Chapter Text
A young woman sat down in a big room. For the past five years, she'd seen people around the city hold events frequently, but she's never come by herself once. She didn’t know why she had to come and wasting her time until this day. This day was the first day she felt she needed to let everything out to someone whether they want her to or not.
But the person who she can talk to was already gone, so she had to come here instead.
The topic they often said during miserable five years before would be 'coping with loss', but the losses now and then were different. It depended on what kind of loss they faced.
Five years ago, people lost loved ones to an event that people called ‘The Snap’, half of the universe was dissolved to dust thanks to the mad Titan, but in October 2023, The Avengers successfully resurrected everyone. Thanks to Professor Hulk for made a miracle happen. Returned happiness to the whole world.
But not everyone.
Some people came back to find that their own house has been sold to the bank. Some of their bank accounts were suppressed for becoming dead. Some people came back only to find that their families are dead. Anyone who had nothing to lose was found dead a day later from suicide.
Even Professor Hulk made it all back well, The Avengers had lost a key woman in the team, who is nowhere else than…
'Natasha Romanoff' the former spy who left this world. One writer wrote in his book telling her story to the whole world that she was the most important person to everyone in the team, especially one member who conquered the battle. Everyone on earth knew that an Avenger who finished everything down in October 23 was ‘Wanda Maximoff’.
---
Dr. Strange told me after the fight that he had seen 14,000,605 results. He doesn't think there's another 14,000,606. He added that Wanda would originally be one of the victims who disintegrated along in The Snap as well, and Tony would finish Thanos with all Infinity Stones at the cost by his own life. Which, I think this one is better because we don't want to lose more our important teammates.
- Avengers: War of the Worlds (Cosmic History Record)
Bruce Banner interview
(Page 234)
---
But there were some things that people didn't know about. There were sources confirming, but not many people cared about their relationship until it all happened, because the Avengers had lost in a big fight, no one gave a shit about them like they used to. Not like New York, Sokovia or Lagos. Everyone was mourning the passing of their loved ones.
Earlier, when the woman walked into the event room, Many people in there didn’t expect someone like her would joining them. Especially a group counseling for grieving people like this.
Why was she here when she was the savior? She should be happy. Enjoy being interviewed, not sitting with sad people like them.
But the answer became apparent when she grabbed her own name tag and sat down with a group of people in the city.
"Hi, I'm Wanda Maximoff." she spoke, "I’m thinking that a lot of people know who I am from the news. I believe everyone thinks why I’m here for or why my American accent is so fluent? I'm from Europe!"
She gave them sad laugh.
"I never told anyone about this before. Not many people know." she continued, "But people in Westview who weren't snapped would have seen me with her for a while."
She sighed a little.
"I dated a robot for two years during my escape because of The Sokovia Accords. The shittest thing that ruined our team. We went so pretty well until Thanos came... but as you know, He wanted The Mind Stone on his head. I prayed for myself to die with him, but after The Snap happened ten minutes, it didn't happen. I'm not dead. I survived. Why did I survive? I was ready going to see everyone after my own death."
"But while everyone's frightened, While I'm sad. She's on my side. She knew that when I first stepped on this country, I didn't have a family and alone like her. She would comfort me every time I cried. And his body wasn't buried because of The Sokovia Accords he signed. It said his body would become a property for state. She told me I had no choice but to let him go..." Her lips were shaking, "Anyway, let's just say I've lost a lot of my love ones and I don't know who to talk to here. How many minutes have I said?"
"Three." The timer said.
"Two minutes left, okay." She bit her mouth a little before continued, "All I want to say is, why am I the only one who always lose everything? Haven't I done well enough? I didn't redeem enough, do I? Why would anyone get everything they want back except me? Sorry. I can't find my words right."
She made eye contact with everyone around the room, "When I snapped my fingers, I was hoping they’d kill me too, seeing Bruce's and Thanos's arm broke when they did that, so I thought I'd die too so I can finally be with her." she began laughing. "But the funny thing is it did nothing to my arm, really, nothing. I could easily snap my fingers. Ha ha ha."
But the whole room was quiet when that her tears formed in her eyes as she laughed.
"I don't know what to do. I want to see her again." She smiled at everyone, "I've only hoped that there's a miracle that I could see her..."
She blinked a little as some of her tears fell, "I can't do this, Nat, I can't, God."
She walked out of the room.
The bright night skies in Missouri were beautiful. The young witch walked through the city. Along the way, people greeted her and smiled. She smiled back at everyone as she could. But her smile immediately disappeared when she made sure no one was around. The moment she tried to forget it continued to replay in her head all the time. When she noticed the alley, she quickly walked in a blind spot that no one could see. She believed no one wanted to see their savior sitting on her knees bawling her eyes out like a street dog.
"Nat..."
---
She saw people around her dissolving down into dust one by one. Vision's body in front of her was still there. She looked at her own hands and body waiting them to disintegrate along with other victims.
Her torment would end. She was going to see her parents, her dearest brother Pietro, find Vision in afterlife. The whole thing had destroyed her last will to live. She welcomed death like an old friend she always wanted to meet.
But ten minutes passed. Nothing happened to her. No part of herself broke into dust. What she did next was just sat there next to her lover's corpse.
