CHAPTER SIX:
FEAR

BETH SAT THERE WITH HER knees to her chest, her eyes closed as she silently tried to convince herself that this wasn't real. That this was just another twisted dream that she had managed to stumble into that had her as the main character instead of someone else. She just wanted to believe that this was all fake. And she would only continue to do that until she was dead. She knew that if she finally took it in, and realized that she was actually in the hands of HYDRA, that she would break.

Beth knew that she would go to a place that she didn't want to go. A place that she had went through after the death of her mother. It was a very dark place, a place that Beth didn't escape until she had turned fifteen. She spent so long in that dark place, that she had forgotten what the outside world was like and the people that resided within it. She forgot that there were other people in the world besides HYDRA, and she didn't want to go through that again. That nine year period was something that absolutely terrified her.

Beth wished that she could just lay down and dream, running from dream to dream and hoping that those dreams became her reality instead of the one she was living in. Speaking of sleep, she realized that she didn't have her dreamcatcher. That it was probably still at the motel in which she had been taken from. She bit her lip as she felt her eyes fill with tears. The last thing she had left of her mother had now officially been taken from her. She wanted it back. She just wished that she could figure out what it was that she had done wrong for HYDRA to be able to find her.

The tear trickled down her cheek, and she was quick to wipe it away as she sniffled. She closed her eyes, burying her face between her knees. She wasn't going to cry. She couldn't, not yet. She knew exactly what was in store for her. She knew the screams and tears that were bound to echo off the HYDRA walls, imprinting the blank walls and leaving a piece of her in this wretched place forever. The thought sent a shiver up her spine, making her jaw clench automatically before she forced it to unclench and her shoulders slumped.

Beth couldn't help but go back to the dream she had entered just moment before she had been taken away. The woman inside it that had tints of red scattered through her brown hair. The woman was beautiful, that was no doubt, but that wasn't what Beth focused on. She focused on the way the woman had looked at when she realized someone had been inside her head. Beth had seen many reactions in her life when she popped up in dreams that weren't her own, but Wanda Maximoff's reaction was completely different from what Beth had been used to.

Wanda had looked at the woman like she was intrigued, and shocked. Beth knew about Wanda and what it was that she could control. She knew what it was that Wanda had done to the Avengers before she had switched to the good side, and never used her gift unless she was doing it for a good reason. Wanda could get inside people's head, show them what she wanted them to see, but the look that she gave Beth was confused. She had looked Beth in the eyes, cocking her head slightly as her facial features flooded with confusion.

Wanda was confused as to how and why Beth was in her head. But, that still wasn't the main focus point that Beth had took note of. She took note of the look that fell across her face when Wanda realized what door she had been about to open. Out of all of the doors that lined the white hallways inside of Wanda's head, Beth had chosen the one that had the name Pietro on it.

Beth had watched the woman's emotions change from confused, to sad, to heartbroken, before the smallest and almost invisible smile had formed on Wanda's face. Beth had to admit that she had forgotten Wanda had a brother, but when she had remembered, she almost felt sorry for even looking at the door and making Wanda go through so many emotions at once. However, there was one more emotion that Wanda had experienced, one that wasn't for herself, but instead for Beth.

Fear. Wanda Maximoff had expressed fear in her eyes and worry on her mouth when she had watched Beth panic, claiming that they were here. Beth could still hear Wanda's calls for her to tell the Avenger where it was that she was at so that she could find her and rescue her. That fear that shone on Wanda's face, suddenly brought Beth comfort. And maybe that was twisted, or something along the lines of that, but Beth hadn't seen anyone fear for her, not since her mother had died. She had felt cared for for the first time since she was six years old. And that ounce of fear, that ounce of knowing someone cared for her well being, would be the only thing that helped Beth stay strong. That would be the only thing that would keep her sanity in check.