The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 85

Tony will not stop pacing, Pepper went into labor four hours ago and he was asked to leave the room twenty minutes before now. He came out rambling about Pepper having to go into a Caesarean section.

"Tony, I can check in on her, you do realize that right?" He stops dead in his tracks and sends me a look.

"Why didn't you say that sooner?" He asks walking up to me. I watch him intently and allow a smile to appear on my lips.

"Well, I mean I didn't want to stop you," I say and he rolls his eyes before sitting down. His elbows rest on his knees and he looks at me. I close my eyes and reach out to Pepper. The warmth greets me and whispers of people's thoughts fill my mind. Each saying a different story. My hands begin to shake from the whispers and the visions flashing into my mind.

"Grace," this voice was different, louder than the others. Whoever it is says my name again. My vision fills with light then goes to darkness like a cloak covering the sun. My whole body quakes, the flames retract and pulse out of my body. My mind flickering all over the place, focusing on everything yet nothing at once.

"Grace."

Masks surround me and my breath hitches. The scars on my arms burn from memories. My body quakes from the whispers. When will this stop? is the only thought that I can muster into my mind. My arms claw out at the mask and scream escapes my lips. I can't take this! I can't take this! People hold my wrists down and my body flails to be released but nothing works. The masked creatures won't let me go.

"Please let me go," the words escape my lips and the person saying my name disappears. It was Tony, and now he's gone. I can't hear him anymore, I can't hear anything anymore. Everything just goes silent, everything goes dark.

I stand in a black abyss. Water coats the bottom of my shoes and stars flicker in the sky, it reminds me of the soul world, except it was the complete opposite. A large structure stands tall in front of me, whispers and footsteps echo their way out of it creating noise in this empty place. The water ripples with every footstep I take causing the water to slosh at the building. The voices stopped.

My fist hits the door, the sound bounces back and forth in this place and the voices inside go silent. It opens and wide eyes stare at me from the crack between the door and the frame.

"Grace?" Evan questions, my breath hitches in my throat and my heartthrobs. His hazel eyes stare up at me and I finally find the motion of pushing the door. Our arms wrap around each other and it takes us a moment to regain our balance. How is this even possible? What is this place? All these questions come into my mind yet they all disappeared when my eyes wandered to the others.

The building was a lot larger than what the outside showed. It was as if it was something from Harry Potter and I could not help but smile at the reference I made.

I break apart from Evan when the familiar faces begin to come out of the crowd. They all came out at once, all their familiar faces came out and their eyes reached my gaze. I can see the pain in all of them. In Wanda's, Dr. Strange's, Sam's, Bucky's, T'Challa's, Peter's. Every single one of them had pain.

The doors disappear and more and more eyes linger on me. Gazes from all creatures surround me. All their lips moving, whispering the words of their last thoughts, their last sentences.

"Stop," I beg. The lips continue to move and the words start to become louder and louder. I cover my ears yet the words pound around in my brain. The crowd closes in and I shrink down to my knees. The water soaks up into my clothes and closes them tighter against my body. The air squeezing out of my lungs, the creatures crowd over me. My hands reach out to Evan's legs but he just kicks me off and the whole world goes silent once more.