Fire and Smoke - Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Chapter 50

"Who are you?" I finally ask the Winter Solider one day, making him pause, surprised at hearing my voice, and he looks at me with empty eyes that match mine.

"I don't... Does it matter?" He says with a voice that doesn't match his hard exterior while masking his uncertainty quickly.

"I guess not." I agree and we continue sparring, his metal hand painting my body purple and blue.

I duck under his hand and go to place my knife against his throat, but he blocks me, grabbing my forearm and pushing me back into the middle of the room. I drop the knife and pick it up midair with my other hand and go to stab him in his side, but he quickly lets go of my hand and blocks my thrust with a swift kick of the leg which makes my knife go flying. I don't waste a minute and drive my knee up into his abdomen. He responds by grunting softly and bending forwards just enough for me to kick up one of my legs into the air with such force it lifts my entire body up into the air. I swing my legs and manage to flip one of them over his neck. I contract my muscles and pull down, my momentum helping me. He's taken by surprise and his body smacks down on the floor with a thick thud. I tap him on the back and he nods silently, both of us slightly out of breath.

"I didn't teach you that." He mutters as he gets up, brushing himself off.

"No." I agree, walking over to where my knife landed.

"You shouldn't bring anything with you that they didn't give you." His tone of voice makes me pause and look up at him.

He's standing there, clad in all black, his left arm shining. He wears a new expression on his face. An expression which despite being new to me on him, I recognize.

"What did you bring with you?" I ask, surprised to hear my voice being nothing more than a whisper.

"A name." He says, swallowing. The silence spreads between us, thick, but I let it. He watches me for a moment, debating. Then he seems to decide something. "Bucky."

"Bucky?" I repeat softly and he nods, his dark hair unruly on his head. "Bucky," I whisper again, something stirring lazily in my mind, but I'm not able to recall.

"But please don't call me that." Bucky pleads, his voice small. I meet his eyes, and in this moment, he suddenly looks much more like a young boy than a man.

WANDA'S POV

It's been eight days since I last saw Livvy. Eight whole days and they're not letting me look for her. They say their machines can find her, will find her. They say I should take care of myself in the meanwhile, while we wait. I don't want to wait. Every inch of me is screaming to leave to look for her myself, and yet I can't leave my bed. I lie amongst the unwashed bedsheets that still smell like her, my body fighting itself as though I'm just waiting for either my fight or my flight response to win. My mind keeps going over every possible thing that could be happening to Livvy while I just lay waiting like a coward.

My scarlet is seemingly torn, too. I'm having trouble doing things that normally wouldn't be more difficult than lifting a finger. I don't understand it, and it feels like I'm back inside the hex with my figurative walls crumbling. While I am alone in bed, I'm not alone in my head; without Livvy as my anchor or my buffer, so many voices fight to be heard that I feel like I'm going insane. I try to direct it, to tell my scarlet to find her, but it doesn't seem to hear me no matter how much I try to make it understand that I will sink without her.

And so I just lie there with the thoughts of thousands to keep me company when all I want is one.

Only Nat has been in to check on me, but I can't seem to be able to talk to her, a lump in my throat keeps me from speaking. This might be for the best as all I want to do is yell and yell until my voice goes hoarse. Nat doesn't bring any news except that they're still looking, looking, looking. Just hang tight, Wanda. Hang tight. It's hard to hang tight when there's nothing around you to grasp. It's not your fault Wanda. It's not my fault, no, but it is all because of me. I don't have to have anyone spell it out for me. I'm not stupid. It's always me, and my scarlet.