Wanda/Victor Creed

*** I own nothing. I'm just having fun. ***

Footsteps sounded in the darkened streets, approaching quickly. Victor tensed as the runner rounded the corner and slipped, falling hard onto the road. The boy - no, girl, young and scared - looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes from where she lay sprawled on the ground a few feet away, and breathed one word.

"Please."

Victor's eyes widened in shock as he felt the sting of his soul mark on his palm, and before it even registered what he was doing, he was stepping forward to intercept the teenage boys who'd been chasing her down. He grabbed the first by the throat and felt a fierce satisfaction as the boy choked and writhed in his grasp. The others pulled up short, unsure what to do, and Victor debated the wisdom of making the kill for only the briefest of moments. The soft crying from his soul mate behind him made him see red, and with a growl he crushed the boy's windpipe before tossing his limp body at the feet of his friends.

They ran.

He turned to his soul mate, crouched down in front of her, and she scrambled back fearfully. The rejection hurt, but he expected no less after what she'd just witnessed. Still, his nature had demanded he kill the boy who had threatened her well-being, and he couldn't regret it.

Looking at her now, he saw she wasn't as young as he had thought, maybe sixteen or so, and small. Malnourished, even. Her dark hair was tied back severely, perhaps in an attempt to hide her gender from those who liked to prey on the vulnerable. He reached for the girl and she cried out, huddling into a ball and hiding her face. She was trembling, shaking, terrified of him. He sighed as he realized how completely he'd driven her away with his bloodlust.

A shout distracted him, and he looked up to see a young boy rushing towards them, fear and rage in his eyes, and Victor grunted as the boy threw himself between him and his soul mate.

"Leave my sister alone!" the boy yelled, fists raised.

"Pietro!" his soul mate cried out, tears streaking her face and throwing her arms around her young protector. Victor stood up to his full height, towering over both teens. The boy, Pietro, swallowed hard but didn't back down. Victor could respect that. Foolish, but brave, to stand up to him.

He remained still and simply watched as Pietro slowly backed them up, keeping the girl behind him. They didn't turn their backs until they were well away, and Victor let them go. Better the girl go with her brother than with him. What could he offer but death and pain? His path was no place for someone so young. He looked down into his palm at the letters that now stood out blood red on his skin. How fitting.

With an ache in his chest, Victor put her behind him.

What am I doing here? He shouldn't be there, shouldn't be back in Sokovia, had sworn he'd never return. So what was he thinking coming back to the place he'd first found her? He used to have more self control than this, but here he was, weakened by his loneliness. How long had it been since he'd allowed himself to think about her?

A flash of silver caught his eye and he reacted instinctively, a growl tearing from his throat as he crushed the skull of the robot that had been hurtling towards him. The hell?

That was when the earth started to move.

He knew that boy, would recognize him anywhere. That face had been fixed in his mind for upwards of three years. His hair was different, lighter at the ends now, and he'd put on the muscle he'd been lacking before, but his eyes were the same, still filled with fear and rage and determination.

The boy was quite a bit faster than Victor remembered, as well. Still brave, but still foolish, and he saw the tell-tale twitch in the boy's body in the second before he started to run out into a hailstorm of bullets to save the Avenger and child.

Victor might not be quite as fast, but he was closer.

He darted out of his shelter to tackle the idiot boy just as he pushed a car in front of the crouched Avenger. Victor grunted as bullets pierced him, driving the breath from his lungs. The pain that followed was immense, a crushing fire in his back and legs, but he was pleased to look up and see the boy safe. He was staring at Victor in shock, though recognition sparked in his eyes.

Eyes that widened almost comically as Victor attempted to push himself up only to fall again, thick blood spewing from between his lips. As much as he tried to fight it, darkness claimed him.

Victor lay on a hospital bed, his body knitting itself back together. The doctors had done what they could to help, but his healing factor had made them fairly unnecessary after they removed the bullets from his flesh. He had his eyes closed, feigning sleep, knowing the boy - Pietro - was sitting close by.

He heard the door open and someone rush in.

"Pietro!"

Her voice. It was her, he was sure of it. She said his name with the same fear he remembered hearing on that night so long ago.

"I'm safe! I'm safe," the boy said. "He saved me."

Victor heard the girl gasp, then the soft sound of her footsteps approaching. His eyes opened and found hers as she moved towards the bed. She didn't look scared this time, but curious.

"I know you," she said softly. "I remember." She smiled as tears came to her eyes. "Thank you for saving my brother... and me."

Maybe it was the drugs the doctors had tried pumping into his system, or the way her green eyes seemed to draw him in so easily, but he found himself speaking without thinking.

"I'm no hero," he said gruffly. He watched her eyes widen in shock, heard her brother's strangled gasp, and grinned. She laid her hand on his cheek, so soft compared to him, so delicate.

"You are to me."