a sad witch and a broken dame (A Wanda Maximoff Fanfic)

Chapter 14

(Chapters 13 and 14 are published back-to-back, in case you're wondering)

Wanda woke up with a start in a familiar bedroom that wasn't yours. It had been a long time since she had been here. It was her old room in the Avenger's Compound.

When she burst out of the room, she found Steve, Natasha, Clint and Vision in the kitchen, watching a sitcom on the tv by the wall. The noise from her sudden arrival made their heads turn towards her. When Wanda's eyes met Vision's, who was leaning against the dining table, she immediately went to run towards him in a hug, crying into his chest as the man hugged her back, his head glancing around him for help.

Clint finally broke the awkward silence. "Did I miss something after the battle we just had?"

This made Wanda pull away. "What?"

Vision held her shoulders, smiling at her as he said. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Wanda."

She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, then she made her way towards Natasha as the latter was also engulfed in a hug.

"Are you... okay?" The redhead asked, wrapping her arms around the brunette.

Vision went on, his eyes scanning Wanda's figure. "It appears Wanda is experiencing some distress or mild concussion in her head, probably from the surgery she just had."

"What happened? What surgery?" Wanda asked the second she pulled away from Natasha.

The redhead explained with baffled expression. "We just had a fight because we had disagreements with regard to the Sokovia accords... Don't you remember? You almost died, Wands, but Bruce was able to resuscitate you."

The brunette only swallowed her incoming sobs, as she slowly realized she had travelled way back earlier than the time she intended to, even before Thanos visited Earth.

Time travel can be tricky, Dr. Paltrow's voice was ringing inside Wanda's head.

The brunette eventually nodded, sniffling. "Yes, yes, I'm fine."

She was fine for a while. It felt nice to be back. Until it wasn't. Even when all of her friends were there, alive and well, laughing together as Tony hosted a dinner feast for all of them. Even when Vision was there giving her smiles she had missed before from time to time.

But it was always you. Your eyes would always invade her thoughts. Her heart ached because of your absence. She had even almost shared a corny joke she got from Sam to you, only to realize you weren't there beside her.

She shouldn't have left you. She should've stayed. She should have never tried to seek forgiveness when all she ever needed to live was you.

Wanda was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when Natasha handed her an alcoholic drink, whispering to her ear, asking about what happened between her and Vision getting close.

The brunette tried to disregard the thoughts of you. That maybe it was just guilt she was feeling. But after weeks and weeks of being happy or trying to be happy, her thoughts would always come back to you. That she found herself suddenly missing you. That the love she had for you was so unlike the one she had for Vision, and all this time she thought it was the same.

It was her first month back in her universe, when she wanted to be alone, sitting on the lawn facing the horizon when the sun was setting. Others were still on a mission, while she stayed recuperating from her injuries that her past self seemed to die from. She wondered if she killed herself by travelling in this timeline.

Her hand instinctively went to touch the necklace she had around her neck, the one you gave back to her because you were mad she was leaving. She couldn't really blame you, to be honest.