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Where did someone go, when they were broken, confused, unsure who they even were? Vision hovered in the sky a short distance from Westview. He saw Wanda Maximoff depart, and a small part of him wanted to follow her, but he thought better of it, flying in the opposite direction.
He flew, with no destination in mind. Every possible one he came up with, his internet connected brain soon attached to some tragedy or other.
Tony Stark was dead.
The Avengers Compound was rubble.
King T’Challa of Wakanda had succumbed to a terrible illness.
So he continued to fly. How far, or for how long, he could not say, but he had long ago stopped counting the rises and falls of the Sun.
Eventually, however, he began to feel a strange exhaustion, of the kind he had never experienced before. Something within him tugged him in a particular direction, and so he followed it, with what little energy he had left, though no idea where he was actually going.
He grew weak, tired. Felt himself begin to fall, to fade from consciousness, but he was not afraid.. Someone was going to catch him..
–
When Vision came to, seeing Wanda Maximoff’s face above him, he initially panicked. After all, the last time he had seen her he had tried to kill her, and he had no reason to think she would not try to return the favor.. and wouldn’t blame her if she did.
But..
“Shh..” She was cradling him in one arm with surprising tenderness, while her other hand hovered above his forehead, emanating a soft red glow. “I’m not going to hurt you..”
“W-What are you doing?”
“Uh.. recharging you, I suppose. You don’t have the infinite energy of the Mind Stone to fall back on anymore.. that should do it.”
She released her grip on him, and Vision scrambled away, frowning, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
“I was.. I was falling..”
“You were,” Wanda nodded.
“You caught me..”
“I did.”
“Why?” Vision frowned, confused.
“Should I not have caught you?” Wanda raised an eyebrow, brushing dirt off her fingers. “You were about to crash into my new garden bed.”
“I.. I am grateful..” Said Vision. He looked around, seeing the freshly dug garden bed in question, and what looked like a small cottage. “Just confused.. last time we met, Wanda Maximoff, I tried to..” The words caught in his throat. Even saying them now felt wrong.
“I know.. but I don’t think you were entirely yourself then.”
“I am not entirely sure who ‘myself’ is..” He shifted awkwardly on his feet, finding it difficult to make himself look at her without seeing his own hands attempting to crush her. “Should I go now?”
“If you like,” Wanda shrugged. “But you’ll have to come back for recharging every so often.”
With that permission, Vision, still confused, took to the sky without another word.
—
Vision flew again, and again, he was not sure how long for. He flew until he felt the same exhaustion, the same pull, following it back to her.. He fell, she would catch him, recharge him, and he would go.
Rinse and repeat.
It became a new pattern.
Until, one day, after Wanda had caught and charged him, but before he could leave, Wanda, slightly annoyed, said:
“You don’t have to be at death’s door before you come, you know..”
“I don’t?”
“No. Keep this up and one of these days you will crash into my garden bed, which would be annoying now that everything’s starting to grow.. or worse.”
“Worse?” Vision glanced at the bed, the healthy young plants.. frowned as he sighted a few weeds among them.
“What if one day I don’t see you, can’t get to you in time? What if I can’t wake you up?”
“Would that really bother you?” He asked. “Why do you keep helping me?”
“The same reason, I think, that you’re so quick to leave after I do” said Wanda. “The same reason you have trouble looking at me..”
“And why would that be?” He tried to look up then. Found himself unable.
“Guilt.”
At that, Vision did look up at her, confused.
“Guilt? What do you have to be guilty for?”
“A lot of things.. but regarding you, the fact I didn’t try harder.”
“Try harder?”
“To bring you back.. it was power from me that revived you, if not me directly” Wanda explained. “I know it wasn’t what you wanted, but if I’d looked harder.. tried harder to bring you back myself.. maybe Westview wouldn’t have even happened..”
“You shouldn’t have to feel guilty about that.. you could not have known..” Vision moved to kneel by Wanda’s garden bed, pulling out the weeds he found.
“Well, you don’t need to feel guilty for something you did when you weren’t really yourself” Wanda knelt beside Vision, helping him in the task he had assigned himself.
Vision didn’t reply, and simply continued pulling weeds. On some level, he knew she was right, but it didn’t stop the moment from haunting him.
