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Wanda was always going to need Pietro. Sure, she could move objects with her mind and bend reality to her will; she could have ripped the fabric of this very world at its seams if she wished to. Wanda Maximoff bowed to nothing and no one, and she didn't need a damn thing. But deep within herself, she knew that she was always going to need her twin brother, because he was the other half of her. He was the ice to her fire, the lightning to her thunder. They were two sides of the same coin, and one could not exist without the other. Or at least that was what she had thought. But was this really existing? She wasn't so sure.
From a young age, Wanda knew that the universe could be cruel, and it had never been crueler than the day it had ripped Pietro from this world...from her. She had tried to pick up the shattered pieces that remained of her heart, of her entire being and move forward...tried to live her life as best she could for the both of them, and being an Avenger had certainly helped the process. Steve had been a steady presence since the Battle of Sokovia, a glimpse of the warmth Wanda craved when the frigidity began to creep in. He helped her regain her sanity, even if only a little bit.
But there were days when it all became too much, and suddenly she was a desperate sailor caught in a storm, clinging to the last piece of her ship as the waves battered and bruised her. No matter how high she tried to keep her head up, the waves would eventually overwhelm her and steal all of the air from her lungs. In those moments, she prayed the darkness would consume her, pry away her pain, and fill the unimaginable void Pietro's loss had created. But none of it was ever enough; how could she survive the tempest without a lighthouse to help bring her home, bring her back from the precipice she was toppling on?
"It's just gonna drown me," she exhales, deflated. Vision's there, sitting inches from her, and doing his best to patch up the immense loneliness she can't seem to shake.
"No...no it won't."
He's adamant in his convictions, but Wanda doesn't understand how he could understand the complexities of being a human. "How do you know?"
He breathes deeply, pondering his response. "Well...because it can't all be sorrow can it? I've always been alone so I don't feel the lack. It's all I've ever known. I've never experienced loss because I've never had a loved one to lose. But what is grief, if not love persevering?"
Wanda holds her breath as she looks upon Vision's face, his words churning through her mind. Vision turns his face away from first, and laughs at what's happening on the TV screen. His words begin to resonate, and she finds herself smiling for the first time since Pietro passed.
What is grief, if not love persevering? The words are an echo of Pietro's ghost, and Wanda concludes that while she will always need Pietro, she doesn't have to look far. She only needs to look to her grief to know that her love for Pietro will sustain her, empower her, support her, even as the waves once again come for her. But her love for her brother will persevere, and next time she won't be knocked down.