell Thor placed around, was my body.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"It is a place that has healing abilities. Alone it would take thousands of years. But with assistance, it can take a few months."
"Really?" I asked my hope growing. I could live. I could see Steve again.
"Yes. But there is a catch. A month here is a year on Earth. So while this would take three maybe four months on Earth, it would translate to three to four years."
"Oh." I felt myself falter despite having no physical body.
"I know it is a large price to pay just to live but in the end, Lady Eliza, I promise it will be worth it. I can promise you that." He looked at me like he was asking if I still wanted to do this. And I do. Nothing is going to make me hesitate. I have to do this for Steve, for Pietro, I promised him I would do this, so I'm going to. I nodded in response and spoke again.
"Okay, what do I have to do?"
"Here, come stand over here." He guided me to a small puddle of water that looked like it was glowing.
"Stand here. Once I activate it, you will go into a trance, and the healing process will start. Tomorrow, the healers will come and start their work. In four months you will be ready, and you will no longer be a spiritual entity, you will be back in your physical body, but don't move until I come and deactivate it. Time may seem like it won't pass quickly but it will."
I nodded and stepped into the puddle of glowing water. I looked around and then back at my body. Then he activated it.
He was right. Time did pass quickly.
However a little too much passed.
When I woke up from the trance, I was staring up at Thor, who was battered and bruised.
"Lady Eliza. You were to be done in three months, but something happened. War broke out, and your healing was delayed. It's been six months, therefore, six years. And I regret to inform you that last time I visited Earth the patriotic one in the middle of a mission, disappeared."
"W-what?" I sat up instantly.
"Is he okay, though? Is he at least alive?"
"Yes, but he is not responding to his teammate's pleas. I told them about you, as soon as you're back they're sending you to find him."
"Good I want to see him. What about Pietro though? What happened to him?"
"I helped him pass on. His sister got to talk to him one last time. She even got to embrace him for a moment, but now she has the Vision. She has found comfort in him."
"Good, he deserves to get his peacefulness."
"Now come, we must get back to your home." He put his arm on my shoulder, and the surrounding areas turned into the Avengers tower. Then we solidified, and he guided me to the team.