It was time, he decided, to change the subject.
“What are you trying to grow?”
“Vegetables, hopefully. Herbs. A few fruit trees over there.” Wanda pointed, and Vision’s gaze followed her finger to find some recently planted saplings. “The plan, eventually, is for me to be self-sufficient here. I keep away from people, no more chance of Westview type accidents.”
“You could be self-sufficient now” Vision’s brow crinkled, confused. “You can warp reality. Why not use that ability?”
“I do, but only to keep pests away. Too much of the chaos.. It’s not a good idea. Dangerous. Besides, there’s a certain satisfaction and achievement that comes from watching things grow.”
“I suppose that makes sense..” Vision pulled one last weed, then stood, brushing his hands on his suit. “I should go. Thank you, again.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you, for helping pull the weeds.”
Wanda smiled at him, a rather warm smile. Vision knew it.. he saw Wanda’s smiles in his memories. Memories that as of late, had simply been pictures in his head, devoid of the feelings that had once been attached. But now, seeing her smile in person, prompted a pleasant, tingling warmth within him.
“Y-You’re welcome..” He liked the feeling, and her smile, very much hoping to see it again. “Is.. Is there anything you need for your garden? Perhaps I could bring it, next time..”
“If you stumble upon some good seeds or something, sure, but don’t go out of your way.. And no more crashing out of the sky..”
“Right. Of course.”
–
As promised, Vision began making his visits before he was exhausted enough to crash out of the sky.
And between his visits, he made use of his internet brain, researching what to plant and when, what fertilizers and plant foods worked best, all so he could find and deliver them to Wanda. Soon, he began finding her already awaiting his arrival, accepting his gifts, and eagerly showing him around. One garden bed grew to two, her sparse selection of fruit trees grew into a mini orchard, she planted flowers as well, to attract the bees.
Vision would watch the progress of her plants, watch Wanda’s joy and pride in it, see more of her smiles, eliciting the same warm, fuzzy feeling within him. At some point, Wanda would charge him, and he would leave.. Until, one day, she stopped him.
“You don’t have to rush off all the time, you know. You could come inside.”
“Oh.. I..” Vision blustered. “I’m not so sure about..”
“Come on..” She playfully nudged him. “I don’t bite..”
“Well..” He tried to argue. “Um.. I..”
“Come on” When Vision failed to offer a valid reason why not, Wanda took his hand, pulling him inside. “I’m pretty sure there’s a Malcolm in the Middle marathon on today. You liked that one.”
“Um..” Vision blinked, his heart skipping several beats as she took his hand, memories rushing to him. He had held her hand a lot, and now, quite suddenly, remembered that he liked it.
–
Wanda led Vision into her home, deposited him on her sofa, and switched on the television, leaving him to watch while she went and made herself a cup of tea. Eventually, she came back to join him.
Vision recognised the show playing on screen, a series about a dysfunctional family with a brood of unruly boys, including the gifted middle child, Malcolm. Knew, as Wanda said, that he had once enjoyed it, but he could not quite remember why. Wanda laughed at some of the antics unfolding on the screen, seemed almost disappointed when Vision didn’t, and for some reason, he hated disappointing her.
But then an episode came, one he recognised, and a moment when a newly built pergola collapsed upon the family patriarch, Hal, and with it came a memory of a night some years before, a heartfelt conversation on grief and love.. And Vision laughed. First a giggle, and then a full, joyous laugh.
Wanda looked at him, surprised.
“It is funny..” Vision tried to explain, in case she did not remember herself, “Because he is not actually hurt.”
Wanda smiled, a very similar smile to Vision’s memory.
“Yeah. It is.”
She shuffled closer to him on the sofa, and when the next joke arrived, they laughed together, Vision’s sense of humor restored to him. When Vision did depart her home that evening, he found it rather more difficult to go.
–
Vision continued to visit, to bring little gifts, see Wanda’s garden grow, and share in her joy when something reached the point of harvest. Sometimes, she would invite him inside, to sit and watch television with her. The more time Vision spent with Wanda, the more feelings began attaching themselves to his memories.
She sat closer to him on the sofa now, a fact that made his synthetic heart flutter, and when she smiled, he remembered what it was to feel joy.
