𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬

trigger warning.

When she woke up, all she realised was pain. It ran up and down her spine, coursing through her veins. Even the movement of breathing amplified what she felt — and it brought tears to her eyes.

Then, there was some sort of echo in her ears — and it took her about five minutes to realise it was somebody talking to her.

After another five minutes of her head moving from side to side, eyes squinted and heartbeat thrumming in her ears — she recognised the voice. And it made her heart jump at the thought — it was Pietro. He was okay.

Words flew out of her mouth before she could even think of what they meant, and suddenly she was calling out to the man who had taken care of her, acted as a father figure.

"Piet, where— wha..." Her words were incoherent, but the eldest Maximoff felt some relief — at least she was talking. At least she was alive.

Her brilliant blue eyes rattled around in her head, rolling even when she blinked them open. She vaguely registered the tears falling down the sides of her face, down into her hair and ears.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Pietro attempted to reassure her, wishing that he could just pull her into a hug... but he couldn't. They'd locked her away. On her own.

She audibly gulped, her throat scratchy and dry and it was hard for her to swallow.

Ava excessively blinked her eyes, sitting up slowly as she did so. She paused and hissed in pain at certain times, having to stop a lot. But she eventually managed to sit up, scooting back slightly, but her shoulders hit a wall.

"Kid's awake." Clint announced to the rest of the prisoners, as they weren't all paying attention. It was quick to draw all of their eyes to her cell, though.

Ava's mind swirled as she tried to find comfort, find something to ground her... but she failed. There wasn't anything familiar.

And her only solution was the one thing she'd always have — her powers.

When she felt the familiar thrum of power buzzing through her veins, going towards the palms of her hands — a sense of relief flooded her.

"Ava, don't!" Pietro shouted warningly, banging his enclosed fists against the wall separating him from the little girl.

Before she could register Pietro's warning to stop, the metal around her neck burned with incoming voltage — it lit up, casting a blue glow throughout the cold cell, only adding to the horrid place.

Shrieks fell from her mouth, and she gasped in pain, the powers inside of her fading into a faint background hum.

It didn't last long, but the adults of the room would agree that it seemed to go on forever.

Instead of the nice hum of powers beneath her skin, Ava was left with an unpleasant buzzing throughout her body. It made her want to throw up, and as her eyes rolled about inside her head... she was sure that she was back where the Avengers had found her. This... this pain? It was familiar.

Within the bunker, Bucky was thinking about the people who had been captured protecting him — as well as getting the two war veterans to this facility.

Images fluttered through his brain every time he closed his eyes... flashes of ginger hair, soft eyes, and curious words.

"Ava. Where did you find her?" He asked quietly as the two made their way down in the elevator. His interest was piqued — she seemed so familiar.

Steve squinted at his friend, slightly confused. "A HYDRA facility in Sokovia. Where we found the Maximoff twins."

Bucky raked through his brain... and thought of all the bases he could remember — Sokovia? It sounded like one he would've been to.

"I... I think I knew her." He admitted, tightening his hold on the gun labelled Romanoff. His thoughts were quite scrambled... but the more he considered it, the more he became sure.

Steve paused, looking to his old friend.

"I'm sure. I remember her. I took her outside, once. She asked. And then... then they took me away." He realised, eyes wide with understanding and confusion.

"So, why doesn't she remember you?"

A phantom pain surfaced around her face, and although it wasn't where they had hurt her... it felt the same.

Flashes of colour swam behind her closed eyelids, lulling her to stay here. To stay here — where she didn't have to deal with the reality of the situation. Where she could pretend everything was okay.

"Ava. Wake up. Please," Pietro practically begged, craning his neck around to gaze at the girl he saw as a daughter. "You're going to be okay."

"Piet," Wanda called sympathetically, her watery eyes telling him he needed to calm down. He needed to stay calm for the girl.

Scott rubbed his hands together nervously, standing at the edge of his cell, watching Ava's twitching body. He couldn't help but feel terrible — he couldn't imagine the pain Pietro was in. If this was his daughter... he didn't want to think about it.

Wanda scooted into the corner of her cell, receiving a harsh shock when her eyes glowed a faint red.

With a huff, Pietro stepped back — all sorts of thoughts were going through his head. How could he get her out? He needed to get her to safety... but how?

Tony was supposed to help — he was supposed to take her away. But he couldn't.

A burst of anger rushed through Pietro, his hands shaking with fury as he looked at the camera in the corner of his cell.

A steely glare set on his face.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you!" He promised, body trembling with his anger — he was completely furious.

Taking a deep breath, he started running in circles, allowing the other prisoners to see only a blur, followed by a silvery-blue trail, creating what looked almost like a tornado of Pietro.

