Smoke rose from the fractured earth, curling into the charred sky like veins of sorrow. Rubble and fire surrounded what had once been a stronghold, now reduced to chaos and ruin. Screams echoed faintly in the distance, gunfire crackling through the air like the snapping of broken bones. But here, in the ruined center of it all, the world was slowing. The moment was stretching thin and fragile like glass.

You were on the ground, knees skinned and palms bleeding, body aching as adrenaline roared through your veins. Wanda was a few feet away—pinned beneath a twisted steel beam, blood trailing from her temple, her hands trembling as she tried to lift it with her powers. But she was fading fast. Drained. Vulnerable.

You’d never seen her like that. Not Wanda.

“Move!” you shouted, sprinting toward her without thinking. Just instinct. Heart before head.

The second you reached her, you shoved your shoulder under the beam, gritting your teeth as agony tore through your muscles. You heard her gasp—her eyes going wide, the horror in them cutting deeper than the pain ever could.

“No,” she breathed. “No, don’t—!”

“There’s no time!” you shouted over the chaos. “Just go, Wanda. Get out. Please.”

Her eyes filled with tears instantly. “I’m not leaving you!”

You let out a broken laugh as the weight began to crush your bones. “You don’t have a choice.”

The building groaned above you. It was going to collapse. You could hear it in the cracking concrete, in the way the floor beneath you trembled like something alive and dying.

Wanda pushed herself forward, ignoring the pain, trying to claw her way back toward you. “I can save you. I can—”

“No, you can’t,” you said softly. Your breath was shaking now, but your eyes never left hers. “But you can survive. You have to survive.”

Her powers sparked weakly at her fingertips, flickering like a dying candle. Her sob was immediate—raw and guttural. “I can’t—don’t make me—”

You reached out, brushing your bloodied fingers against her face, smearing soot and ash across her cheek. “You were the best thing I ever knew,” you whispered. “You have to go now. Please.”

She stared at you like her heart was being torn in half. Then—

A pulse of red exploded from her hands, lifting the beam just enough for her to scramble free. The instant she was out, the ground beneath you collapsed.

And then she screamed.

A sound so full of anguish it cracked the air.

Dust swallowed everything.