I actually decided to updated because I love updating and seeing your comments make me happy and I really need some cheering up RN cuz life sucks ass.

anyways, this isn't a very happy chapter either so I'm sorry 😅

Movie 🎥 The Avengers

READ A/N AT THE END PLS

~T

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S C A R L E T T 💣

3 more days later...

It's been five days since the death of my mother, and I had made no attempt in changing my behavior. No attempt in melting the bitter cold that had settled into my heart, which still didn't quite manage to numb the guilt and pain. Part of me was still trying to figure out the reasons for why I was acting the way I was. The reasons just made me resent myself more.

I made a promise to myself on the day I became an official member of Valkyrie. A promise that I would never succumb to killing another human being, no matter how much that person deserved it. Killing someone out of self-defense is somewhat justifiable, as it would be for me. I shot my own mother to save Harry. The idea tormented me, even though I was successful in protecting Harry just like I had always wanted. It killed me to know that I was now a killer. What shattered me more was the fact that it was my mother who was my first victim.

I sucked in a sharp breath when the kitchen knife suddenly sliced the skin of my finger, ripping me from my dark thoughts. I was trying to cook to get my mind off some things, but obviously it wasn't working out. Cursing to myself, I held my bleeding finger under a running tap, washing away the blood. My ears perked up at the sound of a lock unlocking before a front door opening. Harry was home.

Lately he was transferring his frustration and hurt to boxing, using the sport as a technique to release his emotions effectively. I wish I could say it hurt me to see him so disheartened with how I was acting. It was as if everything had changed. I had almost begun to forget how happy he looked when he smiled that beautiful charming grin of his, or what it felt like to have his sweet cherry lips on mine. All sources of comfort that was usually provided by him were long gone due to my stubbornness in releasing my true feelings.

Thoughts like these floated through my head as I watched him enter the apartment with a somber look. His weary green eyes met mine briefly before they flitted down to my wounded finger. The cut was deep and was still bleeding, annoyingly enough. Seconds later Harry was already by my side with a worried look etched onto his face.

"What happened," he whispered, taking my small hands into his large ones and studying the wound carefully.

The close proximity of our bodies had my mind going blank for a second, too overwhelmed to say anything in protest. Instead I let him lead me to the sink again, just to run my finger under the tap once again gently. I swallowed thickly at how I could feel his body heat practically radiating off of him. My eyes darted upwards to study him while he was washing my wound, noticing how his curls were damp in a clean and not sweaty way. He must've used the showers in the training room, something he had started to do recently.

My breath hitched in my throat when his gaze suddenly met mine, intense green eyes burning into my alert umber ones. I bit my lip nervously, unsure of what to do at this exact moment. He was practically holding my hands, making it slightly awkward for me to escape him. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as I felt a thick cloud of tension over come us. I watched his eyes flicker down to my lips, staring at them for a second before moving back to my eyes.

Hesitantly, he let go of my hands before sliding them around my waist, pulling me into him gently, keeping our intense gaze locked. My lips parted in slight surprise at the sudden movement, hands coming up to hold onto his biceps. He ducked down, plump lips hovering inches before mine, eyes still staring deep into my own. Everything in me was screaming to kiss him, to finally give in. But at the back of my head, the more dark and manipulative voices were growling at me to back away, and unfortunately those were the voices I was conditioned to listen to.

Just before his lips were an inch away from brushing against mine I spoke up.

"Harry," my voice came out weak and soft, causing me to scowl lightly to myself.

"Scarlett," he murmured lowly, his hand moving from my waist to cup my cheek. I almost melted under his warm touch, fighting the urge to lean into his palm and flutter my eyes. But something made me snap.

"No," I spoke again, my voice sharp and clear now. My hands pushed against his chest to distance us, trying to ignore the way his face fell at my sudden harsh actions. But his reaction to rejection didn't last long as it suddenly transformed into anger.

"Stop this now," he snapped angrily, flaring up all of a sudden.

"Stop what?" I shot back with an arch of my brow, taking a couple of steps back to decrease our proximity.

"Don't fucking do that with me right now. Stop acting like this and just think for a second, feel what happened! Deal with it! Stop trying to lock it away and numb it with alcohol!" he yelled at me, losing his sanity instantaneously.