Leaving was beginning to feel the opposite of joy, but he was still too broken, too guilt stricken over past events, to let himself stay.
–
Relatively early one morning, Vision arrived at Wanda’s cottage toting a bag of special fertilizer for her fruit trees. He found her in an empty area between her garden beds, dressed only in shorts and a sports bra, performing motions he knew to be Yoga.
Vision, suddenly flustered by her state of relative undress, sparking memories where he’d seen her wearing similar, or even less, very nearly dropped the fertilizer.
“H-Hello.. Good yoga.. I mean, good morning.. I brought you.. Um..” He paused, distracted from his ramblings when he noticed puckered marks streaking across her stomach, frowning. “Who.. Who hurt you?”
Whoever it had been, Vision would find them, he would hurt them right back, he would..”
“What?” Wanda, clearly confused, followed Vision’s gaze, then blushed, moving back to the beginning pose and reaching for a nearby robe to cover herself. “Those aren’t scars.. They’re stretchmarks.”
“Stretchmarks?”
“Yeah” Wanda shifted awkwardly. “From when I was pregnant..”
“But..” Now Vision was confused, “You were never actually Pregnant” He didn’t notice her eyes flare red. “Your children weren’t real.”
“Of course they were real!” Wanda snapped, the first time, in his new life, that Vision had seen her angry. “How dare you say that they were not?”
“Well.. Westview wasn’t.. I..”
“How would you know? You weren’t even there! My children.. I carried them inside me, I birthed them, I tucked them into bed.. Tommy and Billy’s lives were short, but they lived, they were real!” She shoved a glowing hand at Vision’s forehead, and for a moment he was frightened, until he felt the usual process of his recharging. “You should go now..”
Wanda stomped off back inside the cottage.
Vision dropped the bag of fertilizer he had been carrying. Sat on it, a little shell shocked. He had been lied to, falsely programmed. Which he already knew, of course, but was unaware that it had been to this extent.
Not everything in Westview was an illusion. Wanda’s children had been real..
—
Vision remained where he was, unable to make himself move. Some time later, Wanda returned, rather subdued.
“Hey..” She said softly. “I’m glad you’re still here. That.. before.. That was unfair of me. I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know..”
“I know. You couldn’t have. That’s why I’m sorry.”
“Hayward.. The programming.. He didn’t want me to know they were real” Vision murmured. “Didn’t want me to care if I hurt them.. I could have hurt them..”
“You didn’t” Wanda replied.
“But I could have. This is exactly why I didn’t want to be revived if I died. What I am.. Is too easily manipulated.”
“That description fits a pretty big chunk of the human race,” Wanda pointed out, quietly sitting beside him. “You’ve seen through it easier than most.”
Vision turned to look at her, a softness in her expression that he didn’t expect, given her earlier angry outburst, yet he somehow knew was closer to who she really was.
“Why do you keep helping me?” He asked. “H-How are you so kind, after what I almost did?”
“Like I’ve already said, I don’t think anything that happened in Westview was your fault, so I won’t hold it against you. And.. well..”
“Yes?”
“You and I were pretty deeply in love, once upon a time” Wanda blushed. “The first real love for us both, I think. That kind of love.. it never entirely goes away.”
“Are you saying you are still in love with me?” Vision noticed that she was holding his hand, and wasn’t certain when exactly that had happened. It felt so normal that his brain had failed to make note of it.
“I think at least part of me always will be” Her blush deepened. “I’m not sure what that means, if it means anything at all.”
“Do I.. am I..” Vision’s words caught in his throat, “Am I still in love with you?”
“Vizh..” She sighed, and his synthetic heart leapt at the familiar nickname. “That’s not something I or anyone else can answer for you.”
“I know.. I know.. It is just.. There are so many missing pieces of myself that I’ve been trying to put back together. If I was in love.. How would I know?”
“Well..” Wanda smiled softly, “That I suppose I can try and explain. Being in love.. it’s like being surrounded by warmth. You want to be with that person all the time. You’re happiest when you’re with them, and when you’re not with them, you’re probably thinking about them. A future without them gets harder to see. You want what is best for that person..”
