AN: A short, alternate, more tragic ending to Age of Ultron.

AU VII: A Beautiful Death (we always knew we'd go down together)

Pietro knew he didn't have much time, when the bullets pierced his body, threading agony throughout his body.

He waited just long enough for Ultron's plane to pass, just enough time to make sure Hawkeye and the boy were okay, just enough time to say: "You didn't see that coming, did you?"

Then he was pushing himself back into a run, despite the blood spilling out of his body and the stuttering of his heart.

He didn't have much time. He was going to die, he knew this.

But he couldn't just die without seeing Wanda.

He had... had to get to Wanda... he had to...

Gray city, gray streets, gray dust, scarlet dress and brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Wanda..." he gasped out, collapsing to his hands and knees at her feet, the blood pouring from him now, bright, vivid scarlet against the gray cement.

The blue sleeve of his left arm was stained purple, and the arm couldn't hold him up.

The cement was cold beneath the warm, sticky blood that had pooled there.

"Pietro!" Wanda shrieked, kneeling beside him, pulling him into her lap, into her arms, which wrapped around him like they'd never let him go.

"Pietro, no," Wanda was sobbing. "Don't die, Pietro... don't leave me, too..."

"I'm sorry..." he gasped out, his vision swimming with black. He tried to reach up to wipe the tears from her cheeks, but only ended up spreading scarlet there. "S-sorry, Wanda... I'm... didn't mean... to leave you... I just..."

Wanda was crying, sobbing against him, her tears falling on his face, salty on his lips, mixing with the blood welling up in his mouth.

"Just wanted... to be a hero... for once..." Pietro gasped out, words gurgling slightly. He blinked desperately, trying to clear the black from his vision so he could meet Wanda's gaze, but all he could see through the black crowding in on him were traces of scarlet, and he couldn't make out whether the scarlet was from his blood or from the glowing of her eyes.

He was dizzy, now, couldn't tell where was up or down. They might have been floating, falling, for all he knew. The air rushed by like he was running, but he knew he wasn't.

"Pietro, please..." Wanda sobbed into his neck. "Don't leave me..."

"Sorry..." Pietro gurgled. His heartbeat was weak and erratic in his chest, and he could feel himself falling away, the searing pain subsiding to be filled with nothingness."S-so s-sorry..."

Wanda felt her brother die.

He was in her arms—she felt his blood soak hot and wet into her outfit, felt his blood coat her skin, felt his heart stop, felt the moment when he stopped breathing, saw his hazel eyes go flat and dull.

He was in her mind—she felt his sorrow, his pain, his love, felt when it all ended, felt the Pietro-shaped hole in her chest yawn open, felt their souls get ripped apart as they clung desperately to each other.

She hadn't been paying attention to trigger she was supposed to be guarding. Hadn't been paying enough attention to notice the robot crawling towards it. Hadn't been paying enough attention to stop it.

The city was falling towards Earth and she didn't care.

Ultron's vision descended from the sky among all the dust and debris, but with a harsh motion of her hand she sent him hurtling away in a flash of scarlet.

Wanda didn't let go of Pietro's body. Not when they started floating in the air from the freefall. Not when the city exploded, not when the blast pounded her with rocks and impaled her with debris.

She'd always thought they'd go down together. And this? Falling from the sky like angels shot from Heaven?

It was almost beautiful.

When Death came for her, it wore Pietro's face and Pietro's smile.