The Witch's Shadow (Wanda Maximoff x Girl)

Twenty-Eight

I've been sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair next to my daughter's bed for an hour when she wakes up.

One second she's fast asleep and the next she's in a dimly lit corner, her knees pulled to her chest as she watches me with startling blue eyes, wisps of shadows twirling around her. Despite knowing that she could have my powers thanks to Dreykov, it was still startling to see her with shadows clinging to her.

"Hi," I whisper as I slide out of my chair and onto the floor. I don't move towards her. I can't. Not yet, not when she could disappear at any moment. "I'm.." I take a shaky breath, "my name is Ray. What's yours?"

She looks at me warily, her eyes going to the Widow symbol on my suit. I'd hated putting it on, but given where she's grown up, Natasha had thought it might make her more comfortable. Her eyes narrow slightly at the sight of it but she answers, "project nine."

"Oh baby," I whisper. That bastard hadn't even bothered to name her. Louder I ask, "do you remember what happened?"

She swallows, "loud noises, pain, darkness." The shadows start to rile up around her and she notices, her eyes going wide, "go away!" She tells them as she starts to panic.

I'm in front of her in a blink, my own shadows swirling around me, "it's ok! You're safe!" I hold up my hand, shadows swirling around it, "look, I have them too."

She looks at my shadows and back to me, "how?"

"Just lucky I guess," I joke. "They won't hurt you. The shadows.. they're our friends. They protect us." I make a small figure on my palm, just as I did with Wanda all those months ago. The figure twirls in my palm, doing a little dance, "hold out your hand."

The girl hesitates but eventually holds out her small hand. I set the figure in it, watching her caution turn to curiosity and then to excitement. But her excitement was short lived as she sighs and lets the figure disappear from her palm, "is this a training exercise?"

"No," I tell her. "You don't ever have to do any of that ever again."

"But.. papa said that I'm supposed to," she pauses for a moment, her face scrunching as she thinks. "I'm supposed to.. be the start of a new age of Widows."

"Listen to me," I tell her gently but firmly. "That man is not your father. He was a crazy person who liked to abuse little girls to make himself feel powerful. But you never ever have to do what he says ever again." Her eyes go to the Widow symbol on my suit and I explain, "I'm not the Red Room. This place.. it's safe. The Red Room doesn't exist anymore."

Her face scrunches even more, "but.. what about the others? My sisters?"

"We are looking for them," I answer. "We will find them and then we will help them start new lives."

"What about me?" She asks quietly.

"You," I start slowly. "You get to stay with me."

"Why?"

"Well, because.." I stop, suddenly nervous. "Because I'm.. because.."

"You're my mom," she finishes for me.

I nod, "yeah. I am." I give her a small smile, "are you alright with that?"

She studies my face, like she's searching for a hidden answer to a question that I haven't even thought of. She must find something she likes because she answers, "yeah. I think.. that would be ok."

"Ok," I repeat. "There's a few things-."

"Ray?" Wanda's voice calls from the doorway. "I thought you might be hungry so I brought food. Oh," she gasps softly when she notices us on the floor. "I'm interrupting, I'll leave this and go," she says as she sets a bag on the bed.

"Stay," I tell her. I look over at my daughter, clocking the barely concealed fear in her eyes, "she's a friend. Actually, she's more than a friend, she's family."

She looks at Wanda, her eyes widening slightly, "you're the witch."

Wanda chuckles, "I suppose I am. And you are?"

"Project nine," she answers.

"Well that simply won't do," Wanda tells both of us. "So first things first, come eat and then we can come up with a proper name." She pulls over a small table and starts pulling food from the bag and arranging it on the table. When she notices us still sitting on the floor watching her, she motions us over, "come get it while it's still hot."

Now Ray, she orders me.

"Yes ma'am," I laugh. Standing up, I offer my hand to my child. She hesitates before taking it, her small hand fitting in mine perfectly. Once we were back on the bed, bowls of food in each of our laps, I ask, "so what should we call you?"

Through a mouthful of food, she answers, "one of the Widows used to call me Melina in secret."

Nearly choking on my food I ask, "was her name Katrina?"

She nods and Wanda asks, "did you know her?"

"Yeah," I sigh. "She was the one who would bring me food while I was pregnant. She always stayed for a few minutes to talk to me and I.. told her the name I'd started calling my child."

"She used to tell me stories," my child tells us as she keeps eating. "About a woman who was trapped in the dark and how she had a baby. And to keep her baby safe, she had to send her out of the darkness and into the light."

"Melina," I whisper. "What happened to Katrina?"

She shrugs, "she didn't come back one day. Papa said that she'd gone to be with our other sisters, but we were sad when she never came back. Nobody else ever told us stories."

Slowly I say, "I've got a story, if you want to hear it?"

"What's it about?"

"Well," I start as I look to Wanda. "I suppose it's about a girl, who more than anything wants to find a family of her own. And it's about a man, who promises to give her one if she'll only love him. And it's about.. a witch," I say with a smile. "Who gives the girl everything that the man couldn't."

Melina nods, "ok."

"How do stories usually start?" I ask Wanda.

"Once upon a time," she answers.

"Then once upon a time, there was girl named Raelle," I start. "And she wanted more than anything, to have a family who loved her. And one day, she got her wish in the form of two sisters named Natasha and Yelena."