Flashback 10: Sisterly Permission

And on to the new flashback! This whole AureliaxPietro is KILLING ME!!!!

Enjoy,

LittlePond

Flashback 10: Sisterly Permission

Aurelia Tempest was never a morning person.

Her joints always creaked like an old tractor, her eyes felt like the first generation of cameras and her mind never fully started to function until 10 o'clock. At a minimum.

But nevertheless, Wanda was waiting for her since their training sessions today were in the morning, with Pietro's finishing before lunch.

Pietro.

The Sokovian always found a way to snake his way into her thoughts. When Aurelia tried to fall asleep, when she was talking with Wanda, Hunter or even Von Strucker. Bloody speedsters.

Hunter of course, realised the change in her behaviour, and it must have been obvious since she hadn't had a crush since she was 12 and Aurelia thought one of her younger instructors- Sergeant James- was cute.

Either way, the transition from the assassin with a heart of stone to the girl with a heart of melted butter is definitely one of the more noticeable changes. She grinned as she saw Hunter in the cafeteria, holding two trays containing an assortment of breakfast dishes.

"Missed me?" she asked as they finally found a table.

Hunter nodded as he passed over her tray, simultaneously eating a hash brown, "You know I did. You're always with the Maximoffs now."

"I don't know when they're going to the field. I might not see them after I leave," she reasoned, having a good gulp from her glass of orange juice. "Same here," the agent pouted like a young child.

"They're my mission."

"And you're my friend," Hunter mumbled, pinning her down with a white hot stare. "I know, Hunter but, they need my help. Wanda's learning more every day and Pietro..." she trailed off.

"Has stolen your heart, I get it." It was hard not to pick up on the venom that streaked his words. It was challenging not to feel like he had punched her in the gut.

Like Pietro had- no! Out of my head!

"He has not stolen my heart," Aurelia lied, to Hunter and to herself.

"Yes, he has. Clear as day. Standard crush," he fumed, trying to keep his volume down to suit the constant chatter of the anonymous agents and scientists bustling around them.

Standard crush- what was a standard crush? What made it standard? What made a crush 'above standard?' Or below? Aurelia had been trained for dropping countless bodies, doing whatever it took to do so, but it never covered this.

A crush. A standard crush, in Hunter's words.

"Hunter..." she trailed off, "you're right." Hunter looked up, surprised of course, he didn't expect the assassin S.H.A.D.O to show mercy, HYDRA or not. "I know I am," Appleshade smirked, "But seriously, you're cute when you have a crush. But a word of advice; don't forget your other friends," the agent advised, pointing at her with his own muesli bar.

"Am I doing that?" the assassin asked, looking up from her somewhat creepy stare at her own red apple."Definitely feels like it," Hunter mumbled, making sure not to meet her gaze.

"Sorry, it's just," Aurelia struggled for words, "I haven't really had much experience with this before." The HYDRA agent burst out laughing, causing a few agents around them to stare at him, annoyed, "I beg to differ."

"I'm serious." Hunter stared at her, and looked around at the other agents as if he was mentally asking them if they too, could believe what they were hearing. "Sure," he answered, stretching out the single syllable."I'm not joking," she insisted, and began to eat her own apple.

"Right, because the drop dead gorgeous assassin S.H.A.D.O, has never had much experience when it comes to the opposite gender."

The assassin thought of a mission that had required her to go an extra mile. She looked down, ashamed of that mission, "Well.."

Hunter must not have noticed the ghost of her wrongfully taken innocence because he grinned, "I told you! You do have experience!"

Something inside her snapped, and she lashed out, knowing that it was wrong. "Not like this! All the experience has been so that I can get to their apartment and either kill them, torture them or get information."

She glanced at the clock at the nearest wall, "I should go, Wanda's probably waiting for me."

"Of course she is," he muttered under his breath, the same toxin infused his words. The two HYDRA agents left the cafeteria, and at the corner where they usually parted ways, Aurelia put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll talk after though?" she asked, trying to catch his gaze which proved to be easier said than done. "As long as you don't gossip about a certain speedster," Hunter scowled, rubbing her hand away.

"I promise." "We'll see how we go."

The assassin forced herself to walk away, inadequacy flowing through her like a river.

Faster than Aurelia expected, Wanda's truing session ran out, and they begun to walk back to the base, her heart already beating faster at the thought of seeing Pietro again.

"Aurelia?" Wanda asked, pulling her out of the pool of her mind, "Are you ok? You seemed...distant," her friend asked, green eyes wide with concern.

Aurelia didn't blame her, she was normally so focused. Whenever she was with Wanda, the conversation flowed like water. Today, there had been many ages of silence between them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Aurelia nodded, noting just how distant she sounded. Wanda frowned, and her irises turned red, soon enough the usual feeling of hands running through her mind ripped through her.

As fast she entered her mind, Wanda sprinted out, a shriek already on her lips. "Oh my God!" she yelled, hands covering her mouth.

"What?"

Wanda either didn't hear her, chose to ignore her, or just couldn't answer due to her laughter.

"What?"

Wanda, however, confirmed her worst fear, "You like Pietro!" Aurelia had never seen her friend this overjoyed, and was extremely confused.