She didn't know when Natasha had been by her side, only that she was pulled into a hug and cried out. She didn't care Steve, Bruce, Thor and rest of her teammate were looking at her. All she knew was that she wanted to die. She didn't want to suffer like this anymore. When things started to get better, there's got to be something that's always taken her down.
"Wanda, let's go."
A young witch shook her head. Her body hadn’t enough strength to stand up. She just killed her lover to save the universe, but only to watch him resurrect and got killed again. There's nothing worse than this. She didn't want to live anymore.
"We have to bury him." Her weak voice barely came out from her lips. “He's tired enough..."
"I know Wanda." Natasha rubbed her back and slowly helped the witch up, "He’ll get rest as you want, but you must get up, okay?"
---
Ten days after Thanos snapped his fingers. Wanda didn't get out of the compound. She didn't care what other people do. Her only goal was 'revenge on Thanos'. She kept all her strength for that day. The day when they finally find Thanos, and if they got the stones, she would revived vision the same way Thanos did. That's the only small hope she had.
Until the twenty-third day. The day Carol Danvers brought Tony Stark back to Earth with his new teammate from space named Nebula. When the raccoon told them he had found Thanos by tracking his using the stones. She didn't hesitate to join the fight.
But everything went wrong. The Stones were destroyed by Thanos himself to prevent others from using them, including the Time Stone which could resurrect Vision and the Mind Stone that was the source of his life.
That was the moment something in her was shredded to pieces.
Screams rang out from inside the hut, followed by Thanos's body being torn to shreds, flying out from the inside. No one could stop Wanda because what Thanos did was beyond forgiveness. Just in the blink of an eye. Thanos's farm was burned by red flame.
It's worse knowing that Clint and his entire family were also gone, leaving only abandoned house left in Missouri. And because there's no chance of them coming back, which meant Wanda lost another important person. The one she could say her other brother.
---
Wanda locked herself in her room for a month.
Her head was buried in her pillows, her pillow filled with tears she had released in her sleep. She didn't want to move anywhere or do anything. Despair was her only friend.
She heard a knock from outside. She didn't lock the door, but she didn't think to get up and open it anyway.
"I'm going in."
Wanda heard the door open, followed by footsteps. She sneaked up to see who brought her food made by Steve today.
"Thought you sleep." Natasha said when she saw that their eyes were in contact.
The two had not spoken since after they returned from space that day. The day their last hope was nailed to the coffin. For the most part, Natasha was always talking, but the response was silent.
"Eat this and leave dishes at sink when you’re done." The spy patted the witch's shoulders who lying under a blanket and prepared to leave the room. "I'm going to train today, you can come or not. I won't force you."
But before the spy could leave the room. The witch in her pajamas got out of her bed and grabbed her arm. Natasha's a little shocked when the other woman did that.
"What's wrong?" asked Natasha.
The witch said nothing. She let out her other arm before getting up at the table where Natasha puts food on it. Natasha tried to read the other’s face for a while before walking out of the room. Not for long. She came back into the room along with her favorite peanut butter sandwich.
The witch when she saw that the spy was back with food. She made a confused face for a moment while the other sat softly on her bed. What Natasha said to her after seeing that she was standing still, not moving was…
"Let's eat together." She said while patting mattress on her side.
Wanda picked up her food on the table. What Natasha brought was couple of crispy bacon, fried egg with a little sauce. While Wanda used a fork to put bacon in her mouth. Natasha surveied around her room before stumbling over something underneath the Blu-ray player and the TV in her room.
"Are you watching this too?" Natasha spoke up after done eating all her sandwiches.
"What?"
Natasha went under the player before picking out a box of DVDs. On the box cover there's a large letter typing 'The Office', initially set with other series such as 'Malcolm in the Middle' or 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'.
"You know, I love watching Jim and Dwight fight." said Natasha, watching the character on the box cover, "but my the most favorite person in this is Michael."
"Really?"
"Yes," Natasha said before squealing, then she tried to mock the character's voice based on a scene in which the character shouted loudly. “I declare BANKRUPTCYYYY!!!”
The original tone made Wanda laugh.
"You finally laugh..." Natasha smiled as she noticed.
The turning point started from there. When Wanda asked back.
"Did you watch when Dwight did fire drill? I really liked that episode."
That’s when they began closer on each other.
---
"Aunt Wanda!!!"
"Hey, boys."
Wanda greeted Clint Barton's children after the final battle because the Avengers base was still in the process of renovating and recovering the wreckage, causing Wanda to stay somewhere else. Although she had her own home in Westview, she thought she couldn't go back to that place ever.
There were too many memories, too good memories, and it hurt Wanda every time she thought about it.
But Natasha was gone. Clint himself had also lost his best friend, so he understood that she was hurt harder than anyone else too.
Laura Barton, Clint's wife, came out to welcome her.
"Dinner's ready!!”
Clint gave Wanda a guest room in his house. At least waking up and not seeing the wreckage of the war that happened made Wanda no worse than she already was, and having his children took her out to play could make her forget her own sadness. Even it was temporary.
Barton's family dinner went normally like usual, Wanda sat down next to Lila before all the members of the house held their hands. Clint said a grace.
"God our Father, Lord, and Savior. Thank you for your love and favor. Bless this food and drink we pray and all who share with us today. Amen."
