Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about the long wait guys, but updates are going to continue being kind of sporadic because I'm coming up onto the end of my school year which brings a ton more homework smh...
I know its been kinda slow so far but this chapter is where it starts picking up. For all those waiting for Peter to come in, this story is a slow burn so its probably going to be around chapter 15. Sorry! (Not sorry *cue evil laughter* )
I know these chapters have been on the shorter side, they probably will continue to be until around Chapter 5 or 6 as I am really busy.
There is a slight trigger warning as Arianna deals with some survivors' guilt and thinking about death. If you can't handle it I totally understand and right before it, I'll put another warning so you can skip over that part.
Also, if you guys wanted to know a little more about me I updated my profile and added a bio so feel free to check that out :)
Lastly, Thank you to for following/favoriting it means a lot! 3
Alright! Without further ado, I present CHAPTER 3: If I wake up and you're gone, what should I do?
" If I wake up and you're gone
What should I do?"
(What should I do? - Jaymes Young)
Chapter 3: If I wake up and you're gone, what should I do?
New York, America 2010
Arianna whimpered as she rolled over and felt something sharp bveneath her. Opening her eyes she blinked confusedly. This wasn't her bed. Or her home. It was pitch black and… were those shadows trees? She tried to sit up but instantly let out a cry of pain. Trying to take a deep breath to calm herself and think through the situation the curly haired girl instantly felt another jab of pain. Well, looks like breathing was out of the question as was moving. Lying still on the ground, which she figured consisted of dirt and leaves, she tried to think back to what had happened before apparently blacking out.
She remembered a plane ride to ….. America. Yes! But why? There was an event... Something happened… Someone died... Her grandmother had died and they had flown down. They must have gone to the funeral but what happened after?
Squeezing her eyes closed she tried to ignore the pain in her side and head. All her thoughts felt a bit fuzzy and every time she tried to grab one and hold on it escaped like that time her and her family had gone to the beach and Amara had tried to carry water in her hands back to their sandcastle's moat.
Gritting her teeth she forced herself to focus on one thing at a time.
They had been driving. Her dad was driving and her mom was…. Her mom was asleep! So was Amara. And then they saw.. No, she saw a shadow ahead of them.
It had been a... car.
They must have veered off the road to avoid and landed in some type of ditch or something. Arianna grinned triumphantly at being able to piece together the memory before grimacing from the pain. Apparently, she couldn't smile, breathe, or move. Great, that left her with a ton of options.
Suddenly, she heard crunching. It sounded like heavy boots and it was more than one person. Her eyes widened in fear as she realized how vulnerable she was right now. They could do literally anything to her and she couldn't defend herself.
They could be good people. People coming to help you. Arianna almost scoffed out loud when she heard Amara's voice in her head. That girl was too optimistic for her own good. Besides, 'good people' don't just hang out in random woods at night, clunking around in the heaviest boots known to mankind. The only people she knew that hung out in the woods were.. serial killers. Why did she even do this to herself?
She felt a pang when she thought about her little sister. Was she still okay? Was she… dead? The loud crack of a tree branch instantly brought her back to the present. Okay, deal with the serial killers first and then focus on her sister. Biting the inside of her cheek to muffle her whimpers of pain, she craned her neck to the side and tried to shimmy her body over to get a clear view of the approaching people. The noise stopped and she stopped as well but as she was moving her arms a stick cracked underneath her and she froze.
" Я нашел ее генерала" (I found her General) she heard a deep voice say quietly before moving her way. Furrowing her brow in confusion, she identified the words as Russian and was easily able to translate them. General? Who were these people? Last time she checked serial killers didn't have a general but, this was America, they were pretty wild as a whole, so who knows.
Realizing that she had nowhere to go she figured her only chance was to pretend she was either A) unconscious or B) dead. Squeezing her eyes shut as the footsteps got closer, she tried to slow her breathing to the point of imperceptibility, however, she almost suffocated so she contented herself with just breathing shallower.
The man kneeled next to her, and with a gentleness that Arianna didn't think serial killers had, checked her over for any possibly fatal injuries.
He couldn't have the Subject dying on his watch. She was too valuable to the General and if he didn't bring her back alive he had no doubts that General Morozov would kill him in an instant. Once he got to her ribs the curly-haired girl let out an involuntary yelp of pain. So she was alive, good.
" Она жива, но у нее сломано ребро и травма головы. Разрешение перевезти ее мэм?" (She is alive however she seems to have a broken rib and head injury. Permission to move her ma'am?)
"Разрешение получено. Верни ее к грузовику. Оттуда мы поедем на самолет" (Permission granted. Bring her back to the truck. From there we will go by plane)
The man picked her up bridal style before trudging back towards the truck. Since he now knew that her injuries weren't particularly fatal he was no longer taking care to be gentle and every jolt made Arianna wince. She was fading in and out of consciousness and the last thing she heard before passing out completely was something about a plane and a truck. _
Arianna blinked confusedly as she woke up. A blinding white light was searing her eyes and making her head hurt more than it already did. God, it felt like someone was banging on it with a hammer. Repeatedly. Trying to shift over in the bed she felt a sharp pain in her side. Oh yeah, the broken rib or whatever. As she sat there contemplating how she got here and why, a male nurse bustled in and immediately started writing stuff down.
