The lights coming from the school were so bright, Ekaterina had to squint to take it all in. The building was so tall, how many students could it fit? Rina couldn't imagine it, that many people her age learning subjects like math and history. It was different from what she learned growing up.

A voice called her out of her thoughts,

"Ekaterina!"

Yelena was waving frantically from the entrance.

Rina looked at Peter and Darlene with a shrug before the group began walking towards Yelena.

"Why do you look angry?" Rina asked as she got closer to the blonde woman.

Yelena scoffed,

"I have been here for six hours setting up for this dance in heels. I have earned the right to be angry, Ekaterina" Yelena said.

Rina laughed at the woman,

"They are awful, no?" She asked looking down at her own high heels.

"Yes. I like your dress, not very practical either but pretty" Yelena noted

"But it has pockets those are very handy" Rina countered putting her hands into the pockets to show the woman.

Yelena couldn't help but laugh,

"Very handy indeed" The woman replied.

A voice interrupted them.

"Fanny!"

Yelena grimaced, ignoring the call

"Ms. Longbottom!"

"Fanny Longbottom? That's the name you chose?" Rina asked, trying to hide her laughter.

"No that would be Natasha, remind me to hurt her later" Yelena whispered.

Yelena put a smile on her face and turned around,

"Principal Morita!" The woman greeted, opting for an American accent.

"Ah I see you're mingling with the kids that's good" The man said but it was clear his mind was elsewhere, "Mrs. Leeds had to leave, we need someone on punch duty, do you mind?" The man asked kindly.

The annoyance showed on Yelena's face for a moment before her smile returned,

"Of course not, lead the way" the woman said

Principal Morita began to walk towards a table in the far corner. Yelena turned around, mouthing 'behave' as she walked.

Once Yelena disappeared into the crowd,

"Come on let's get our picture taken!" Darlene said dragging Rina and Peter over to the photographer in the corner.

They all wrapped their arms around each other and smiled as the flash went off.

Once that was over, Darlene tugged on Rina's arm,

"Come on, come on! I want to dance!" The girl exclaimed, one hand on Rina's arm and the other tugging on Peter's sleeve.

The music was so loud, Rina felt like she could feel it in her bones. It wasn't anything like she'd heard before.

She looked around at all the other students jumping and moving, this was not the dancing she was familiar with.

"I don't know how!" Rina exclaimed as she was pulled into the crowd.

"Just feel the music!" Darlene shouted as she began to move and sway to the upbeat pop song.

"Feel the music?" Rina repeated but out came out more like a question.

Darlene nodded as she continued to dance and sing along.

Feel the music.

Rina closed her eyes for a moment letting her body move to the sound of the beat.

At first she just rocked side to side, then she began to move her arms, then her legs and hips began to follow the sounds as well.

She opened her eyes and smiled.

She was doing it.

From the corner of the gymnasium Yelena was pouring punch into plastic cups but her eyes were scanning the exits and looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"I can feel you worrying over the coms, Natasha, calm down she is fine" Yelena said quietly

Back at the compound Natasha scoffed, "I'm not worrying" She said

"Tell that to your nails, you've been picking them for the last hour" Sam pointed out.

Natasha turned to glare daggers at him while Bucky just shook his head.

"Ha" Yelena voice came from the speakers, "I knew it" she gloated

"Don't you have a job to do?" Natasha asked, annoyed

Yelena scoffed, "I can multitask"

Natasha rolled her eyes, "well don't"

Yelena blew a raspberry before disconnecting her com device.

"A child, she's a literal child. We sent a child to look after a child" Natasha complained rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"Yelena is more than capable of keeping an eye on them, give her a chance" Bucky encouraged

Natasha just groaned.

Rina didn't know any of the words to any of the songs but that didn't stop her from having a good time. She loved meeting all of Peter and Darlene's friends. She liked Ned and MJ, she could tell they were true friends to Peter. Darlene knew more people than Rina had met in her entire life. And she could tell they all loved Darlene from the way they all tried to get her attention.

As much as she loved the new experience, it was starting to overwhelm her. She began to pick at her nails as Darlene was introducing her to a girl named Liz.

Suddenly Peter appeared over her shoulder, "sorry to interrupt but I promised Rina I'd show her the science lab" He said to Darlene and Liz.

Rina immediately understood his cue.

"Yes, I'll be right back. It was lovely to meet you" Rina said politely before following Peter.

"You looked like you needed an escape" Peter joked quietly.

"It was that bad huh?" Rina asked

Peter smirked,

"No you played it off very well. It's just that I finally discovered your tell" he gloated walking faster away from her.