"Amen." Others in the house, including Wanda, spoke along before starting their meal.
Wanda didn't remember when she last cooked, since she was with the Barton family.
The food on the table decreased as time passed. While they were eating, the Barton family talked about what happened.
Wanda once asked what it was like when it happened. Lila told her it was like suddenly passed out. It's like falling asleep. When she was in a sense again, she found out that five years had passed. To say that they understood the feelings of people who weren’t snapped was impossible at all.
But the only thing that was the common point of both the vanished and survivor was that there were many things that were lost. Whether lost much or little. Some of them got benefit from it, but there were some of them that lost everything as well. Wanda pretty sure that she was probably one along with few people on earth who had lost everything. Even herself didn't expect it to bring her to this point.
Both Vision and Natasha. All moment she had spent with them were the moment she stole.
Maybe destiny wanted her to pay back. Pay for the happiness she didn't deserve.
When everyone's finished having dinner, families separated to their own private time. Wanda thought it’d be too rude for her if she did nothing since they let her in.
After Wanda helped laura washed dishes and made the house clean. She prepared to return to her bedroom, but before she closed the door, Clint walked towards her.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
Wanda, when she saw her lover's best friend like that, there was no way to reject.
---
"Nat..." Clint said after entering her room, "All her life was only work. When she’s done one, a new one came. She tried to find a chance at redemption for killing innocent people but never once. They forced her to keep working like that until..."
"You found her..." Wanda finished the sentence.
"Yes, I found her..." said Clint with sad smile, "The first time I saw her, I knew she didn't want to do anything like that. She's never been one to have normal life, to have fun like any other kid, get to do something for herself. I've heard from other that she had done what she always wanted to do..."
Clint bit his lip for a bit. Tried to stay strong and stopped his shaking voice from his mouth. “Thank you.”
"For what?"
"For let her had a life, at least I know before she... you know... How happy she was..."
Wanda felt like she was ready to cry again. But she pressed all her emotions down because she didn't like being weak in front of anyone. Even she always failed in the end.
But Wanda knew That Clint wasn't here only for this. So she asked.
"Do you have anything else to tell me?"
"Yes, there is..."
He paused momentarily before speaking out.
"In a few days, Steve's going to take The Stones back," said Clint, "he asked me to ask you, do you want to say goodbye to Nat?”
---
Steve Rogers disappeared into a small quantum tunnel after Bruce activated his quantum tunnel, Steve traveled back in time to the past like when they did The Time Heist. The feeling when she first travelled was turbulent, but everything around made her stunned and excited.
But there's only one place she was going in this time. The coordinates of her target were already set.
"Are you ready, Wanda?" asked Bruce after Wanda activated her time traveler suit.
"I'm ready." Wanda confirmed as her suit's helmet covered her head.
"Ok, get into the quantum in three, two, one."
Her whole body was numb when she was pulled into the time vortex. She's trying to keep herself conscious like she did before. When it's all over, She found herself at the path of the place that had created a big wound in her heart when she was here last time.
'Vormir', the place where Nebula told Avengers that The Soul stone was kept. Thanos took his beloved daughter there and killed her. But no one knew why Thanos killed his daughter until the people who volunteered to go there found out for themselves.
Unfortunately, the rule of time was not what everyone once understood. You can change the past. But that changing past won't affect the future, even if Wanda went back to save Natasha from dying. Her current life still not changed, or the best way was changing Natasha's mind from choosing to go to Vormir in the first place and brought her to the present world. Even so, in the new timeline, someone would have to die to take the Stone.
Wanda sometime wished that there wasn’t The Time Heist in the first place.
The time travel suit was folded away, leaving only Wanda in her new witch costume. She grabbed something from her purse she brought along.
The Soul Stone in the palm of her hand, shined brightly like it was happy to come home. Meanwhile, the person holding it felt in totally opposite direction.
---
If someone asked Wanda that which moment in Wanda's life was the happiest. The moment before the last battle with Thanos was the answer.
She spent two years trying to get over Vision. It was a rough time for her, but Natasha, who was always by her side, got her ready to get back up and started living again. Besides, because half the universe was destroyed, the Sokovia Accords was terminated because the states of all countries on earth were much in unstable state to do anything. As a result, the penalty of anyone who had made a mistake was gone along with it.
They lived peacefully at their Avengers compound, they would get up, had breakfast, training, sometime ordering food from delivery (since Natasha was so terrible at cooking. She had burnt the whole kitchen once.), sometime went travel at other place than New York. But one night, after Natasha watched one of Wanda's favorite sitcoms. She found that the happy family genre was the one which Wanda loved most. Characters lived a normal life, went out and had fun at the park. Had a house to return, and Wanda, who likes to cook in her spare time, drove Natasha to think about something. She searched something on internet at that evening.
"Are you free tomorrow?" Natasha asked her on the same night, while they were watching 'Modern Family'.
"Yes. Why?"
"There's a place I want you to come with me. Do you mind?"
---
Wanda watched Natasha driving them out of New York.
"Where are we going?" Wanda asked as Natasha carefully passed the other car next to them.
“You'll know soon, just relax and listening the music."
"Can I change the CD?"
"Up to you."
But in the end, she didn't change because she began to like the song that Natasha played instead. She liked it so much which she had to search its name.
