open arms, mcu ✓

fifty

chapter fifty
╰  ( wandavision: episode nine )

💫 ━━ THE world around them crashed just as quickly as it had started. When Wanda attempted to free everyone from her hold she had, she realized that her husband and children would disappear with the hex.

So she stopped, much to Paisleys argument that the lives of the people in Westview were almost more important. They should be free, they shouldn't be held captive like puppets for Wanda to control.

It was right then and there that Paisley noticed who her aunt was willing to be. Wanda Maximoff was the villain in Paisley's eyes — the one who would keep people imprisoned for the life she created. But Paisley believed on some level she would do the same thing. If she was in her aunt's position, where she and Liz had a life together outside of someone's hold, than maybe she too would keep a town imprisoned for her own wants.

"Aunt Wandy?" Paisley blinks up at her aunt, who had just finished talking with her family about who they were and what their job was. "Remember who you are."

Wanda nodded before she left the scene, leaving Paisley on the pavement. Paisley could not float, or she didn't think she could. No one ever taught her, she doesn't even remember knowing her aunt could float like she was right now.

She was a little pissed. How was she supposed to help her aunt now, when she couldn't even get to where she was.

"Just try!" Liz yelled out from where she was guiding someone towards a home away from all the chaos.

Ryder, who had just pulled himself off the ground and shook his body with hopes it would rid the pain in his body, looked towards his friend and nodded. "You've got this!"

It's when Paisley puts her mind to it that she slowly lifts off the ground. She's freaking out, she's kinda scared of heights, but in order to help save her aunt, she has to try. So she does, and it isn't until she is higher than the tallest home in Westview that she starts to visibly panic. Her fingertips are surrounded by a crackling blue energy, that seems to be static and uncontrolled.

"Paisley, nice of you to visit." Agatha speaks as she sends a blast towards the young girl, hoping it hits her in the chest. It doesn't, Paisley throwing her hand out and creating a barricade from Agatha's magic.

"Paisley." Wanda calls out when she realizes that her energy is draining. Her magic is being pulled from her and right into Agatha, making her more powerful by the minute.

Paisley doesn't know how to create a hex, she doesn't know how to create a ruin so she can be the only one to use magic, she only just learnt she could fly. She doesn't know everything she should.

So what does she do?

She just tries. Her hands push outwards, blue magic moving with it. It flies hazy Wanda and Agatha, disappearing into nothing. Paisley keeps going, sending out three more blasts until she sees the power being cut off from Agatha, who lets confusion sketch across her face.

"I wasn't taught everything." Paisley starts, moving forward. There's a red looking crown that surrounds her aunts head, before one appears on her own. Paisley smiles quickly, feeling even more powerful than she had before. She is in control now. "No one taught me how to fly, but look, I am. No one taught me how to create a fake world, but I still landed in one. I was never taught how to create a rune, but oh, it looks like I did."

Agatha goes to blast Paisley with whatever magic she can, but nothing happens, every attempt fails before their eyes.

Paisley wonders if she needs to take every last bit of power from Agatha to save her aunt, who still seems to empty and darkened. So she tries; closing her eyes and imagining the magic leaving Agatha's body and entering her own. It tingles at first, the purple energy turning into a blue one deep within her body.

It isn't until she notices her aunt seem to look more alive, that she stops and lets Agatha's fall limp in the sky. Good think Paisley keeps a barrier around the woman, so she doesn't die or injure herself before she can return to who she is — the nosey next door neighbour.

Wanda hugs her niece first, thanking her as many times as she can before she hugs her own children. Paisley had helped save her. She notices that Paisley was different as she pulled away from her children. She radiated engery, magic, her aurora was different, she was different.

"She becomes the role she chose." Paisley announced, not leaving any word for argument. "Agatha becomes the nosey neighbour."

Wanda nods, placing her fingertips against the woman's skill, watching as her eyes flashing quickly before she began to speak so kindly. She looks to Paisley then, wondering what they should do next.

"Wanda." Ryder steps forward, facing the woman who helped raise him. "Hi."

"Ryder Stark." The woman smiles softly, reaching for him and pulling him into her side for an awkward but refreshing hug. "It's good to see you safe and sound."

"Likewise." Ryder nods before he hands the woman something, a ring. A wedding ring that vision had died with, given to earth for the ground to swallow after his death. But Ryder had found it. "He would want you to have it, and he would want you to set everyone free."

"Aunt Wandy, please." Paisley pleads, her eyes soft and she hopes her aunt lets them go. She does — Wanda Maximoff lets the hex slowly close, dropping all the control over the people. "Thank you."

💫 ━━ "YOUR home is with me, if you choose." Ryder states as he pulls Paisley into a hug. He had stood by and watched as Paisley lost her uncle and cousins when the Hex disappeared. He felt horrible. "I can't make up what you had here, but I can offer you a home with me, Morgan, dad and mom."

Paisley nods, but she won't take Ryder up on his deal, not yet anyways. "Another day, Rhy." Paisley pulls away from the hug. "Aunt Wanda has a few more things she needs to teach me, things I should learn."

The dark hold. It isn't what Wanda will be teaching her, no, but what they both will be learning from something bigger than them.

"Are you sure?" Ryder asks, not because he doesn't think she'll be okay, but because he believes that she could just come home and put everything behind her. "You can change your mind. We can help teach you."

"I need to go. But Rhy, could you look out for Liz." Paisley glances towards Liz, who is chatting up a storm with Monica. She smiles, free from her mother's hold, she is happy on her own. "I promise I'll be back."

Paisley isn't that little girl who hid in a tree anymore. She's this strong, young woman who has survived much more than she should have. She is, and will be, unstoppable.

She is her own being. And she can make her own choices. Her choice different than others, but influenced by some.

Paisley Maximoff enjoys who she is now. A young woman who is powerful and in control, one who won't let their life be ripped away from them. She is proud of herself.

She is proud, for all the right reason, right?

PAISLEY MAXIMOFF
WILL RETURN EVENTUALLY
━━━━━━━━━━━━
paisley and her final act,
will return in the future.