He would get her out of here.

"Get somebody in there!" Secretary Ross shouted angrily — though worry was clawing at his chest, convincing him that Pietro wasn't lying. He would kill them.

At his command, a string of soldiers filed out of the room, and soon became visible on the variety of cameras.

"This isn't going to end well..." Clint worried, gaze flickering between Pietro — or well, Pietro's cell — and Ava, who lay sprawled our with ginger hair sticking to her sticky skin.

When Ava heard the shouts, her mind began to clear — but, what followed... it made her blood run cold.

A pained shout pierced through the muffled sounds she was hearing. And she knew that voice anywhere... if they thought she'd let Pietro get hurt again — they were wrong.

Her eyes burst open immediately, shining a violent white as they locked onto the various soldiers prodding at Pietro to try and stop him.

The hum of power returned — quicker than it ever had. And before she could register, a dagger had formed in her palm. She didn't think, she just threw it, and when it went straight through a gun one of the soldiers was holding towards Pietro, there was a collective silence.

The painful buzz of electricity burning through her body came once again — it was trying to stop her. And while it almost worked, Pietro's shouts rung in her ears.

White vine-like structures burst through the metal ground, wrapping around the horizontal bars ahead of her — then they pulled them down.

The bars groaned and crumbled quickly, and Ava was getting woozy with the strain of it all.

She stepped out, skidding to be in front of all the soldiers and Pietro's cell. Ava stood in front of the bars where Pietro was, and as the soldiers reached to grab her in panic, she pulled her hands up and created a shield that went over her and stopped at the end of the bars of Pietro's cell.

Pietro reeled in shock, unknowing to the extent of her power. The glowing white slightly overpowered the blue glow her collar was emitting.

"Ava!" He cried as she fell back against his cell, wheezing and crying tears of pain. It had all caught up to her now. The adrenaline was too much — and the phantom pain from before was now overpowering.

"Can I go outside?"

"I... no."

"Why?"

"I don't... I don't know."

"Please?"

"You're not allowed."

"Why?"

"I don't know!"

"Then can you take me?"

"I— I don't know."

"Why?"

"I just don't!"

-

"Can I go outside now?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"You— okay. Okay. Let's go."

A cold hand curled around her arm, tugging her towards the doors behind her room.

"Be quiet."

"Why?"

"Just be quiet."

"Okay."

After seven minutes of walked through a complicated maze of hallways, cold air hit her in the face.

"We have to be quick."

"Okay."

The cold hand pulled away, before pressing gently against the top of her back. It pushed her forwards slightly, and she clinched when her feet met wet ground.

"What's this?"

"Uh... Snow."

"Sn— snow."

"Yeah."

She pressed her palm against it. The cold didn't feel very nice... but the texture of it did.

She lifted her hands, letting the snow fall through her fingers.

A smile pulled at her lips, before she giggled gently, eyes wondering up to the kind man who had brought her here.

"Look!"

She pulled on his hand, and let some snow fall into his silver palm. A smile appeared on his face, and his eyes twinkled.

A siren broke through the peaceful atmosphere, and the smile immediately fell off of his face, and a stern expression peaked through.

"What?" She asked, confused by the loud noise and red lights.

"Run. Run!" He shouted, seeing a swarm of soldiers heading towards the girl he had moved away from.

"Why?"

It was too late.

Rough hands pulled on her arms, attacking her as the kind man watched on sadly, wanting to help but not being able to.

"Ava!" Pietro screamed, and she jolted up, feeling tears falling down the sides of her face.

"Bucky. Bucky! I know him." She told Pietro, her blue eyes wide... but just as she reached through the bars to grab his hand, hands pulled at her arms just like they had in her dream— or memory.

His fingers grazed at her palm, but he was forced to watch as they shoved her away from him, pulling a struggling Ava out of the room.

"No! Don't take her! Don't take her away from me!" Pietro cried desperately, seeing the white powers that had littered the room dissipate as she was pulled into unconsciousness once again.

"Stop!" Clint shouted, his voice echoing sternly around the room — the soldiers paused at their begs... but continued with their orders.

"This is wrong." Sam yelled out, angry eyes burning at the backs of the soldiers' heads.

"This is justice." Secretary Ross sneered in the other room.

author's note!—

hi. so... that happened. um, yeah. so ava knew bucky — and he was the nice man she spoke about in the first book.
and yeah, she did suffer through the pain to try and protect pietro... and well, she did succeed, so...
i'm sorry🥺 my poor baby ava.
things might be just as bad (worse???) but, they will get better. eventually.

hope you enjoyed??? but yeah. bye!