Wanda observed many signs on the street. Natasha turned the car into the road that took them to New Jersey.
Natasha checked the map on the phone set up next to the wheel. It said they were almost there.
Finally, they entered into Westview, it wasn’t very big, but the atmosphere was pleasant. Wanda was still wondering why Natasha brought her here until...
Natasha's car was later parked in front of a plot of land in the town. The plot was empty and there were remains of the old house. Natasha turned off the engine before getting out of the car with Wanda.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Natasha turned to Wanda and grabbed a packet of paper from her bag and handed it to her.
"Open it."
Wanda’s eyebrow frowned slightly as she was unpacking its sachet. She grabbed another piece of paper inside and unfolded it.
It's a title deed.
The paper-carrying woman's eyes stopped at one message.
Landlord : Wanda Maximoff
"I'm afraid you won't like if I bought an instant one, so I'd rather let you choose what you want." Natasha said, "Don't worry about the cost. You can stay in compound until it's comple…Oof!!”
Wanda immediately hugged Natasha without waiting for the other to finish her sentence. The witch's push made the spy fell a few steps backwards.
"Thank you," Wanda said during her tucking on Natasha's left shoulder.
"It’s yours, Wanda. You should have."
Wanda released Natasha before kissing on the other's lips. Natasha was a little shocked but allowed the witch to kiss.
"No," Wanda said after the kiss was finished and smiled broadly for the first time in years. "It's ours."
The spy smiled.
"Ours," Natasha corrected her own words before kissing Wanda back.
"Put your name in there too." Wanda said, laughing happily. The wounds in her heart from the past seem to have been healed little by little.
---
They officially moved into Westview few months later after Wanda's self-selecting design house was built. Wanda chose not to use her power because she wanted to be like normal people. From an empty house soon filled with furniture along with shelves and other stuffs. Wanda's dream house became real. Sometime she thought what it would be like if her family was still alive.
"They probably would love this place." Wanda said to Natasha after their house was completed. Her tone was a little sad when she thought of her parents who died during watching the sitcoms when she was younger.
"I know."
The first year of living in a new town had been a bit awkward. Because some people in the city who were excited about the Avengers still existed. They were often called to take pictures every time they went out (like a star being stalked by a paparazzi). It took a while for them to stop following and see them as ordinary urban people.
Natasha decided she wanted to try a normal, Clint-like life after spending half of her life of training, killing and being hunted by enemies in every corner of the world, so she enlisted and started working as a teacher in an elementary school in the town. The kids were excited to have an avenger as their teacher. Natasha knew a lot of subjects, but the subject she decided to teach was science. She soon realized that her new life was close to what her step-sister Yelena said. It's just that she didn't have a husband to renovate her house, but had a girlfriend who renovated the whole town for free instead.
Before going out to work each day, she and Wanda took turns doing their hair. Half ponytail Wanda was Natasha's most favorite. But sometimes she changed the look for Wanda so she didn’t look the same every day.
Wanda began cooking again since she knew they couldn’t rely on delivery all the time, she felt like this was the right time for her old happy self to return. After everything that Natasha had done for her, she had to give something back even Natasha didn’t ask for.
In spare time, parents of children from school would bring a gift to Wanda at home, thanked Natasha for teaching their children in school, as much as she heard from each parent. Natasha's a great teacher.
Wanda did different things from Natasha, because her magical power earned her the nickname of the city's 'Samantha Stephens' of the Avengers, probably because she's helping everyone in the city while she's out jogging after Natasha left every morning. She used her power to stop a car that nearly hit an animal in the middle of the road. There were times when she fixed road signs at different points she ran through, making them cleaner and prettier, and she often helped gardening with its owner, Sarah. (For free, of course. And she got some vegetable back home too.)
Wanda’s existence made the town happy like it never was a secret town hidden in the world map. At the evening when Natasha returned from work, Wanda would prepare dinner for them. When they were done and finished their bath time, they would watch sitcoms from streaming sites on the net or playing guitar and singing. Sometime they would make love when they wanted to have some excitement. When they were sleep, Wanda would lay her head on Natasha's shoulder, it was her favourite spot. She could feel Natasha smelling her hair every night and she loved that so much.
She had everything she wanted except one thing, and it's something Wanda wanted as well as her family, which Wanda had been thinking on since she moved here with Natasha. Even so, She couldn't help but hope when she saw a pregnant woman walking past her in a bookstore.
She wanted to have a baby, she wanted to be a parent, she didn’t care if her child was a boy or a girl, all she wanted was them being a perfect family. She wanted to see her child grew up, she wanted to read her bedtime stories like when her mother used to. But because Natasha was a woman, this was difficult unless she decided to adopt one herself.
But Wanda didn’t know if Natasha wanted this as well. The idea was temporarily kept (at least until she knew Natasha was ready), and because they weren’t married. The couple weren’t officially wife and wife yet.
But her life right now was no different. She’s happy, Nat’s happy. And that was enough.
Until their third year, or five years after Thanos snapped his fingers. Everyone's dead hope was risen from the grave. When Scott Lang, who was thought to got snapped along with everybody else five years ago, came to the compound. They didn't know anything until Steve and Scott visited their place.
"Ms. Maximoff," said Scott Lang while shaking her hand to greet her, "Wow, this house is so beautiful. My daughter might like."
