𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐃, steve rogers

23. JUST A BAD DREAM?

ARIEL POV — My eyes opened and stared against a gloomy ceiling, that I knew too well. From my bed, I turned my head to the left and looked into a small mirror that hung on the opposite wall. I was almost startled, when I saw the reflection staring back at me. I was barely recognizable. My red hair was brittle and lost the shine, my skin was pale and cold. Either that was a really bad dream or I was clearly with HYDRA. I started panicking, so I closed my eyes again, taking a deep breath and praying to wake up in my room at the compound, hoping to wake up in Wanda's secure Arms.

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Let it all be a stupid dream!
Wake up, Ariel.

With a deep breath I opened my eyes and I was still in that ugly cell. All I heard was my breathing ... I was completely alone. The thought terrified me. Strangely enough, I felt quite better, so light, almost weightless, like I was floating. Very carefully I sat up, got up from the bed, and noticed that the heavy door from my cell was gone. Usually there was a thick pane of glass in front of the cells so that the doctors could watch from outside. But why were they suddenly gone?

Confused, I walked to the door and could see the entire corridor outside the cell. There was no one there, I was completely alone. One more time I looked back into my cell and saw my own body lying in bed. Is this real?

Taking a step forward I looked down into the empty, gloomy hallway, which was lit by dim ceiling lamps. With every step I took, I became more and more afraid and hoped to wake up. Suddenly, however, I could hear footsteps approaching and immediately turned around until I saw her standing in front of me. Wanda. My heart raced in fear when I saw her face, also extremely pale. She almost looked like a ghost. "Are you real?" I asked.

Without an answer, she just took my hand and led me back to my cell. When we both got there, a Hydra agent I knew was next to my bed, talking to my unconscious body. My Eyes were open, but my body was frozen. Wanda stood next to me close to the door and looked up with me to see what was happening in front of our eyes.

It was the former Hydra agent who was supposed to take care of me and Bucky – Agent Grant Ward. He sat next to me and tried to wake me up, which is why he snapped his fingers in front of my face. My eyes were still open, but I never blinked at one of his movements. "Come on wake up, Siren." He said, stopping to snap his fingers. "We both know you're just faking it. The serum isn't that strong." He grabbed my jaw with his hand and turned my head in his direction. "You should have waken up a long time ago, princess. Believe me, sooner or later you have to wake up eventually." He said serious and let go of my jaw as he sat up and walked past Wanda and me.

So he couldn't see us?

Wanda stared at my lifeless body in this bed and finally began to talk to me. "You have to wake up." She said. "What if I can't?" I asked, afraid to see myself in this state.

"Then you won't be able to help us ... We're all going to die." Wanda answered with her accent. So I wasn't the only one here? "Excuse me, how am I supposed to help you in this state?" I asked confused.

"Ariel, you learned to fight." Wanda explained.

"Yes, but only a little." I answered, my voice was shaky, my eyes almost filled with tears. I was supposed to save my friends and was completely on my own...

"You learned a lot more things than you think, Ariel. And faster than an ordinary person could have done." Wanda continued encouragingly.

"But I can't do it alone." I said, trying to hold back my tears. "You don't have to, I'll help you." She reassured me. "I'll help you use your voice. How to use it as a weapon!" Wanda took my hand and led me deeper and deeper through the various corridors of the dark, cold Hydra base. We both stopped in front of a special cell. A glance inside revealed that there behind the glass was a terribly weakened Wanda.

She wore gray clothes similar to mine and had a black collar around her neck. "It suppresses my powers, but I can still communicate with you telepathically." She explained to me as we both stared at her unconscious body. I looked down from Wanda at my hand when I felt cold again. It was Wanda, who pulled me, now further with her in the direction of my own cell. We approached my cell further and further until I heard something crunch under me. I looked at my feet and found broken glass right in front of my cell, but they did not hurt me.

Suddenly Wanda was in my cell when, without my noticing it, there was a glass between us that separated me from her. "Do you remember our training?" Asked the witch while I nodded to her. "You broke the glass."

"But the glass was tiny..." I said.

"You concentrated." Protested Wanda. She slowly raised her hand and pressed her palm against the glass window. "You focused, but you still lack control." She continued and fixed her gaze on me. "You want to use your voice as a weapon? Then you have to learn to be in full control!" She finished while I could hear a scream from myself in my mind. The pane of glass shattered in front of my eyes, while the small shards fell right in front of my feet.