Vanished {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 21

"Tu chi sei?" The person spoke again, appearing in the open doorway opposite. "Esci, questa è casa mia."

Pietro recognised the language spoken as Italian, having begun learning it so he could understand when Alex decided to be dramatic. He hadn't had the chance to perfect it yet, but it didn't matter, at least he was able to say something as Alex seemed unable too,

"Scusateci, forse abbiamo commesso un errore."

"Ve lo ripeto, voi chi siete?" The woman asked, raising a shotgun to her shoulder. Pietro tightened his hold on Alex's hand on instinct, only to feel her pull away slightly,

"Non riconosci il tuo stesso bambino?"

"Ena?"

"Quello non è più il mio nome. Mi chiamano, Alessandra."

"Who is she?" Random words made sense to him but none of it was enough to put together what the two women were saying. Pietro hated it, not because he felt as though he was missing something important but because he felt as though Alex was about to do something stupid.

"No one important." Alex waved Pietro up and down with her free arm, switching back to Italian, "E questa è il mio amico, Pietro. Prometto che non resteremo a lungo."

"Alessandra, tell me who this is."

Alex's reluctance was clear, her palm sweaty and she pulled her hand away from Pietro's to wipe it on her sweatpants, "This is my mother."

<~~>

Alex had claimed she was about to pass out and Pietro had guided her outside. While she sat with her head between her knees, Pietro was pacing back and forth.

"That's not your mother."

"It is. I— fuck! La conosco."

"When did you last see her? Three, four years ago? You can't remember it's her, there's no proof that it's her."

"Oh mio dio, credi che mi dimenticherei di lei?" Alex paused, tugging on the ends of her hair, "Perché parlo italiano? The words... non ricordo."

"She was shot. Even Ultron didn't know she was alive for certain, or if he did, he didn't tell us."

"Maximoff, sono in piena crisi."

"Alessandra, io non capisco l'italiano."

"Backpack," Alex commanded and Pietro threw it at her. Awkwardly opening it with one hand, Alex managed to withdraw the knife containing the mind stone and, aiming away from Pietro, threw the knife as hard as she could. It flew beautifully, achieving quite a distance before gravity dragged it to the ground.

"Bastard thing." Alex spat, "Give me a moment."

Pietro had the decency to wait one second, "Are you alright?"

"No. I feel worse."

"At least you're not speaking Italian anymore."

The look Alex gave him could have killed Ultron singlehandedly. "Yes. Because that's what our biggest problem was."

Pietro cast a glance to the house, where he could see Alex's mother peering through one of the broken windows.

"My mother is here. Oh god." Alex's head was back in her hand, "This is a good thing, right?"

"What? No, Alessandra, this is a bad thing. Very bad thing." Pietro paused in his pacing long enough to see Alex dare a glance towards her mother, who was moving out of view.

"She could be different now."

"Do you think she is?"

"I want her to be."