Chapter Text
Darkness.
The room was dark and empty until a burst of golden light filled it.
People appeared, sprawled on the floor. The first to sit up was Thor, then Steve, then all the others awoke, one by one.
After the Snap and the war with Thanos, all of the Avengers had gone their separate ways. Everyone had lost someone special to them and they had to find themselves now that their loved ones were gone, each processing grief in their own way.
“Is everyone alright?” Steve asked, sitting up and looking around the dark room.
“Just peachy, Cap. Where the hell are we?” Clint muttered, rubbing his head.
“Welcome to the Theater of Judgement.” A raspy female voice that none of them had ever heard before came from the corner of the room.
Floating there was some kind of ghostly figure, with pale, frail hands and a dark cloak pulled over her features. When she moved, her hood fell back as they saw an equally pale face and wispy white hair, framing cloudy but ancient eyes. She seemed to be a woman, older and more powerful than anything they’d ever seen, with a soft golden glow surrounding her.
“My name is Justice. You are here today to bring judgement to the Scarlet Witch. You will watch her life and I will judge whether or not she has suffered enough. But enough of that, let me bring her to you.”
Another golden flash of light and Wanda Maximoff was standing there, dressed in a purple and red dress with red eyes and scarlet mist flowing from her hands. She looked older than the Avengers remembered, more in her late 20’s now than the younger girl she’d been when they had all last seen her.
“Where am I?” She said, her Sokovian accent faded but still tinting her words.
“Peace, Wanda.” Justice said, slowly floating forward with her arms held out.
Wanda bowed when she saw the ancient woman in the dark cloak standing before her and the red mist faded away. “A Judgement spirit. I have heard of your kind but I have never seen one in person. I apologize, mistress. What may I call you?”
“Rise, my dear. I am Justice. And today, I have brought you a gift but you only get to keep it if you deserve it.”
Justice waved her hands and Vision appeared in a flash of golden light, matching the one that had brought them here. He looked around in confusion, taking in all the other heroes, but stopped suddenly as he saw her, a smile growing on his face.
“Well then, it appears we say hello again, Wanda.” Wanda stared at him in silence for a moment, before the young witch burst into tears.
“Oh my God, Vision! Do you remember...” She trailed off nervously, afraid that he didn’t remember their family and their life together in West View. Had she been rational and not overwhelmed by emotion, Wanda would have realized that of course, he had mentioned something that had happened in the Hex and must surely recall, but she needed the confirmation nonetheless.
Vision indulged her, taking her by the hands. “Yes, I do. I miss them too, love.” The newest arrival leaned in and kissed his wife softly as she melted into him with a sigh of long awaited content.
“I hate to interrupt this tooth-rottingly sweet moment but what the actual fuck are they doing here? More importantly, how the fuck are they even alive?! No offence, really, but Vision, you died when Thanos took the Mind Stone, we all saw your body. And Wanda, you turned to dust, like, a month ago! And why do you look older?” Tony blurted suddenly, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration at the lack of clarity.
Wanda frowned, understanding the situation immediately. “Oh, I see what's going on here. You are all from the year 2018, right after Thanos snapped, yes?”
She received nods from the baffled heroes.
Wanda took a deep breath, preparing herself for their reaction, and possible disbelief. “Well, I’m from the year 2023.”
The room was immediately filled with a burst of confused chatter.
"What? Are you saying that we've all missed the last 5 years?" Steve looked shocked, blue eyes wide with fear as he put a hand to his chest, as if to calm his accelerated heartbeat.
The last time he'd been unconscious, Steve had woken up to find that his old life was gone and that he was all alone in a brand new world. This couldn't be happening again.
Justice cut in before Steve could continue panicking about having lost more time, hoping to relax the Captain.
“No, Steve Rogers, do not be afraid of lost time. I have taken you all out of your original times to come to my Sacred Theater of Judgement. When I have finished with you all, you will be returned back to the moment I took you from and none of your companions will even know that you were gone.”
Thor raised his hand, gaining good-natured snickers from Clint at the mildly childlike behavior from the imposing god. Justice smiled, gesturing for him to proceed with his question.
“Lady Justice, once we return to our times, will we be able to change the future? Will we remember what we saw here and be able to use it?”
Justice’s smile dimmed. “Yes, King Thor, you will remember what happened here. However, there is a special charm I have placed upon this room. Most of the things that I am going to show you have happened, will happen and must happen. This spell ensures that, despite your knowledge of the future, the outcome of any and all major events will be exactly the same as it would have been, had I not brought you here.”
Natasha looked thoughtful, filing away the Spirit's use of the word most when describing things that were set in stone. “So, why are we here? What exactly is it that made you bring us here and risk the proper flow of time?”
“I am here to judge whether or not Wanda deserves this gift, and you serve as witnesses,” Justice replied cryptically.
“What do you mean by deserve?” Natasha asked, an eyebrow raised as she took a seat between Clint and Steve.
“You should all know. You have all done terrible things in your lives and have been fighting to atone for your multitude of sins, to avenge. Wanda has to do the same to pay her dues and earn her happiness. We will be watching clips of her life over the last bit, in a sitcom show, to see whether she has suffered enough.”
The Avengers didn’t seem too happy about that but they didn’t have much choice.
“And if I refuse, mistress? If I leave now and take what I have?” Wanda asked, hand tightening in Vision’s and her eyes glowing again. She didn’t want to fight a Judgement Spirit, but it would be so very painful to relive her pain while the others watched as well.
Justice seemed sympathetic but firm. “Well, my dear, if that was the choice you made, you would have to say goodbye again. To Vision, Tommy and Billy.”
“Who?” Clint asked but was ignored by the others.
The red glow faded again as Wanda’s eyes filled with tears and hope . “You mean that if I have suffered enough, I can have them back?”
Justice nodded, not a hint of dishonesty in her words. “I want you to be happy, dear. I don’t want to judge people but alas, it’s my duty. I usually don’t let people get their desire while I watch the memories because I fear they might be worse if they are forced to let go again. I have a feeling that you know pain, Wanda, so I have given you half the reward and the other half will come once I see that you've earned it. After centuries of watching people not deserve their one desire, I truly hope you do.”
“Thank you, my lady. You are as just and fair as your name says.” Wanda said, bowing her head in thanks.
“No problem, dear. One last thing, I need to place a temporary charm over your more... extreme powers, just until the judgement has passed. I’ve seen many lose their temper, or their minds, at seeing their memories. The Scarlet Witch, chaos magic herself, fueled by the rage of her past is very dangerous indeed.”
Wanda barely took time to hesitate before she nodded. Anything for her husband and her children. If she was willing to create an entire town for that life, having a temporary loss of powers is nothing. She would be willing to give them up permanently if that's what it took to get her family back.
“Thank you, young one. Please take a seat everyone and let’s begin the show!”
After they all hugged and chatted a bit, for it had been a while since they'd had a safe place to talk and feel somewhat like an extremely dysfunctional family, they all got seated and settled. The large wall in front of them turned into a golden, glimmering movie screen and the Marvel Studios logo flashed.
“What the hell is that?” Tony asked of the logo, looking impressed by the magical technology, an effortless blend that he almost envied.
“Well, that is the place that stores all of your memories and experiences. Someday, your time may come to be judged here so we keep them all.” Justice replied, hesitating at the beginning of her sentence as though she'd been trying to come up with a lie.
Any suspicions that the others had about her hesitation were quickly forgotten when the words WandaVision appeared on the golden screen.
“Let’s get started.”