The Seven Stages of Grief

Shock

Wanda lost everything.

Her parents, then Sokovia, then her brother, then him, Vision. The one thing that made her whole after years of homelessness on the streets of Sokovia and her brother's grim death. The one person that held her at night while she cried from heartbreaking nightmares. The one synthetic human that gave her the time and love she needed. Now she had none of that anymore, and she was back to finding a place to stay, no one to look after her, and no one to love post-Blip.

At first, Vision's death didn't settle in. Just a mindless thought, but after talking to Clint, believing she had come to terms with Vision's death, she figured that she was completely empty. Empty without him and the peaceful, organized warmth of his mind easing her from the fears of Ultron, and while on the run, the Raft. But now she had nothing to cling to for help, nothing to make her whole the way he did.

Nights of cradling him in between her legs were lost, the times they dreamed of going home and one day, a wedding or starting a family was impossible without him. She couldn't love anyone else. He was the one, but now everything was just...vague and bleached and dull. Everything seemed to mush together wherever she walked. The only things that caught her attention were the happy couples, finally back together after five gruesome years of being separated. But she didn't get that. Hell, she didn't even get a chance to give him a simple and loving goodbye for crying out loud. His lifeless body was stuffed into a morgue at S.W.O.R.D. and she absolutely hated it. He deserved to be respected better than that.

Why did the universe hate her so much?

Nick Fury had given her special permission to visit the S.W.O.R.D. facility to specifically visit Vision's body whenever she wished. She was on her way there now, and this would be the first time she's seen him since before she disappeared for five years. She was most definitely nervous and tense, and she wished that she had someone there to keep her from losing her mind. She mentally prepared herself as she was directed to an elevator to a special location in the S.W.O.R.D. morgue where Vision's fragile body lies. She wondered if he still looked the same when she last saw and grieved over him while disappearing from the Blip.

She sucked in a breath as the doors opened to a single room and she was left alone to do as she pleased - except opening the clear, preserving casket or stealing Vision's body, which is something she would've probably done if it weren't for her weak state.

She slowly and carefully walked over to the clear casket that was glossed over by the fluorescent lights, and almost collapsed at the familiar sight. She sat on one of the chairs placed in the room. She waited a moment, just staring at the open, gaping hole in his head where the Mind Stone used to be, her mouth open slightly.

"You don't deserve this," Wanda whispered. "You don't deserve to be in a basement in some facility. You deserve so much better, Vis." She sniffed back her tears. "We had a life back in Edinburgh. I wish we could've kept it that way, in any sort of way for that matter, as long as it meant being with you. You suffered such a terrible death, and I blame myself. If I had known that...Thanos had the ability to reverse death itself, I wouldn't have let you die twice. I would've found another way to save you."

Wanda waited a moment. Waited for any flicker of movement, any sign of life, but it was false hope. She knew this. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, down her cheek. "I never got to say that I love you too. I love you, Vis. I really do. I love you so much, and I just want to kiss you, touch you one last time." She leaned forward over his body. She buried her head in between her crossed arms that lie on the casket.

"Death follows me wherever I go, I suppose. Everyone I love gets hurt. What am I doing wrong?" she sobbed. "You were the first person to help me, the second, and the third - and I couldn't return the favor by keeping you alive. God, I'm such a fucking failure." She almost slammed her fist on the glass, but she decided that it would be too disrespectful. "I just hope that somewhere out there, you're happy. You deserve it, Vis."

She started to cry uncontrollably, losing herself in the middle of all her emotions, wondering why she still had so many tears to give to her dead loved ones. As tears fell onto the glass, she peered through her crossed arms and saw how the tears magnified certain spots. One happened to be where the stone had been, and she could see the broken, torn, thin wires peaking out. "I shouldn't give up on you, Vis, but everyone says I should. You never gave up on me, so why should I give up on you? Why should I just leave you down here? What if..." and she trailed off.

The creases on her forehead smoothed as she came to a realization. She gained her powers from the Mind Stone, so why not try to give him part of her life, the part of her that is the Mind Stone? Sure, it might rid her of her powers, but it would be so worth it just to get him back. She stood up from her painful position and placed her hands over his gray body, her magic seeping through the molecules of glass and around the items that kept his body from fading further. She closed her eyes and concentrated on his head, where his memory was, where his life began. She searched for a sign of life in those wires - a conscious.

After minutes and minutes of waiting for something, searching for something, her eyes involuntarily opened, and she realized that it wasn't possible to bring him back to this world. Why not create one? If it'll bring him back, she'd do it. She wouldn't give up on him, not if there was a way to bring him back.

Her reality-altering powers came to light and she felt darkness blinding her sight, white lights flickering, power surging, and she woke up, rising to her feet.

It was colorless, and she was vibrant. She looked around as she was being risen up to the floor. It was like the 1950s shows she watched as a child, the dreams of having a family and a white picket fence. This was the reality she created.

When she was stable on the gray floor, she looked directly ahead and couldn't believe her eyes of what she had brought to life.

"Wanda, welcome home."