life and death

sick of losing soulmates

Wanda couldn't fall asleep for the life of her. Something was keeping her eyes from staying shut much longer than thirty seconds at a time. She would roll over as quietly as possible, hoping not to disturb the others in the room, and let her eyelids close - only for them to bolt back open a moment later, refusing to let her slip away.

Sleeping had been considerably easy for the past couple of nights: the rogue Avengers had done nothing but run since Captain America had taken down the Raft, and with so much travelling and staying hidden, Wanda found herself constantly exhausted. The first night out of prison, she'd been out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillow. Why was it that now, hardly a day later, she was completely restless? She turned onto her back and looked up at the dark ceiling, as if she expected the answer to be written there.

"This is ridiculous," Wanda mouthed to herself, not even daring to whisper considering their close quarters. She blinked a few times and kept staring up, hoping for some kind of solution to come to her soon. The whole night couldn't be wasted like this, considering her team's plans to move out again in the morning. They had crossed half a dozen European borders already, and tomorrow they would cross another into Slovenia, searching for one of Natasha's few remaining contacts. It was their Plan A, and there wasn't much optimism that it would bring an end to all their problems, but at least they had something.

The small hotel room stayed dark and quiet as Wanda's three teammates slept. She was becoming increasingly frustrated, but rather than continue fuming, she finally decided to take a walk and see if she couldn't clear her head of whatever was keeping her up. She got out of bed as silently as she could, slipping on the sneakers she'd thankfully had in storage on the Quinjet, and left the room with a key card in hand.

Long bulbs of bright light illuminated the hallway, and Wanda squinted as her eyes adjusted from the darkness. She walked slowly, intent only on strolling through the halls of the building, maybe making a few laps until her brain finally decided to shut up and sleep. Closed doors and windows covered by drawn curtains surrounded her on each side, and as she approached a corner and saw another hallway exactly like the one she'd just seen, Wanda frowned. She was bored of being awake, and continuing in a circle of beige walls and patterned carpet suddenly didn't sound like the way to fix that.

She looked around the halls for an exit leading outside, and after a minute, saw two glass doors leading out to a courtyard in the center. Wanda strode over to them and pushed one open, the cool night air hitting her as she did so, and walked out onto a cement walkway. The large, neon glowing pool which sat in the yard was only slightly disturbed by the breeze passing through. Above the pool were balconies and more doors, each one with a hazy yellow light above it, and the stars were only barely visible from her spot on the ground.

Wanda stood for a moment, taking in the night, before strolling over to a poolside lounge chair and perching on it. She kept both feet on the ground, simply sitting with her hands in her pockets, and watched the bright turquoise water as it gently swirled and tossed. Her long brown hair hung loosely down the sides of her face, but she didn't bother tucking it behind her ears. The night was suddenly reminding her of one experienced on the deck of the tower long ago...

Painfully faint starlight. Wind blowing softly, whispering quietly in her ears. Long sleeves keeping her warm and a headache behind her eyes.

She hadn't been able to sleep that night either. In all honesty, she never really found sleep while they still lived at Avengers tower. Plenty of nights she had found herself awake and alone, and while being awake was an inconvenience, being alone was still something life-ruining for her. Wanda had longed for her brother every night, even after he'd been laid to rest at Novi Grad's memorial with other victims of Ultron. Originally, she'd hoped to have him buried with their parents - but it was quickly realized, however, that their graves almost certainly no longer existed (along with the rest of Novi Grad).