Burning Bright
Alice opened the door, a smile on her lips, expecting to see Marlene accompanied by her date of the week.
Instead, she came face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange, her vicious smile an ugly slash upon her face, the two men flanking her wearing silver masks. Her black corset was splattered with blood and the men's robes seemed to be trailing dirt and grime.
"Yoohoo, surprise!" Lestrange said in a girly, high pitched voice, and then lunged forward with a snarl.
Alice reacted without thinking, her wand in her hand and a blasting curse throwing Lestrange backwards out the door.
"Frank!" Alice screamed. She slammed the door shut and cast the strongest locking charm she knew. It wouldn't help - they were already inside the wards, but it should hold her off momentarily. She raced up the stairs, heart pounding.
Frank was standing at the top, Neville in his arm, and a grim expression upon his face.
"It's the Lestranges," she gasped.
"What?" Frank asked. Neville chose that moment to start crying, sensitive to the tension in the air.
There was a loud crash followed by an eerie cackle. Alice gasped, turning back the way she'd come. She stepped forward, and with a jolt…
Natasha woke up gasping for breath. She glanced about the room – it was her bedroom in Stark Tower, not a manor house in the British countryside. She scrambled out of bed and into the bathroom, the light automatically turning on. Staring back at her from the mirror was her own scarlet hair and green eyes.
"JARVIS?" she croaked.
"How may I be of assistance, Ms Romanov?"
Natasha didn't answer and merely closed her eyes.
For the past month, she'd been having startlingly vivid dreams about a life that wasn't her own. First she'd been a young child, and Natasha had thought she'd been remembering her childhood before the Red Room – vague memories of birthday parties and picnics – but she had quickly aged into a teenager and then a young adult, feelings and emotions developing accordingly and she'd known they couldn't have been her own memories. Not just that – the world that she'd dreamed had had a surreal edge to it, wrapped in magic and mystery.
Something inside her ached at the thought of Alice Longbottom's life, imperfect as it was.
She wondered if she was going crazy. The thought nagged at her, a frenzy whirling around her mind. The lights dimmed and one of them popped, the filament sparking. Natasha gritted her teeth.
"Imagine a fire," JARVIS said, his voice tentatively quiet. "Imagine breathing in the flames until all that's left is a tiny pinprick of candlelight, flickering in the dark."
Natasha took a deep breath and bowed her head, envisioning a blaze burning down to the embers. The coals glowed a soft red from the inside, the exterior a sooty black. She let out the breath and allowed serenity to take over.
"Thank you JARVIS," she said.
"You're welcome, Ms Romanov," he responded.
Natasha stripped, stepping into the shower. The water turned on automatically to the steamy hot setting she liked after a nightmare. There weren't any cameras in the bathrooms or bedrooms, but JARVIS had motion sensors and heat trackers. He truly controlled their entire living arrangements. Clint liked to mumble about Skynet, but Natasha found it reassuring. She'd always lived under the eye of a greater entity than herself, and of the three; Red Room, SHIELD, and JARVIS, it was JARVIS that she trusted the most.
The quiet strands of instrumental jazz filtered through the sound of rushing water. Natasha swayed gently to the music as she shampooed her hair, and smiled.
Alice was thrown backwards, a curse sending her tumbling into the wall behind her. "Run!" she called to Frank and scrambled to her feet. With a muttered spell she turned the staircase into a slide and covered the surface in ice.
Rabastan Lestrange had been halfway up the stairs and with a shout, he collided with his fellow Death Eaters at the bottom. Alice threw herself down after him, her own slide barely controlled. "Stupefy!" she growled, a flash of red spell fire throwing what looked to be Barty Crouch Junior to the floor. He did not get up.
She kicked Rodolphus Lestrange in the face, shattering his mask, before slamming into the wall at the bottom of what had been the stairs. She ducked around the corner, throwing up a shield that was peppered with spells only seconds later.
