Can't Ask, Don't Need, Won't Acknowledge

chapter 1: alone

Wanda Maximoff could not remember the last time she felt this alone. She guessed it was due partially to the fact she was a twin. Wanda struggled to remember any memory that didn't have Pietro by her side. She knew moving forwards that would not be the case. Though for some reason she still half expected to watch him saunter through the door and give her his trademark cocky smirk.

She closed her eyes and laid back down on the bed, sighing audibly. The bed was comfortable everything about the tower was modern and clean. Though it was like a hotel room rather than her home. Her eyes opened immediately staring at the ceiling. She could not close them, closing them meant seeing the scenes that haunted her thoughts. Sokovia was still fresh in her memory, even three months later. Wanda paused in her thoughts, one month since she buried her older brother. He never did let her forget the fact he was 12 minutes older. The funeral was a very sparse occasion; she was really the only one left to truly mourn his loss. Here she was now an orphan with no blood family left in the world. The Avengers all attended but Clint Barton was the only person other than herself to truly shed a tear, but they never really got the chance to know him. She lazily rubbed her temples, wishing she could sleep if only for a few hours. Uninterrupted sleep was a luxury she had forgotten existed. The bags under her eyes evidenced this truth. Her mind would not let her sleep or rest.

Pietro's passing had created what felt like a black sucking void in her chest. That empty feeling that made it difficult to breathe. It always threatened to overwhelm her entirely. Wanda aggressively snapped the rubber band that was sitting flush to her wrist. She hissed slightly at the burn the action created, but after the burn always came that second of relief. For that split second the burn masked the emptiness she felt, but it was always so short-lived. The online forums all suggested rubber bands or holding ice. The idea of holding ice never really appealed to Wanda and Long sleeved shirts already formed part of her casual wardrobe enough to not draw unwarranted attention. Puddles of water seemed somewhat less conspicuous.

Natasha seemed suspicious of her, and not just because she had commandeered her red jacket. The others all seemed to have happily bought her spiel on her age. She knew better than to reveal the truth. It helped that they wanted to believe it. Wanda told them she was 19 turning 20, which sounded better than the truth she was 15 turning 16. It seemed Natasha was hell bent on catching her out with subtle references to movies and music, trying to get her to slip up. She had taken to avoiding the woman like the plague, which proved difficult with how close she was to Clint. It unfortunately resulted in the side effect of seeing less of Clint. Wanda was isolated, she frequented three places, her bedroom, the gym and the kitchen. She turned over to stare at the clock on her bedside table, it flashed 3am taunting her slightly. She got out of bed and changed into some gym clothes. She took the iPod out of top drawer of the table, a gift from Tony Stark. She grabbed the air pods and placed them in her ears. Wanda slowly crept out of her bedroom down the hallway, she walked past the elevator and starting climbing down the stairs to the gym.

Wanda found she preferred working out at night, without an audience. She ran on the treadmill and got lost in her own mind. She pressed play on the ipod and let the piano music relax the tension in her body. She kept running, tapping the button to increase the speed every ten seconds getting faster, faster, and faster. Soon she was sprinting as the machine hit the maximum speed. Wanda took a deep breath, as her legs started to ache under the effort. The sweat was pouring down her face, she refused too slow down. She refused to stop. Her legs felt like jelly, she forgot how long she had been running for. The pain and ache was strangely addictive. Her foot slipped and she lost her balance, she went to go flying off the back, when two strong arms caught her, and a foot hit the emergency stop switch.

Wanda turned entangled to face her saviour, "Natasha... what are you doing here?"

Natasha was dressed in a pair of sweats with a tank top. She had clearly been sleeping before finding her. She reached down and pulled the earphones out of her ears, "I think the better question is what are you doing in here? Other than trying to kill yourself."