Arcane (Wanda Maximoff)

Twenty one

The burning Red Room helicarrier was dropping down more and more as Maggie and Dimitri fought to kill each other. Dimitri had landed a few good hits, successfully breaking two of Maggie's ribs and four fingers. But, Maggie had landed more. She'd broken his nose, had torn his newly constructed ear off the charred side of his face and had stabbed him twice in the thigh.

Still, Dimitri wasn't giving up. Maggie knew this would be a fight to the death and it was one fight Maggie didn't know if she would survive.

She was too weak to use her powers for more than a few seconds, but she could keep her head clear because she knew Wanda was still watching. She couldn't let Wanda see her die. She couldn't let that haunt Wanda, for her to have to be the one to tell Natasha and Yelena what happened if they got out of this death trap and Maggie didn't.

She didn't want to die and leave her family, so Maggie kept fighting.

Maggie stumbled to her feet and grabbed the batons she'd dropped when he'd tackled her a few minutes ago. She put them together to make one long stick and smacked him across the chest with it.

He spun and fell onto the floor, landing on his back with a grunt. Maggie straddled him quickly and pushed the baton down on his neck to suffocate him.

Dimitri's hands found their way around her neck, squeezing as tightly as she was pushing the baton down on his. Her head was getting fuzzy and she could feel Wanda slowly becoming more and more prominent in her mind.

Dimitri kicked Maggie off him and she skidded across the floor, slamming against the metal walls of the hallway. The breath was knocked out of her and Maggie groaned, coughing the blood out of her lungs and spitting it onto the floor.

Dimitri struggled to his feet and stumbled towards her.

"You're going to die today, Magdalena, and your little family will know the truth about you. You're weak. You're pathetic. You're nothing," Dimitri spat.

Maggie's body started tingling like it did whenever Wanda touched her. She could feel her heart pounding in her head and her eyes opened, flashing red as she glared up at Dimitri.

A red mist started spreading out of her palms and she knew that Wanda was using their connection to channel her magic through to Maggie so that she could keep fighting. Wanda was saving her life, even from halfway across the world.

"Do you trust me, sweetheart?" Wanda's voice echoed in Maggie's head.

"Always."

Maggie's arms rose in the air, the mist in her hands getting greater and greater as she got to her feet again. The corridors around them shook and Maggie heard glass smashing as the fire got closer and closer.

The glass behind Maggie shattered, smashing against her skin, but she couldn't feel it. All she could feel was Wanda, even over the rage that had been burning inside of her. It was just Wanda, Wanda, Wanda, thrumming through her body with every beat of her heart.

It was love, Maggie realised. Of course, though, she thought, she had to realise she was in love with Wanda Maximoff while she was fighting her father to the death in a rapidly burning and descending helicarrier.

Dimitri was backed against the wall and Maggie felt herself walking towards the end of the hallway where the only exit out of the Red Room helicarrier was out of the window. She was going to have to fall if she wanted to get out of this, and then fly, but she didn't think she was strong enough to do that without Wanda's help.

The fire roared behind Dimitri and the red mist in Maggie's hands darted at him. It wrapped around Dimitri like hands, choking him as the fire got closer and closer.