There was a loud crack, followed by the sound wood creaking – remaking itself.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Bellatrix cooed, and Alice realised the other woman had found a way to make it up the stairs. Alice took a deep breath and wiped away the tears she'd not even realised had been streaming down her face.
She stepped out to face Rodolphus and Rabastan, who were standing side by side, Barty Crouch Jr still prone upon the floor. Rodolphus' nose was broken, blood dripping onto his lips, but it did nothing to dim the hatred in his eyes.
"Bitch!"
"Blood traitor!"
Alice flinched, her gaze following Bellatrix as she climbed a rickety staircase of her own making.
"Reducto!" she hissed, but the two brothers caught the spell before it could do any damage, deflecting it into a wall. The wood shattered, the entire house shaking, and Bellatrix cackled with delight even as she climbed higher…
Natasha tumbled to the floor and rolled with it, springing to her feet with a wand – no a knife – in hand.
"Woah, woah, easy tiger," Tony said.
"Frank?" Natasha rasped, and blinked, realising she was on the communal floor of the Avengers' Tower. She'd fallen asleep during movie night, Cloud Atlas still playing away on the screen. Everyone seemed to be in various states of disarray – Steve was standing between her and Bruce, a frown marring his forehead. She slipped the knife away and clenched her hands into fists.
"Bad dream," she said lightly.
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." Tony crossed his arms, looking curious more than anything else.
"Are you alright?" Steve asked cautiously.
Natasha ignored them both in favour of checking her phone which had vibrated silently in her pocket. A flickering flame appeared upon the screen and Natasha quirked her lips into a smile, even though it wasn't truly amusing.
"Anyone gonna ask who Frank is?" Clint said. He was still lazing on the sofa they'd been sharing, but there was a bruise starting to bloom upon his cheekbone.
"Frank's the name of a man I killed using nothing but a toothpick," Natasha lied. "Would you like me to show you?"
She glanced back down at the phone and willed the fire inside her to burn out.
Clint snorted. "Nah, I think I'll pass on that."
"Gullible, darling," Natasha drawled. She blandly glanced about the room. Satisfied that no one else was going to make a smart comment she made her way toward the exit. "Goodnight."
She took the stairs to living quarters two at a time. The door to her room popped open and Natasha collapsed upon her bed.
"If I may be so bold, Ms Romanov, perhaps discussing these incidences with the team would help reduce their impact upon you," JARVIS said.
Natasha stared at the ceiling. She thought about the knife in her hand, and how she'd tried to wield it like a wand. She thought of Alice Longbottom, a fierce fighter in a battle for her life.
She thought of the way that Tony had looked at her, as if she'd been seconds from attacking him.
"I will," she promised.
Natasha shut her eyes but didn't allow herself to sleep. Sleep seemed to mean dreaming, and dreaming seemed to mean reliving a life that became more like another reality with every moment she lived it.
"JARVIS," she began. "Could you read to me some myths surrounding reincarnation?"
The lights in her room dimmed, falling to a soft glow. "Certainly, Ms Romanov. I think the most obvious place to begin is with what is largely believed to be the oldest living religion on Earth; Hinduism. One of the central foci of their religion is the concept of an eternal self' that is subject to rebirth, and how one's actions in a previous life may have repercussions in the next…"
Rodolphus cast a silent spell a sickly yellow that Alice dodged, flicking her wand in a cross to cast a suppressor. The spell boomed, but the brothers had evidently already cast the counter-charm upon themselves, and they merely stepped forward, wands raised together.
Distantly, Alice could hear Neville crying, and then suddenly silence fell. Alice bit back a pained gasped, focusing on the fight. Black flames spewed from Rodolphus' wand, joined by a silver mist from Rabastan's. Stepping forward to meet them Alice cast a Bubble-Head Charm and tried to figure out how to combat their curse.
"Aguamenti," she said, but to no avail, the water immediately evaporating into steam. The flames crept along the ground toward her, demonic faces flickering within leering out with manic smiles. It was Devil's Fire, almost as destructive as Fiendfyre but far easier control.
