𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃

26. 𝗼𝗵, 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

Eszter let out a loud laugh. "I'm not answering the question, Wands," the witch shook her head as she walked toward her closet, already on the search for a replacement. "You can wear whatever that is, but if I'm being forced to dress up as a Sokovian fortune teller, I'm doing my own version." Eszter peeked over her shoulder, brows lifted. "It'll be boring if we dress up exactly the same."

Wanda pouted but didn't argue; she let her sister pick a different concept in the costume, mainly because Wanda wanted Eszter and her to dress up relatively similarly. Wanda couldn't force her sister on what she could wear. But it didn't matter because Wanda was going to make memories with her little family and Eszter, something neither of the sisters had in recent years. Though Wanda noticed the way, her sister pulled out a black top resembling a corset, dark bottoms, and a pair of large chained boots; the strawberry-haired woman stood amazed by Eszter's newfound sense of style, wondering where this had come from. It felt like only yesterday when the younger sister was wearing her pretty dress, a smile on her face as she squealed over a new dress.

As Eszter magically dressed into her costume, she adjusted the silk gloves that she knew would bother her all night, flicked her fingers, and the gloves were finger-less. Contemplating on the new idea, Eszter shrugged and left it as it was. Eszter played with the cape, feeling like a superhero with how her cloak flew against the air as she shook it about. Now looking at herself in the mirror, Eszter was starting to dig the costume, not that she was saying she liked Wanda's idea, but the execution was magnificent. Okay, it was a little thrifty on Eszter's part, but that's the fun in creating costumes. Still, Eszter incorporated some of the costume Wanda gave her so her sister didn't get upset that she didn't want to dress up exactly how she wanted.

     "I've been meaning to talk to you about something," hesitated Wanda. The woman studied Eszter's reaction carefully, treating it like she was about to walk over eggshells.

     "About?"

     Wanda fiddled with her costume, and her frown deepened. "It's about Pietro."

Eszter merely furrows her brows. "What about him?"

"Don't you think it's--I don't know--kind of strange how Pietro's here?"

Uncertain of how to answer Wanda's question, Eszter only shrugged. "I mean, sort of, but does it even matter?" Eszter can see where Wanda's skepticism is coming from, but on the other hand, their brother was back; shouldn't that be enough? Without meaning to, Eszter laughed harshly from her throat unexpectedly. "Are you saying you don't want him here?"

Wanda quickly responded with a shake of her head. "No, no!" exclaimed the strawberry-haired woman like she was afraid to offend Eszter. Wanda wasn't sure what she was trying to say; while she's overthrown with sheer happiness, there's a part of Wanda that can't help but not accept this unexpected turn of events. "That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that maybe we shouldn't get our hopes up in case this isn't what we hoped it would be."

But that didn't seem to help Wanda's case whatsoever. Instead, Wanda came off a lot worse than she intended, and by the surprised expression from Eszter, the strawberry-haired woman knew her sister wasn't going to listen to her. Wanda is aware that Eszter took Pietro's death hard, maybe even worse than she; poor Eszter witnessed their brother's death when she had the power to protect him. And Wanda wasn't trying to invalidate Eszter's feelings, but that's why she wants Eszter to see that happy endings never go well for their family.

Wanda is sure Eszter knows this, but the younger sister isn't going to admit it out loud.

"Can we not talk about this right now?"