2016 | AVENGERS COMPOUND — Today was Siren's first training lesson with her new mentor: Wanda Maximoff. And admittedly, she was very anxious of this special training. Back when she was HYDRA's captive, the girl could only use her powers on certain commands and even then she had little control.

Early in the morning Wanda knocked on Siren's door and picked her up for their training. Together the two ran down to the soundproof training room, which was mostly used for target practice with weapons. In addition, the room had bulletproof windows that offered a beautiful and relaxing view of the water that surrounded the Avengers-compound.

Wanda looked over at Siren, who was wearing an uncertain expression. She didn't even need to read her mind, to know that she was totally nervous. "Don't worry, we'll start off very easy." She smiled encouragingly. "I know that it can be quiet difficult to have powers that you don't understand ... and believe me, I still don't understand them." Wanda admitted and held up her hand to show a scarlet-red flame that, disappeared right after just a few seconds.

"But the important thing is, that you shouldn't be afraid of them." She continued, in her thick Sokovia accent. "Your powers should not control you." Siren listened carefully to the Scarlet Witch's speech, admiring her with great respect. "You have to learn to control them."

In fact, her words gave her a little more courage and self-confidence, whereupon she looked at Wanda with a small and brave smile. "Ready." Siren answered, willing to try her best, which made her mentor smile proudly as well.

Wanda then began the lesson and used her telekinetic powers to levitate an empty drinking glass in the air. Siren stared at the glass surrounded by red smoke and turned her gaze in confusion to Wanda, who made slow movements with her right hand. "You see the glass? Break it!" She explained, always staring at the hovering object. "Concentrate."

Siren took a deep breath and turned her attention to the glass several meters away from them. Wanda took a few steps to the side so she wouldn't distract her.

As she was instructed a faint scream left Siren's throat and shook the floating glass. The girl then looked back at her mentor and waited for a reply. "You're too uncertain." Said Wanda. "You don't give 100%!"

Again she took a deep breath, trying to shake of her fear, before looking back at the floating glass in the air. Wanda could always hear her nervous breathing and fixed her gaze on her. Another scream left Siren's throat, making the glass clink and rattle again. "Break it!" Wanda shouted firmly, while the scream continued.

At her command, Siren increased the strength of her scream, while a wave of something unknown came over her, pushing her fear aside. Out of instinct she raised both of her arms, causing the now much louder scream to shatter the thin glass into several pieces. But before the pieces could fly all across the room, Wanda let it fall to the floor collecting the broken pieces.

Siren stared in awe at the broken pieces that were strewn on the floor, but Wanda wore a proud grin instead. She did it, Siren actually did it. And Wanda knew very well, that she would make it. "There you go. Good job!"

Even though Wanda was proud of her, Siren wasn't at all proud of herself at that moment. It was scary to see what she was truly capable of ...

Destruction.

That's exactly what HYDRA wanted from the start. They took something so beautiful, innocent and special and destroyed it. Just seeing the broken pieces on the floor gave her goosebumps, sent shivers down her spine and left her completely uncomfortable. It was a thought that she had to process first.

Later in the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly in the blue sky, it was even quite warm today – ideal for taking a short break. The two girls stood just a few meters from the water and looked at the impressive view.

A small smile appeared on Siren's face when she heard the sound of the peaceful water. It sounded comforting, kind of graceful even, she thought. Wanda then looked over at her in amusement and had to grin slightly. It was nice to see her that happy, the smile really suited her, she thought.

Suddenly she stepped away from Siren, then grinningly sat down on the slightly tall stonewall, which was next to the water and stared down at her student from above. Siren tilted her head in confusion and waited for an explanation. "Show me what you can do." She smiled calmly and made it up to Siren to make her next decisions. "And don't hold back." she winked, before gesturing to the water.

What the girls didn't know, however, was that Sam and Steve were secretly watching the two from the compound living room.

The red-haired girl shifted her focus from Wanda to the quiet water in front of her and next raised her right arm.  With a deep breath she moved her fingers, similar to Wanda and made a few small waves appear.

Impressed, both Wanda's and the eyes of the other Avengers who watched the training widened. She put her hand back down and left the water alone. Satisfied, the student looked up at a grinning Wanda. "Is that all you got?" She joked, her smile always encouraging.

Shaking her head, Siren smiled back and took off her shoes. She took a few steps towards the water and felt the rest of the cold waves moving against her legs.

Siren stretched her two arms to one side and her palms forward. She closed her blue eyes and concentrated solely on the graceful rustle of the steady waves. Wanda and the rest watched intently and waited, curious what would happen next.

