"STATE YOUR NAME, please."

". . . vina."

"Louder, please."

"Le . . . vina."

It barely passed her lips. It was a desperate, tugging word in her throat. Broken beyond belief.

"Good. Do you know what we're doing today, Levina?"

She shook her head.

"Use your words."

It hurt. "N-no."

Behind the one-sided glass, the sound of men murmuring filled the space in front of her. She knew there were people behind there. There always were. But right now all she could see was herself, pale, skinny, and drowning in white cloth, bruises all over her arms.

"You don't know?" The voice came again. She shook her head and thankfully, they didn't prod her to speak.

"We're moving you today, Levina. You are leaving this facility and headed to another one. There, you will be safe, and will continue your enlightenment."

Enlightenment. The tests.

However numb her mind was, she still heard what they whispered about her these past few weeks. We have to move her. She's unusual. If we aren't careful, she could give us away. Send her somewhere far, somewhere lonely.

Last week she'd shut down the power. The week before lightning struck the compound. The week before that, the Avengers ransacked one of their other bases. They were getting close, and this little girl was a liability. Too young, too stupid, and too unpredictable to be in the middle of their biggest operation.

It was naive to think they were moving her because they cared for their other subjects; Levina knew this, but she couldn't help imagining it anyways. The Maximoff twins were far more valuable to them than she was. They were strong, older, and carried their bruises with pride. Levina wished she could do that. Wished the needles and the shackles would feel like they were supposed to—fulfilling, courageous. Look how much you suffer for your great country, they said. Look how proud you should be that we chose you.

This was Levina's country now. She forgot her old one. She forgot her parents. It was hard to know how she got here, and even harder to know where her other life had gone. She was only twelve. (Or was it thirteen? Eleven?) Did she even have a life before this? Had this ever not been her country?

Her cold forearms were clasped by two large hands, guiding her out of the room and back to her own. She paid no mind to them. The firm, suffocating feeling was normal as her feet made the same patterns as always. She wasn't sure what happened the rest of that meeting. Maybe they asked her more questions, maybe not. Maybe they even strapped her to the chair and needled her again. She couldn't say. Her mind was lost to static and fog, just like it always had been.

"We leave tonight," a gruff voice said.

Oh. She was back in her cell. Already sitting on the chilly bed she'd slept on for what felt like all of time.

Which is probably why tonight came rather quickly.

The hands were back at her arms again, bringing her out of her room without resistance. She was hazy and complacent as she watched her feet blur across the steely floor, hiding in eroding black shoes with missing soles.

They stopped. "Wait here. Do not move." Their accents were thick. Everyone's was. The men let go of her arms and marched down the hallway. One of them remained, back facing Levina, but his eyes were on her.

"Hey, Levina!"

A voice whispered to her from somewhere very close. This voice was not like the other men's. The accent was similar and so was the depth, but this voice was familiar and the warmest she'd ever known. Only a sliver of compassion, but enough to pull her out of her stasis.

She turned slightly, blinking. The guard's eyes narrowed to slits, but he said nothing as a silver man approached the little girl with wide eyes.

"Pietro," Levina said hoarsely.

His silver hair fell around him in grace. Even with the circles beneath his eyes and the cuts on his cheeks, he still looked so vibrant to her. He and his sister were the awake parts of Levina's day. They cleared her foggy head, if only for a moment.

He crouched to meet her eyes. He was tall, like everyone else, but never towering. "Are you leaving already?" He asked, a comforting smile drifting on his face.

She found herself nodding.

Pietro didn't ask her to say anything more. He just hummed for a moment, and his smile began to falter. "Take care of yourself, okay? We will miss you."

She blinked. Her eyes were cold, and everything looked glassy. "I . . . will miss you too," she whimpered. Pietro's warm, gentle hand grasped her shoulder.

The scent of metal filled her as her spindly arms embraced him, and it wasn't until he brought her close that she felt a real, honest twinge of pain burrowed in her heart. Something strangled came out of her throat, and Pietro hugged the back of her head. "It's okay," he soothed, voice smoky and familiar. "We will see each other again, no? Once this is all over and you're older, we will all fight together." He chuckled a bit, "Those Avengers won't stand a chance."

She cried more, clutching the fabric of his shirt. "Wanda—" She choked.

"I will say goodbye to her for you. She already misses you very much."

Wanda Maximoff was the only woman Levina had ever known. She was beautiful, and sad, and strong. There were many nights where they found themselves in the same cell, and Levina would curl into Wanda's arms as she stroked through her hair, singing a song from a time long forgotten. The thought of leaving her made Levina feel desperate for the first time in a long time—made her feel like she had something to fight against.

She nodded feverishly into Pietro's shoulder, burying her face in his neck. She didn't want to leave. This was the only place she knew. Where else was there? Where else in the world was a place for her? No, she belonged here, under careful watch, and with Pietro and Wanda. With their songs from their life before. Their songs from out there.

"You'll be alright, Levina. We'll see each other soon," Pietro said.

"Don't . . . want to leave," she sobbed quietly.

"I know, we don't want you to either. But like I said, when you're older and strong, we will all be together." He squeezed her a little tighter. "I promise."

Pietro pulled back from her, still with a lilting smile. His thumb brushed over her forehead, tender and warm. His eyes glistened too as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Stay strong, sora. I promise I will see you again soon."

If she knew he wouldn't keep his promise—if she knew this was the last time she would see Pietro Maximoff alive, she would've held tighter. She would've asked for longer before the guards took her away again, moving her through the building, silent and steady like a death march. She would've cried out when she passed Wanda Maximoff, whose eyes widened and mouth parted, wanting to say something so badly to the little girl she'd seen grow, the little girl she wouldn't see until she'd lost her only brother. Wanda would have to live without both her siblings for quite some time. She would have to cry alone, wishing she had Levina there to hold again.

