Part 6: 75-Arsonist's Lullabye

My eyes open and I'm laying in the smoldering ruins of a building. I can taste blood in my mouth and I can feel something warm dripping down my head. I stand up, legs feeling very weak. My bright red suit is tattered and torn, the Avengers "A" that should be on my shoulder has been ripped off. My body feels broken and sore. It smells like death and burning flesh. Ash is falling from the sky like snow. It's covering every surface in a thick blanket. I know I must be in New York City. I just know.

Something went very wrong here.

Do you remember how King's Landing looked after Daenerys went absolutely batshit? How she commanded Drogon to kill innocents because why the fuck not? Yeah, that has nothing on how the city looks around me. Daenerys went easy on King's Landing compared to whatever happened here.

"I'm coming for you." A woman says in a sing-song voice. I look around, looking for the source of the voice, but she just laughs. It sends shivers down my spine, but I'm so curious that I can't help but look around to get some type of hint as to where I am at, but all I see is destroyed buildings. I walk over debris, stepping onto chunks of concrete as I leave my ruined building to step onto the street. The road is filled with the charred remains of cars and buses. And when I take a step forward and hear a disgusting crunch, I realize it's also covered in burned bodies. I look down and carefully pull my foot out of someone's skull.

In the distance, I can see a broken shield and a black and gold arm sticking out from the rubble. There's a torn red and black mask nearby. I can see a gunmetal colored, armor covered leg sticking out from a slab of concrete. I try move towards them, wanting to see if one of them is okay, but I can't move. I pray that Benny and Neddy are far away from this destruction.

"You couldn't save them. Oh, of course you couldn't save them. You couldn't even save your husband....All it took was one little push. Poor old man. Didn't even see it coming. And it was so easy weakening him. He didn't stand a chance." She says again, her voice ringing out like a bell. The sky grows red above me, thunder booms in the distance. Suddenly, I can see the older version of my husband in his little kitchen and a woman steps out of the darkness. She pushes him hard, his head slamming against the floor hard. I can't breathe. I can't move. I can't help Steve as his blue eyes turn to look at me, begging me to take care of him. A single tear rolls down my cheek before the image fades away. My heart suddenly hurts, like someone just pushed a pin into it.

A woman, who I'm guessing is the owner of that haunting voice steps out from behind a crumbling pillar. God, she's really pretty. Like really pretty. She's wearing a long red velvet dress and her wavy long blonde hair is loose. She looks like she belongs on the runway rather than in the middle of this destruction. Her face seems familiar, but I can't quite place it. But then she smirks at me and I realize who she looks like. The woman laughs again, not caring as the train of her dress gets caught in the bodies that liter the ground.

"Oh no, mommy didn't tell you about me?" She purrs, walking over and grabbing my face. Her nails dig into my skin as I look at her. There's black veins under her skin and her eyes are a bright red. She looks horrifying. Much prettier from a distance.

"Who the fuck are you?" I ask as she smiles, lifting me up off of the ground. I try to kick my legs, try to get free of this woman. It's useless, because she is way too strong.

"Thank you for killing our siblings. I really needed the power boost, little sister." She tells me with a smile across her face, her sharp canines on full display. My eyes widen as she grabs my head and turns it sharply, my bones breaking-

I gasp, sitting up in bed. My hand moves up to wrap around my throat, making sure it's not broken. There's hot tears running down my cheeks and I'm breathing hard. My heart is thundering in my ears. The door swings open and Bucky rushes in, climbing onto my bed. Thankfully, Neddy doesn't wake up because of the noise.

"Jesus, breathe Pey." Bucky says, rubbing my back as that intense fear settles inside of me. I swear I can hear her laugh ring out inside of my head as I try to even out my breathing. My sister-apparently-caused Steve's death. You have another sibling. I have so many questions that I get up from the bed, running a hand over my face. I know what I got to do.

"I-I got to go. I-Tell Sam I needed to do a Burning, okay? He'll understand." I ramble out, carefully kissing Neddy's forehead before rushing out of the room. I can hear Bucky's hurried footsteps coming after me as I run down the stairs. I can't focus fully, my heart is beating so damn fast-

"Where the hell are you going? It's three in the morning!" Bucky whisper yells at me as I pull on a pair of shoes. I realize I really must look like a crazy person, but I could explain later when some of my questions were answered. I just look at Bucky as I grab my car keys. The Winter Soldier looks incredibly worried as he stands at the foot of the stairs, ready to stop me.

