Agony (Wanda Maximoff)

Chapter 2

||"All we'll ever need is each other."||

If they weren't on a mission, Wanda would spend her time walking around Tony's building, watching as everyone worked. It calmed her down and kept her mind busy.

She made her way to the top of the building and sat down near the window. The view was amazing, and it always managed to take Wanda's breath away. Growing up, her and Pietro didn't have nice things. Life was hard for them, but together they managed to make it as great as they possibly could. They were twins; all they ever needed was each other.

"Looks like a storm is coming," Wanda looked up and saw Steve standing beside her. She followed his gaze out the window and towards the sky. The clouds were turning gray and it was evident that it was going to start raining soon.

"Do you remember your life before all of this?" Wanda asked randomly, and Steve sat down beside her, smelling of fresh cologne.

"I'll never be able to forget it. I don't think any of us forget our lives before this," his hands waved around the room, and Wanda nodded. He was right, she would never forget her life in Sokovia or after the experiments. It was all fresh in her mind.

"Sometimes...I regret doing the experiment. None of this would have happened if we had just said no," Wanda turned to face the other direction, aware that her eyes were beginning to water. She had worked so hard to stay calm around the others. She didn't want any of them to ever see her crying. But three months of faking smiles and laughter was beginning to take a tole on her.

"Strucker would have found others to do it either way. I don't think any of this would have changed."

"My brother would still be here," Wanda's voice was barely audible, but Steve heard her, and he wrapped his arm around her and brought her close to him. He told Natasha he would keep an eye on her, and even though him and Wanda have had their ups and downs, he didn't like seeing her that way.

For the first time in three months, Wanda began to sob uncontrollably in front of someone other than herself. She couldn't help it, not anymore. She was like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. And so she cried and cried until she couldn't anymore. 

Time had gone by--hours maybe--and Steve kept his arms around her until her last teardrop spilled from her eye.

When she looked up, she noticed the clouds were beginning to disperse. How long had she been crying? She hadn't even heard the rain or the sound of thunder--just her sobs.

She felt like a child in Steve's arms. He was a big guy compared to her, and she almost felt embarrassed for crying in his arms the way she did. When she looked up at him, he smiled and she slowly pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. She could almost feel the puffiness of her eyes and her swollen lips.

"I am sorry," she said quietly, but Steve shook his head quickly.

"You don't have to pretend to be ok; you're allowed to grieve the death of your brother without feeling ashamed. It's human nature to want comfort."

"I didn't want to seem weak," Wanda said, and she began to fiddle with her fingers, avoiding Steve's apologetic gaze.

"Crying doesn't make you weak. It makes you human." Wanda looked out at the big city and sighed. All of those people below her and they had no clue that her brother died in the battle that almost ended humanity. They were all so unaware.

"I have never actually seen New York. It looks so beautiful." Stark tower over-looked New York perfectly, and deep down Wanda wanted to explore it. From up in the clouds it looked magical, and she could only imagine how much more incredible it could be from the ground.

"I'll take you one day." Steve said, and Wanda looked at him and smiled; a genuine and heartfelt smile.

___

*Seoul, Korea*

"My god," Bruce whispered to himself as he looked down at Pietro's sleeping body. The bullet wounds were completely healed, and he looked the same as he did before he was killed. "When will he wake up again?" Bruce asked Dr. Cho, and she walked over to him and looked down at her tablet.

"He should be waking up about now. I sedated him after I called you last night. He was scared, and he was screaming for Wanda. I didn't know what else to do." Bruce looked down at Dr. Cho's tablet and saw his blood test results. He was healthy.

"He healed incredibly fast, and it's not that I didn't expect him to but his wounds were severe."

"He died, Bruce. We managed to bring him back after his body began to heal itself, but you're right, he did wake up ahead of schedule. What do you guys plan on doing?" Dr. Cho walked up to Pietro and placed her hand against his neck to feel his pulse.

"I don't know. We weren't expecting this. I need to find a way to keep him away from his sister."

"Why?" Dr. Cho asked.

"Wanda needs to think he's dead in order for things to fall into place. If she thinks he's alive, it's all going to end badly for all of us. Once Vision gives us the green light, we can bring him back to her, but until then, we have to keep him here. Is that okay?" Dr. Cho stood in place for a second. She didn't ask too many questions about what the Avengers did, but this was something completely different.

"Of course it's okay."

Bruce turned and looked down at Pietro. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said to himself, and rubbed his temples.

"Aren't you guys worried she's going to know he's awake? They're twins, they have a connection that we couldn't possibly understand."

"Natasha will take care of that. And if she does find out, then we'll deal with it. I just hope she doesn't for her own sake." Bruce walked out of Dr. Cho's lab and headed to his room where he could be alone for a while. He was beginning to get a headache and all he wanted to do was lay down and not think for a while. All he wanted was for all of this to be over so he could stop worrying.