"Thank you."
"There’s something that I want to talk about with you both. It won't be long, Is Ms. Romanoff here?"
"No, she’s working at school, but it's about time so...," Wanda replied but didn’t finish her answer, “You both can come inside my house, it’s not good to sweat out here.”
"Excuse us, please." said Steve.
Scott explained to them about incredible things that happened to him after Natasha got home, Steve and Natasha ready to return to the field immediately when Scott said there was a chance to fix what happened. But Wanda and Tony were the rest of the team members who were still hesitant about whether to come back for good. Because they had accepted this new life. And it would be all wasted if something went wrong.
That night, Natasha and Wanda discussed about today events. The spy see the witch making upset faces all the time from the latter two of them back.
"Are you worried?" asked Natasha as Wanda left her head lying on her lap, a point Wanda likes to support her head the most.
"What? No, I am not, I just..." Wanda stared at a closed television, she saw a reflection of them on its dark blank screen. "What if it doesn't work?"
She definitely worried.
"It's a try," Natasha continued, "at least we've tried."
It wasn't too late for them to hope, right?
And the Time Heist plan came to the light after Tony and Hulk successfully created the time machine based on Scott’s quantum tunnel. Members of the Avengers team were divided into subgroups to get stone from each place in the past, because Vormir was a place no one else was familiar with (Nebula herself only knew its name and its coordinates). Natasha chose to go there. Of course, Wanda volunteered to follow her as well.
They didn’t know that they would forever regret their decision later.
---
Wanda used her power to send herself flying up the mountain. The dark scarlet cape of her new outfit blew in the battering breeze like when she first came here. She landed down the ridge before reaching the top. Where her happiness ended. She thought of herself with Natasha before she got here.
---
The 2014 team was divided into two other sub-teams. Rhodey and Nebula were standby at Morag to wait for Star Lord came to steal the Power stone, while Natasha and Wanda borrowed the Guardians's Benatar to fly to Vormir. On the way, Natasha wanted to tell Wanda something. But in her mind, she still hesitated about whether to tell or not to tell.
Natasha in her combat suit walked toward Wanda in her avenger uniform as she exploring her teammates' spaceships. Wanda, who saw Natasha went up, spoke up.
"Nat, they have five of them, right? So, do you think where the rabbit sleep?”
"I don't know," Natasha said. “Is that important?”
Her girlfriend chuckled, "Not really, I just want to know."
"Wanda."
"Hmm?" Wanda turned to face her.
"If we succeed..." the spy spaced a little, "if we succeed..."
Wanda lifted her eyebrows in curious.
Natasha knew there's no turning back if she spoke out, and if something happened to one of them. If their mission went wrong and only one survived...
"Sorry, don’t mind me."
Natasha decided not to tell this to her until she made sure that everything was over...
---
When Wanda reached the top, she discovered that Red Skull, the Stone keeper, still remained where he was, even though she had the stone already.
"I thought you were free."
"I'm afraid there's one more thing I have to do before I'm truly freed," He replied, “I don't have to guess what you want, do I?"
"I brought back the Stone..." Wanda replied, "And take her back where she belongs."
"I'm afraid you can’t."
"Why not?" Wanda tried to keep her emotions from getting angry.
"According to the deal, it's an everlasting exchange. Even you return the stone, Natasha will never be resurrected."
"I don’t care, that’s not why I’m here." Wanda continued, "I'm just asking for her body so she can finally rest in her place. This place is too cold, Natasha wouldn't like it."
Red Skull shook his head. Confirmed his reject and said something that finally broke Wanda.
"She isn't yours."
“FUCK!!” Wanda finally snapped, she threw Red Skull to the wall with her power. “ALL I WANT IS JUST HER BODY, HER FUCKING DEAD BODY!!!! WHAT’S SO WRONG WITH YOU!!?? AM I NOT HURT ENOUGH!!?? ARE YOU ALL NOT SATISFIED ENOUGH!!??”
Red Skull stabilized himself before flying back to Wanda, having no intention to open any battle with the witch.
"As I said when you came last time, this is an everlasting exchange.” He said, "But if you really want me to say something you feel lighthearted, then I will say, if you believe that return the Stone will get your lover back, then do it."
That's all she wanted to hear.
Wanda gritted her teeth before walking past the keeper without turning back around. She walked to the end of the cliff and brought the Stone out again. The Soul Stone shined brightly in the palm of her hand, waiting for her to throw away. If she threw, her mission would be finally over.
Wanda reached out to the cliff. Prepared to release the Stone.
She closed her eyes because she didn't want to see it disappear from her hands like she did then.
When she let Natasha go...
---
"Can you take us up?"
Wanda used her power to take her and her lover flying above the ground. Before taking themselves to a certain point of the ridge. They’d been arriving in Vormir for a while. She noted that since her first step on this place, her power had required her more force to activate. It got harder as you get closer to their destination.
"Wanda, Are you okay?" asked Natasha when she saw that Wanda breathed heavily after done using her power.
"It's disappearing. I can feel it," Wanda told Natasha as they moved on.
"You can go back to the ship if you want."
Wanda shook her head.
"No, I'm staying here, with you.” Wanda declared.
Natasha smiled at Wanda before reaching her hand out to her.
