The Keeper of Infinity

Recount Your Mistakes

July 23, 2025; 11.17 am; Undisclosed Location

The floor creaked under the pressure of Wanda's foot as she stepped inside the little cottage she had been calling home for the past few months since her entire showdown with Doctor Strange and the other sorcerers of Kamar Taj.

She'd have to get it fixed, and she would. Once she found her motivation, that was currently hiding somewhere, to face the curious questions the contractor would inevitably come up with.

Was she really the Avenger, Scarlet Witch? What had happened at West View? Why was she staying in the middle-of-nowhere, Virginia?

She hated lying to the unsuspecting common people — which was what she often did in answer to such questions — but she couldn't tell them the truth either and still expect them to help her, at best, and to leave her alone, at minimum.

She also didn't want to fall prey to any more Agatha Harknesses.

After what happened at Mount Wundagore, she just wanted to live her life out in peace. That look of fear in her children's — her Billy and Tommy's — hearts was forever seared into her brain, plunging her further into the cobwebs of darkness.

She simply—

Wanda stiffened, freezing in her movement of putting away the fresh vegetables she had just purchased from the local market. She whirled around in her place, hands immediately coming up in a defensive gesture as she summoned her power forth, the two scarlet balls of energy swirling in her palms.

"Who are you?" She demanded, lips twisting downwards in distaste. She couldn't believe the nerve of this woman to have broken into her house.

The lady turned towards her, from where she was gazing at the framed picture — the only picture — Wanda had with Vision.

(She had none with her little boys and that stabbed her heart every single waking moment of her life.)

"Atheileisia Morgenstern. You may call me however you wish." The taller woman smiled. It was soft and serene yet it put Wanda on edge. Something about this woman just screamed danger.

Perhaps it was how she seemed utterly unbothered by Wanda's hands glowing red which would have sent any other running screaming.

Or maybe it was how her violet gaze felt like being pricked by icicles, leaving her cold and shivering and alone and unwanted.

The woman had an overall delicate appearance about her. She looked like the most harmless creature to ever have walked the Earth, but Wanda couldn't help but feel disturbed by it.

There was a sense...of power — raw and unyielding — oozing off her.

"Do you feel it?" Her voice was like that of a melodious tune on a piano.

"Do I feel what?" Wanda kept her tone blank.

The woman's smile widened, now showing her teeth. Too many, in Wanda's opinion, for it to be sweet or warm. "Come now, darling! Let us not play coy!" She had a British accent, Wanda noticed. "You feel it, do you not? The brush of familiarity against your power. Your...magic is reaching out to me, is it not?"

It was.

Wanda didn't answer.

Her smile turned pleasant. "Your magic is feeling warm but it is also crying in longing, correct?" Her tone was light and friendly, as if they were discussing something mundane like the weather. "Do you know what your magic desires?"

She didn't. Wanda maintained her neutral face.

The woman didn't appear perturbed by it. "You do not, because your connection with your magic is frayed. Did you know, ideally, you should have felt safe and at peace right now? But you do not, do you? You feel abandoned, hurt, sad. You feel like a prey." The woman hadn't taken a single step forward yet it felt like the whispers of her voice had been made directly into Wanda's ears.