"I just have to take care of something, okay? Okay." I tell him, smiling at him to kind of show him that everything is okay, even though it's obvious that it's not. He isn't able to fit in another word before I walk out the front door and shut it behind me carefully.

An hour or two later, I pull up in front of the mansion upstate. I climb out of my car and lock it before I walk into the surrounding forest. I start to tug my clothes off once I'm standing in an extremely familiar clearing in the forest that surrounds my parents' estate, kicking off my shoes before I slip my shorts off. I carefully pull the hair tie out of my hair, shaking it out before dropping the tie onto my clothes. The full moon that was high in the sky above me gave a soft glow to everything. It would be a perfect setting for a horror movie. Like one that's actually good.  Focus, idiot.

I hadn't used my powers since Thanos and his army came to Earth. It was definitely affecting me, but since I just had a baby, I couldn't exactly just leave for an entire day-even though that's exactly what I'm doing now. It's been months since I had last let my flames come out. There was no need for me to use them. I couldn't find it in myself to make those flames come out and because of that, they were going away. But, just like any cleanse, it makes you hurt. It really, really hurts. Makes you feel drained and weak. That really isn't good, especially when I'm supposed to be taking care of two children. I needed to have my flames in order to talk to my mother.

I stepped away from my clothes and tried to force fire to cover myself, but it took me a while. It's the one thing I can do and I really can't. When it does rise to the surface, it hurts. I cried out as the flame appeared on my toes. It crawls up my body and-oh God, the pain was horrible. It feels like it's actually burning me. It's the type of pain that is just so intense that you can't even scream. Tears roll down my face. I had waited way too long. It moves up my neck as I fall backwards, floating in the air. I'm in way too much pain to say a Hail Mary before the flames dive into my mouth. I can feel myself burning from the inside out as everything goes black.

-

My eyes shoot open and I greedily take in air. It's night again and I'm laying on the ground, surrounded by bright white fire. My heart is beating fast as the power-my power surges inside of me. It feels so damn good, the feeling of fire in my veins. It feels even better to keep the circle lit as I conjure my mother. My mind is still just a jumble of questions. There's a sudden breeze and she appears right before me, the scent of roses and sulfur filling my nose.

"I have another sister?" I ask, glaring at her as I move to stand. Elda pales, almost turning the skin of her white dress and her eyes widen. Her body stiffens.

"She-She came to you, didn't she?" Elda questions, looking at me. Is she scared? Oh my god, she is scared. I shift on my feet, walking a little closer to my mother.

"Yes. I had a-well a dream-and she was there. She snapped my neck." I respond and Elda reaches out, touching my neck. Her hand quickly retracts, like my skin burned her.

"Lilith ...What else did she say?" Elda asks, that horror completely taking over her voice. I can feel Steve's eyes looking at me, begging for help. So that's her name-God why can't my mother actually name us anything normal? Fucking bullshit. Lilith, Aiden, Kenna, Kai, and Peyton. None of them fit together, mother. You're rambling.

"She said I couldn't save any of them and that she was coming for me. She-She caused Steve's death." I tell her and somehow, Elda looks even more terrified. My mother walks over, holding my face in her hands. Her green eyes stare into mine. It feels actually motherly, which is weird coming from the woman who really couldn't care less about any of her children.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what's to come. I truly am, but it's too late. She's going to come after you. If she's in your mind, she knows where you are. Read the Book, daughter. For your sake and everyone else's." She says suddenly before suddenly disappearing. I blink, suddenly anger filling me. My face twitches, heat rising inside of me.

"That's it? That's all you have to fucking say? Fuck!" I shout at the sky, even though I know she's somewhere else. Fucking bullshit. Just when I thought everything was going to be fine, just when I thought everything was going to be somewhat normal for my family and I, life throws another curveball at me. I just want a fucking break. Just one. First, I have another kid after all the Thanos and Steve bullshit, then Spider-Man's identity gets released-God, I would like one fucking break.

I screamed out, fire shooting out of my mouth and hands. The fire immediately engulfs the forest around me, turning the trees closest to me into ash before I can pull the flames back inside of me. I do pull the flame back in, not wanting to cause a complete forest fire. I pant slightly, heart beating fast. I fall to my knees, rocks digging my into skin. I shut my eyes for moment, letting myself calm down before I stand again. I pull my clothes on, forcing my feet into my shoes. I pick up my car keys and walk out of the charred forest as I try to think of someway I was going to tell my family and teammates the truth.