"Then stay by my side."
The witch smiled as she took the spy's hand before moving forward.
The way up in Vormir was filled with obstacles. They had to climb a lot of mountains until...
"Welcome."
Natasha quickly pulled the gun out of her pocket and aimed it at the intruder.
"Natasha. Daughter of Ivan," Stone's protector, spoke to the spy before turning his head to the witch who standing behind, "Wanda. Daughter of Oleg."
Wanda tried to call her power, but nothing came out of her fingertips.
"Don't worry," Red Skull said, "Your power are still there, it's just temporarily gone. At least until someone get the Stone."
Wanda frowned. Wasn't the power she had came from the Stone?
"Who are you?" asked Natasha, the gun still up.
"Consider me a guide..." he continued, "to you and to all who seeks the Soul Stone..."
"Oh, good." Natasha said, "You tell us where it is, then we’ll be on our way."
"If only it were that easy..." Red Skull smirked before turning his back to lead them, "This way..."
Natasha stepped forward to follow him but Wanda held her back.
"Nat, I don't think this makes any sense."
"Why not?"
"I don't trust him. What if this's a trap?"
"Then we’ll get rid of him, like usual."
Wanda hesitated a little before letting Natasha walked behind the leader. She followed them both, although still paranoid.
When the two reached the steep cliff, Red Skull said again.
"What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear."
Natasha turned to Red Skull shortly before looking at the floor beneath the cliff.
"The Stone’s down there."
"For one of you. For the other..."
Wanda felt the cold in a way that she never felt before. Every part of her was begging her to get the person in front of her out of here.
"In order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love." She froze as she heard the rest, "An everlasting exchange..."
Wanda felt her whole body shaking.
“A soul for a soul…”
Natasha, who was trying to stay strong, still felt herself shaking as well as her girl. She turned to find Wanda looking at her distressed. After a brief moment of silence, she took Wanda away from Red Skull.
"Hey, hey."
Wanda tried to speak, but none of words came out from her mouth. She couldn't take the conditions that they must do if they want to get the Stone. Her emotions were all over the place. Confused, angry, scared. She didn't know what kind of facial look Natasha should see. The only thing that came out from her mouth was…
"We should have chosen a different mission. We shouldn't have come.” Wanda held Natasha's hand firmly.
Both of them hoped that all this shit was made up, so they could beat Red Skull to the ground and got away with the Stone, but after what Nebula told them on Earth, that Thanos came here, took the Stone and left without his daughter. Every pieces of puzzle went into the place. Led to one way out if they had to bring everyone back…
One of them must die to get the Stone.
"I know, little witch," Natasha called her nickname to try to soothe, "but if we don't get that Stone, trillions of lives... no, half of universe stay dead."
Wanda wished she could yell and punch at someone who asked them to come here, but couldn't since that person was Natasha herself.
"It's not fair..."
"It's never fair," Natasha held Wanda's hand back, "if I can choose, I don't want to."
"Then don't. We can abort this mission."
"How we’re gonna tell the team?"
Wanda wanted to answer, but she didn't know what to answer Natasha. She knew, one of them was going to take the Stone back somehow.
"Then I'll do it."
"What?"
"Let me do it." Wanda said, "Let me clear my sins that I helped Ultron and destroyed my hometown."
"You can't."
"Why?"
"You're five years younger than me." Natasha said, "And you know what I did before the Avengers. The sins I've committed are hundred times worse than yours."
"I...I-I-“
"Don't want to end like this? Trust me, I don't too." Natasha smiled sadly.
Wanda shook her head when she learnt what Natasha was going to say next.
"Nat, whatever you think, stop it, we're not going to say goodbye here."
Natasha lowed her face with guilt.
"Whatever it takes..." Natasha spoke out before making eye contact with Wanda.
Wanda shook her head, harder than ever. Tears began to spill out from her eyes.
"Please..."
Natasha pulled Wanda's head. Their foreheads touched each other.
"Thank you for everything."
Wanda shook her head in denial. She couldn't hold back her tears up anymore. She allowed Natasha to kiss and gave her the only warmth she had on this planet.
Suddenly, like Natasha predicted everything ahead. She grabbed and threw Wanda on the floor so she couldn't move. But she forgot that she used to train Wanda to able to fight back even without power when Wanda kicked Natasha's legs to make her fell, stole Natasha’s bite instead.
"That’s my line." Wanda spoke before firing a shot at her lover, let its electroshock kept Natasha down.
"Ugh!!"
Wanda turned back to the cliff. She closed her eyes and thought of her own family. She imagined seeing them down there, waiting for her to go down. She ran to that cliff without fear.
But Natasha wouldn't let her, she took her bite off, got up and ran to Wanda. She shot a bite at Wanda until she fell at floor before running past her straight to the cliff. As Natasha jumped, Wanda's quickly went to grab her hand in panic after realized what Natasha had done. As a result, Natasha found herself hanging above the cliff, what below her was the dark abyss.
"Don't go!!!" their tears flowed non-stop. Natasha began to cry along as she saw Wanda's emotions reaching her limits, "Please don’t leave me. I'm going to pull you up. I'm not letting you go, I can’t, I WON’T!!"
"We…We don't have time."