The clear water of the lake began to turn slowly in a circle and rose in the process. Carefully she moved her fingers and made slow movements at the same time, while the water rose higher and higher into the air and formed a small column.

"Awesome..." Sam mumbled impressed as he stared out the window with his mouth wide open. Steve, on the other hand, stared at Siren with wide eyes, but instead he had an uneasy feeling.

The pillar then got bigger and bigger and Wanda thought that it was finally enough. "Okay, you can stop now." She began and looked in awe at the huge column, which already resembled a small tornado. The water turned slowly, but you could already feel a very strong wind.

Siren took another step towards the water and didn't even notice that Wanda was talking to her. Her whole concentration was on the water and it seemed as if she was forgetting everything around her. Once again, something else was taking over. The wind was calling her and the waves were clutching onto her, trying to lead her deeper into the water.

Wanda immediately jumped off the wall and approached the girl when she saw a blue shimmer in her eyes. Her voice became a bit hectic now when she realized it was escalating. "That's enough, I said stop!" she shouted, trying to reach her with a little help of her telepathic abilities.

And after several attempts, this finally brought Siren back to reality. The blue shimmer left her eyes, right before she snapped back and threw her outstretched arms back down. And just like her two arms, Siren fell back and landed on the wet sandy floor. The column, on the other hand, fell back into the water or spread through the area.

Out of breath, she cautiously propped herself up with her arms and realized what had just happened. Wanda ran up to her, falling down on her knees right next to her, noticing she looked rather pale. She also noticed some tiny patches of sparkly scales forming around the lower half of her legs. "You okay?" She asked worried, but unfortunately got no answer as Siren was still staring at the water in shock.

Suddenly, however, the girl heard approaching footsteps running towards her and snapped back out of the shock. It was Sam and Steve. "You, alright?" Steve began out of breath and stared at a worried Wanda. He looked at the back of Siren's head, who only slowly nodded at his question.

"I'm- I'm sorry..." she whispered in Wanda's direction, sounding upset. It pained her, to know that she lost control, once again. The thought of disappointing Wanda, made her even more sad. "I didn't want this to-"

"I know, don't worry. I think that's enough for today." Wanda reassured her, while she carefully held her in her arms. "You did great, but we need to work more on your control." She said as she lightly stroked her arms before receiving a nod from her student in response.

"That was awesome!" Sam complimented with a big smile forming on his face. "A tornado, wow! You have some tough competition now, Wendy." He joked, like he always does and got a laugh from her. The two got along very well and teased each other constantly. In a way, he replaced Wanda's big brother role.

Steve and Sam approached the two girls. "Are you coming back inside, ladies?" Sam asked and held out his hand to Wanda so she could pull herself up. "Hey Arielle, you okay?" Sam asked with a frown, since she was still looking kind of absent.

"Arielle..." she whispered and slowly came back to fill consciousness.

"I think, you like that name." Sam snorted with a laugh and looked over at her. "Come on then Eric, help her get up."  He said, looking at a very confused Steve. But in the meanwhile Wanda had to keep herself from laughing at Sam's references to the little mermaid. It was just as funny that neither the girl nor Steve had any idea of ​​the story.

He just did what Sam told him and held out his hand so she could pull herself up. However, when she got both feet on the ground again, it hurt a little and she almost fell back into the water if Steve hadn't caught her in time.

Steve's arm was still carefully holding her back and waist when their eyes met. Both still shocked by the near fall.  The girl's delicate hands still clung to him as well.

Again the two were so close that the girl's stomach tingled ... so close that Steve's heart was beating more and more nervously in his chest. And it scared him.

He had long since given up love when he came back from the ice, but now he wasn't quite so sure. He was scared ... scared of losing someone he loves once again. That's why he always told himself, not to fall in love again. It would just pain him even more, knowing he would loose them all over again. History would always repeat it self. But only if you don't learn from it, he thought.

He nervously averted his gaze from her and swallowed briefly. He took a step back and noticed that she was still holding onto his arm scared of falling. He then gave her a sympathetic smile and offered her his arm, while he raised one of his eyebrows questioningly. That small but attentive gesture brought a grateful smile to her exhausted face.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to make her smile. She whispered a grateful "thank you" and walked back into the halls of the warm compound with him and the others.

AUTHOR NOTE — Hello everyone! I hope you liked this chapter and like always English isn't my first language so if you see some mistakes ... I'm really sorry😂 anyways I'm trying to post more often, maybe twice a week, since I don't have to be at school atm hehe.

– Love Nini💕