An arrow landed in the rocks before my face, I threw myself on my back, the wind being knocked out of my lungs. The demons surrounding the arena laughed while I gritted my teeth and forced myself back up. My fingers curled tighter around the hilt of my sword, bloody from fighting demons.
My clothes, black pants and a black tank top with black combat boots were stained with blood and dirt. Holes and tears from fighting peppered the clothes, skin, and hair. My once shiny silver waves were now cut shoulder length and no longer shined in the light. My silver eyes looked around the cage, I could make out the shapes of demons by the bright light, but I could make no distinction between each one. My powers were long gone, when my soul was taken by Crowley.
I thought torture would be my life sentence, but no. I had traded my life for a Winchester, I would get nothing easy. I had been fighting almost everyday in this arena. Where old blood, sweat, and the feel of adrenaline where a constant. Sometimes Crowley would make himself known, he would come to the entrance and smirk at me.
I had no idea where the Winchesters were now, I lost track after ten years of imprisonment. I no longer cared to know, I just fought. There were times I would die, I would be killed in this arena. But it was like a video game, each death I would wake up in bed and restart. I thought of my family everyday. I wondered if Loki could transport between this world and hell, I had not seen him since the ghost town.
In reality it no longer mattered. I was sure he never would have helped anyway, only taunted from the corner of the room and laughing at each misstep.
"I think she's getting bored!" I heard Crowley yell from somewhere in the crowd. I was pulled from my thoughts and swung the sword around, bending my knees in preparation to pounce. My body felt tired but the adrenaline rose knowing I would again have to fight.
"I'm not afraid!" I yelled back to the crowd, demons booing and cheers mixed were the response. Something else was happening though. I felt tingly, my whole body. I looked down and saw my body disappearing in small flecks, almost like ash in the wind.
The crowd grew silent as my body continued to vanish and panic gripped my heart. Crowley ran into the arena and pulled out the contract, but it was fading, just like me. The last thing I saw was Crowley yelling and I was gone. But it was almost like I blinked and I was somewhere else.
Fire and mounds of dirt and debris filled my vision. Hundreds of people were around me looking at each other in confusion. Had we all shown up here?
"Lady... Claudia?" A deep and weary voice spoke and I turned on my heal to face Thor. He had a beard now, and a bear belly. He was in his Asgaurdian battle armor and I was now more confused. He was holding an axe, no longer his hammer.
"Thor? Is that you?" He stumbled forward and pulled me into a bear hug, relief flooded through my and tears rushed to my eyes. I dropped the sword and hugged him tightly in return. He let go of me and was looking in the distance. I followed his gaze and saw my dead on the ground. Burns going up his neck, the armor burned and broken on him.
"Dad?" I started walking and then running away from Thor. I ran past Steve, I heard his muttering of my name as I ran. I slid onto my knees next to him, Pepper to my right. She was in a purple suit similar to my dads and her surprise matched my own. My dads deep brown eyes met mine, he looked to be trying to say something.
"it's okay, Tony." I heard my mom say and she gripped my hand. "You saved us and you brought Claudia home. You did it." He was dying, I knew it.
"I love you." I told him and the corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly. His head then fell to the side, his eyes lifeless. A sob tore from my throat and my moms. She pulled me tightly to her and we cried in each others arms. How cruel was my fate to bring me home to see him die?
I could see over Peppers shoulders and Steve took a knee for the fallen soldier and I watched nameless faces do the same. I was sure the rest of the Avengers were here, I just could not see them.
"Come on." Pepper said and pulled us both up, wiping our tears. "I have so much to tell you, but we need to plan." Her voice trailed off but her eyes went to my dads body. The next few days passed in a blur. Mom took me home, keeping me away from others including the Avengers. She took me to a cabin, which surprised me at first, but once I saw my dads tech inside, I felt more at home.
The next surprise was my sister, Morgan. She was 4 years old and a mix of Pepper and Tony with long brown hair and brown eyes. My mom showed me my room, on the second floor and with the furniture that had adorned my old room in the tower. A door in the room connected to my own bathroom, she advised her room was downstairs and Morgan was down the hall.
"He never stopped trying to find you." She told me that it's teary eyes, gave my arm a squeeze and left my room. It had been so long since I'd seen it. My pink comforter on the bed and a mountain of white and pink pillows. My phone sat on my dresser, I was sure it was long dead by now. I opened the closet, the colorful clothes gave a pang to my heart, I had missed this life. It had been too long.
I grabbed a long sleeved emerald green shirt and black skinny jeans, underthings, and headed to the bathroom. I could remember the last time I took a shower. Was it the match before Lilith? I could no longer recall and I decided it didn't matter. Once out of the shower and dressed, I took a long time to look at my reflection. My eyes looked tire, far tired than they should at my physical age. How even old was I?
I spent that day charging my phone, looking through my belongings, reading past news and understanding I really had missed a lot. A place called Wakanda where the metal from Steve's shield came from, there was a villain named Ultron, Sokovia accords, Asgardians were now on earth, and the latest one was Thanos. He had apparently made people vanish for five years. My dad had given his life to bring them and myself back and to stop him.
