Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 74 - Breaking Point

It had taken Keira a long time to collect herself enough to drag herself up from the floor and wipe the dried tears off her face. Her eyes were still bloodshot, and her cheeks stung, but she couldn't care less.

With the black hoodie on her, she had pulled the collar over her nose so she could keep breathing in Wanda's scent.

What first had caused her to break down, was now the only reason why she found the strength to walk down the corridors and into the room where Tony lay.

Pepper, who was sitting by his bedside with a book in her lap, looked up when the door opened. "Hey." The strawberry blonde said softly as she readjusted her seat and closed the book. She didn't miss the mutant's red eyes nor puffy cheeks, but she made no comment about it, but rather patted the chair beside her.

"Hey." Keira greeted just as softly when she crossed the threshold and walked around the bed to sit beside Pepper. Looking at Tony, she couldn't help but feel at a loss. The man she had grown to know was always confident beyond belief, and now, when he lay here, he just looked broken and frail. "How is he?"

Pepper didn't have to be a mind reader to see the dangerous edge that Keira was balancing on. And despite not having had too many interactions with the blonde, she gently put an arm around the mutant's shoulder and pulled her close. "He'll be okay, thank god. Give him some rest and he'll be back to his normal self."

"Yeah. Don't think the world would've kept on spinning without Tony Stark in it." Keira chuckled silently and didn't protest but let herself be dragged into Pepper's grasp. Leaning her head against the older woman's shoulder, she released a shaky sigh.

"What about you? Natasha filled me in on the details..."

Keira closed her eyes briefly as her bottom lip slipped between her teeth. "Honestly? I don't know. Sure, I'm alive and breathing. But with everything that's happened... I'm not sure how to keep going without the one person who gave my life meaning." She sighed, letting her gaze fall to the floor.

"I know it may seem impossible right now, but you keep on living. Some days, you might just be surviving, but you keep going. For her. Wanda wouldn't want you to stop living just because she's gone. She was your world, and still is, which is why you keep fighting. And with every passing day, the burden will get a little bit easier to carry."

"But what is grief, if not love persevering?" Keira whispered while tugging at her sleeves. The line that Vision had so wisely spoken so many years ago had stuck with her, and she couldn't believe that it had taken her this long to realize that it wasn't all sorrow.

Her love was the reason why it hurt so much.

Pepper hugged the blonde closer while nodding. "Exactly." She didn't know what more to say but merely let the silence fall over them. And when tears silently started to trickle down Keira's face, she gently wiped them away.

Keira swallowed hard and closed her eyes. Normally, she would've been embarrassed by the fact that she was crying in the presence of someone that was relatively new to her, but now, she didn't care. No, instead, she just let the tears fall as she leaned her head against Pepper's shoulder, and she felt her affection for the woman grow.

Their meetings before this had been pretty brief, considering that Pepper had a company to run, and being Tony's partner wasn't exactly the calmest thing in the world. But still, Pepper had heard stories about the mutant from Tony, and her own first impression of the blonde hadn't been bad either.

But it was a bit comical how a sad occasion like this could bring them together. Because judging by the things Pepper had heard, Keira wasn't the most open person in the world, so to see the mutant crying, she knew it was a rarity.