Shadows (Sequel to Rip My Heart Out)

Chapter 12

I'd lost count of how many times I had woken up in this same cold water, and stood up to see the same three tunnels in front of me. I'd heard Pietro's strangled calls and felt my heartbreak too many times to keep track of. My heart. It still seemed strange. Every time I woke up in this... dream... or vision... whatever this was, I expected to feel the electric pulse of the space stone flowing through my body. Every time I felt my heart beat, I felt relief wash over me. For so many months, I had wanted nothing but to go back to living a normal life. I wanted to be able to worry about normal things, like rent and where to order take out from that night. I had given up on the idea, knowing that the stone in my chest had changed everything permanently. But, here I was, with a heartbeat.

It only took one look at the dark, musty tunnels in front of me to shatter the illusion. I might have a heartbeat again, but that didn't mean I was able to go back to normal. Instead of worrying about rent, I was left wondering which one of these tunnels my boyfriend was being held in, and what kind of state he would be in when I finally found him. Instead of take out, I was reminded of Steve, lurking in the tunnels, distraught.

"Emel-" Pietro's strangled cry rang through the tunnels, just as it had a thousand times before. Something in me wanted to give up, to choose to stop running and fighting, and maybe just try to find my way out of these tunnels and back to my long abandoned apartment in New York City. But I knew that wasn't an option, because a life without Pietro, without Steve or any of the Avengers? That wasn't a life I wanted.

So, I looked to the tunnel to my right, took a deep breath, and ran. My feet splashed through the foot of water under me. In the humid tunnels, it didn't take long before sweat was running down my back, sticking my tank top to my skin. I wouldn't quit though. Even after running through these tunnels hundreds of times, thousands even, I had realized that I would never stop fighting for him, for them.

I ran until I felt someone's presence in the tunnels around me. Not the type of feeling I got when I had the power of the space stone, though. Just a normal, human instinct that I wasn't alone. This was an instinct that would send fear coursing through my veins under any normal circumstances, but nothing about this was normal. I knew the presence was Steve, just as it had been a thousand times before.

I slowed to a jog, then a walk, and then stopped moving all together. He would come to me. I knew that. It didn't matter what path I took, he always found me. Steve emerged from the darkness of the tunnel, just like he always did. When he stepped into the faint light of the spot where I stood, I took a step towards him. I could feel my hair sticking to my forehead, damp with sweat. I roughly pushed my hair away and faced Steve.

"Emelia." Steve said, in the same solemn voice as all the other times I'd run into him.

I didn't have the energy to keep doing this.

"Steve." I said.

"You look tired." He said. That was different. Normally he just said, "You shouldn't be here."

I paused for a moment, and then responded. "So do you."

"It's been a rough couple of weeks." He said.

I nodded. "Steve, what's going on here? Where are we?"

He tilted his head slightly, but didn't take his eyes off me. "She's watching. She's waiting for you to do the right thing."

"She?" I asked. Only, suddenly, I didn't need Steve to tell me who 'she' is. She is the Ancient One. It all came flooding back. The visions from the time stone, the frantic running around, trying to stop Loki, coming to Kamar Taj for help, losing Pietro, and finally, the Ancient One, telling me I needed to rest, and putting me in some kind of sleep.