Avengers/MCU Oneshots

The Next Right Thing (Wanda Maximoff)

Yet another songfic! If you haven't seen the movie Frozen 2, this song is from the soundtrack. So y'know, obviously there are some pretty severe spoilers. So if you haven't seen it yet and want to without spoilers, don't read this. If you have seen it, or don't care, go ahead and enjoy. Wanda's age: 19

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'I've seen dark before, but not like this. This is cold, this is empty, this is numb. The life I knew is over, the lights are out. Hello, darkness, I'm ready to succumb.'

Wanda Maximoff sat on the jet, numb to the world. She had experienced so much pain, and grief, and darkness. But nothing could possibly compare to this.

The loss of her twin brother made all the horrors of her short life pale in comparison to it. All of the bad things that had happened to her? They didn't have jack on this. She felt numb. She felt a cold darkness, an emptiness could could never possibly be filled. Even the traumatizing loss of her parents when she was ten years old hadn't left her feeling so alone.

She just wanted to give up. She just wanted to curl up and give in to the feeling, to the emptiness. Anything had to be better than this.

'I follow you around, I always have. But you've gone to a place I cannot find. This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down. But a tiny voice whispers in my mind.

'"You are lost, hope is gone. But you must go on. And do the next right thing."'

She laid on her bed, curled up in a blanket. It had been two weeks, and she had just stayed in bed. She hadn't done anything other than drink some water and go to the bathroom. She had always done whatever Pietro did, and now he wasn't there to lead her. He couldn't show her the way.

She wanted nothing more than to find him, but he had gone somewhere that she would never be able to find, no matter how hard she looked. Of course, she knew how to follow him, but she wasn't sure if she should.

She felt like she was being pinned down with lead. Like she had no purpose in life, like the grief was holding her down, restricting her from living. How were you supposed to continue on in life when your best friend was gone?

A voice ran in her head. 'I'm lost, all hope is gone. But he would want me to carry on, and do the next right thing.'

'Can there be a day beyond this night? I don't know anymore what is true. I can't find my direction, I'm all alone. The only star that guided me was you.'

The Avengers kept on trying to talk to her, to tell her that she needed to eat, and take care of herself. But she didn't know how. She'd always had Pietro to help her. They just didn't understand! Why did they keep pretending that they did?

Maybe it was just them trying not to make her mad. They claimed that they had forgiven her. That it didn't matter what she had done. But what reason did she have to trust the people whose friend's ignorance had gotten her parents killed? And now her brother killed. Why had she decided to trust them? They didn't actually care. Heck, they probably didn't even want her alive. After what she'd done, why did she need forgiveness?

But maybe she was wrong. She didn't know. Maybe they did care. But Pietro had always figured it out, and had guided her. He was her North Star, but now he was gone, faded out. Leaving her behind.

'How to rise from the floor when it's not you I'm rising for? Just do the next right thing. Take a step, step again. It is all that I can do. The next right thing.'

Wanda finally decided it was time to start caring for herself after another week. She was starving, and cold. She needed to change, and eat, brush her teeth, her hair, and shower. It was all so much. But maybe if she did it one at a time, step by step, she could manage. Trying was all she could do, and she was going to do it.