Wanda was crying. Quietly, in repressed sobs, not wanting to be heard.
The avengers were gathered around in the ruined living room of the Avengers Tower.
Tony was glued to his computer, checking the mechanics to Vision's body. It was expected, because Wanda knew exactly how worried the Iron Man was about his creation. Captain America and Thor was siting at the bar, the later drinking as much alcohol as he could stomach. Natasha, the poor woman, was staring at her phone, waiting for a call that might not even come. She was not to blame-she was just doing her job-though what crossed Bruce Banner's mind might be the opposite.
The Hawkeye she was so aware of was leaning against the sofa, stomach wound treated with the bare minimums. For a hard-headed man who had no qualm in fighting to save the world, the man doesn't seem in a hurry to fight for his life. He was just sitting there, slumped in the cushion, looking at her in guilt.
He shouldn't. It made Pietro's death that much harder to accept.
"It might not mean much," Clint breathed out. "But I'm sorry. And thank you."
Wanda let out a chuckle, but it sound painful in her ears. She wanted to say that it was okay, yet no words come out upon those lips; all of them stuck in the depth of her throat. Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to cry. She had cried enough. All she could allow herself to do now, was just to stand there next to her Pietro.
"There's no need for apologies."
The words jolted all of them from their musing. Natasha, the great assassin she was trained to be, was the first one to point a gun in that direction. Captain America and Thor raised from their seats, holding tighter to their weapon.
From the corner of the room, a young man emerged. He was clad in a black cloak from head to toe, his bare feet peeking from its uneven edges. His face was barely visible under the hood he wore, and what little's visible was nothing more than glowing eyes; green like the coldest emerald.
"Who are you again?" Tony quipped from behind all the machinery. "Who let you in?"
It looked like the man tilted his head, lowering his hood.
Black hair, wavy and messy like bird nest was what became visible first, before the rest followed. Typical western face showed—albeit thin and skeleton-like—but the devils were in the details. The contrast in his looks were more prominent, dark and light blended in one. The skin looked too white and pale in the light. His eyes, in the light, was sharp and prominent.
He looked dead, but at the same time, very much alive.
Steve lit up in recognition. "Harry?"
The man smiled. "Steve."
"You're alive! You-you're young!" The captain exclaimed. Wanda saw the disbelief written all over his face.
Harry shrugged, uncaring. "As you are."
Tony did not look happy to be ignored. "You know this guy?"
Steve brightened. "This is Harry. I met him when I was in the army. It was 41? 42?"
"1941," Harry stated. "You were a scrawny teen back then. Now you're all," Harry paused, gesturing to the Captain America in amusement. "Buff."
"Yet you look the same."
Harry smiled dryly.
"Yet I look the same."
The Captain looked at him; and Wanda tried to follow the changes in his look. It was first clouded with confusion, before morphing into comprehension, and later grief. She could not, for the life of her, understand what it all entails.
"This is not the life I want for you," Steve murmured.
Harry stared at him, bemused. "There is not a life you'd want for me."
Steve inhaled sharply, face wrinkled up to what looks to be regret. "I want you to love. I want you loved in return."
The man forced a smile at him, but stayed nonchalant. "I loved, Steve, and for what it's worth, I loved very much."
The quietness that came was deafening, and Wanda was forced to lowered her eyes at those words. There wasn't an ounce of love in those words, only the empty and hollow.
"Can someone tell me what's going on? Someone just strolled into my building like he owned it!"
"You're not human," Vision said in wonder. His hand stopped Tony from moving forward, while he himself advanced slowly. "Not breathing, not living, but alive still. And you're here since the beginning, and you'll be here until the end. It's fascinating."
"Glad someone's amused," Harry said. He looked at Vision, his bemusement apparent. His face crunched up in annoyance. "Not many feels it's fascinating, as you had said. Mortals, in a shell, are so hard to please. The living bored them, and the dead terrified them. There's no in-between. It disgust me, how uneducated they are. It would be better to have more beings like you, who appreciates the higher things in life. Alas, we'd run out of stones, and I have little time to play babysitter for more infinite beings. Keeping the balance was ever so hard with these children around, using powers however they please."
Everyone looked at him; some thoughtful, some confused. Wanda allowed the chills to run down her body. People with such view in life always have the power to back them up. And they were just done with one megalomaniac, must they deal with another?
But then his face suddenly became brighter, eyes running over them in childlike mischief. "Unfortunately, I do have hands in some of them. You cute childrens are so petty, that sometimes I like to over indulge. Boredom is deadly after all, and I have little liking for little deaths."
And it was at that point that everyone saw the indifference in his eyes. It was immediately apparent that this being cares very little; he thinks them beneath his feet, to play with whenever he can be bothered. Shivers run through their spine, chilling them with his cold indifference. But they weren't the Avengers for nothing.