The silver mist seemed to fuel it, and so Alice called for the very air around her. She stood fast as a tunnel of wind blew past her, knocking the two men off their feet. The mist dissipated and the fire grew wild. Alice risked rushing through it, the flames licking at the edge of her clothes. She neatly severed the burning cloth with a few cutting curses and headed for the stairs.
Alice could hear the staircase creaking beneath her as she sprinted up them. Wood crumbled beneath her feet, and she lunged for the top, tumbling to the ground as the top stair collapsed. She didn't glance back.
"Locatus," she growled, and followed the thread into the nursery.
Neville was nowhere to be seen, but Frank was slumped up against a wall, blood trickling from numerous cuts across his torso.
His eyes flickered open when she touched her hand to his cheek, and he groaned, shaking his head, eyes wild with panic. "No, Alice, no!"
"Shush," Alice soothed him, but he only seemed to panic more. "Where's Neville, darling?"
"Gone, mum's got him," Frank rasped. "Alice!"
An unknown force slammed into Alice, sending her sprawling to the ground.
"Accio!" Bellatrix hissed, and Alice's wand was snatched from her grasp even as her head spun. "You've been very, very naughty!"
Alice was treated to a boot to the ribs and she curled around it, moaning with pain. She glanced up a Frank, who was staring at her, tears streaming down her face. He was sat awkwardly; Alice suddenly realised that his spine must have been broken from the way he moved, his legs completely motionless.
"Now I've got you, you vile little bitch," Bellatrix purred. "Time to talk, Mrs Longbottom. Tell me – where is the Dark Lord?"
Natasha awoke clutching at her head. She was in the med bay; she could smell the antiseptic and feel the steel of the bed through the mattress beneath her.
"You're not concussed," Bruce said, then muttered to himself, "amazingly."
Memories flooded back in; of staying up all night listening to JARVIS talk, of the call to assemble - a mission against Dr Doom, of a stumble, and a doombot clocking her around the head. They ran parallel with Alice's panic and the battle with the Lestranges.
"Shit," Natasha said, sitting up. "This is madness," she muttered, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Enough was enough. "Where is everyone?"
"Dr Banner is residing with you in the medical bay. Master Clint is cooking, so Sir is currently in the process of ordering pizza for, to quote 'when it inevitably goes wrong'. Captain Rogers is holding a discussion just outside the door with Sargent Wilson. Ms Potts is absent from the tower."
"Thank you, JARVIS," Natasha said. Bruce raised his brows.
"He doesn't tell me where you are when I ask him," he said.
Natasha smirked. "Maybe that's because I've asked him not to."
Bruce frowned at this, then waved her off the bed. "You're fine to go, just a small bump, thank goodness. This isn't like you, Natasha." He paused, biting his lip. "Is everything alright?"
Natasha bowed her head. "I've been having dreams… dreams so real they feel like I'm living a whole other life in them, and when I wake up, it's this life that's the dream."
She stood, back straight. "I'm going to tell the team about them."
Bruce looked gobsmacked. She cocked a brow at him and strode from the room.
The Avengers gathered quickly - perhaps not so surprising. Natasha quickly gave them a concise overview of her dreams and of Alice Longbottom's life.
"Magic?" Tony said sceptically. "You believe you lived as a witch, and you've got magic?"
To answer, Natasha closed her eyes and focused on the flickering flame in the core of her body. She imagined fuelling the fire until she was set alight, palms cradling flames.
"Natasha!"
Her eyes snapped open. Someone had thrown a pillow at her - Clint.
Her hands were bathed with fire.
"Oh, I believe you now!" Tony hissed. "Don't set my tower on fire!"
"Take a deep breath, Ms Romanov," JARVIS said, his voice perfectly calm. The other residents of the tower startled, but Natasha smiled.
"I don't need to, JARVIS," she said allowing the flames to burn out into embers and then fade until there was nothing there at all.
"I don't know!" Alice screamed between bouts of the Cruciatus Curse. "He's dead, we were told he was dead!"
