CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:
RAELYNN QUINN

BETH LAID THERE, CLOSING HER eyes as she slowly but surely started to drift to sleep. This creature, this monster that was roaming around the facility because of Raelynn simply trying to sleep was awful. It terrorized everyone in its path, and had even killed two agents. It wasn't Raelynn that was dangerous, it was her sleeping that was dangerous. And Beth thought that she had it bad.

Her eyes moved back and forth behind her closed eyelids like she was searching for something without actually being able to see it. Which was exactly what was happening. Beth found herself standing in the black void of her mind, in the world of dreams, in the world in which she could hear and see everyone's dreams. It was a place that she didn't visit often, for the simple fact that all of the voices made her crazy.

Voices echoed all around her, sometimes there were screams from the nightmares that people were experiencing, sometimes there were cries of pure agony as if someone was being tortured. Those were the ones that stood out to her more, those were the ones that echoed more loudly in the void of her mind. And those were the ones that she chose to focus on more. If Raelynn was having a nightmare, then Beth was sure that she would be able to find the woman somewhere within the millions of dreams. The only problem was that she couldn't focus.

All of the voices, all of the screams, all of the cries for help seemed to meld into one. Her hands pressed against her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut, letting out cries of pain of her own. Experiencing so many dreams at once was giving her a headache, and a nose bleed. She didn't know how to focus on one person's dreams. She had never done this before, but she knew that she was capable of it, she just had to figure out a way to get through all of the other voices, all of the ones that she needed to ignore.

Wanda stood there with worried eyes, watching the blood drip from Beth's nose as she continued to sleep. The sound of fighting could be heard down the hall, the other Avengers trying everything in their power to stop the creature from coming any closer. They were trying to protect Beth, and Wanda was standing there doing nothing but watching her sleep and bleed. The woman swallowed before kneeling down beside of the bed and looking at Beth before grabbing her hands and interlacing their fingers.

     "It's growing closer." Wanda whispered, hoping that Beth was able to hear her. "You can do this, Beth. Just. . . breathe."

Beth looked up at the black ceiling, the source of Wanda's voice echoing a little louder than the others. Just breathe. Beth listened to the woman she had come to love and stood there for a moment and nodded to herself before closing her eyes again and just taking a moment to breathe. She focused, clenching her jaw as she started to shove the other voices away until one stood out to her. She had found it.

     "Raelynn." Beth whispered the woman's name as she found herself inside of the girl's dream. She was in a room, a bedroom it looked like. She frowned slightly before opening the door and continuing through the house, appearing just in time to watch as Raelynn let out a scream. Beth stood there and immediately a hand covered her mouth. There on the floor laid two bloodied bodies with Raelynn standing there, sobbing.

     Beth swallowed thickly before her head turned to watch a younger blonde come out of her bedroom. Beth wanted to stop her, but she couldn't. Aurelia Quinn walked into the living room, a teddy bear in her hands as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Sissy?" She was around six years old, Beth assumed.

     Beth watched as the complete horror fell on Raelynn's face as she looked at her little sister before suddenly her eyes moved to look at Beth. The woman swallowed thickly as she met Beth's eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

     Beth glanced down to Aurelia who was still staring forward before meeting Raelynn's eyes once more. "My name is Beth Dennings. And I need you to wake up."

     Raelynn clenched and unclenched her jaw as she looked at Beth. "What's happening? How are you in my head?"

     "It's a part of my powers." Beth answered her, carefully taking a few steps closer to Raelynn. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just need you to wake up before someone else dies."

     "Someone died?" Raelynn whispered. "Oh god." She started crying again, her hands fisting her hair as if she were going to rip it out. "Why does this always happen to me?" The more that Raelynn got upset, the more the creature outside of her mind got angrier and it got stronger.

     "Raelynn, please." Beth begged. "I need you to wake up. And when you do, you'll be in a room inside of the Avengers headquarters. I will help you figure this out, alright? But right now I need you to wake up before one of my people get killed."

     "I wish I could." Raelynn whispered. "But I don't wake up until someone's usually dead."

     "Someone is dead." Beth told her. "Two agents, actually. We don't want a third, alright? Just. . . take my hands. I'm going to try something."

     Raelynn did as she asked before asking, "What are you going to do?"

     "I'm going to try to wake you up from your dream, by putting another in your head." Beth answered. Raelynn swallowed, and it was clear that the woman was scared. Beth carefully lifted her hand up to her mouth and shook her head. "Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you." The pink appeared in her hand, and like fairy dust, she blew it in Raelynn's face. She watched as it surrounded the woman's head before pouring into her mind and causing Raelynn to fall down to the floor.

Beth shot up from the bed with a gasp. Her breath was heavy, her heart pounded violently in her chest as she looked around the empty room. When she found Wanda no longer at her side, she panicked. She removed herself from the bed, catching herself on the wall as her head spun with dizziness. She looked down when she saw a red drop of blood land on the floor, causing her to quickly bring her hand up to her nose before quickly wiping away the blood.

Beth made her way out of the room, looking down the hall to see the damage that had been done. Wanda was leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. Steve was hovering over his girlfriend who had been knocked out by the creature. She noticed the creature was no where to be found.

     "Wanda?" Wanda immediately looked up at the sound of Beth's voice, causing Beth to quickly run over to her, kneeling in front of her and cupping Wanda's face in her hands. "Are you alright?"

     "Fine." Wanda assured.

     "Where did it go?" Beth asked, looking around.

     "Disappeared." Wanda answered. "Dusted away right in front of us. Raelynn's awake. You did it." She gave Beth a small smile and Beth closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against Wanda's. And she took a moment to just breathe and relax, but smiled to herself when she realized that she had actually done it. That her powers were more useful than she originally thought.