Agony (Wanda Maximoff)

Chapter 11

||"It is in our blood to love one another."||

"How do you feel, Wanda? I hear that you've been having some trouble lately, is that true?" 

"I feel...different."

"Different how?"

"I am not sure."

"Talk to me about Pietro," the therapist's journal flipped open and she clicked her pen and began to write something that Wanda couldn't see. Wanda wanted to slip inside the therapist's mind and make her see Pietro's death, but she knew that wouldn't be fair. "What was your brother like?" Wanda held the soft pillow close to her chest and closed her eyes. She immediately saw Pietro's fluffy hair, and she saw the way his eyes gave off so much happiness. 

"Pietro was kind and sweet, but he had a temper, and he was always very protective of me. I could not go anywhere without Pietro by my side. We were inseparable since we took our first breath." Wanda's bottom lip quivered and she forced herself to think of something that wouldn't make her cry; something that didn't remind her of Pietro's last days. "When we were younger, we used to run through the streets of Sokovia together, and he would always take me somewhere new because he knew how bored I got. One day, he took me into the thick woods when our parents were still sleeping, and he brought a blanket along. I was very scared, but Pietro kept reminding me that there was nothing to be afraid of, not when he was there to protect me. He walked me up to a hill and set the blanket down, and right above us was the moon. The stars were so bright that night; I could see them reflecting off of Pietro's eyes every time he looked at me." 

"Was it cold that night?" the therapist asked gently. 

"Yes, but that did not bother me. When you are surrounded by nature and it's beauty, you do not think about simple things like warmth or hunger. None of that mattered that night." The pillow in Wanda's arms fell onto her lap as she began to remember the beautiful night. The memory was so clear in her head that she could almost smell the fresh earth that she dug her hands into; she could almost smell the soap that she had used that night to bathe with. The memory was right there at her fingertips. 

"How did you feel when Pietro died?" The tears began to fall just as the therapist finished asking Wanda the question. "I know this is hard to talk about, but if you don't talk about it, it will only store up inside of you; slowly killing you like a disease." 

"I felt empty."

"How did you know he had died?" The therapist asked. 

Wanda sucked in a breath and allowed her memory to travel back to the horrid day she lost her brother. "The second his heart stopped, mine stopped. It happened so fast, I did not even have time to help him." The last words came out of Wanda's mouth as a barely audible whisper, and she wiped her streaming tears away with her hand. 

"Losing a sibling isn't supposed to be an easy process." Wanda glanced down at the floor and placed the pillow beside her. This is the longest she's talked about Pietro with anyone but herself, and to her surprise, it felt...good. "There are a few stages that come with grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I believe, in these three months, you've overcome the first three stages. Depression is the hardest stage, because guilt lives within depression, and you might think that his death was your fault, but you must know that that isn't true. Your brother died a hero, Wanda." 

"Accepting his death will not bring him back." 

"He's not supposed to come back, and that's something you have to accept." 

A light knock forced the therapist to stop the session, and when she opened the door, Tony walked in with a tray of sandwiches. 

"Some lovely sandwiches for two lovely gals." He placed the tray on the coffee table in between the therapist and Wanda, then took a seat on the couch and grabbed a sandwich.