The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

The other wanda

"You okay?" Bucky asked after letting y/n soak in the silence for a while.

"Why hasn't she come back yet?" Y/n asked, then finally raised her head from the floor. "She should be free, she should be here."

"Maybe she needs time." Bucky tried to suggest.

"But how long? I wish I could do something other than sit here and wait." She mumbled.

Bucky slumped over and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He desperately wanted to consolidate y/n in any kind of way, but he knew it wouldn't help. He knew more than anyone that all she wanted was Wanda back, so he didn't bother trying to give her empty assurances.

However, while he kept his head down, he heard a noise in the distance. It was faint, quiet, but it was there. When he raised his head to get y/n's attention, he saw that she was already looking around the room to find the source of the noise.

"What was that?" Bucky asked.

Y/n rose from where she sat and held her hand out to stop Bucky from getting up with her, "stay there."

"You'll need help, I can-."

"Stay there." She ordered with a firmer tone which he obliged to.

With her hand out in front of her, she stepped away from their temporary seats for the slightest of moments until the source of the noise walked through the door.

The red energy of the scarlet witch entered the room before she did, lighting up the dull walls with a crimson shine. A small slither of hope sparked in y/n, but it fizzled away the moment she felt the anger from that wanda, and realised that it wasn't the girl she was searching for.

"You again." Y/n cleared her throat, but received no reply.

The version of wanda who stood before her said nothing. She held her magic in her hands with a burning desire for violence in her eyes, and she said nothing.

When Bucky looked to y/n to see that she wasn't putting up any kind of defence. "What are you doing? Aren't you gonna fight?"

"What if that is Wanda?" Y/n asked herself.

"What? Y/n," Bucky looked in shock, "that's clearly not her, wanda wouldn't want to kill you."

"What if it's mind control, Bucky? I cant just kill her, she could be being controlled by Agatha."

"Well she's getting closer and she looks angry, so do you really wanna test that theory?" Bucky sarcastically asked before seeing how close the Wanda actually was. "Y/n, seriously, you've gotta do something."

"No- Bucky, what if that's all that's left of wanda." She began to feel a panic, "what if that is wanda, but she just needs my help, i cant kill her."

"Y/n, you have to. Its either you kill her or she kills us." He tried his best to convince her. "I'm so sorry, y/n, but that's not wanda."

"We don't know that, we don't know anything about this! I cant kill her without knowing anything." She desperately explained. Once Bucky saw that she wasn't going to give up on her theory, he stood back and allowed her to do what she wanted. "Wanda, please." Y/n begged. "Please be you. I need it to be you."

Once again, the version didn't say anything. She tilted her head - which was very normal for any kind of wanda to do - but she had the same fire in her eyes, which made y/n panic.

"Whatever you think I did, it's not real. Agatha is doing this to you, wanda." She tried to explain even though she knew it wouldn't work, "I don't want to hurt you. Please, can you help me get my wanda back?"

"Y/n, seriously." Bucky mumbled from where he stood.

"Bucky, please don't say anything." Y/n told him before trying to look past the barrier in wandas eyes. "Help me. Please."

For the first time, the witch finally gave a response. "I don't have the answers you want."

Filled with hope that she was getting somewhere, y/n remained confident. "You've got to have some though, right?"

Wanda hesitated for a moment. "How would I?"

"Is Agatha doing this to you?" Y/n asked.

"Doing what?" She scoffed.

"Is she making you like this? Is she controlling you, wanda?"

Wanda slowly dropped her head as if she was considering it. It looked as though she was thinking back to the past to see if y/n was right, but, of course, it wasn't really that.

Y/n thought - only for a moment - that she was getting somewhere with wanda, but all in one brief moment, hope was torn away from her. No matter how hard y/n tried to persuade her, that wanda wasn't hers - so she wasn't going to understand. Instead, wanda glanced to y/n's side with the clear intentions of hurting him to try and rip through y/n.

The moment y/n saw her dangerous eyes bounce to Bucky with an obvious intent, she could no longer negotiate with her. Y/n instantly threw herself forward onto wanda before she could make any kind of attack on anyone. Wanda struggled to get up the moment she hit the floor, but y/n instantly straddled her hips before she could slip away from underneath her.

"Stop it, wanda, please. I need you to help me." She begged her as she pinned her arms at both sides of her head. It was obvious that the Wanda she was fighting wasn't going to give in, but y/n was so trapped in her own desperation that she postponed doing what she knew she had to do. "Hear me out- just calm down!"

"Get off of me!" Wanda ordered. Her hands were engulfed in her own power, but she couldn't push herself hard enough to get out of y/n's hands.

After hastily trying to calm the panicked witch beneath her, y/n began to lose control. The more the witch panicked, the harder it was for y/n to keep her dangers away, until soon, she couldn't. In one sharp motion, wanda's hand broke free and she swung for y/n's face. Along with the speed she swung her hand at, her powers dug a deep wound into y/n's face and brought her blood out.

Y/n's hand instinctively bolted up to hold her wound in pain, but when she saw that wanda was almost out from underneath her, she put her hand back down. She felt the blood rush down her cheek and drip onto the ground below her, but she couldn't let it distract her as she looked down at wanda.

Wanda's eyes - though they were red and vicious - looked up at y/n with a desperate glow which pleaded for her life, but y/n had to ignore. Just like her friends said to her before, she couldn't risk all their lives for the sake of one. She couldn't let the Wanda she was with hurt the people she loved, and she didn't have time to get any answers out of her.

With her hand on Wanda's heart, she sealed her eyes shut tightly to block the tears from streaming through.

"I'm sorry." She finally choked out to say to her before forcing her hand down with a blast that left the variant with no hope at all.

When she felt the bones breaking beneath her hand, y/n immediately stood up and pulled her hand away. While looking down at what looked like her dead love, she held her shaky hand to her mouth to suppress a sob while she realised what she'd done.

"Hey- hey, y/n," Bucky instantly went to comfort her, "you did it. It wasn't wanda, you did it."