Rina raised an eyebrow in surprise. She didn't have a tell, she knew how to regulate her emotions. They were taught to never give anything away. She must be forgetting.

She began to jog after him,

"What is it? Where are we going? I know it's not the science lab because I saw it in the way in" She called as she tried to catch up with him.

Peter led them up a stairwell before pushing open the door to the roof.

They walked into the landing, the cool air strung her skin for a moment but it was nice.

"I thought you could use some fresh air" Peter said with a shrug.

Rina walked to the edge looking out over the city skyline. All the lights were light up over the setting sun. The city that never sleeps she thought fondly.

"Thank you" she said genuinely.

"Rina-"

Whatever Peter was about to say died on his lips as an explosion rocked the building.

Sirens immediately began wailing as smoke filled the air.

Rina who was standing on the edge of the building felt herself beginning to fall.

Reaching out she felt a hand grab hers,

"I've got ya, I've got you" Peter said as he pulled Rina to her feet.

Without thinking the girl surged forward wrapping Peter in a hug.

"Oh" Peter muttered in surprised before returning the hug, holding tight.

Rina pushed him away,

"We have to go!" She shouted

Peter nodded,

"Yeah, yeah!" He said, his suit already beginning to form on his wrist.

"You brought your suit?!" Rina shouted at him

Peter looked at her surprised,

"Yeah, didn't you?" He shouted back

"No!" She exclaimed, "I didn't think I would need it!"

"Rina you-"

Peter's words were cut off by a spray of gunfire.

~~~

"Darlene! Darlene!" Yelena shouted as she crouched down to check on the motionless girl.

Darlene had been standing by the wall that exploded, her body was propelled through the air before landing the rubble.

"Darlene!" Yelena shouted as she shook the girl.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! What happened?" The girl asked, disoriented.

"You're not fine, you're bleeding" Yelena said ripping a piece of her dress to press to the cut on Darlene's forehead.

"Where's Peter and Rina?" Darlene asked

Yelena froze,

"I thought they were with you"

~~~

Peter and Rina dove to the ground behind a covering to avoid the rain of bullets.

"You really want to argue about this right now?" Rina hissed through gritted teeth

"Yes actually" Peter argued.

Rina rolled her eyes.

She leaned around the cover to get a look at who was firing at them but the smoke was so thick she couldn't see anything.

"Come on Ekaterina don't make this harder than it has to be" a voice called through the haze.

Rina froze, she knew that voice. That voice haunted her dreams.

She clenched her hands into fists, she didn't have any weapons. She was defenseless.

"That's not gonna happen, Alexi" the girl shouted back.

The man scoffed,

"Come on, Ekaterina. You do not belong in this world. Do you really think they could have accepted you after all you've done?" The man called

Peter shook his head,

"Don't listen to him" he pleaded.

"Your ledger is just dripping with blood and you thought you could go to high school?" The voice was getting closer.

"Softness does not serve you, Ekaterina. You are marble" Alexei said.

With her hands raised Ekaterina stepped out from where she was hiding,

"You're right, I might be marble but they are not. They are good. They do not deserve this" She pleaded.

"Rina!" Peter shouted from behind the wall.

