Vices & Virtues ✴ W.Maximoff ✓

⭐ V I V I A N ⭐

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The Calendar | Chapter 26
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For once Vivian was fine. She wasn't depressed or guilty or devastated she was just...at peace with what happened. She knew it was coming and there's simply nothing worse than knowing how it ends, but she was fine with it. At least she didn't slam a sledgehammer through everything; Wanda was feeling the same way.

Vivian had went about her life as usual. She got up, went to the store if necessary, got (responsibly) drunk with some friends, the usual. She had put up her spellbook, apologized to Riley, and even ran into Wanda a few times. And even though a few times they took things a little too far, they were always respectful to each other and themselves. It was great. They still texted every once in a while, but it wasn't as frequent as before Wanda moved in.

Wanda had really transformed Vivian's small apartment. She kept it clean, kept food in the kitchen, made sure Vivian took care of it, everything. Walking around after she left Vivian could've sworn that she still heard Wanda in there, humming in the bedroom or moving around in the kitchen, but now she was getting used to the silence.

Vivian was currently in her car, driving to see her parents. She had reached out to her mother on a whim the night before and much to her surprise her mother wasn't mad or resentful. It was clear in her voice that she was relieved and overjoyed; to hear from someone who had just left years ago and know that they were safe must've been one of the best feelings in the world.

The night before, Vivian had cracked open her spellbook one last time to look for a potion. After all these years, she never got the memories of her time with her father. It was always her stepfather, but she could tell that something was off, that he didn't quite look right.

She wanted... She didn't quite know what she wanted, but it felt overwhelming to walk into a world that she was never a part of after all these years feeling guilty for making it. So she mixed up and drank down the potion before going to bed, her dreams filled with the memories that were not her truth, but a lie spawned from her reckless behavior.

She was almost at her parents' house now. She had texted Wanda last night to see if it was a good idea to come over. Of course she said yes. It would be a good step in accepting what had happened and moving past it. Now the nerves were kicking in and she had to pull over to get herself under control.

It was scary thinking about what could've changed. It was scary thinking about what did change, how Vivian went from a scared and rebellious teenager to a walking train wreck of repressed feelings. But never the less she breathed, calmed herself down, and merged back onto the road.

When she finally arrived at her old neighborhood she slowed down, taking in every little detail; all of her friends' old houses, the large break of grass that hosted countless games of kickball and even more fights, the little tree where Vivian had first came out to her friends. It was all the same but... different in a way, like time decided to be easy on this place in case Vivian ever came home.

She pulled into the driveway and texted both her mother and Wanda before getting out of the car. Even though she knew Wanda was away on a mission in Lagos, Vivian still wanted to keep her up to date.

She walked up to the door and knocked, the old pattern that her and her mother developed when she was a kid coming back to her as her knuckles made contact with the wood. A few moments later her mother opened the door and both women gasped at the appearance of the other.

Vivian's mother had always been a few inches shorter than her, so that wasn't a shock. Her blonde hair was in almost a bob, a big difference from the pixie cut she used to have before Vivian left, her bright blue eyes a little dimmer with age. But she still looked good and healthy and youthful, and for that Vivian was grateful.

She wondered how her mother was seeing her; her own hair was much lighter than before, the ends still a little red from the last time she dyed it, her eyes looked tired, and she was wearing a lot less makeup and a lot less black than she used to.

The two of them tightly wrapped each other in a hug and stayed like that for a while in the doorway before Vivian's mother invited her in. Vivian's mother went to the kitchen while Vivian walked around the house, leaving her small backpack by the front door.

Her fingers lightly traced the picture frame in front of her; in it was a picture of Vivian on her first day of school, her parents on either side of her. Vivian remembered that photo, it was one of the things that stayed mostly the same after the spell. Vivian still spent her first nine years in Sokovia, but this time her mother was there with her.

"Vivi, honey, do you want anything to eat?" Vivian's mother asks from the kitchen. "I know it was a long drive here and I don't know if you've eaten yet."

"Are you still going to call me Vivi?" Vivian asks, a smile tugging at her lips as she enters the kitchen. "I'm a grown woman now. You can call me Vivian or Vivia. I call you Emily."

"I am you mother. I can call you whatever I like. And what I like is Vivi." she says, turning away from the cabinet. "Now, do you want a sandwich or not?"

"Yeah, I'd like a sandwich." Vivian laughs before leaving the kitchen. She wanders into the living room and sits on the couch, resting her arms on the back of it and turning on the TV. It was on a news station, but she didn't feel like changing the channel. It felt weird to be sitting here as an adult, years of experiences under her belt that her mother knows nothing about. Well, not yet at least.

Her mother soon came in with the food and sat next to Vivian. Vivian thanked her and took a bite. "So where's dad at?" she asks. It felt weird referring to Dimitri as her "dad" instead of Michael, but she just went with it.

"Your father's away on some work trip." Emily says, waving her off. "You know how he is about work."

"Yeah..." Vivian answers. Part of the reason why he took so long to see her when she was young was because he worked so much.

"So, what have you been up to all this time?" Emily asks, taking a sip of her drink. "I mean, as soon as you graduated you just up and left without a trace."

Vivian knew that her mother was just trying to keep things light, but she could hear the hurt in her voice. She had every right to be hurt too. Vivian wanted to tell her that everything was fine, that she was living a normal life with a steady job and girlfriend, and she started to too, but none of that was true, especially the last part.

"Actually, things have been a little rocky." Vivian says, sitting her plate on her lap. She explains almost everything that's happened since she moved to NYC - all of the failed relationships, getting fired from multiple jobs, moving from place to place, the drinking, and eventually gambling to get money - ending with her break up with Wanda. She left out all of the drugs and magic of course, but did tell the truth about most of her arrests.

Once she finally stopped talking, it felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. It occurred to her that all of these years, she wanted to talk to her mom but used fear and anger as an excuse. She needed someone to help her feel grounded, and as her mother set Vivian's plate on the ottoman and wrapped her in a hug, that's what she felt. Grounded again. Wanda did help in the past, but what Vivian really needed was maternal love.

"Vivi, why didn't you call me?" Emily asks once she pulls away. Vivian opens her mouth to respond but stops when she saw a familiar brunette out of the corner of her eye on the TV screen. They showed her kneeling on the ground with her have over her mouth before showing a shot of a smoking building.

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Merry Christmas Eve guys. I hope y'all's holiday is great and you enjoy family time and your presents tomorrow.