The Scarlet Apprentice

When the rain stops

Wanda leant back in the porch chair with her eyes examining y/n, whereas y/n sat up straight with her eyes glued to the gentle falling of the raindrops.

With a squint, wanda asked, "Why are you like this?"

Y/n turned to her without saying anything, her face making it obvious that she was waiting for further clarification.

"So persistent, I mean." She added.

Then she looked back at the rain and sighed, trying to decide the best way to say what she wanted to without getting overly emotional. The only reason she didn't worry about telling wanda the truth was because she thought she wouldn't be seeing her again after it.

Adjusting her position in her chair to a more comfortable one, she began explaining, "my brother and I used to share an apartment in New York. After our parents died, all we really had was each other, so we didn't bother moving far away. He was a couple years older than me, but we were like bestfriends. We were out of food one day and it was my turn to go get it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't know what it was but I-... felt so scared and just... sad, and I couldn't do it. My brother offered to do it for me, so he went. He was out there, running around New York City trying to do something I should've been doing," She prepared herself for what she had to say with a cough, "that was the day thanos' children came down in that ridiculous space ship. The day of the snap. He shouldn't have been out in the streets alone, but he was... and they killed him. He was out there because I couldn't do things myself." She chewed the skin of the inside of her cheek, "and he died because of it. When I came back from the snap, I prayed that he would come back to. But he didn't. He died alone, and he didn't even have anyone he loved to bury him, or attend his funeral. God, I don't even know if he had a funeral. And it's all my fault."

That's when wanda realised. Y/n wasn't persistent because she didn't care, she was persistent because she cared too much.

"I'm so sorry, y/n." She gulped, "what happened to him was terrible, believe me, I know more than anyone what it's like, but... blaming yourself isn't the right thing to do. I mean, it wasn't your fault, there's no way you could've possibly known that aliens were gonna come down at that exact time. Blaming yourself isn't a good way to honour his memory, that's not what he would want is it?" She rhetorically asked, looking her deeply in her eyes, "I know it hasn't been long for you, and you haven't had time to recover, but you're not alone. I promise you, you're not alone."

Wandas words hit her more than she imagined any words ever could. It seemed like in that moment, she was finally able to exhale. She was finally able to let go of some of the grief and pain she'd been holding onto for so long. Even if it was only some of it, it was a start.

"I lost vision that day, too." She mentioned, "it just broke me, I-... I felt so empty. I couldn't hold back the pain and the grief that I felt, I really wanted to, but I couldn't. The pain won, and I did... horrible things. Then I lost a second time, and I made sure to never do something like that again." She took in a breath, "it was vision who told me, 'what is grief, if not love persevering?'... and I've thought about it every day since." A small smile formed as she reminisced, "I think you should too."

Y/n smiled softly, "and that's why you've moved here? In the middle of no where?" Then she turned away to, once again, look at the rain.

She thought deeply, "I don't think I could survive knowing I have the possibility to do that again. So, yeah, I moved as far away as I could, where no one else is, and no one else can get hurt. It's completely alone." She stared at the wooden floor below her, her heart trembling in her chest, "I'm completely alone."

While wanda stared into the floor, y/n's eyes stared into her tired face with sympathy. A few contradicting thoughts battled with each other in her head for a moment, but disappeared entirely after watching wanda for just a moment longer.

Some of the thoughts were telling her that she needed to get to the village, get back to sword, and get back to her normal life. They'd been the thoughts she'd been thinking of all this time, so she should've been relieved that she could finally return to her home.

However, seeing wanda so openly vulnerable changed her mind completely. It wasn't just the fact that wanda was open with her, but it was also the fact that wanda didn't try to force y/n to stay, even though all she wanted was the company of someone who could relate to her.

With a gentle sigh, y/n finally spoke after the long pause, "My leg still hurts really bad." She started with, which caught wandas attention.

It was a complete lie. Her leg didn't hurt at all, at least it wasn't so bad that it was stopping her from walking to the village if she wanted to. However, in that moment, not a single part of her wanted to leave wanda.

As a result of wanda's hopeful gaze shining upon her, she continued, "As persistent as I am, I think it would be pretty stupid to even try walking too far. If you wouldn't mind having me for a little bit longer..."

Wanda's eyes lit up as she waited for her to finish her sentence.

"I'd really appreciate it." As y/n finished her sentence, a small smile appeared on her lips.

Without her thinking about it, a huge smile grew on wanda's face as she processed what she'd just been told, "seriously?"

She couldn't believe that after all the earlier arguing, all the persistence, and all the disagreements, that  y/n actually wanted to stay rather than be determined.

Upon seeing wandas smile, Y/n smile grew every so slightly before hiding it entirely, "yeah."

A feeling spawned inside of wandas heart; a feeling that she didn't think she would ever be able to feel again. Despite how hard she tried to hide her excitement and disbelief, y/n could very easily tell that she was happy.

"Don't get your hopes up, maximoff, alright? I heal insanely fast, i mean, it should be considered a superpower." She joked. She wanted to keep up the appearance that she didn't care about anything, but deep down, seeing wanda being filled with genuine joy made her care.

Laughing softly, wanda turned away so that she could finish being overwhelmed without receiving a sarcastic comment or a joke. While wandas attention was elsewhere, y/n finally let out the smile she wanted to for ages. No matter how hard she tried to push it down, it showed every time she heard wanda's soft laugh.