"I don't need to feel what happened!" I couldn't help but shout back, saying whatever came to mind first.

"Yes you do! You can't just block it! It'll destroy you Scarlett, inside out! It's already happening. You're not yourself anymore and that's killing me," his voice cracked at the end of his words, shoving a hand through his curls as he turned away, blinking furiously.

"It would destroy me either way Harry," I simply shrugged, caring less about how lightly I was still taking this.

"No it won't. Letting it go will help you get through it, it'll help you heal and get over it, trust me," he told me, exasperation leaking in his loud tone.

"Like you would know anything about that!" I sneered uncharacteristically, disregarding the way his bright green eyes were glistening now with frustrated tears. "You know nothing, Harry."

"I do know something. I love you, and I am not going to just sit here and let you shut me out. I am not going to watch you wreck yourself by bottling up all this guilt and resentment you have for what you did. Yes I've never felt it before so I'd probably be shit at emphasizing in this case, but fuck Scarlett, I just want to be there for you."

His words were like large boulders crashing into the colossal stonewall I had built up for myself.

"What do you want from me Harry?" I sighed harshly, even though I already knew the answer to that question. It was probably because the good part of me wanted to hear his words one last time, hoping that'd be enough to break me down. He took a moment to think, his brilliant green eyes burning into mine as he formed his next words.

"I want you stop bottling your emotions up and just feel it. I want you to accept the guilt and pain and move on. I want you to let me be there for you, and comfort you and hold you. I want you smile and laugh again, and be happy. Oh baby I just want you to be able to move on from this and just let it go." He was in tears by the end of his speech.

Tears of hurt and frustration finally rolling down his cheeks as he stared at me with hopeful eyes, hoping that I change after hearing what he had to say.

But I was quiet, unsure of how to react. I was overwhelmed to say at least, but I still held my ground. My mind was loud with thoughts, but then Harry whispered something out, his gaze averted to the floor as he cried sorrowfully.

"I want the old Scarlett back. The one who would always cry when she watched Marley & Me. The one who would always smile shyly and giggle when I said stupid dirty things. The one who told me she will always care. The one who said she'll love me endlessly no matter what. I want my baby back," he choked, finally looking up.

His words were seeping through the cracks of the walls I had put up now, slowly slicing through my hardened heart as I watched him stare back at me with tearful eyes. But I heard that voice again. The sinister veiled voice speaking to me again.

"I can't." I uttered, watching his face fall in defeat, a heat-breaking sob ripping from his throat at that. But right after the painful cry, he looked up all of a sudden, a certain emotion flickering in his eyes as he shot me a look before dashing away to the bedroom.

I furrowed my brows in confusion, wondering what on earth was he doing. He returned swiftly, two rectangular shaped pieces of papers in his hand. Tickets? For what though?

"Remember that promise I made to you?" he questioned all of a sudden, making my eyes widen at his sharp tone. "The one where I told you after this mission we would move on, we would run away and live a normal life, without anymore killing and running."

"Yes," I nodded slightly, remembering it immediately as if he told me yesterday. Straightaway, he held out the tickets, holding them in a way where they were facing me. They were airline tickets, to Switzerland. Switzerland was the country I wanted to visit the most; I couldn't believe he remembered that.

"I promised you we'd get out of here, well here's the proof. I bought these while we were in Chicago, just hours before the mission. I knew you wanted this Scarlett; I wanted it too. This was what I thought was going to make you truly happy, and I was positive it was. But now after what had happened, I'm not sure if I'm in on this anymore," he whispered deadly quietly.

He had finally done it. His words had finally pierced a hole straight through my icy heart, breaking the ice yet striking me deep. A moment of realization struck me, but I was too late. He didn't notice me snapping out of my trance, finally registering what the fuck I had being doing to him.

"I'm not sure if I'm in on this, because I'm just not sure if you even love me anymore. I'm sorry Scarlett," he muttered sorrowfully, tossing the plane tickets at my feet before exiting the kitchen.

It was until I heard the bang of the front door slamming shut I had realized what had happened. It all came crashing at once. The grief from the murder, and the regret from hurting Harry. It hit me like a freight truck. I felt my eyes watering out of nowhere, my bottom lip trembling as I took a shaky breath. My gaze slowly averted down to my feet. Once I saw the plane tickets, a body-racking sob escaped my lips.

