The Other Symbiote

Inevitable

Wanda waited anxiously by Vision's side, holding his hand steadily as she listened to the ticks of the stone being taken out of his head. 

"You're gonna get through this. You will not die today." She kissed the cold metal of his knuckles and he gave her a brief smile. 

Wanda turned to see Raiva staring out the window, her right arm swirling with Nemesis as the two fidgeted in their place. 

*You know, I'm not too fond of this.*

*Raiva, when have we ever backed down from a fight?*

*Nem, it's not that. You know it's not that.*

*I know. Everyone will make it, Rai.*

*They have to. I don't know what I'm gonna do if sh- they don't.*

*I know, Raiva. I know.* 

A light tap on Raiva's shoulders made her snap out of her mental conversation and face Wanda. 

"I can hear her. Not you, but her." The witch tapped the side of her head and Raiva clenched her jaw. 

"Don't." 

"Pretty hard when your symbiote has bonded with my magic." 

"You know about that?" 

"I've known since you came to rescue us. My magic was being held back because it didn't want to save Vision, but you." 

Raiva scoffed at the statement, confusion cracking the stone walls she had built in her heart. 

"You love him. Your magic is being dumb." Raiva turned back to the window and saw Steve, Nat and T'Challa walk up to meet the woman they fought last time along with a brute that looked uglier than the Hulk's emotional days. 

"My magic isn't dumb. You're just being dismissive. You don't want to see that I'm right." Wanda took her small human hand but it was quickly wrenched off by the Nemesis hand. 

"I can't do this, Wanda. I can't go back and forth, over and over again. You-you-you don't even realise that I've done everything since I met you to protect you. I lost my arm because of you, I have huge circular scars on my stomach because of you." 

She laughed dryly, dipping her head down before raising it back up along with her voice.

"I forged my heart to stone because of you. That fateful day when I came back and saw you kiss Vision, it shattered. I thought you'd be waiting for me, sitting and staring out of your window like you always did when you were thinking. But no." 

She pursed her lips, trying to hold back tears and remind herself that she had no more tears left to cry. She'd already used them when she saw Wanda lying motionless in the Raft, only a few metres away from her.

"Would you like me to remind you what I went through when I thought you were dead?" Wanda took a step forward, Raiva taking a step back and her jaw ticking. 

"I felt hopeless. I was so broken that my magic fought with me, forcing me into short comas, making me cough up blood when I tried to forget you. I couldn't even think of you without bursting into a flood of tears and blood."

Raiva's face distorted in conflict, her feet shuffling as she tried to decide whether to hug her or run away. 

"I mourned you for 9 months. 9 months of my life, wasted away because I couldn't breathe without you by my side."

"You think I didn't feel the same?" 

"Of course you didn't! You closed off every time Vision or I came in the room, your laughter died away and I couldn't help but feel that it was my fault."