Harry smiled at them all.
"Fortunately, I'm not here for you," he grinned. "I'm here for her."
Eyes snapped to where Harry hand pointed at, and everyone tensed in alarm. There on the end of Harry's finger, was none other than their new—and alive—recruit.
Wanda froze on her spot.
"You're certainly not going with her," Clint grunted. The scarlet witch appreciate how fast the Hawkeye jumped into her defense, but she doubt that he could do anything should this being strikes.
Harry laughed. "No. Certainly not. It is not her time." He walked towards the sofa of which she was standing, next to her dead twin, uncaring of how tense people became with every step he made. He stopped in front of her, bone hand trailing her face. "It is certainly his, though."
There was a thumping sound of something colliding with the ground. It was too loud in the silent room, and everyone turned to the source. Thor was kneeling on the ground, like a knight to their queen.
"My lord."
Their eyes widened in unconcealed surprise. Thor was one who jump head first into battles, who knows no fear when it came to war. One who cares little about repercussion, who braved the inferno to what he thinks was right. And this god just knelled without question. His face, whom before was filled with confusion just like the others, was now full of recognition. Even worse, his complexion was pale and his eyes wavered. There was simply no denying, Thor had recognized the man.
And Thor was afraid.
"Rise, child," the raven told him softly. "I need not for you to kneel. I don't require it from your father, and I certainly don't require it from you. I am no tyrant, unlike how your brother seemed eager to be."
"You know of Loki, my lord?"
"I know his child well," he said nonchalantly. He did not stop looking at Wanda, and his hand moved to caress her hair. He pushed her down lightly then, and the witch fell down, body weak and powerless against the man. Harry watched her slumped motionlessly, and turned his attention to the dead man laying on the sofa.
"What do you want?" Natasha demanded; she tried to move her body, but seemed unable to.
Harry ignored her, as well as the yell of indignation Tony let out. "Did you know twins shared a soul?"
"Huh?"
"A soul was split evenly, resulting in a near identical set of bodies. It was a natural phenomena. It is why twins shared a bond, Ms. Maximoff, because they were one, and will always be."
Wanda was quickly reminded of the agony she felt in her brother's passing, and gritted her teeth in pain. She wondered why the man felt the need to bring up the topic, when her brother was laying not even a feet away from her. It only brought up more pain, like pouring salt to an open wound.
"I have watched their creations. Each and every time. It was a particular indulgence of mine, I'm afraid."
No one knew how to respond to that, and it seemed that no one has to.
"I know a set of twins, Ms. Maximoff. And I cannot save them. Not from others, and not from themselves." Harry smiled, but it was a sad thing, a thoughtless tug of the lips. In his left hand, a black orb formed. It was dark and dull, a broken half of something more. Frozen, the Avengers watched as he put the orb into Pietro's mouth.
Without a warning, his right hand reached towards Wanda's chest. It hurt briefly, and when he pulled his hand away, there was a glowing blue string, seemingly unattached to anything besides her, resting between his fingers. He pulled the string towards Pietro, and witnessed as the Pietro's body glowed blindingly blue, before the glow dimmed and disappeared.
A few moments passed. Slowly, like a miracle they could only see in movies, Pietro moved.
"Pietro?" She called, voice cracking. She scrambled onto him, hands moving to hug her twin. "Pietro!"
Pietro groaned, cracking his joints like after an ordinary nap. "What happened?"
Wanda teared up in relief, elated that her brother was alive.
The raven was quick to move back from the two of them. The rest of the Avengers tensed, but made no move to stop him. He ran uninterested eyes over all of them, before blinking nonchalantly. "Well, then, I suppose my business here is done."
"Wait. Where are you going, Harry?" The Captain asked. It seemed that their leader had mustered up his courage, after all.
Harry shrugged. "Around. There are always things to do."
"You could stay!" He said, moving forward slowly to the divine being. "Stay, Harry. With us."
Harry smiled; a smile that hid and spoke so many things all at once. It accented his hollow cheeks and pale skin, drawing attention to the emptiness inside.
"Thank you, Steve. But I'm sorry."
With that, he put his hood up and melted back into the shadow. The rest of the Avengers stood unmoving for a moment, not knowing what to do. Then as if the moment breaks, they started moving about; Natasha and Clint quickly went to the twins to check them over, while Tony walked over to Steve to hound him up.
"Can you explain to me who was that?" Tony demanded.
The rest of the Avengers glanced at their leader. The Captain chose to stay quiet, letting himself fall to the sofa, hand covering his face. Knowing they won't get any response from him, they turned around to the other being that obviously has the answer. Thor, realizing the attention on him, exhaled soundly.
"That, my friends, is the Master of Death."
-end-
And it's a wrap! What do you think?