But there was no time for that, and the future was still far away. Levina was jostled into fresh air and shoved into the back of a small black truck.

Her mind went away again as they drove from the compound. She didn't even look back as the fog settled on her once again, the tears and the pain and the longing numbing in her core.

The driver and the guards were tense. The thick trees and the rising moon secluded them the best they could, but they were still wary, casting glances out their windows and making sure Levina was as sterile as ever.

All went well for a couple minutes. Only a couple.

A hammer burst through the passenger seat window, knocking the guard out cold and then flying back out. Levina barely registered what happened as the guards started to yell and panic and curse, as shards of glass freckled her face.

"Shit, shit, they know!" The driver swore, gripping the wheel with the sound still ringing.

"Take another route! Lose them! We'll lead them right to the compound!" The guard next to Levina yelled, jumping up from his seat as his buddy lay slumped over.

Levina became fixated on the passenger seat guard. His head was laying against the middle compartment between the two front seats. Blood gushed from the back of his head, sprawling down his face and pooling in the car.

His lifeless eyes were staring right at her.

She had never seen this. Never understood what was happening around her. But this was real and vibrant and following her, bleeding out in front of her eyes and cutting her cheeks right open. Undeniably, she started to panic, chest getting tight and fingers shaking and there's blood everywhere and the steering is making me sick and I think I have to get out of here.

Her head was still heavy, but laced with the clear image of a dead man waiting for her to move. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think with the sound of two men yelling at each other, and jostling the car along thick underbrush and walls of trees.

Without really knowing why, she started to tug on the handle of her door. She pulled again and again, praying for something, for anything, that would stop this.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" The guard on her left lunged for her, pinning her back against the door and crushing her beneath his weight.

She started to scream and cry, trying to flail around. It was the loudest she'd ever felt her whole life. She was choking now, barely breathing, and the man in the passenger seat kept staring at her, bleeding into his mouth.

Desperation clawed every inch of her. HELP ME, PLEASE! She was screaming and thrashing and tears were running down her face, just like blood was running down his, and she needed to get out and she needed to run and she needed to tear her throat apart.

The man yelled in agony, throwing himself away from her and clutching his chest. The driver looked back briefly and almost crashed into a tree, making Levina knock her head so hard against the side of the car that things started growing spotty.

"She hurt me! Little bitch stung me!" The guard howled, green lashes of static still intertwining over his chest, sparking and flaring up and leaving him immobile.

Levina stared at her own hands. The things beneath her skin were green again. She didn't know what they were called, but they stretched across every part of her body and were so far beneath her that she could never know exactly what they were. She felt the buzzing and the snaps through her blood, electricity pulsing through her. She was horrified because the man was still screaming, swiping at her face and swearing at her. She kept jiggling the car door, voice lost to time and power, the only person silent in the tiny car aside from the man bleeding tears.

A whirring sound came from her right. The driver yelped, turning his head to his window, and a beam of light shot through it and he ducked just in time.

The car veered down an unbeaten path, bumping closer and closer to a ravine the driver could see in the distance. "Fuck!" He screamed.

The whirring came again. This time it was right beside her.

Choking on the tears coming into her mouth, she screamed without sound. The beam of light shattered her window and covered her in glass once again, but this time it went no further than that.

Suddenly, her door gave way.

She screamed, falling halfway out the car with the man in the back launching towards her to pull her back in. And just as his hand snagged her ankle, pulling her back from the harsh, dense forest, something else wrapped around her from behind and ripped her straight out of the car.

She was propelled up in the air, the man holding onto her ankle for a second longer before letting go. His body fell down towards the ground. She couldn't take her eyes off him as he landed face down in the twigs and trees, unmoving.

"Hang on, kid," a metallic, strangely calm voice said behind her.

She just now noticed who was holding onto her as she was up in the air. Whoever this was, there were what looked like rocket propellers coming out of there heels. The arms wrapped around her waist were red and gold and shiny, not human in the slightest but rather something completely artificial.

"I got her," the man said again, and arched down to send them back towards land. Levina tried to scream, but was gutted when no noise came out. The clouds passed her by alarmingly fast as she barrelled toward the ground. In the distance, the car she was just in lost control and crashed headfirst into a ravine, splintering into a thousand pieces.

She felt her chest constricting again. Just when she thought she was about to crash to the floor without preamble, she was set down on her back carefully and slowly.

"Is this the one?" A woman's voice asked.

A different man than the one who'd carried her answered. "Yep. The compound's not too far away. If we want to take 'em down, we'll have to act fast." He grunted, and the sound of shuffling feet neared her. A face swam into her vision. A blond, hazel-eyed man was scanning her face. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know, Rogers. Why don't we ask her while she bleeds out on a pile of dirt? I'm sure she'll love that."

A different voice chimed, "My hammer's a mess. I'd like to get it cleaned soon, if you don't mind—"

"Sorry, am I the only adult here for the first time? We have a child about to see God and you're worried about your hunk of metal?"

"Well, technically I am a God so—"

"You won't be much longer if you don't shut up. Let's go."

Their voices were fuzzy and blended together. The sky was bleeding, swimming, growing dark as it sucked up the shadows of trees.

Something buzzed near her ear. Weakly, she managed to turn her head to see an emerald beetle huddled against the floor, scuttling towards her.

This was when she realized she was in the outside. This beetle was from the outside. It came a little closer, iridescent wings gleaming. It narrowly avoided a drop of blood falling next to it, which Levina barely noticed was hers. Still, this bug was beautiful.

A rumble of lighting thrashed across the clear sky, splitting Levina's world in pieces. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her mind filled with fog and darkness as the rain washed her tears of blood away.

____________________________
A/N. . .
sorry