Age Of Miracles | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Thirty: The Edge of Me

Music is "Maria Altmann Theme" by Martin Phipps & Hans Summer from the Woman In Gold OST.

Picture is Cillian Murphy from Peaky Blinders as Gregory Killbane.

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"Have you ever seen a little girl run so fast she falls down? There's an instant, a fraction of a second before the world catches hold of her again--a moment when she's outrun every doubt and fear she's ever had about herself and she flies. In that one moment, ever little girl flies.

"I need to find that again. Like taking a car out into the desert to see how fast it can go, I need to find the edge of me. And maybe, if I fly far enough, I'll be able to turn around and look at the world and see where I belong."

- Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel

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CHAPTER THIRTY

I relive the same vision over and over all that evening. I can feel the hours going by, and all I can hear and see is Mistress Death talking to Thanos, the same conversation repeating over and over.

"Her name is Gloria Northern, and she will be your undoing."

The moment I wake, I feel the bed sunken beside me. I turn, and in the darkness, I can make out the strong figure of Pietro. He's completely exhausted, wiped from our insane day. A soft smile pulls at my lips as I see his chest rise and fall, slowly, as he dreams peacefully. I lean over to place a kiss on his forehead, whispering, "How did I ever get so lucky?"

In silence and cover of night, I get up from the bed and make my way down to the Stark holding cell. Tony had moved Killbane there after his and Steve's reunion for our own safety. It was the very same cell that Tony kept Steve in when he turned himself over a few years back. That was during the whole Civil War disaster.

Using my hand print and eye scan to access the cell, I see Killbane sitting on the hard floor with his legs crossed, back turned towards me. "I knew you'd come eventually," he says, as if knowing I'd show up. "Sooner or later, I knew you'd need my help again."

"Is it true what you said all those years ago?" I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

"I have lived a very, very long time, Gloria," he sighs. "You are going to have to be more specific."

"The day you invaded New York you said that you gave me my powers when I was young. Was that the truth or was it just another manipulative lie?"

Killbane slowly turns his head to the side, looking at me with a side glance. "I have never lied to you, Gloria. To them, perhaps, but never to you. I care for you too much. You may not always get the answer you want from me, but you will always get the truth."

I roll my eyes. "So you gave me my powers with the Soul Gem. You know how they work better than me. Is that why you told me I had only scratched the surface?"

I can feel Killbane's grin as he chuckles. "You catch on quick in this world. I admire that."

A line forms between my brows. "Why are you all of a sudden so nice? Just a few hours ago you were a snarky bastard."

Killbane sighs, brushing the dark hair that rests in a messy form on the top of his head back into place. "As you cross worlds, like I used to, you take part of whoever you were with you. I have been taking pieces of each of the Gregory Killbane's I've become for eons. Eventually, those personalities begin to collide, thus creating a person with a bit of a mixed personality disorder."