"That's not true, there must be another way." Wanda said while she was keeping her feet on the ground, "Please don't do this. We can go back and we will figure it ou...AH!"
"NO!" Natasha shrieked as she accidentally dragged Wanda because her weight. Wanda kicked her right foot on the ground to stop them from falling down.
Natasha knew that if Wanda didn't let her go and she kept dragging her like this, they would fall down and no one would get the Stone, all of this would be wasted and the one who got snapped would never come back, but Wanda's emotions were beyond her logic, and Natasha thought the other way was if she got up successfully as Wanda wanted. Wanda would jump, took her place without hesitation.
"Let me go." Natasha begged.
"No, no, NO! I don't want to lose who I love again!!" Wanda screamed in pain, losing her parents, Pietro, Vision, and soon Natasha. She felt that her bright, beautiful future was about to crumble.
"It's going to be okay, Wanda."
"No, please, I beg you!!"
Wanda's face hurt Natasha so much, it's many times worse than when she saw Wanda hugging Vision's lifeless body. She wanted to push herself up to let Wanda scold and bash at her for thinking of doing something stupid, but when she noticed an unknown spaceship flying on the sky, her choice was no longer left.
As much as Natasha hated this, but she knew she had to do even she had to break Wanda’s heart for it.
"I'm sorry."
Wanda cried harder as she realized Natasha’s final decision and desperately held her wrists tighter.
"Please!!!"
"I love you."
"NAT!!"
Natasha used her feet to kick herself off the cliff. The couple's hands eventually broke apart. Wanda's heart died as the love of her life falling to the ground. The torturous screams of the one who was alive echoed across the planet as Wanda saw her love became a lifeless corpse on the ground with blood flowed out from her head slowly. The white light flashed across the sky, and everything went dark.
When her consciousness returned, the Soul Stone was already in the palm of her hand. When she went back to the future, she's still shocked by what happened. She didn't remember when she sent Tony the Stone, or when they successfully creating the new gauntlet, or when she saw Professor Hulk snapped his fingers followed by a spaceship destroyed the whole base.
Until there's portals appeared along with armies from across universe came to fight against Thanos. That's when she knew it finally worked. She heard Captain America declared war to the Mad Titan in the final battle. She went into battle like everyone else. Took out many Thanos’s army as she could until...
"Clint!" Wanda saw the man her deceased brother had saved. She ran to hug him with joy.
"Hey, kid." He loosened her hug because he knew this wasn't a time for celebration. “I retire for what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit.”
Wanda laughed when she realized that Clint used to say the same thing when she ran away from Vision during Civil War.
"I still don't know what's going on, but I'm going to fight as hard like I used to." Clint pulled out a bow from his back and shot at the enemy, "Could you tell me along the way? so I can catch up."
Wanda nodded before returning to battle mode.
---
She saw Thor, Steve and Tony trying to take over the Stone while she took down another spaceship, even Carol, who had super strong power couldn’t take Thanos down. She knew that if she didn't do something this time, everyone was going to die for real, and because Thanos was the main reason she had to lost everything, so she wanted to be the one who ended this once and for all.
She brought herself to stand before her enemy. Thanos wore the gauntlet again, fitted and was ready to snap his finger. Six lights from the Stones glowed across his body. He turned and saw Wanda staring at him with a hatred eye.
"You took everything from me..."
"I don't even know who you are."
"You will..."
Her power exploded at once. Shocking all-round enemies, Wanda drifted off the ground. Her eyes were full of grudges and ready to destroy everything that took away what she loved.
For Vision and Natasha.
Her power attacked at Thanos's army near her. Their bodies were crushed by her power, dead instantly. Her power changed her former Avengers outfit transformed to new one. The red crown manifested itself on her forehead, shocking all parties. Even a sorcerer supreme like Dr. Strange's eyes wided as well. Because the result he expected before were so different because when he using the Time Stone to watch their future. None of this scene appeared to him in all 14,000,605 outcome.
Strange said the legendary name unknowingly.
Scarlet Witch retrieved the Stones from the gauntlet. All stones flew out from its former position, gathering on her right hand. The light from the Stones shined on the back of her hand as if she was wearing an invisible gauntlet. The Soul Stone was shining brighter than others like it was helping her controlling its power.
Thanos took a few steps back. When she tilted her head slightly before closing her eyes and...
SNAP
The power from the Stones spread across the battlefield.
Thanos's entire army began to dissolve into dust one by one. Every giant spacecraft floating above the air broke down into dust along. Until there's only Thanos standing in front of her. He was scared and didn't think the tiny human in front of him had such enormous power...
He disappeared after everything later...
Wanda, who saw that it was all over, then lowered herself to the ground. Every stones on her palm fell to the ground like they were nothing. She heard cheers with joy that the war was over, but she didn’t care. At the same time, Clint ran to her with happiness in his eyes but his smile faded when he saw her face.
"It didn't work..."
"What didn't work, Wanda? You just got rid of Thanos."
Wanda shook her head in misery. She turned to Clint before collapsing to the ground on knees.
"Nat..." Wanda let her tears flowed out, "Nat's not coming back, Nat's never coming back..."
That's when everyone learned that Wanda didn't just use the Stones to finish Thanos and his entire army alone. She snapped her fingers to get Natasha back too, but Wanda knew right away when she did that it didn’t work. In fact, she had been knowing this since Bruce did that himself.