She expected her to be disgusted or at least weirded out to some extent. Jumping like gravity didn't exist was not high up the list of 'Expected reactions from Wanda Maximoff.'

"Um..uh.." Aurelia stood there, hands out to the sides as if calming down a trio of raptors, unsure of how to calm down her friend. "I knew it!" Wanda rejoiced, hitting the air with pale fists.

Finally, the assassin tried to calm down, and talk as if this was a regular conversation. No pressure. "This is why the mind control is so unfair."

"This is why mind control is the best!" Wanda insisted, clasping her hands together, her smile reaching the furthest corners of her cheeks. "I'm going to kill you one day..." Aurelia trailed off, grinning at the last moment to let her know that it was only a figure of speech.

"And you haven't told him anything?" the younger Maximoff asked.

The assassin looked at her friend as if she had lost her mind, "No. Why would I?"

Wanda scoffed and punched her arm playfully, not unlike how Pietro would punch her arm when they had their witty banter. "Why shouldn't you? You have nothing to lose!" she chimed.

Nothing to lose. If only Wanda knew what had happened when she was 18, during her 87th mission.

"I have everything to lose."

"Well, as his sister, I say go for it."

The assassin pursed her lips, "I don't know Wanda..."

Her friend stopped her in her tracks by stepping in front, hands outstretched with scarlet energy between her fingers. "You should. You're the greatest assassin, Aurelia. You're fearless. Surely the small possibility of rejection shouldn't scare you?"

Aurelia realised that yes, she was afraid of rejection.

She nearly yelled out in fear at the thought of her letting loose all of the new and exotic emotions Pietro'd made her feel and him laughing in her face.

"It does," she practically whimpered. Here she was, the greatest assassin since Natasha freaking Romanoff, and she was afraid of her crush rejecting her.

Coward.

"And it's a fear you will get over," Wanda reassured her, putting a surprisingly warm hand on her shoulder.

Images of the final night of that 87th mission flashed through her mind. A fear she'd get over; Aurelia doubted that. She hope she could. But she doubted it.

"No, you don't understand," she began, and before she knew it, the story was spilling.

"When I was 18, I had a mission to kill another S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Except this one was different, she was younger, one of the many prodigies of S.H.I.E.L.D. One that had already committed several crimes and very well guarded."

"She had many...talents, a genius in chemistry and gifted in marksmanship, so she jumped between the Operations and the Sci-Tech Academy. So, when Sci-Tech had their final exams, she stayed there. Which gave HYDRA a final window. I had to go undercover at the Academy and...well long story short I developed a crush on her. But a mission is a mission, and I had to kill her anyway."

Aurelia had never told the story of her 87th mission.

Except her for her debriefing with Whitehall days after, when she could walk again. But he didn't pick up on the change in her, he just congratulated her on her newest kill. The one that would leave the biggest dint in S.H.I.E.L.D.

Realisation dawned on Wanda's face, "So what you are saying is that..." she trailed off. There was no need to finish her sentence, the truth hung between them.

"Yep," she sighed, as the weight of the secret lifted off her, making the assassin feel 10 times lighter.

"I am sorry," her friend apologised, moving out the way so they could continue walking.

"Wait a minute, she?"

Aurelia was surprised that Wanda hadn't recoiled in shock, she didn't know much about Sokovian culture, but it didn't stop her from assuming the worst. "Yeah," she confirmed, rubbing her hand on her opposite forearm.

"I did not know that you-" "Liked both genders?" Wanda nodded, surprisingly not uncomfortable, "Yeah." Aurelia crossed her arms, fingers digging into her jacket, "Is that ok?" Fear burbled inside her like boiling water, threatening to overflow and explode.

Wanda nodded in approval, diminishing any fears Aurelia had of not being accepted, "I've just..." Wanda trailed off, though she knew how to finish it. "Never met someone like me?" she suggested, biting her bottom lip in anxiety. The twin nodded, "I guess. That mission was how you realised?" The assassin nodded, "Yep. Made the whole experience that much more amazing."

Wanda looked down, trailed her fingers across the bark of the trees accompanying her. "I'm sorry. But, you should still tell him how you feel."

How to stab a man right through the heart using a Chinese ring dagger? Aurelia was your person!

How to scale a building in order to sneak into an apartment without any trace? Just ask her!

But how to admit to your crush your feelings? She might as well be brain dead.

"I have no clue when it comes to these things."

Wanda nodded, but remarked, "You'll learn. Trust me, it's Pietro we're talking about. Do you really want to apply logic?"

Aurelia laughed with the same amount of enthusiasm that her friend displayed earlier. Wanda joined in too and added, "Just do what you think is right. When the moment comes, you'll know."

"Thanks, Wanda," Aurelia said to her friend once they reached her cell, her hand felt warm for the first time in a while on Wanda's shoulder. "It's the least I can do. You train me with my powers. I train you with crushes," she joked.

"Seems like a balanced friendship," she answered, gripping the handle tightly and looking down, thinking of Pietro just in the next room. Wanda must have picked up on her thoughts, since she winked, "Indeed."