"Impossible!" Bellatrix snarled. She then turned to Frank. "And you, you useless lump?"
Frank stared at Bellatrix blankly, and Alice sobbed into the splintered floorboards. She'd seen that look before - he'd retreated inside himself, never to return.
"Crucio," Bellatrix hissed. Alice flinched, but it was Frank's body that twitched under the curse. Not a sound left his mouth; he was truly gone.
"I hate you, I hate you!" Alice cried. She tried to move, to stand, to fight, but her body would not obey her.
Bellatrix leaned close, grabbing Alice by the neck. Her eyes spun wildly in their sockets.
"You were Lily Potter's best friend. You knew that dirty whore. TELL ME THE TRUTH!" Alice was shaken like a dog, Bellatrix's fingernails digging into her skin, creating fresh lacerations.
"WHERE IS THE DARK LORD? TELL ME NOW!"
Alice strengthened her resolve. "Fuck you," she whispered. "I'll never tell you."
Bellatrix released a primal howl. "You'll regret this." She raised her wand. Alice closed her eyes and wished for the strength that she needed to withstand this torture, wished that she was anywhere else, anyone else.
"Crucio," Bellatrix growled, and Alice screamed.
Natasha woke up with a shout. She ran her hands across her body, soothing phantom pains.
Electrodes were stuck to her forehead and she ripped them off, her skin overly sensitive.
"It's us, it's Steve," a soft voice said.
"And Tony. We're in my lab, just taking some readings."
Natasha glanced about and knew that she must look wild with fear and mistrust. The men were all stood several feet away, doing their best to present themselves as non-threatening. The lights were flickering; several bulbs had burst.
"Hey Nat, it's Clint. You're alright, you're safe."
The metallic and glass decor of the lab was vividly different from the house in which Natasha had just believed herself to be in. It was different. She was in Tony's lab. She was alive. She was safe.
"I'm here too. It's, er, it's Bruce,"
"Ms Romanov, please be assured that you are with friends."
Natasha took a shuddering breath and met each man's gaze. It had just been a dream.
"Alice - she's dead," Natasha said. She bit back a sob. "I saw it. The woman - Bellatrix Lestrange - broke her mind."
Tony swiped a hand over his eyes, pale-faced, even as Steve clenched his fists. Bruce looked away, but Clint was the one that stepped forward, offering a warm arm around her shoulders and steadfast, silent support.
"You - she - is still alive," JARVIS offered. "She's lived on inside you."
Natasha traced the pad of her finger along her collarbones then up to her carotid artery to take her own pulse. It was fluttering fast but slowly calming with each beat. She glanced down at her hands. They looked similar, delicate and thin, but were not the same. Natasha was an entirely different person to Alice, but both of them were fierce warriors who'd decided to fight for what was right.
Most importantly, they were and had been both prepared to give their everything for those that they loved.
Perhaps Natasha had reclaimed Alice's memories for a reason.
Whatever that reason was, she was determined to keep her family safe, no matter what it took. A fire burned deep inside her, and Natasha was ready to release it on command.
She'd burn bright in tribute to Alice's memory for a woman who'd stood strong against the odds.
Word Count: 2857
Comic Book Day: Natasha Romanov [Word set: mission, amusing, gullible] [Action: knocking someone out] [Character: Alice Longbottom.]
Chocolate Frog Cards Carlotta Pinkstone: incorporate a Muggle know about witches/wizards and magic into my story
Assignment #10 Women's History Task 4: Reincarnation!AU
365 Prompts 218. (plot point) Protecting Someone
Book Club Tala (word) safe, (action) smiling, (word) burn
Showtime 11. (plot point) Dreaming of someone
Lyric Alley 5. Came to weeping
Emy's Emporium 11. Write about a woman fighting
Cocktail Corner Ice Cream: archetype, someone cold-hearted
Scavenger Hunt: (word) madness, (object) black corset, (character) Bellatrix Lestrange
Insane House Challenge 58. (pairing) Alice/Frank