Ekaterina took a deep breath,

"You've got my attention. What do you want?" She asked but she already knew the answer to that question.

~~~

Yelena was pulling Darlene to her feet, the girl swayed before finding her footing,

"Get out of here, evacuate with the rest of the students" Yelena instructed

Darlene scoffed,

"Yeah ain't gonna happen" She said

Yelena turned to scold the girl but the look on Darlene's face made her stop.

"Oh my god" Darlene said staring straight ahead.

Yelena followed her gaze to the back of a dark haired boy carrying a gun walking towards a set of stairs.

With no mask to hide behind, Yelena could see who it was.

The woman sighed a sad sigh. She always knew it might end like this but seeing a boy she watched grow up turned into a puppet was hard. And it was harder because she knew what it was to be a puppet.

"Go" Yelena said firmly

Darlene nodded and began following the trail of evacuating students.

Yelena took off in a run. The boy turned and raised his gun but Yelena dropped, sliding into the boy's legs.

Once he was off balance she knocked the gun from his hand.

"This isn't you, Maxim. I know you're in there" Yelena pleaded in Russian.

This only seemed to anger the boy more sending his elbow into her windpipe causing her to stumble backwards, the boy took advantage of this kicking Yelena in the chest. The woman fell to the ground gasping for air.

The boy moved to retrieve the fallen gun when something hit him in the head.

He turned to see Darlene, wearing only one shoe.

The boy looked mildly annoyed before continuing the walk to the fallen gun.

But another shoe hit his head.

This time he looked angry abandoning the gun altogether he stalked towards Darlene.

Muttering curses the girl looked for something to defend herself with.

But there was nothing. No where to run, nothing to fight with.

"Hi Maxim. I'm Darlene. I've heard a lot about you. How you protected the other kids and how you loved the stars. Rina has really missed you" the girl rambled, a nervous habit of hers.

Her words seemed to slow him down,

"It's been awfully hard for you hasn't it? I cant even imagine. This past year all alone, that would drive anyone mad. Fighting your father's battles but you don't have to be a soldier- you can be your own person " She said genuinely.

The boy tilted his head as if considering what she said.

Yelena swung a broken piece of wood into the back of the boy's head, knocking him out.

"I think I was getting through to him!" Darlene said

Yelena shook her head sadly, "no honey, you weren't. There is no one there to reason with. You are a civilian. He is only programmed to fight those his father considers a threat" Yelena said grabbing the girl by the hand.

Yelena knew the girl only wanted to help but sometimes violence was the only language some people could understand and she didn't want to expose another young girl to that.

"I am getting you out of here before you get hurt" The woman said.

~~~

"Oh you know what I want. We were going to change the world- you and I, Ekaterina we used to think the same. What happened?" The man said

"You took everything from me. I won't ever go back" She said firmly.

"What a disappointment" Alexi said,

"I was hoping we could do this the easy way" the man said.

"Why? Why not just let me go?" Rina pleaded

"The last of the serum runs in your veins" The man said 

His words took Ekaterina aback.

She had been wrong earlier. She thought she didn't have any weapons but she had forgotten that she was one.

A slow smile spread over her face,

"You're right" She said.

Ekaterina then closed the distance between them, grabbing the barrel of the gun and closing her fist around it. The metal bent under the weight of her grip until it was unusable.

"I do have the serum in my veins" She said throwing the crumpled gun to the side.

She sent a kick to his knee resulting in a grotesque crack before the man fell to the ground.

Rina delivered a punch to the man's face and when she pulled back her knuckles were covered in red.

She looked down at her hand.

Alexei spit into the ground,

"You don't have it in you anymore. You've grown weak, soft" He hissed through bloodied teeth.

The anger bubbled up in her chest.

After all he had taken from her he still didn't think she had what it took?

She's had blood on her hands before. What's a little more? As if it stops at her hands like a glove. As though there could be any part of her that wasn't stained or dripping.

What's a little more?

She wrapped her hand around the man's throat.

"Rina don't!" Peter shouted.

The boy had abandoned his spot behind the wall.

Rina's hand tightened causing the man to cough.

"After all he's done to me don't I deserve this?" She asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

"You deserve so much. But he deserves to be held accountable- we don't get to pick and choose who lives and dies" Peter said.

Rina scoffed.

"Maybe I should. I've done it before" she said.

And she could. It would be so easy just a little more pressure and she would be done with him.

"It's on my hands, Peter, not yours" she said.

"That doesn't matter, it shouldn't be on your hands. Let some else deal with him for once" he pleaded.

Rina couldn't even look at Peter. Her eyes were focused on the man who ruined her life.

She wanted to kill him. She could do it too.

'You aren't at war anymore' Darlene's voice called to her.

'We can start over' Bucky's voice in the back of her mind.

'Our hands have all made mistakes, but they can always make better ones' Natasha's words echoing.

Rina took a shuddering breath and with all of her strength she pushed the man away.

Falling to the ground Alexei gagged and coughed.

Rina sank to her knees, tears running down her face

"I was good" she sobbed

Peter was there in a heartbeat, holding her as she sobbed.

"I was good right? I just want to be good" she said through her tears.

Peter wiped her tears away,

"Yes, you did good, Rina. I know how hard that was. You did the right thing" He assured her.

She repeated it like a mantra.

Like if she said it enough times it would become true.

They were the same words she repeated on the floor with Natasha that day so long ago.

From a few yards away the Alexei laughed.

"You'll never win. They have softened you with talk of love. You were once a soldier- now you are broken and you will be beat" He said, "you should have surrendered when you had the chance"

Rina took a deep breath and stood up to her full height,

"You thought you could trap me with your talk of loyalty and obedience but love is my strength" She said firmly , her tears drying on her face,

"You are cruel and I pity you because you have never known love. I pity you because nothing I can say or do will ever change that. Your right I was once a soldier, you win wars with armies, with men. So with them- that is how I win". She said fiercely.

