The Witch's Shadow (Wanda Maximoff x Girl)

Five

When we got to the gym it was weirdly empty. The only person there was Wanda and she was throwing around red magic balls in a private room.

"Why is she in there?" I asked Natasha as we passed by.

"She has a hard time controlling her powers, so Tony  built her a special training room." She lead us to an area where the punching bags were. After we got our gear on we took turns holding the bag for each other. After an hour or so we were out of breath and Natasha offered to go get us a drink.

"Promise you'll stay here."

"Scouts honor," I tell her as I hold up two fingers.

"It's three fingers dummy," but she leaves me there.

Alone.

I hop up and start to wonder around and end up by Wanda's area. She's still in there, throwing balls. I go to the door and stand there, watching her. She moves gracefully, almost like a dancer. Her hair flows around her and a red glow illuminates her slightly damp skin.

Beautiful, I think.

She lets out a small yelp and a ball ends up by my head. I duck just in time and it goes out the door, hitting the wall and leaving a big scorch mark. "Oh my god! Are you alright?" She rushes over to me and puts her hands on my arms as she looks over me.

"I'm fine," I grin. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't. Ok well you did, but it's not your fault. I don't have complete control over my powers and that's how accidents happen." She was still holding my arms but she was looking at my face now. I raise an eyebrow and look between her and her hands. "Oh sorry!" She removes them and crosses them over her chest.

"It's ok." We stand there for a minute in silence until I can't stand it anymore. "So these powers of yours, what are they?"

"Well I can make people see their worst fears. I can read minds and I can do this," She bit her lip for a second before holding up a hand. A red spark ran over it and then a small ball started to form. Her brow scrunched in concentration and then she sighed heavily as the ball went out.

"You're fighting it," I tell her. And she was, which was odd considering she had seemed to have complete control when I was being tortured.

"What?"

"Your powers, you're fighting against them."

"Well yeah, I don't want to hurt anyone," she looks at me weirdly.

"And that's exactly how you'll end up hurting someone. You can't fight against them, you have to trust in them. Trust in yourself. Otherwise you'll never control it," I explain to her. I thought for a second and then had an idea, "can I show you something?"

"Yeah," she said warily.

"I'll need to touch you, and you'll need to go into my mind." I warn her.

"Ok," she held out a hand to me, but I don't take it.

"Can I touch you Wanda?" I ask her.

"Yes you can," she tells me softly.

I step close to her and turn her so that her back is against my front. I wrap an arm around her waist and take her hand in my free one, her palm facing up. Settling my head on her shoulder I whisper, "enter my mind." I felt her hesitation and whispered, "you won't hurt me Wanda, trust yourself."

A second later I felt her in my mind. "What now?" She asked.

"Now, you let me take control." And to my surprise, she did. I felt her powers flow through us and I concentrated on them. They weren't so different from my own, and I found comfort in their familiarity. "Look," I told her as something started to form on her palm. Her magic turned into a silhouette of a woman. Slowly it started to dance on her palm and as it danced it got bigger. As it grew I felt Wanda's fear grow with it. "Trust me Wanda. Don't fight against it." Her fear didn't go away but she slowly stopped fighting. I let it grow for a few more minutes and then released it. It disappeared in an explosion of red sparks that rained down gently on us. I slowly released Wanda and stepped back, watching her. She was watching the red sparks fall softly, awe on her face.

"That was..."

"Yeah, you did good," I smile softly at her.

"I didn't do anything, that was all you." She looks at me puzzled, "how did you do that?"

I just shrug, "your powers aren't so different from mine."

"Really?" She said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, pretty much. Except I can't give people visions, but I can walk through shadows."

"Hence the name Shadow."

"Exactly!"

She chuckles and smiles at me and I can't help but notice how her lips turn up when she does. They look soft and I wonder if they feel as good as they look. A cough brings my eyes back to hers and I realize she probably just heard what I was thinking. "I'm so sorry, that was rude of me to think."

"Ray you don't have to apologize, it was a thought." She shrugs, "I'm used to it."

"Still, I shouldn't have thought it." And I shouldn't have. It was wrong of me to think about something like that, especially with someone I had just met the day before. Granted, it's been an eventful day, but that was no excuse. "Umm I should get back before Nat wonders where I am."

"Ok," she said confused.

I left without another word and went back to the punching bag. Thankfully Nat wasn't back yet and I started hitting it hard. I got lost in the sound of my fists hitting the bag and didn't notice when Nat was back.

"Ray? Hey earth to Raelle," she said putting her hand on my shoulder.

I'm ashamed to say that she startled me so much I turned and swung. Thankfully she saw it coming and ducked out of the way. She grabbed me and wrapped her arms around me, making my skin scream. "Natasha, let go of me," I practically yell, struggling against her grip.

"Are you gonna swing at me again?" She asked into my ear.

"No, now please let me go." She did and as soon as her arms were off of me I stepped away and tried to control my breathing. I hated being touched unexpectedly. Something that she used to know.

"I'm sorry for touching you." I guess she did remember. "Are you ok? You never used to freak out this bad.."

"I'm fine," I snap. "Just tired. Can we go back to the room?"

She nodded and that was all the permission I needed.