The Scarlet Apprentice

Healing

The sound of droplets of water dripping back into more water after being wrung from a thin rag was the first thing y/n remembered. She heard it before she saw it, mostly due to the fact that her eyes opened slowly.

When they eventually opened, she furrowed her brows at the unfamiliar view she was looking at. Then a suspicion of where she was grew on her, which didn't help with how stressed and tired she already felt.

The feeling of a damp rag being lightly pressed against the cut on her leg confirmed her suspicions, and sent her into action. Wanda crouched down by y/n's legs with a bucket of water beside her which she was using to clean the cut on her leg with.

The shock of seeing wanda up close caused her to panic and try to move away as much as she could, even though she was only sitting on a couch.

The second y/n made a movement, wanda used her magic to hold her arm down in place so she couldn't possibly leave her seat.

"Stay still." She ordered without looking up at her.

She resisted, "get the fuck away-."

Before she could finish her sentence, wanda's head shot up, her eyes glowing red, "stay still or I'll leave you in the woods for the wolves to find you."

At the harsh tone, y/n gave in. She gulped slightly, but relaxed her muscles while still trying to remain as cautious as she could.

"Wolves?" She asked, making sure she heard her right.

"They lurk in the woods." She casually explained, dipping the rag into the bucket again.

"Where are we?" She asked, watching every little movement wanda made.

Gushes of water poured from the rag as wanda wrung it again before gently placing it over the wound. In certain places, the gentle touch didn't irritate it at all, but there were spots where it would send a small sting up which y/n would quietly wince at.

Despite the annoyance wanda felt with how argumentative y/n appeared to be, she was ever so gentle with how she was cleaning the wound. Even in places where she needed to apply pressure in order to clean the wound, she stayed as gentle as she could.

It wasn't that she was a very naturally gentle person, but she could sense exactly how y/n felt in that moment and wanted to make it as calming as she could, even if y/n didn't notice it.

"Transia." She finally gave an answer.

She thought, "Transia? Like- by Romania?"

Wanda cocked her brow, "is there another Transia you know of?"

Ignoring her sarcastic comment, she quickly thought of more questions, "where's the nearest civilisation?"

"The other side of that mountain." She tilted her head to point to the window as her hands were occupied.

Y/n turned to look out of the window she'd hinted at to see the full view of the large mountain towering over the clearing they were in.

"Fuck." She mumbled to herself, dropping her head as she turned back to wanda, "I'll find a short cut."

She hummed, "If there was a short cut, I would've told you."

"Would you?" She asked.

Pausing her process, wanda looked up at her before clenching her jaw and looking back at the wound she was fixing, "it's a days walk on foot. However, for you it'll probably take about a week."

"Is that meant to be funny?" She asked in annoyance.

"It's a fact. It took you long enough to get to the bottom of it, then you fell and fucked up your leg even more. You really think you can just get around it with ease?" She sarcastically countered, knowing y/n wouldn't be able to provide a decent response.

"I'll manage." She shrugged.

Wanda smirked slightly, "You're very persistent, you know that?"

"Only when it's about something that matters." She corrected her.

"Right, and walking miles to get to a tiny village is something that matters?" Again, her brow cocked as she asked.

"Getting away from you does."

Fuelled by a slight frustration, wanda pushed the rag into the cut on her leg while cleaning it, knowing it would hurt. Y/n winced and groaned before looking down at her with harsh accusation.

"Can you just hurry up?" She rushed, but all she got from wanda was the smirk that lingered from making her wince.

She squinted with a small smirk, "You're persistent and impatient. I'll keep a note of that."

Instead of saying anything back, she clenched her jaw and tried to place her attention upon anything else in the room but wanda.

"You're lucky, it's done." Wanda told her, allowing her to roll back down whatever was left of the leg of her combat trousers.

With a sigh of relief, she stood up onto her feet, "Well, thank you for... that. So I'll say it, hopefully for the last time, goodbye."

"What? You need to stay still, do you have no concept of how the body heals? What are you doing?" She stood up and watched her walk to the door.

Without looking at her, she opened the door, "I'm going to find that village."

"Are you serious? Okay, I admired your persistence at first but now I just don't understand why you're doing this to yourself." She shrugged.

"I don't care that you don't understand, you don't need to, this is the last time I'll be seeing you." She stepped out through the door.

Wanda watched her with pure confusion, trying her best to understand why she was so determined to leave. Of course, she knew that y/n didn't like her, but she thought that couldn't have been enough to willing endure so much pain.

"I can't believe you're actually doing this." She leant against the door frame while watching y/n walk down the steps of the porch.

"I know, right? It's crazy what people will do to get away from insane people." She sarcastically called back as she stepped onto the grass.

"You really think I'm insane?" She faked a charmed hum, "I'm flattered."

With a nod, she shot back, "Enjoy it while it lasts, that's about the only compliment you're ever gonna get from me."

Without even looking back, y/n began her journey to find the shortest possible route to get to the village wanda told her about.

Wanda knew it was a stupid decision, and she knew that y/n would come to regret it, but she thought, for the second time, to just let her go.