The Winter Witch

Chapter Three: A Little Unsteady

I cry out his name. I shout it to the Heavens. No one answers. Tears slip down my face.

This can't be happening.

I grip Steve's shield tight and look at him. I take his lifeless hand and clutch it. "I'm so sorry." I whisper. Upon the rubble, I see half of Sam's wing burning to a crisp. A tear falls from my face and lands on Steve's hand. 

"Everyone is dead because of me." I cry out.

All of a sudden, someone grabs me by the throat and lifts me from off the ground. I look up at my attacker and see him.

Ultron.

"You have strings and they were all severed because of you. YOU let them die." He snarled out. His voice ran chills down my spine.

"NO! No...I helped! We were all together in this battle!" I choked out.

His grip had tightened. "MONSTER." He whispered.

I screamed my loudest scream ever. I screamed forever.

~~~~~~

I woke up and sprang up from my bed. I looked around and saw that I was in my room. It was just a nightmare. It couldn't have been though. It was too...vivid. The sudden realization hit me in the gut. It wasn't a nightmare.

It was a vision.

That's when I lost it. I couldn't keep this up anymore. I needed to let everything out. Everything I had kept bottled up.

I let out an ear bursting scream. I closed my eyes and just let the scream continue. The tears were just flowing out of my eyes. I don't know how long it had been but I was snapped out of my haze and saw Steve and Vision hovering over me.

"Wanda! What happened!?" Steve asked frantically.

I tried to say something but nothing came to mind. They wouldn't understand. My vision started to get blurry and I started to get lightheaded. The last thing I noticed before I blacked out was Bucky standing in my doorway looking concerned.

I awoke in the infirmary and the first thing I saw was Vision. He noticed that I had woken up and came over to me quickly. He placed a hand on my cheek.

"Wanda...are you alright?" He asked softly.

I grabbed his hand and held on to it tightly. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head no.

"Oh Wanda...I'm so sorry you're going through this. I don't like seeing you like this." He murmured.

"Vision, I saw something. The future, maybe. I didn't like what I saw." I whispered, trying to contain my tears. He brushed my hair back from my face. "With the powers you have, I don't doubt you for a second."

I shut my eyes and saw Sokovia...before the battle with Ultron. I saw Pietro smiling and laughing. I would give anything to hear his laugh again. My eyes snapped open when I heard a knock on the door. I looked up and saw Bucky. Vision got up and walked towards the door. "I'll give you two a moment." With that said, he closed the door on his way out.

Bucky stood by the door with his hands in his pockets. A few moments of silence went by before I spoke up.

"Um. What are you doing here?" I asked softly.

He looked up and our eyes met. "I was worried."

I scoffed. "You barely know me."

He nodded and walked over and sat on the end of my bed. "That may be true, but I've seen you before."

I sat up, clearly more intrigued by what he had to say. "Oh really? Where at?" I demanded.

He placed a warm, gentle hand on my leg. "Strucker experimented on you and your brother. I saw you two."

Memories from that place came flooding back. Memories I didn't want. "You were there." I said.

Bucky nodded. "I should've protected you guys from him. I wasn't myself though. I was the Winter Soldier, but deep down...I felt like I should've saved you and your brother from him."

I hesitated for a moment. "If you saw me there, why did you ask me what I could do? You must've seen my powers while you were with Strucker."

Bucky's eyes seemed to stare into my soul. "I wasn't allowed to view your progress. I only saw glimpses of you two."

I remembered seeing him, only for a second though. He looked pure evil the first time I saw him. Evil but confused and lost. The second time I saw him, I had tried to get into his head, but something was blocking his mind. Ignoring the memories, I had realized that his hand was still on my leg. A sympathetic gesture, I'm sure. Without thinking, I grabbed it and held it tight. I looked into his eyes.

"We were both experiments."

His other hand brushed back a stray hair of mine. "Experiments who can get through anything life throws our way."