Hey guys please please go back and re read the first two chapters - I revised them up a bit but it's worth going back and re reading!
Let me know what you think!!!
Still under cover of night, they finally reached the threshold of the US, and by now most of the team were awake and enjoying the amenities that Aurora had stocked for the flight, while she manned the control deck.
"How are you holding up?" she turned to see Captain America himself, offering her a cup of coffee, accepting the drink with a smile, she took a quick sip before answering his question.
"Gracias……Surprisingly well considering all that's happened today, but I feel like a time bomb ticking away….." Steve's smile faded into a look of sorrowful sympathy filled expression.
"I'm sorry for your loss." She nodded leaning down to take another sip of coffee, then setting it down in between her legs for a moment to re-engage autopilot while she took another small break.
"Thank you- but I'm…. I mean I haven't quite figured out if it's an actual loss….yet that is." She stuttered out, sounding confused, her response seemed to catch Steve off guard
"What do you mean by that?" Swiveling her chair to face him, she saw that Fury was listening in on their conversation, looking just as confused as Steve did, she shrugged not caring who heard her at this point, all she wanted to do was vent her suspicions.
"My mom once described to me what it felt like to lose a member of your pack….. I hadn't ever experienced death with anyone in ours." He raised a brow, waiting for her version of what was sure to be an intense description.
"A pack is connected telepathically and empathetically, you can feel each other's emotions and when we aren't blocking that out to get a little privacy or quiet time, we can hear each other's thoughts. When you feel that connection be cut off by death its ……. Life altering. You feel their heart stop beating as if yours is going to stop, suffocate as they stop breathing, your brought to your knees howling in pain because of it. It doesn't happen often because we're immortal but…….. I don't think that I would have been able to survive feeling that 40 times in a row. Unless I'm mistaken...it doesn't feel like the connection is cut off- it just feels like static…… like they aren't really dead…… like this is just the beginning of whatever's going on." Steve nodded, slowly taking in her explanation, Fury behind him also trying to piece together any sort of answers in his mind.
"We'll help you figure out what happened." Steve said valiantly earning a thankful smile from Aurora.
"I appreciate that Steve, thank you." She said as she cradled her coffee cup in her hands, finding comfort in the heat that emanated from it.
Beeps on the control dash pulled her from her thoughts as they were finally within minutes of their destination, she swiveled back disengaging autopilot, gulping down the rest of her coffee before giving a reminder for everyone to strap in.
Like the flying pro that she was, she had no trouble at all landing in SHEILD's airstrip and making it into the hangar, in addition to turning off the engine, she also made sure to lower the guards holding her Tahoe in place.
Not wanting to bombard Aurora with anymore condolences, everyone filtered out of the jet, except for the guest of honor who tossed her duffle and luggage into her car and drove it down the ramp, parking it inside the hangar.
"Where will you stay?" Natasha asked, causing everyone to stop in their tracks, as they wondered the same thing, before Aurora was able to answer the question, Tony piped in.
"Stark tower in Manhattan will be up and running in just a few short months, red can she stay with you till then?" Aurora smiled at Tony's kindness.
"Yes of course."
"Guys thanks but that's not really necessary….." Aurora started.
"What are you waiting for a better offer from someone else?" Tony hinted, wiggling his eyebrows at Clint who was talking to Fury off in a corner, Aurora rolled her eyes and laughed at the constant teasing.
"No – Tash do you buy or lease?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"Lease."
"I bought a four bedroom condo in the city, if you don't mind living with a roommate, break your lease then." Natasha shrugged.
"I don't mind at all."
"Figure whatever you have to out, llamame cuando estas lista. (then let me know when your ready)."
After Clint and Fury finished there discussion aside from the others, and Aurora and Natasha had figured out their living situation, the two groups met up, mostly because Fury and Clint were eager to hear more of an explanation on this whole blood sharing debacle.
"So when exactly do these side effects from you giving Agent Barton your blood kick in?" Fury asked crossing his arms, Clint standing beside him just as interested to hear her response.
"Should've already kicked in." She answered nonchalantly as she typed away on her cell phone, making sure that all of the arrangements for her new home in the city would be made.
