Deal

Alice didn't think she'd ever been so tired in all her life. There were broken bodies all around her, some breathing and some not, and shells of battered robots strewn across the foreign land like a jigsaw puzzle. Her hands shook with desperation as she focused on the body lying lifelessly before her, praying to whoever would listen that she could bring him back.

It wasn't looking good, she knew, for each bullet wound gushed blood with every beat of his heart. His mirthful, blue eyes had long since closed and his breathing had reduced to nearly nothing.

"You gonna be able to fix him?" Clint's voice was tight, his eyes watching her every move.

Alice blinked back the tears that had gathered in the corner of her eyes, but said nothing. She focused her energy to her hands until they began to grow a pale blue color - the color of Pietro's eyes, she realized. Slowly she ran her hand over the first wound on his chest and closed her eyes. Gradually beneath her shaking palm the wound began to heal, stitching itself back together slowly. The sharp ting of the bullet against the floor of the jet was the only sound other than the pair's heavy breaths.

"Pietro!" An accented voice called. Alice didn't have to look up to know that it was his twin sister, Wanda. The Witch joined Alice on the floor, sobbing hysterically beside her. Alice felt pity for the girl, and if she weren't in the process of saving her only living relative's life she would have comforted her. She heard the rustling beside her and saw that Clint had taken her place in showing the girl sympathy with an arm around her shoulder.

One by one Alice closed the wounds, and by the time she finished the last one she feared she may faint, but she pushed on. She placed her hands on either side of Pietro's head and, once again, closed her eyes. She searched his mind for any kind of life - a thought, a memory, anything she could work with. She picked through his brain frantically, begging him to still have at least an ounce of consciousness left.

And finally she found it. She saw a little boy with brown hair running along a street, a red, juicy apple in his hand. He wasn't as quick as the man she knew, but he was fast in his own right. Good, she thought as she tried to shield herself from him - if he saw her he'd run. She didn't say his name, she only beckoned him toward her with his mind. He followed her and when he was within her reach she leaped out of the shadows and grabbed onto him, placing her hands onto the memory of himself's head.

"Come back with me, Pietro." She whispered quickly, her voice loud, echoing through the streets. "Wanda needs you. The team needs you."

The boy screamed, whether it was in pain or shock she didn't know, and when she came back to herself she had been thrown across the room.

Wanda stood beside her brother defensively, her hands glowing red by her sides. "Do not touch him again."

Alice groaned, holding her head, but made no effort to get up. She didn't want to, she didn't have the strength.

"H-He's alive," was Alice's last words before she passed out from exhaustion.



Pietro was incredibly sore, but he was thankful to be alive.

He had been adamant about seeing the girl who'd visited him in what he thought were his final moments, and dragged him back to the world of the living. He was distraught when he saw her lying in a bed with tubes and machines hooked to her. It was his fault she was here, in the medical ward of the Avenger's Compound. He chewed on a bit of sandwich Wanda had brought him, his eyes never straying from the rhythmic movement of her chest.

"Pietro," Wanda said from her place by the door. "The doctors say you must stretch your legs if you are regain full mobility."

Pietro looked down at his legs, they were battered and sore but he could use them. It would do him no harm to wait. "I will not leave her, Sister."

Wanda sighed and bit her lip, her arms crossed over her chest. "She did not save your life for you to sit and feel sorry for yourself, Pietro."

"It is not me I feel sorry for," he shot back. "Look at her, Wanda. She hasn't been awake in days, and you want to know why? Because of me! If I hadn't rushed in and tried to show up Clint, If I had picked the right time to go in, she would be awake right now!"

Wanda's eyes were downcast. "I understand your grief, Brother, but you sitting by her bed will not help anything."

"I will not leave her," Pietro said again, his eyes hard.

The sound of footsteps alerted the twins and quickly Wanda was by her brother's side, her hands glowing red. The waited, both on edge, until the footsteps were just outside the door. Slowly, the door opened and one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s doctors walked in, his nose buried in his notebook.

"Mr and Miss Maximoff," he greeted in his monotone voice. "I see you're still here, Pietro. Have you been working your legs?"

Pietro sighed. "I have been working them enough. How is Alice?"

The doctor closed his book and pushed his glasses further onto his nose. "Alice had very much overexerted herself, she had completely exhausted her body. She was near death when Clint got her in here. If she'd been admitted any later she than she was she would have very likely, died."

Pietro sighed and his eyes slid shut - it was his fault.

"However," the doctor continued. "She is on the path to recovery, and is healing at an exceptional rate. If our studies are correct she should be awake in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours."

Wanda placed her hand on her brother's shoulder, happy to see the small smile that she hadn't seen in days. "Thank you, Doctor."



Beep. Beep. Beep.

The constant noise that permeated the air was like a bee swarming her head. Alice would have liked nothing more than to swat the sound away from her, but found that her arms were too tired to move. Instead of swatting it, Alice decided to open her eyes to get a look at what was causing the noise. She began to open her eyes, but found that they were heavy, almost as if there were anchors attached to them.

She struggled for a moment and then, as if it were nothing, her eyes popped open. She groaned when the stark white of the walls blinded her and closed her eyes again, blinking rapidly to adjust herself to the brightness of the room.

"Alice?" a strangled voice came from her side. "Alice?"

Alice's brow furrowed as she looked around, for she knew that bees couldn't speak. Her vision was still blurry, but there was no way she could ever not know who it was that sat by her side - his silver hair and blue eyes gave him away.

"P-Piet-," her chest burned and her mouth felt like she'd chewed on cotton. A dry, painful coughs racked her body, and tears built in her eyes from her lack of breath.

Pietro jumped to his feet, minding his leg, and fetched her a glass of water. He held it to her lips, gently tilting it so she could drink. Once she'd had her fill she cleared her throat and began speaking again.

"What are you doing here?" Alice asked with her scratchy voice.

Pietro stared at her like he'd never seen anything so sweet in his life. "I thought you were dead."

Alice's laugh came out as a cough. "I thought the same thing about you."

"Don't ever do anything so stupid again," Pietro warned, the corners of his lips twitching into a slight smile.

Alice nodded. "I won't if you don't."

"Deal," the man chuckled. "Now, when you get out of here how about I take you out. A thank you for saving my life."

Alice blinked at him, conscious of the fact that she hadn't had a shower in days, but nodded all the same. Pietro sat on the edge of her bed, his large, warm hands cradling her face between them. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"Don't ever leave me again," he whispered.

Alice reveled in the feel of him pressed against her. "Deal."