Once my phone was charged, I went through the hundreds of text messages I had missed. The team had been messaging and sending pictures through the time I had been gone. My dad, Pepper, Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce. Thor came in later in a few pictures, but he didn't seem to have his own. Coulson, Skye, FitzSimmons, and even may messaged me but they seemed to have stopped a few years ago. I tried to call Coulson, but it said the number was no longer in service. I spent the night reading messages and trying to piece together what happened while I was gone on a personal level but I knew I would never really understand.
That night I slept terribly, tossing and turning. The next day was much of the same and the one after that. Finally it was my dads funeral. I wore a black pencil style dress with long tight sleeves. I slipped on a pair of black Mary Janes and put my hair half up and half down. The ends just passed the tips of my shoulders. I did my makeup, slower than I remembered probably from years of none use. I met Proper and Morgan at the top of the stairs and grabbed Peppers hand offering a gentle squeeze. Downstairs, we met Happy. He pulled me into a long and tight hug which I returned with equal strength.
Pepper, Morgan and I sat in the couch, and iron man helmet on the table. It started playing and there was my dad, blue and see through hologram. He had a chair as well and he was talking, but I want paying attention to what he said. He looked so old, he looked so tired. His face shown regret and sadness, he seemed tense. He sat in his chair and walked making hand gestures, tears blurring my eyes. Why couldn't he really be doing that? He knelt in front of Morgan, like he was really seeing her, she he loved her three thousand and stood.
"Claudia." My own name from his projection make me squeeze my hands together into fists. "If it worked, if you are here." He seemed to struggle with his words.
"The Avengers, Pepper, and Happy can get you up to date. Knowing you, you did all the research already." He smirked and looked around like he was looking for me until he hologram stopped on me. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here to see you home. You and Morgan were the best things to happen to me, I love you, Claud." The hologram blinked out of existence and we were left alone.
We went outside of the cabin, some familiar and most unfamiliar faces were outside. The three of us walked to the river and I noticed Pepper held Tony's heart, the item stopping the shrapnel, in a makeshift nest.
"Proof Tony Stark has a heart." I said as she set it in the water. A strange feeling rushed over me, one I hadn't felt in decades. The return of my magic. We watched it float away, and then I turned to face the group. Steve was closest, standing with Bucky. I approached them apprehensively, and Steve pulled me into a hug much like Thor had.
"He is happy you're back. He always talked about you." I pulled back from Steve and gave him the best smile I could, which I was sure wasn't really a smile. I moved back out of his embrace and looked at Bucky. He no longer had the look of hatred on his face or blank stare.
"I promise I won't try to kill you." He said at an attempt to ease the tension and I was surprised when I felt my lips turn up into a smile.
"Well that's good." I moved in until I saw Clint. He smiled at me and a woman was at his side with long red hair, I recognized her as Wanda Macimoff, someone who had stood with the group against Ultron.
"Hey, kid." Clint said, sounding more tired than ever before and we hugged, and it felt like he was saying sorry for something. "I've missed you, I'm glad you're safe."
"I'm sorry for your loss." Wanda said and reached out her hand. I gripped it and squeezed.
"Thank you." I told her in sincerity. "Where is Nat? I haven't seen or heard from her since I've been back." Clint stared at me, his jaw clenching, and I noted something I never thought I would see. He had tears in his eyes.
"She wouldn't let me make the sacrifice." I pulled him back into a hug as my heart now aches for two loses.
"If I know Nat, she did if for your family. She is a hero and I'm sure she doesn't regret it." We talked a little while longer until I notes Bruce was still hulk with his arm in a sling. I said my goodbyes and his big hulk grin with Bruce softness threw me off but I smiled too.
"Claudia, it's so good to see you. We spent hours searching how to get you back home. Days, weeks, months, years." He said with a shake of his head. His green hand lightly gripped my shoulder. "I'm sorry about your loss, but I'm glad you're home." I smiled and put my small hand on his bag one and we both chuckled.
"I'm glad you found even ground. And I'm sorry for your loss to." His smile dipped a little and he nodded his head. After saying goodbye to Bruce, I spotted Fury and Hill watching me. I approached them and couldn't believe it had been so long since I had seen them, the fall of shield.
"Stark." Fury said, his one eye showing loss as well. "We offer our condolences."
"Thank you, Fury." I said with a small smile. "Since you're here, I've been trying to get in touch with Cookson and the team." Hills frown hardened and I knew it wasn't going to be good news.
"A lot has happened in your time away." He stated with sincerity and I nodded, I had done my research. "Coulson was with the team and they were approaching a worm hole. One second they were here, the other they were gone." I had lost my team, my sister, and my father all since my return. I didn't know how to respond, I only nodded. What was I going to do now?
"Claudia?" I turned to the voice and was surprised to see Sam Wilson. My loses momentarily forgotten, I hugged the falcon.
"Still hanging around these folks, huh?" I asked and he chuckled.
"Someone's gotta make sure Steve does his laps." I laughed out loud, obnoxious at first and then I was crying. Crying about everything I had lost and everything I had gone through in return. I fell to my knees and felt him grab me, trying to comfort me anyway he could.
Why had I come back?
What now?
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Wow, so hi. It's been a very long time. My life has completely changed and not for the better. I recently realized writing about Claudia made me happy, remember the times I really felt my imagination fly. I know she's Mary sue, I know I'm not the best writer, but it makes me happy.
If you don't like it you don't have to read it! :) I own nothing marvel but I do own Claudia, she was my idea.