LANA STOOD on-pointe in her living room. She had recently been remembering her time in the Red Room, not that the nightmares would let her forget, so she started to pick back up ballet. Steve was out with Sam, so she was all alone for a few hours. All by herself, maybe that wasn't a good thing.

She had rearranged the living room to make the space bigger and she stood in the middle.

The nostalgia of dancing again was nice. She could almost hear Madame screaming at her and the other girls. And at least one of them crying about their feet and then screaming as Madame had her guards drag her out.

Madame never tolerated weak dancers. Or assassins.

She remembered when she first met the stone-faced woman. She was only four at the time but her cruel face was seared into her memory like a deep scar. It was funny she couldn't remember her real mother's face but she remembered the first time she had met Madame.

Natasha had been beside her, only 5 years older, she was holding her hand whilst their mother was standing behind them. They had just seen one of the training rooms and Madame had come to meet her new proteges. Lana had been afraid so she clutched to mother, but the woman had gently pried her fingers away from her skirt. She didn't want her daughters to be seen as weak. Lana remembered the talk they had before. Natasha had seen and she had taken her hand to hold.

Madame had bent down to look at them. Lana could smell the liquor and cigarettes in her breath and her steely eyes were unforgiving and cold. Her eyes bore into the little girl's soul as she made sure she knew that she wasn't her own person anymore. She was owned. Not a mere child but a weapon of mass destruction to the woman's disposal. And could be disposed of indefinitely at any point in time.

At that moment the small four-year-old girl had made sure she was to be the best.

As she snapped out of her daze she glanced down at her shaking hands with a shuddering breath. Cracks appeared in her skin with light peeking out from behind it. She swallowed thickly as a pounding became present in her head.

She glanced up her arms seeing the same thing and then looked in the corridor mirror. Her breathing became ragged as she saw them all around her skin. She desperately tried to calm down but she couldn't. The pounding in her head became worse and she clawed at her head.

"Stop," she muttered.

It got worse.

"No. Stop, please."

Everything went black.

She didn't know what was happening until she awoke in the same spot the light on her skin fading and her eyes going back to normal. She looked around worriedly, seeing the living room in shambles.

A smashed lamp, a few broken plates and glasses. The couch was overturned with pillows and feathers strewn everywhere.

"Shit," she groaned.

She used her magic to tidy everything up before Steve returned. When he did he saw her lounging on the sofa.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hi."

"How was your day?" Steve asked as he placed his jacket on the chair.

"Eventful," she gave him a small pained smile. He placed a light kiss on her lips

"Do you want to order something to eat?" He asked as he walked into their room.

"Yeah, sure," she responded. She felt bad for lying to him, but she wanted to figure out about this before she told him.