everything was a blur.

seven saw it at the corner of her eye. she saw it. the hydra members were trying to capture her, but black widow helped fight them off. the fight was over. the avengers had won. she was helping seven up, making sure she was okay.

then she saw it.

mckay was running towards her when he shot him right in the head with one of the hydra weapons.

jeremiah shot him out cold.

he was being mind controlled. her head blared.

the kid collapsed onto the floor without a yell, a shout or a scream.

all he said was, "seven."

seven's eyes widened as she picked herself up with her bad arm. her whole body felt numb as she ran at lightning speed to the kid. please, please be okay.

tony and natasha ran after seven. they didn't hear the soundless shot of the weapon. they didn't see how the kid collapse. but their hearts broke when they heard seven's sobs.

she picked him up under his armpits, laying his body against her chest. with shaky breaths and quivering hands, she check for a pulse, a sign of life. a sign that he was okay.

but there was none.

they walked into the room, everything torn down and tattered. in the middle of the room, they saw seven holding tightly to the kid. his lips pale, his body lifeless, his eyes opened. his hazelnut eyes. they stepped beside seven, attempting to comfort her, only to receive shouts.

"don't- don't touch me!" she yelled, "you promised... you promised that they'll be safe, that he'll be safe! you promised!" seven's shouts turned into sobs as she held the lifeless body, hugging it closer to her.

tony and natasha looked at each other, both unsure of what to do as the other avengers came into the room. but clint, being a father of three, instantly knelt down in front of seven and looked sadly at the kid in her arms, then at natasha and tony. she flinched as he gave her a hug, it didn't seem to work.

"stephen?" clint turned around and looked at the wizard, who immediately got to work.

"n- no... p- please don't hurt- m- please... just- leave-" seven choked on her words as stephen stepped forward. she backed away from the avengers, still holding on to mckay, as tears fell down her face and on to his shirt.

the sobs.

jeremiah heard it before. he heard it somewhere before.

then something clicked.

he could feel himself breathing heavily, the numbness in his body was gone. he looked at himself, still wearing his sweatpants and t-shirt that seven gave him for his sixteenth birthday. everything seemed the same, like it was before. he was at the shield base, trying to find mckay as he decided to wander off. everything was the same, he reassured himself, everything... except the gun on his hand.

he let it to go immediately, the echo making it ten times louder. suddenly everything came running back into him.

the sobs.

he burst out of the room he was in and everything was a blur.

the avengers were there. war machine, spider-man and captain america were standing at the other end of the room, as ironman, black widow, hawkeye and doctor strange were kneeling on the ground, surrounding someone. someone who was sobbing.

seven.

he ran towards them quickly. seven never cried, she never sobbed. there must be something that made her cry so hard. something- someone.

the avengers looked up to see a teenager, slightly older than peter. he was as thin as peter was, especially with his sweatpants and t-shirt. he was tall, taller than parker, but he was littered with bruises and cuts on his face and arms. "mckay," they heard him say under his breath as he stood there, dumbfounded.

seven was trying to catch her breath again, but her heart had just shattered. the kid that was the reason for her to live, had just died under her watch. under the avenger's watch.

jeremiah stephen york

18 years old
manhattan high school
> natalie colette banks <
> mckay mcguire <
> justin samuel york <
> jessica stephanie york <

seven looked up in between her tears to see jeremiah standing rooted to the groun, tears rolling down his cheeks. before she could even say a word, he was already running back to where he came from, saying "i killed him" under his breath.

danger.

"no," seven dragged herself towards jeremiah as quickly as she could, tears spilling out like a waterfall. spider-man, who could sense the danger too, immediately ran towards him, ironman trailing behind.

seven grabbed jeremiah's arm, begging him not to shoot. "please, please i- you're okay-" "i just shot him, seven-" both of them were struggling to speak between the strain in their voices and sobs. "please just- just drop the gun. please..." seven begged him, but jeremiah still held it pointed to his head.

"i'm sorry," jeremiah sobs, "i love you..." he brought seven's head close to his and gave her a kiss on her head. "'m sorry.... i love you-"

"don-"

before peter could even pull the gun out with his web shooters, tony turned him away and shot one of his thrusters at the gun. but jeremiah had already pulled the trigger, his body falling onto the cold, hard ground. they knew the last words he said. i killed him. i'm sorry seven. i killed him. i'm sorry.

seven broke. she heard the thud of jeremiah's body and she broke. he collapsed right in front of her, and no words could express how she felt. he can't be dead too. she was just holding on to mckay, but she didn't want to be holding on to jeremiah. he was her pillar of strength. she came into view of tony and peter. peter was sobbing into tony's chest, as tony had a grim expression on his face.

jeremiah stephen york
deceased

18 years old
manhattan high school
> natalie colette banks <
> mckay mcguire <
> justin samuel york <
> jessica stephanie york <

no. she forced herself to his body lying lifeless on the ground with the gun still in his hands. she dropped to the ground, reaching and held jeremiah's hand, placing the gun to the side. they were gone, she was too late.

she let go of his hand, her head hung low as she brought her knees to her chest, sobbing and close to hyperventilating.

"friday, stats," tony said as he looked at the kid on the ground. she just lost two of her closest friends, friends who were like family. peter was crying into his chest. he was so close to saving jeremiah, but tony didn't want to let peter see him shooting himself with the gun and lying on the ground. he didn't want peter to blame himself.

"two cracked ribs, three broken ribs. deep wound on her left arm caused by the IV needle being yanked out. she has a deep cut on her right leg, bruises and cuts on her arms, back, face and legs. she is also hyperventilating."

three broken ribs? and this kid was still alive!

this time, it was steve who came to her. he couldn't take her crying anymore. he knew how losing loved ones felt, because he lost peggy. he knew how hurt she must be feeling. he knelt beside her and place an arm over her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

clint held on to natasha's hand as tears rolled down her cheeks. this kid had to go through too much. she deserve more than people she loved dying in front of her.

"avengers." a low male voice came into the picture. he stood beside rhodey as the avengers turned, except steve.

nick fury.