My knees buckled and I dropped to the floor with another pained cry. Sob after sob, I cried endlessly for the crime I had committed, and for hurting Harry enough to make him doubt my love for him. These thoughts were what encouraged me to let go of my bottled up feelings, finally. With my back against the kitchen island, I curled up into a fetal position, feeling every emotion leak through every single pore of my skin.

My body heaved forwards with another desolate sob, my head dropping against my knees with my arms wrapped around my legs. I cried until there was nothing left inside but a raw emptiness that nibbled at my insides like a hungry rat. My heart was as heavy as lead, cheeks mottled, nose running and throat raw. My eyes were surely threaded with crimson right now, eyeballs hanging heavily in my sockets. My hand reached up to push my hair away, running my fingers through the messy strands that were damp from my tears.

My hand then dragged down the side of my face, before swiping across my cheeks. As I did that, I felt a cool piece of metal against my warm damp skin. Pulling my hand away, my eyes widened as I felt my eyes tearing up again. It was my ring; the one Harry gave to me. The one he said symbolized his love for me, and the promise that we were going to live a normal life together without any worry and paranoia.

"Harry," I whispered, staring at the ring, replaying the memory of when he first gave it to me, in my head.

A whimper tumbled from my lips, a couple of tears springing free when I realized that the dream was probably not going to come true. Harry was somewhat convinced that I didn't love him anymore. That wasn't true. I told him I would always care about him, and that I would always love him. Well, there was a promise I still hadn't broken, in my view.

My eyes darted to the airline tickets that were still lying on the floor, inches away from me. Without a second thought, my arm reached out to grab it. I was going to make it up to him, but first I had to tell him that I still loved him and that I was sorry for being such a pain in the ass for the last five days. I couldn't even comprehend how he must've felt dealing with this hollow shell of me. Now that I've finally broken down and let it all go, without his comfort, I was ready to move on but this time with his help.

Just as I exited the apartment, a seriously awful noise filled the empty halls of the apartment building. It was an alarm, described as something between a guttural cry and shriek. My hands immediately snapped upwards to clamp down my ears, gritting my teeth at the irritating noise. This wasn't a regular fire alarm, this sounded different. I tried to recall anything Harry had told me about alarms in The Organization, but I couldn't pick up on anything.

My eyes widened when I somehow heard gunshots in the distance. Then it finally struck me. We were being ambushed by Andrei. My body acted on its own accord, only thinking about one person specifically. Harry. I needed to get to him as soon as possible before anyone would hurt him. It was hard to escape the grip of panic. My heart was racing as I sprinted down the hallways of our floor. Turning sharply around the corner, I came to a screeching halt when my eyes suddenly met a pair of multi-colored ones. Andrei.

"Scarlett," he grinned eerily at me, sending shivers down my spine."We meet again," he said, causing me to gulp in panic. I spun around when I heard movement, my heart sinking in my chest when three men appeared behind me.

I was prepared to fight to the death, but before I could make any other movement, one of the men's fist flew up all of a sudden. His large fist struck me right under the jaw in a firm uppercut, causing my head to snap upwards sharply, hitting a tense nerve. My body crashed down to the ground, my head colliding with the carpeted floor heavily before falling back down. My eyes fluttered as I felt a throbbing pain spread across my entire body. My vision was blurring, fading away and the last thing I remembered was the sight of Andrei's malicious multi-colored eyes.

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-oh dayummmmm Scarlett got abducted by Black Arrow!!1! Thoughts? How do you think Harry will react to this?😉😉

-big newssss y'all! I am actually quite close to finishing K&R !!!! The only problem is, I'll be able to update slowly and it will take me a while until the sequel is up.

So please do not fret and attack me because RN I'm really fragile and I only updated because it makes you guys happy as it does for me.

-I'll give y'all more info about how chapters left and etc in the next chapter okiezzzz?

Until then, I love y'all a lot and don't say you hate me and stuff (even though it's sarcastic) for 'playing with your feelings' and all that, because it kinda sucks lol

I don't need anymore negativity right now😪

Until we meet again...

~T