Devotion [Book 1]

Red

FanFiction.net

Red by theblueeyedwanderer

Rated: T
Language: English
Genre: Hurt/Comfort + Romance
Characters: Natasha.R, Steve.R, Wanda.M, Clint.B
Words: 3k+
Published: August 22nd 2015

***

Everything is red.

Blood, guilt, fear, amplified a thousand times to drown and smother her. Bodies, dead with eyes that stare at nothing yet gaze sharply right into her soul, corpses that somehow reach out to trip her and clutch her ankles. She fights to be free but they're too strong—she hits the ground, hard, and they're pulling her apart, crushing her. They're shouting in Russian, too loud, deafeningly loud. Natalia, they hiss, over and over again. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red. Loki's voice comes out of a rotting corpse with glowing red eyes and she lets out a half-sob, half-shriek. Wake up, wake up.

She sits bolt upright with a scream and nearly flings herself out of the bed. Gasping, choking for breath between sobs. It's one of the worst nightmares she's ever had, but she can't figure out why. She hadn't even realized it was a dream until the very end. The red, everything glowing an ominous red...

Wanda. Natasha shakes her head in another attempt to clear her head. The poor girl had been through hell and back and lost her brother, her other half, in the process. She was a total mess, having nightmares and sleepwalking. It's never happened this bad, but she's released her mind-control magic on accident several times and given the team a start. Natasha doesn't hold it against her, but the nightmare Wanda unintentionally gave her is the worst she remembers. It was so incredibly vivid that she can't stop shaking. She presses her hands into her eyes, trying to rub away the images stamped into her eyelids.

The door opens and slams against the wall. She jumps, squinting in the dark to try and make out who it is. Once her eyes adjust, she recognizes the muscular outline of Steve (Thor sleeps through anything, so it's highly unlikely to be him). She thinks she sees the red glow swirling around him, but dismisses it. Her dream is just haunting her.

"Steve?" Natasha mumbles. "I'm sorry I woke you, I'm fine. Go back to—"

The door slams behind him and locks. Natasha sits up in confusion—he seems furious, for some reason. She reaches over and flicks on the light, stifling a gasp of horror when she sees him.

His eyes are glowing red—but it's not a nightmare. He's been affected, too, and not just had a bad dream. He's possessed, like Banner was. Natasha shudders at the memory and reaches for the gun she keeps in her nightstand.

"You won't do it." Steve scoffs, and the malicious laughter underlying his tone shakes her. Never has she heard him sound so mocking, and his voice grates on her. "You've let yourself become too attached to me. To everyone here." Natasha has no idea if Wanda's powers are playing off of hers or Steve's fears—maybe both.

"You're stupid to think Banner would ever love you," he mocks as he advances on her. "Thinking he could handle your secrets because "you're both monsters". Well, he's a cowardly man but just a physical monster. He's nothing like you."

She trains the gun on him, but her hands shake. He's mere feet away from her now, smirking. But something flashes across his face and his contempt switches to anger. His eyes harden and quicker than even her, he snatches the gun from her grip and slams her onto the floor.

Natasha struggles to regain the breath knocked out of her, but she isn't going down without a fight. She swallows the fear and horror and grabs his arm, flipping him over her and throwing him down. She gets to her feet, searching for the gun she lost in the process. Steve lunges at her and she barely moves away in time; she kicks him away and shoves him into her wall.