➶ ｡˚ ° ➶ ｡˚➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚
(𝐑𝐔𝐍)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE----▹

2018

A Seventeen-year-old, Iskra Romanoff-Hill was gasping for air, everything was so still all of the sudden, what the hell had happened? "Where'd he go?" Steve asked, holding his side, just as out of breath as the rest of them. "Thor?" he asked, "Where'd he go?" he asked more urgently. "Steve?" Bucky called out, Iskra felt like she could throw up as Bucky disintegrated into nothing.

Steve fell to his knees where Bucky had been standing and they all shared a look, "Mama?" Iskra called out, as she immediately began looking for Natasha. "Wanda!" Iskra cried out, coming across the woman, but she was also dusting away into the air, "No, no, no..."

"Iskra?" Steve asked, moving quickly over to her, and then his eyes landed on Vision's body, "Iskra! Oh, thank God!" Natasha whispered running over to the younger girl, quickly wrapping her into a hug. Natasha's stomach dropped when she saw Vision's body, this was really bad.

"What is this? What the hell is happening?" Everything was so still, almost frozen at the moment, "He won." Iskra whispered.

And that was only the beginning of Iskra's pain...

Present Day

"Uncle Clint? Clint? What's wrong?" Iskra asked trying not to panic, "You definitely tore your stitches again," he sighed, "You've lost too much blood Iskra, if you keep losing it at this rate, you'll need a transfusion within an hour or you might bleed out." he spoke, working his hardest to restitch the wound.

Iskra was losing blood at an alarming rate, her eyes felt so heavy, "Iskra hey, I'm gonna need you to stay awake, okay?" she forced her eyes open, "Uncle Clint," she whispered, "Yeah?" he asked, trying to pack the wound, "If...if I don't make it," the girl started, "No do not start talking like that Iskra Romanoff-Hill, you are going to make it, you have too." he said.

"Just listen to me Katniss Everdeen knock-off," Iskra demanded in a small voice, "If I don't make it, I need you to be there for my Mom, she's gonna need all the help she can get, with Jess." she paused trying to catch her breath, "Oh and keep an eye on Mj, she might act all tough most of the time, but she was my best friend, I need her alive." Iskra whispered.

"And Kate, tell her that I wish I had gotten more time with her," she added, before slipping into the darkness...

"Iskra? Iskra, you have to stay awake..." Clint's voice faded out into nothing...

Morning came quick, but not quick enough, Clint had gotten little to no sleep trying to keep Iskra alive. The buzzer rang through the apartment, and he sighed heavily forcing himself up out of the chair, he walked over to the door pressing the button, "Barton, it's me. Let me in so I can see my daughter." Maria demanded from the other end of the buzzer, he buzzed her in and a few minutes later she came through the door of the appartment.

"I leave you alone with my daughter for barely a week, and I come to find she's practically on her death bed, one of these days I'm gonna kill you Barton." Maria said, "Missed you too, Hill." he replied closing the door behind the brunette. She walked over to Iskra and brushed a strand of her off of her forehead, it had been at least a month since Maria last saw Iskra, and it hurt her to see her daughter looking so helpless...

Although she never looked as broken as the day post blip...

"Mom?" Iskra asked, meeting Maria's eyes for the first time in five years, engulfing her in a hug, "Iskra?" Maria whispered, "You're...you're so grown up." Maria said holding her daughter face, "I missed you so much Mom." she said with a smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, but her smile soon dropped, "I have to tell you something..." the blonde's voice trailed off, "It's about Mama." 

"What about Mama sweetheart?" Maria asked, already having a bad feeling about this conversation, "She's...she's gone." Iskra whispered, a single tear streaming down her face, "I'm so sorry." She cried, "I never...I never should've let them go by themselves, I could've done something. I could've done something!" Iskra cried, and Maria just held her, "It's not your fault, baby. It's not your fault." Maria whispered holding her tightly as Iskra just sobbed against her."

----

"Mom?" Iskra asked grogily, wondering if she was hallucinating the brunette woman that sat by her side, "Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling?" Maria whispered, and Iskra's eyes widened, "Wait? You're really here?" Iskra asked tears welding in her eyes, "Wait! Why are you here? You're supposed to be at home doing christmas-y things with Jess!" Iskra exclaimed, "No, I have a child who has been on her death bed for hours, I am needed here." Maria said, gently moving a strand of hair out of Iskra's face. 

"It hurts." Iskra says, "And uncle Clint won't make me mac and cheese." Iskra added, "What? You didn't even ask me!" he defended, "C'mon Barton, make your niece some boxed Mac and cheese." Maria said jokingly.

While Maria told Iskra all about her most recent mission, Clint did in fact make Mac and Cheese, "For you Iz," he said handing her a bowl of mac and cheese, "Ooo yum! Do we have any hot sauce?" Clint looked utterly mortified, Iskra had been the one to introduce Yelena to Mac and Cheese and hot sauce. "What? Hot sauce?" he asked, "Duh. How else would you eat macaroni?"

"So how exactly did you get stabbed Iskra?" Maria asked, and Iskra groaned, "Can we please not?" Iskra sighed, as she poured some hot sauce on to the macroni, "Clint told me that Mikhail was there," Maria started, and Irskra pouted, taking a bite of the macaroni. 

"Please talk to me Iz, I want to help you." Maria sighed, "You'll never understand" Iskra snapped, "You don't know what it's like." Maria looked at her daughter, "Only because you won't talk to me, what happend Iskra? You used to talk to me about everything." 

"You disappeared," Iskra began and saw a look flash over Maria's face, "And I don't just mean the blip! You haven't truly fully been in my life at all since Mama died, all you do is go on missions and leave Jess and I. God, Jessica loves you so much, but you're never there." Iskra spoke tears in her eyes.

"I'm trying my best Iz-" and Iskra shook her head, "We lost her too Mom."

--------

Kate stepped out of the elevator, a bit confused, when she noticed the officers, "I promise you, this a big mis-understanding, I've never worked a day in my life." Jack said, "We have some tax records that will beg to differ." one of them said, "I'm telling you, the only Sloan I've ever known was this one woman I dated in Palm Beach, and she was an absolute nightmare." Jack defended.

Kate walked up and hugged her mother, "I'm so sorry Mom." she whispered, "I looked into it honey, and you were right." Eleanor replied, "I don't blame you for calling the police, darling," Jack noted, "I would've done the exact same thing. I've obviously been framed." He continued, "I'll clear all this up, and be back in a jiffy for your Christmas party , you'll see." he finished as the police escorted him out of the penthouse.

After a brief conversation with her mother, her phone rang, "Hello?" she answered as she walked into her bedroom sinking down onto the bed. "Hey, it's me." Iskra sighed, Kate brows furrowed, Iskra sounded as though she had been crying, "Iskra? Are you ok?" Kate asked, "It's uh...really good to hear your voice." she responded.

"That's never a good start to a conversation." Kate mumbled, "What's wrong Iz?" Iskra took a deep breath, "During our fight, last night, I uh.. got hurt...pretty bad." Kate sucked in a breath, "Well...uh...how are you now? And how bad?" Iskra sighed, "I almost didn't make it through the night...I'm stable for now though." Iskra said and Kate nodded, not that Iskra could see her, "On the bright side though, I got to eat some really good Mac and Chesse," She added, her voice in a much happier, but still tired tone...

"That's kind of weird, me too..."