P U R P L E  H Y A C I N T H

Elena was falling. A sharp force had dug itself into her side, shoving her to the ground. She landed hard on her arm, sending a jolt of pain through her body. Gasping, she swung around just in time to watch the bullet hit Will. A scream built up in her throat.

"No!" She heaved herself off the ground, horror passing through her. She reached for him, stilling at the wound on his chest. Only, it wasn't a wound. It was stone. And it was spreading fast and flawlessly. Her serum was perfect, but Elena hated it. So much.

She gulped when Will slowly met her eyes, pain clearly reflecting in them. Still, he smiled and tried to move his hands only to find them already stone. He looked down at them in wonder, watching the stone travel down to his legs, to his feet and toes. His neck would be next before finally, his head. Looking back up before it was too late, he smiled again.

"I'm okay," he managed to choke out. His voice was scratchy, strained. His vocal chords were failing. "I'm okay," he repeated. "I'm..." He struggled for breath, and Elena opened her mouth.

"Shh," she whispered. "Don't strain yourself. Everything's going to be fine. You're going to be okay. I'll—"

He gave a tiny twitch of his head, and his breathing was almost nonexistent. He opened his mouth for one final push. "I'm sorry," said his lips as they turned to stone. His blue eyes were now porcelain white, lifeless and empty. You wouldn't have been able to tell they were once a part of a living person.

The only thing remotely lifelike about him was now the pink tint on his cheeks. It was the only part of him that didn't fade away. And it refused to go away. Elena raised a trembling hand, reaching out to touch him. She hoped beyond any hope that maybe he was still alive, but there was nothing. He was so very hard and cold unlike the warm, lively boy she once knew. Will was dead.

A sob racked up, and her chest was on fire. Wrapping her arms around the stone, Elena cried. A part of her expected him to come alive again like it was in fairytales, but life wasn't a fairytale. It was far from it.

"You killed him!" Lieselotte's wild screech sliced through the cold silence, and Elena barely registered being pried away from his body and thrown onto the ground.

She whimpered as Lieselotte drove her body into a wall. Blood pooled around her. Twisting around, Elena tackled the Hydra agent. "No," she screamed. "You killed him!"

Receiving a punch to the stomach, Elena gasped. She stumbled back into a wall and ducked down. She drove her bloody arm into Lieselotte's knees, and she fell onto the ground. Elena punched her, and she didn't even care when she felt her nose breaking from underneath her knuckles.

Lieselotte only seemed to fight back stronger, flipping around to slam Elena's body to the ground. She snarled as she brought a rock down onto her side, mercilessly pulling at her hair. Elena cried out, driving her elbow back. Lieselotte promptly let go, and Elena scrambled away.

Her tears were tributaries, joining together into a salty lake. They mixed with her blood, dark red and sticky. Elena groaned on her knees, gasping as she grasped onto the wall. She pulled herself up, clenching her bloody fists.

"You're dead," she managed, throwing herself once again at Lieselotte. Bringing her knee up to her ribs, Elena shouted when Lieselotte retaliated with a blow to the head. Elena crumbled onto the ground, breathing heavily as she rolled to the side to avoid the next blow. Swinging her leg, Lieselotte tripped over it, falling next to her.

Screaming, Elena punched Lieselotte so hard that her own knuckles cracked. She swallowed a scream when Lieselotte grabbed her wounded arm, and her head suddenly exploded. Her chest constricted, and her vision ebbed away.

The cells. They were back and at the worst possible moment.

Elena couldn't see a thing, swinging wildly. She hit a wall, and Lieselotte took the opportunity to hurl another rock at her. The pain was unbearable, and Elena screamed again. It wasn't even a scream. It was a shriek.

In the midst of it all, new voices began shouting. Bullets were fired, and knives were unsheathed. The Avengers were finally here.

Elena groaned, bringing herself up to a sitting position. Her arm weighed a million tons, and it wanted to drag lifelessly on the ground. The cells burst into life, continuing on as if nothing bad was happening.

Lieselotte's voice rang in the night, and like magic, soldiers jumped out from the shadows. Elena brought her hands to her head, her vision struggling to keep up. There were too many cells. She couldn't see a thing.

Crying, Elena wiped the tears away with her bloody hands. She focused on her breathing, doing her best to ignore the impending pain that shook her body. Her sight was dull and unfocused, but Lieselotte was like a beacon. Elena built herself up, piece by piece. Pulling herself together, she lifted her chin.

She rose onto her feet, wobbling to the side. Balance was eventually found, and she didn't waste a second in lunging forward. Lieselotte was ready for her, and the two of them barreled away from the other commotion.

Elena forgot about her pain when she thrusted her fist into Lieselotte. Their moves were too messy to be a dance, too unsteady for a constant rhythm. It was pure desperation, and revenge lusted in both of their eyes. All for Wilhelm Whitehall.

Terror coursed through Elena when she realized Lieselotte got the upper hand. She choked in her grip, feet flailing from underneath her. Tears welled up in Elena's eyes, and she bit down on Lieselotte's arm.

With her grip loosened, Elena wrangled herself out of her grasp, stumbling away. She gasped, huffing for air as her hands came up to touch her bruised throat. It didn't take long for Lieselotte to leap again, and Elena screamed.

She couldn't do anything to stop Lieselotte from ramming her face into a wall. Elena immediately crumbled, and the cells before her slowly blinked out of sight as her vision went black. Little did she know that it would be the last time she would be able to see them.

...

;)