The door to the stairs was kicked open.

Loud footsteps sounded causing Rina to turn.

"Maxim?" She asked and it was like she was a child again.

The boy walked straight past her and to his father. The boy put his arm around the man lifting him to his feet

"My boy, come to take me home" The man said.

"That isn't going to happen" Peter spoke up.

"We'll see" was all the man could say.

The boy raised his gun but Peter sent a web pulling it away.

More men were storming the roof, two grabbed Alexi, supporting him on either side.

Rina stood frozen.

It was him.

Her ghost. Her friend. Alive.

It was too much for her to handle.

"Rina! Rina" Peter called to her but it was like she couldn't hear him.

Peter had to make a choice- let Alexi escape or get to Maxim.

He didn't hesitate for a second.

He shot a web at Maxim's foot keeping him in place for a second while he shot a second web over the boys eyes.

Tearing the web from his eyes the boy's face was neutral but the annoyance showed in his eyes.

With one wide swing, the boy's arm connected with Peter's head, knocking him to the side. Peter cried out at the force of the blow before he fell silent.

Rina watched with hazy eyes.

The fire had spread to the roof smoke filling the air.

All the grief that had once threatened to drown her was rising up again but it didn't feel the same.

This was a different kind of sadness.

It felt a little like anger.

And a little like love that was misplaced.

She should be more careful with her heart.

Or maybe it was her heart that kept her human.

Peter's cry broke her from her haze.

She took off in a run sliding on the ground to use her momentum to knock the boy off balance.

While he tried to regain his balance, she landed a blow to his ribs.

He recovered quickly sending a kick to her leg.

It was a dance they'd done before, only now they were equally matched.

Every blow and kick was quickly returned with one even greater than the last.

Rina's dress was torn and she bruised and bloodied. Maxim wasn't much better, his cheek was cut and bruised.

The girl tried to catch her breath,

"I'm not going to fight you, Maxim. You're my friend." She said breathing heavy

She grunted as a punched landed on her face

"I'm not going to fight you!"

He landed another punch to her face.

"Maxim"

Another.

The girl fell to the floor, on her back she could see the night sky

You're my friend" she tried again

"You are my mission" the boy replied delivering yet another punch.

Rina was tired. She was tired of fighting. Her eyes were starting to get heavy.

"The stars belong to you my friend" She said through bloodied lips.

Maxim's raised fist stopped.

He lowered his hand and turned.

The boy took off running towards the edge of the building.

He pushed the telephone pole causing it to fall on to the next building.

Rina pushed herself to her feet. She looked over at Peter who was beginning to regain consciousness.

The boy began to run across the fallen telephone pole.

Rina didn't hesitate. She ran after him.

The boy cleared the pole, jumping the last few feet onto the next roof.

Once Rina was on the telephone pole it began to creak, it's purchase on the roof was starting to give.

With a determined spirit she carefully made her way across but it started to slip more. She wasn't even halfway across yet.

The telephone pole gave one last creak before breaking.

With a yell Rina tried to jump the rest of the way. But she wasn't close enough, her fingertips brushed the edge of the building.

She thought she was going to fall until a hand connected with her stopping her.

She talked as she held tight. When she looked up she saw Maxim.

She laughed, grinning widely.

Her joy was short lived as a gunshot pierced the air.

It hit Maxim square in the shoulder causing him to stumble to his knees, his grip on Rina's hand failing a little.

Rina screamed as she felt herself fall a little but the boy was determined to hold on even if he wasn't sure why.

"Rina!" Peter shouted from the other building.

Rina knew there was no way in which this ended well,

"It's alright" She told Maxim, "let me go"

The boy grunted as he tried to pull her up but with the wound he wasn't able to

"Let me go" Rina said again

"No" Maxim answered

Another gunshot sounded and Rina knew that Maxim wouldn't survive another. She had to protect him. She couldn't lose him again.

"I'm sorry" she said

She took took the knife she had picked up earlier and slashed it across Maxim's arm.

The cut forced him to let go.

Across the way Peter was swinging towards the building when he saw Rina fall.

He shouted as he shot a web to catch her but he was too late.

Her body hit the concrete below.

Hi!! Before you all yell at me, I'm sorry and I love you! Lots of parallels in this chapter! Don't have much to say this time, as always I love to read your comments and reactions they make my day! I watched Eternals and loved it! This is a Makkari, Druig and Thena stan account from now on lol. Stay safe, I love you!
Xoxo,
Renee