"Uhm, excuse me?" she asked tentatively and the nurse glanced up at her before radioing "She's awake,"
Wait were they talking about her? God, everything felt so fuzzy and if she thought too long or hard on a subject her head started hurting even more.
"Excuse me? Sir?" she said more forcefully and immediately regretted sounding so aggressive. Oh well. "What's going on? Where am I? Who are you?"
The nurse waited patiently for her to finish with her questions before saying " You'll get all your questions answered soon, but I can tell you're in a safe place. You don't have to worry." That kind of made her worry more but her curiosity quickly overshadowed it. "What's wrong with me? Well, besides the broken rib"
The nurse checked his notes and raised his eyebrows before saying surprisedly "You have two broken ribs, a moderate bordering on severe concussion, and major bruising all over your body. You should just be happy you're not dead, apparently, that crash you were in was fatal for the rest of your family"
Her eyes widened when she heard what the nurse had said. "My- My parents, my sister… they're all-" Her voice faltered at that and she found that she couldn't finish the sentence. The nurse only nodded solemnly before offering his apology for the loss and telling her that someone would be in with her soon to explain what happened. Arianna wordlessly nodded and watched him walk out before going back to blankly staring at the wall. She couldn't think, couldn't talk. This all felt so surreal. Her parents were… dead? Wasn't it just a couple of days ago that her dad had promised to take her and Amara sightseeing?
(A/N Trigger warning) Amara… She was only seven. She didn't deserve this. None of them did. Why had she survived when everyone else had died. Why hadn't she just died with them? It certainly would have made all of this easier. The sharp sound of footsteps brought her out of her thoughts and she listlessly turned her head towards the sound. A tall, lean woman strode into the room. She had a commanding aura around her and Arianna dully wondered if she was one of the people that had been there to 'rescue her' not like she was all that grateful for it. If they had just left her there to die it would have been so much better. She would have already been with her family, wherever they were now.
" Arianna, Good to see you awake" The woman paused then, probably waiting for a response but seeing that she wasn't going to get one she continued "I am General Morozov and my team and I were the ones who rescued you."
Arianna raised her eyebrows at her disbelievingly "Do you expect me to be grateful to you or something?" she scoffed " If you had just left me there to die I would have been much happier." at that the brown haired girl let out a humorless laugh that sounded like it should be coming from someone much older instead of a nine year old. "Don't you get it? I'm an orphan now. I have nothing and no one. I have nowhere to go, so when I get out of here you're probably just going to drop me off at the nearest orphanage. Death would have been better"
(End of trigger warning)
The general paused contemplatively. If she played this right the girl would be on their side. If not, they might as well wipe her and start over, because she would be of no use.
"What if I told you that if you accept our offer, we would keep you here and train you. You wouldn't have to go to an orphanage. You would be effectively provided for."
Arianna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion "What do you mean train me? For what?" she asked cautiously
"Well… what if I told you that we were working to figure out who killed your parents? Our scientists are working diligently to solve the murder of your family. If we found out who did it, You would want revenge, wouldn't you?"
They were offering her a chance to avenge their death? How? What if they never found out who did it? What would happen to her? Everything felt like it was going too fast. After all, she had just found out that her mum, dad, her sister, everyone she loved was dead…. Which was exactly why she needed to do this. She didn't know how this would work out, what they would train her for, or who these people were but she knew one thing, whoever had been in that car had taken her family away from her, and they would pay. Narrowing her eyes, she looked up at the General steadily and held out her hand "I'm in"
Over the next few days General Morozov stopped in occasionally and Arianna grew to look forward to these visits and respect the woman. Sure, she could be blunt and scary but she was the closest thing to a mentor Ari had here. Every other person either treated her like she was fragile, an annoyance, or ignored her very existence. God, she couldn't wait until her concussion and ribs were healed and she could finally get out of this infirmary.
One day, it had been about a week since the general's last visit when she strode into Arianna's room. Zena briefly explained that her visit was going to be extremely short, but she wanted to tell the girl that she would be out of the room soon and they would begin her training shortly after that. Arianna smiled in excitement and the general nodded brusquely and was about to walk out the door when she heard the girl call her.
"General?" She paused then trying to figure out how to phrase her question without causing offense. She was grateful, she really was but she needed to know their motives. After all, who just takes in a nine year old, offers to train them for free and expects practically nothing in return?
"Why are you doing this? Doing any of this? You didn't have to bring me in, or save me or offer to train me or even visit me. You don't even ask anything in return so…. Why?
Zena smiled inwardly but kept her outward face serious as usual . She had been waiting for this moment for so long. This is when she would fully win the girl over and get her committed to their cause and the experiment.
"Arianna. We would have thought your mother had told you but apparently not." the general stated pasting a small sympathetic smile on her face.
"Told me what?" the girl asked curiously
"Your mother used to work with Hydra. She was one of us"