"I don't feel any different." Clint stated.
Aurora looked up from her phone, smirking at everyone's eagerness in seeing Clint's new tricks, instead of offering up any kind of verbal explanation, she opted for something a little more satisfying.
"Our man candy wants some proof – lets give him some proof."
Sliding her phone into her jacket pocket, she turned to open the trunk of her car, pulling out her tire iron, veering over at Clint for a second.
"Alright Agent Barton- think fast." She said tightening her grip on the tire iron making a stance as if she were going to charge at him, Clint furrowing his brows as she did so.
"Five bucks says she kicks his ass." Tony said to Steve before Aurora acted on her move.
"You're on." Steve had that same amused smirk on his face, reaching over to shake Tony's hand.
"Now just wait a damn minute." She smirked as she disappeared from the spot the she stood in, appearing right behind Clint forcing him into a headlock with the tire iron, using all of her might in a process that would have been fatal for any human.
Clint immediately gripped the tire iron, bending over and flipping Aurora over his body and onto the ground, she grunted out as she was slammed into the concrete floors of the hangar, p feeling it crumble slightly underneath her.
"All I did was flip you- that doesn't prove anything." Clint grunted out a little out of breath.
"Look at the tire iron." She said still laying on the ground, everyone looked down at the bent out of shape tire iron gripped tightly in Clint's hands, he looked down at it finally wide eyed seeing that his fist had been imprinted into the metal.
"Proof enough for you?" She asked as she pushed herself off the ground, dusting the dust off of her dress.
"Yeah…" He said still looking down at his hand.
"Just don't slam any doors too hard, avoid running in public and if you spar with anyone- I suggest it be with Cap."
"So what is Clint a werewolf too now?" Tony asked, taking the iron out of Clint's hand, inspecting it for any type of deception on Aurora's part.
"Nope, just high on demon blood." Aurora chuckled out, appreciating the Tony's relentless efforts to make her laugh.
"I'll contact you in a few weeks, give you some time to settle in before we start training." Fury said as he put a hand on Aurora's shoulder.
"Y a quien me dices eso? (And to whom are you referring to?)" She scoffed playfully.
"You know the rules." Fury gave her a stern glare, causing her to giggle at his seriousness.
"Chill out Tio….. I'm only teasing." She have him a light punch on the shoulder.
Aurora stayed only long enough to bid thank you's and and see you later's to the team before being the first to depart SHEILD's base.
"Should we ignore the fact that she's oddly…… well I don't know – peachy for someone who's just had her whole family ……murdered- or taken or whatever?" Tony asked as the Tahoe disappeared from sight.
"Looks can be deceiving Stark." Natasha reminded him, feeling worried herself for the young demon, they all harbored worry for the woman who had an even fiercer poker face to rival Black Widow herself.
The ride home for Aurora was pretty unsettling, she felt like a china doll held together with the mildest of glues, a fragile doll that was threatening to fall apart yet again with the slightest bit of provocation. It didn't matter whether she blasted music as high as her car stereo would let her, surrounded by her favorite music, or surrounded by silence; nothing at this point could cure the feeling of solitude was …….absolute.
She at least held it together until she finally made it home, if she could even call it that, she had known all along that she would come to this place as her new home, but with the understanding that she had her family to go back to- in the safe house.
Regret filled her heart, she had got what she had wanted for years, to move out in the city, be free from the clutches of being tied solely to her family, have some sort of independence in life- a path of her own. She had never in a million years wished for this, wished to lose everyone she had ever held dear in her life.
Not having a mate throughout the years had made Aurora restless.
By the time she was born, most of her brothers and sisters had already found their mates and already had children of their own; and even being passed by her nieces and nephews in life, made her feel like the odd one out. The yearn to find her own path igniting her throughout the years, separating from her family for years at a time in that forge, she would always come back. This was just going to be another one of those times….now she was trapped on that path – all her own.
The last of her kind.
Little did Aurora know, fate made no mistakes when it came to life, no matter the race; no matter the species….she knew what she was doing when she was writing for the future.
Stay tuned for 'Moving Day' !!!!