we'll say hello again (scarletvision au)

Prologue: Sokovia, 1999

It was one of those warm, fuzzy nights Will loved so much. Everyone was there—Mama, Papa, Petra—and the whole house smelled of the delicious Chicken Paprikash Mama used to make whenever she was in a good mood, and today she was in an exceptionally good mood. They'd finally leave to America and away from the War the next day, after about four years of planning. And they'd have Chicken Paprikash for dinner, his all-time favorite.

To celebrate, the last TV night in Sokovian territory—it was also his turn to choose, and he knew it. He'd been waiting the whole day for it.

'Papa's home!' Petra exclaimed with a slight accent, to him, at the shared bedroom. Mama was at the kitchen. 'Wait,' Will stopped her from running into the room to see him, in a stronger accent, and he waited for it—'Ho-ney!' Papa started, 'I'm ho-ome!'

Will loved it when he did that. Papa was referencing "I Love Lucy," his favorite show. He and Petra ran into the common room of the house—kitchen, living room, dining room, all combined. 'Papa!' The twins exclaimed, in unison, and chuckled with Mama and Papa. 'Hello, my love,' Papa talked to Mama in Sokovian. 'Hello, my love,' she answered, in the same language. 'How's outside?' She asked. 'A bit more bezerk than the other days, but tomorrow we'll be fine, in America,' he smiled, and kissed her.

'In English, Papa!' Will called them out, 'you said the only rule of TV night is we try to practice our English,' which was a bit rusty. Of the four of them, Mama and Petra had the least accent. 'Yeah,' Petra took Will's side, 'yes, he is right,' she nodded.

'We were just getting rid of the last little bit of Sokovian,' Mama came to Papa's aid, with no apparent accent. Mama was born in Sokovia, but moved to America still as a child, leaving her best friend, Papa, behind. They loved and missed each other very dearly ever since, until Mama came back and wedded Papa right away. Eight months later, the twins were born, and she wanted to give the boy an American name.

Now they'd all be moving to America—all their stuff was already packed, by the door. They'd be leaving first thing in the morning.

'Did you bring them, Papa?' Will couldn't hide his excitement and euphoria.

'Yes, yes, my son,' he opened the box with DVDs. 'Have at it, as they say'.

Will knew what he would pick. Petra had made a case for him to pick a certain episode of Dick Van Dyke, earlier in the day. He wanted to watch I Love Lucy, actually, but he was just so happy with all that was happening, that he decided he would heed her plea.

'Dick van Dyke,' he looked at her, who opened the widest smile. 'Season 2, Episode 21'

'The Walnut episode!' Petra cheered, happy. 'Thanks, Willy,' she hugged him.

'Rob and Laura have the funniest shenanigans,' Mama commented.

'What is shenanigan again?' Will asked, squeezing to Mama's side, on the couch, each with their plate of Paprikash.

'Shenanigan is like problem,' Petra explained it to him, 'but more silly than scary,' she nodded. 'But can sometimes be a little scary,' she added.

'Yeah,' Mama completed, 'like mischief,'

'But a silly mischief that always become fine,' Petra nodded.

'Whoa,' Papa commented, 'girls are sharp!' He joked, and they all chuckled.

'OK, Papa, start it for us,' Mama told and Papa obeyed, still chuckling.

That was Will's last good memory. The four of them, squeezed together on the tiny couch, watching Dick Van Dyke, eating Mama's Chicken Paprikash—which she would always teach Petra how to do, from scratch. In 24-hours, he thought, their lives would be so much better, in America, no more loud War, no more loud explosions.

Then it happened.

It was all pretty fast. In a second, they were laughing and having Paprikash; the next one, there was just dust and debris all around. Will and Petra were under the table, and there was a missile facing them, with the name Stark written on it, a red light twitching. On the TV, amongst the stones that were left of the wall, the episode was still on, but no signal of Mama and Papa, he realized. He had to look for them, but he was too afraid to move, and set off the bomb.

But he had to. What if Mama and Papa were alone somewhere in the ruins? Then he remembered something Mama once told him. He used to be terribly afraid of the dark, so every night when he needed to use the bathroom, or to have some water, he'd wake Mama and ask her to go with him. One day, he felt bad and apologized for being a coward. She got up anyways. 'I'm also really scared of the dark,' she confided in him. 'But you're very brave, Mama' he said, confused. 'Well, being brave doesn't mean you're not scared,' she caressed his cheek, taking him to the bathroom. 'Being brave means you are scared, really scared, badly scared,' she made faces, 'and you do the right thing anyway,' she smiled. Back in bed, she told him, 'see? I knew you were brave,' and those words now echoed in his head. So he distracted Petra with the TV, and slowly backed down to look for their parents. Not far from them, next to what used to be the door, was Papa. He knew he was dead. He was even more afraid then, and wanted to cry, but he decided to keep looking, now for Mama.

'Mama,' he cried.

'Here, baby,' she ran to hold him, from the extreme side of the room, with some blood on her clothes.

'Are you alright?' He asked in Sokovian. 'Yes, I'm fine,' Mama nodded, comforting him in a weak voice. 'We're gonna be fine, OK?' She held his hand, and he started crying, panicking. 'Where's your sister?' 'She's over there, with me,' he hugged her. 'OK, breathe,' she looked him in the eye, 'is she alright?' 'Y-Yes,' Will tried to slow his breath, but wasn't able to. 'Good,' Mama squeezed his hand. 'Have you seen Papa?' Will hugged her again, sobbing, and she knew it. 'It's alright,' her eyes watered. She kissed him in the head. Then another bomb hit, outside, closer to where they were laying, and Mama took most of the impact. 'Mama!' Will cried again, and so did Petra, alive and well, from the other side of the room. The Stark missile was still intact. 'Petra, stay there!' He yelled. 'Please, stay there!' He tried to hold his tears, but when he turned to Mama he started sobbing uncontrollably, and so was Petra, but she obeyed him.

'Mama, please don't die,' the boy mumbled. 'It's OK, baby,' she held his face. She was seriously injured on the stomach, 'you're gonna be alright,' she smiled. 'It's alright,' she kept telling him as her voice slowly died, but she kept smiling. Her eyes were starting to shut. 'I love you,' she mouthed, and finally closed her eyes.

After that, Will crawled back to Petra, and comforted her until the morning.

They weren't going to America anymore.