The Winter Witch - Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 5

Everything seemed to be getting better over the year we had spent together. We had each been given a book to keep us entertained and to stop us from causing trouble which happened a lot. We struggled reading in the dim light bet we made it work as best we could. Don't get me wrong, it was still horrible. We had only been out in the sun 3 times in the year we had shared a cell., we still got beaten and abused though Pietro tried his best to protect us. We would use our powers to protect ourselves, so they put bracelets on our wrists so we couldn't use our powers as much and make them weaker. 

Though things seemed to be getting better in some ways, they were also getting worse in other ways. While we were asleep, a small group of guards would sneak into the cell and take one of us. We were their entertainment. Since we were the only ones that had survived the experiments, we had to keep the guards busy. 

4 months earlier

The first time it happened, they took Wanda. Pietro and I had slept through the guards taking her. When we woke up, we both got worried. We didn't know what was happening if she would be brought back. They did eventually bring her back. She has a black eye and was covered head to toe in bruises. She was so scared and had tears falling down her face. As the guard let go of her, her legs gave in. I was the closest to her, so I caught her before her knees hit the floor. She was exhausted from the repeated hits and the crying. She wrapped her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder.

"This is gonna hurt," I said to her as I tapped her thigh lightly. I could feel her tense around my neck. "jump," I said. She did, wrapping her legs around my waist. She whimpered in pain, crying into my shoulder more. 

I could feel the breaths on my neck get quicker. She was hyperventilating. She was starting to panic. I walked over to the corner furthest from the door and helped her sit down. Her hands moved from around my neck to hold one of my hands, not wanting to let go of me. I knelt in front of her as Pietro kept his distance. We didn't want to make her feel worse than she already did.

"Look at me," I said as I gently put my free hand on he cheek and moved her head to face me. She looked into my eyes, and I made sure she knew she was okay and helped her slow her breathing. "There you go, you're okay," I said as she gained control of her breathing again.

"Wanda, what happened?" Pietro asked, finally walking over to sit with us. she explained how they had beaten her for fun all night, how she had been tied to a chair so she couldn't move. When she had finished telling us everything, tears filled her eyes again. Pietro wrapped his arm around her, and she fell asleep on his shoulder, finally being able to rest. She still looked tense in his arms. 

"Pietro? I asked quietly, so I didn't wake Wanda. He looked up to me, signalling for me to continue. "Do you know what Wanda's favourite memory is? I asked. He gave me a confused look. Then realised what I was going to do.

"No," He said in a decisive and final tone. "You'll hurt yourself doing it." He finished. I knew he was right. It would hurt, but I had to try. We had let this happen to her. 

"I know, but I don't care, so tell me," I said just as decisive and final. He looked and me and knew that when it came to Wanda, even though he was her twin, he wasn't going to win. I cared about her too much.

"Our last Christmas with our Parents," He said, giving in. I give him a victorious smile which he chuckled at. I focused all my energy onto wands mind and entered her head. I looked around for a minute before finding the memory. My body had begun to hurt trying to fight the power of the bracelets around my wrists. I imagined the memory growing in my head, making it a strong thought in her head. I brought it to the front of her thoughts so that it was all she was thinking out. I left her head exhausted and in pain, but Wanda was fully relaxed asleep in her brother's arms.

"you really care about her, don't you?" he questioned. I nodded in response, trying to catch my breath. "More than you care about me," he said while chuckling. I smiled while shaking my head at him.

"not more, just different," I said to him. He nodded while listening to me. "It's hard to explain. I'm not really sure what it is," I continued.

Present-day

We have all been taken multiple times to be their entertainment, each of us coming back with black eyes and bruises and shallow cuts. They didn't want to leave any scars, so they were always careful with leaving marks. None of us had been taken for a while, so we were all feeling pretty good considering where we were. We never told Wanda about the memory I had shown her. I had done it a few times now, but I knew if we told her, she would be mad at me for wasting my energy and causing myself pain.

They use us more to test their new weapons. They were training us to fight, which meant one of two things. 

1.They were expecting an attack and wanted to make sure their secret weapons were safe and could protect themselves without giving away that they had given us powers. Or

2. they were going to use us for a mission.

I was not too fond of either idea if I'm honest, but it was going to happen at some point. We each learned basic hand to hand combat just enough to protect ourselves and shooting practice, not that they were ear going to give us a gun to use. 

It was the most exercise any of us had had in a year. We loved and hated it, it kept us active, but we often had to fight each other, which none of us liked. 

Wanda and I were talking as Pietro slept in the corner. The door suddenly opened, waking Pietro and ending the conversation between Wanda and me. Wanda huddled up to me as I did to her. Pietro stood up in front of us to protect us, but it was no use. A fist made contact with his stomach making him wince in pain. A Guard we had grown quite used to seeing walked away from Pietro to Wanda and me. The guard was in his mid 40's maybe and had a scar running from his forehead, across his right eye and down his neck. He was followed by a group of guards, each grabbing one of our arms taking us to a large room. The room was brightly lit, which was a change from our cell. The floor was concrete and stained with our blood. There were no mats or any form of padding. The sun shone through two small windows in each corner of the furthest wall. 

As we walked in, the man with the scar whose name none of us had picked up on yet started talking. 

"Winter and Wanda, You're up first," he shouted at us. I hadn't fought Wanda in a few weeks. She had improved a lot since our last fight, so had I. I didn't want to fight her. I would rather hit my own head against a wall. We walked to our starting point, and the look on her face told me everything I needed to know. She didn't want to fight me either. she looked like she had to kill a puppy. Both of us knew if we didn't, it would get ugly for both of us. She swung first, hitting my jaw. I hit her shoulder with the heel of my foot. With each punch and kick, I wanted to apologise so badly. I hated seeing her hurt, never mind being the one to cause the pain. Both continuing to use the skills we had learned in our fight until she hit my temple, and I was out cold. 

When I woke up, I was alone in our cell. I could feel the energy draining from my body as I dragged myself to the wall to lean against. I sat thinking to myself. I had had enough of this life. I wanted out of hydra and into normal life. I could walk down the streets, eat proper food. They were slowly breaking me like a plate. Each time they hurt me, the pieces get smaller and smaller until they can't be put back together.

The sound of the door opening took me out of my deep thoughts to see Wanda and Pietro stood on the other side of the door surrounded by guards. as soon as the door shut behind them, Wanda came running over with tears in her eyes,

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god." she rambled while looking at my head and the bruises she has given me. She clearly couldn't see very well, with her eyes full of tears. "I'm so sorry, winter, I'm so sorry", she continues. 

"Wanda, It's fine, I'm gonna be okay. I'm glad you did it", I finally spoke. She gave me a confused look as I finished what I was saying. 

"Why?" She questioned with slight concern.

"Because If you hadn't, it would have been you or both of us. I can handle it. I'm used to it at this point," I said with a small smile on my face. Wanda's face change from one of concern to a look of sympathy and guilt.

"you shouldn't have to be used to it. That's the point," she said, sitting next to me, still looking at the bump on my head as Pietro looked at the bruised that was starting to form around my right eye.