Wanda prepared to call the Stones to her hand again, but Clint knew what Wanda was thinking and what she was going to do. He quickly stole the Space Stone before she successfully retrieved all of them.
"Stop."
"Please let me go, let me be with her. I can't do this anymore..." Wanda begged Clint, her tears couldn't stop falling. She wanted the Stones, but she didn’t want to hurt the person she just revived either.
"Listen to me, Nat didn't sacrifice herself to see you do this..." Clint also cried like Wanda too, knowing that his friend had died. But he's not going to let anything happen to Nat’s lover for sure, "She did that so you could live, so live for her..."
Wanda wanted to yell that how could a person like him knew anything, but she couldn't. She recalled Natasha's last words before she let go of her hand.
"It's going to be okay."
She wanted to ask Natasha how it's going to be okay.
It's never going to be okay.
She would never be okay.
The conqueror of cosmic warlord collapsed again and cried in despair like she was the one who lost the battle herself.
The rest of the Avengers on the field could only grief to mourn all sacrifices in this battle.
Everything's never going to be the same again...
---
She couldn't.
She couldn't let the Stone go.
This stone was the last thing Natasha left behind, and the timeline of this dimension had already changed. There's no longer Thanos to sacrifice his daughter for this thing... so there's no need for her to return the Stone anymore...
Wanda packed the Stone back in her pocket and returned to the future she left.
---
She lied.
She lied to everyone that she had returned the Stone and immediately flew home without waiting for anyone to get a moment to ask. But everyone understood her, she had lost too much, too much to talk to anyone if it's not someone she really trusted and closed to.
She decided to keep the Stone with her for a while. At least in exchange, it's a represent of Natasha. When she was ready. She would bury it in the ground and never say anything about it again. She changed her mind not to fly back to Missouri, but went the other way.
Westview, New Jersey
Her home, no.
Their home.
When she reached her home, her witch suit changed back to a normal outfit. She smiled a little when she found out that her neighbors still missed her. Letters of condolence about Natasha were placed in the letterbox. She kept all the letters before opening her door and walked in there for the first time in three months.
All of a sudden, She found something on the table in living room.
It's a small, square box. She read the text in the paper that was glued to the little box. Someone's handwriting said…
'To Natasha Romanoff, good luck with Wanda!!'
Wanda pulled out a sheet of paper and opened it to see what’s in the box. She found out there were two custom-made rings inside. Based on the evidence and what Natasha said before her death gave Wanda's the most reasonable conclusion.
Natasha's going to propose her...
Natasha's going to propose her...
Natasha's going to propose her...
It's not just the Stone that Natasha left behind...
There were many other aspects of its meaning. Marriage wasn’t just the next stage of a relationship, it was an evidence to show that Natasha was ready to spend the rest of her life with Wanda. Whether good or bad, or whatever would happen next in the future. She was ready to face off together.
The fact Wanda just knew made her so happy, but when she realized that the ring's owner was no longer in this world, it was no different than seeing her lover died in front of her again. The wound in her heart that she had long tried to heal had been reopened and that wound was wider than ever. She thought Natasha placed the box here so she could open it right away when they got back from the Time Heist and they got everyone back.
"Nat..."
Wanda couldn’t handle this pain anymore. Her tears flowed like waterfall. The ring box fell to the ground without her notice, along with the Soul Stone.
"Nat, Nat."
She didn't want any of this.
She cried out her lover's name over and over again. She painfully wanted to see Natasha again. She didn’t want to be alone, but fate always played a joke on her, and she hated it, she hated it so much. She even hated herself that when Natasha left, she didn't even tell her that she loves her too.
"Come back..." Wanda said, hopelessly begging the emptiness, wishing anyone or anything to listen, "Please..."
She would do anything, she would tear the universe apart if it had to, if only she could see Natasha again, if only she could hold her in her arms once again.
But deep down she knew...
Natasha's never coming back...
She wanted to die...
She wanted to go back in time and stopped Clint from letting her alive...
She didn’t want to live in a world that there was nothing for her anymore...
She didn't want to live in the world without her love...
Without Natasha...
"Natalia..."
Wanda continued sobbing in the middle of the house until...
She didn’t know when her power acted on its own, didn't know when her clothes itself had changed back to the witch one, or when things in the house had started flying out of control. She didn’t even feel the bright light came out from the Stone or the enormous red power coming out of her body. And she didn’t know that all those power flowed to the Stone.
Suddenly, the Stone exploded, the orange power from the Stone mixed with Wanda's red power pushing everything, including Wanda herself. She felt herself was thrown against the wall of the house before falling to the ground. She didn’t know what's really going on and how it happened.
When she got her conscious back, She found her house in completely mess. TV, sofas, tables, chairs were scattered in different directions. Some were still valid, but some were broken into pieces. Some stuffs that were placed on shelves fell down, including their photo they took when this house was finished building.
She saw a figure of someone appeared in the middle of the house where the Stone was. The one who Wanda had been trying to let go for three months. The one who kept Wanda telling herself that she’s never coming back. The one she intended to live happily ever after with until Vormir ruined everything. She didn't feel herself in tears again until the person looked up, made eye contact with her and called out her name.
"Wanda?"