A large lump had formed in Vision’s throat. Everything Wanda had said was true to how he felt about her. But the last part.. An image of himself attempting to crush her skull flashed before his eyes, and he jerked his hand from her grasp, standing quickly.
He was broken. He was not what was best for her.
“I have to go..”
“Vision..” Wanda stood, concern in her voice. “You don’t have to rush off. I understand this whole situation is complicated, but..”
“I will be back.. For charging” Vision smiled in what he hoped was a comforting way, taking to the sky before Wanda could say another word.
She watched him go, frowning.
–
Again, Vision flew, with no real destination in mind. He wasn’t sure yet if he had told Wanda the truth.. that he would go back.
If part of love was wanting what was best for her, maybe it was best just to let himself run down, let his energy run out, to fall, far away, where she would not be there to catch him and not have to worry about him anymore.
He flew, as he had done before, for days, weeks, maybe more.
But then, one day, just as Vision was beginning to feel the exhaustion he had felt before his early meetings with Wanda, he felt something strange. Unusual, abnormal. A disturbance in the very fabric of the world, as if the walls of the universe were trying to tear themselves open.
Something was very wrong. Everyone could die wrong. Potentially world-endingly wrong.
Vision had died before. Twice, in fact. The latter time had been pain and terror.. The first was almost peace. Vision knew he was broken. Truly believed that his presence was not the best thing for Wanda. But if the world was going to end, there was only one place he would ever want to be, one person with whom he would want to spend his final moments.
There was only one thing to do.
Vision changed his course, followed the ever present pull back towards Wanda, a pull he had been trying to resist. Unfortunately, he began to fear that he had left his run too late. He was tired, weak, drained.
He was falling, and nobody was going to catch him..
–
The next thing he knew, Vision’s eyes fluttered open, still apparently in mid air, though he was not entirely sure he had not died and gone to whatever would pass for his version of Heaven.
Wanda was there, dressed in an outfit he did not recognise, complete with a wonderfully intricate headpiece and long cloak.
“Am I.. am I dead again?”
“No,” Wanda smiled, a small, slightly sad smile. “Not yet, anyway.” She was holding tightly to him, loosening her grip only slightly when Vision regained enough composure to float himself.
“Something is wrong..” Vision told her.
“I know.”
“The world may be ending..”
“Maybe.”
“And if.. If the world was ending..” Said Vision, his voice just a little shaky, “There’s only one person I would want to..”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Mhmm..” Her eyes sparkled. “Why do you think I came looking for you?”
“Oh..” Vision felt a blush crossing his own cheeks, but he smiled, for the first time in quite a while. “Wanda..”
“Yes, Vizh?”
“The person you want to be with when the world is ending.. I imagine that would be the person you love, wouldn’t it?”
“I imagine so” Wanda smiled the same sad smile.
“Can I.. would you mind if I..?”
“Yes?”
“Can I hold you?”
Wanda’s gaze softened, and without another word, she tightened her arms around him again, curling against his chest, and Vision wrapped his arms around her, his heart racing.
She fit so perfectly, fit like she belonged. He still had missing pieces, but most of them were her, and he cursed himself for not working it out sooner.
Eventually, shyly, Wanda spoke, lifting her head from his chest.
“Vizh?”
“Yes?”
“Can I kiss you?” She asked. “I just.. If the world is ending.. I..”
“Y-You can..”
So, she kissed him. A soft, shy, gentle kiss, almost teaching, reminding him how, and oh, Vision remembered, because this was his favorite thing in the world. Her kiss was magic, she was magic, the natural, ordinary kind you would see everyday. They kissed, and held each other, simply floating there, for a few hours at least.. Until suddenly, they realized the world was not ending anymore.
Wanda frowned slightly, although Vision somehow knew it had nothing to do with him.
“Poor Peter..” she murmured.
“What?” Vision’s brow crinkled, confused.
“I’ll explain another time..” She quite reluctantly began to pull away from him. “So, now the world isn’t ending.. I suppose I’ll just see you next charging time?”
“Actually” Vision replied, “I have thought about that.. All the missing pieces I talked about before, feel a little bit less missing. So maybe I should.. Well.. I could..”
Wanda chuckled, taking his hand.
“Come on, then. Let’s go home.
A warm feeling filled Vision’s synthetic heart.
Home. He liked the sound of that.