Imperfect Crystals ║ WandaVision

Chapter 27 - A Trip Down Memory Lane

"So, little orphan Wanda got up close and personal with an Infinity Stone that amplified what otherwise would've died on the vine. The broken pieces of you are adding up, buttercup. I have a theory, but I need more." Agatha observed, her eyes glued on Wanda.

The redhead, on the other hand, was stuck in her head.

To be back in the cold hallways of the fortress was less than pleasant. And to relieve the experiment that brought her powers to life was strange, to say the least. But it wasn't all bad.

She got to see Keira again.

She got to see how her now wife had rushed into the room, way ahead of the doctors.

Their time together at HYDRA was rarely ever mentioned. The memories were simply too painful to relive. But it now dawned on Wanda that Keira had recognized her the very second she set foot in the facility.

Once Keira had reached Wanda's unconscious body, she had carefully brushed a few auburn stray hairs away from her face while desperately searching for a pulse. Not to mention the way the mutant tenderly had scooped her up into her arms and carried her to the cell as if she was made out of glass.

All the signs had been there from the beginning. Wanda had just been too blind to see it.

With another flick of her wrist, Agatha conjured yet another door.

"Oh." The raven-haired woman breathed in surprise, because this time, Wanda didn't show any signs of resistance but rather moved closer to the door on her own accord.

When Wanda was so close that she could touch the handle, the door transformed into an open archway. A gentle breeze tugged on her hair as she carefully stepped through, her shoes sinking into white sand.

The smell of salt and seaweed invaded her nostrils and she closed her eyes. She knew this moment and she wasn't sure if she wanted Agatha to see it. But as a hand landed on her shoulder, she realized she had no choice.

And as she opened her eyes again, she focused on the two silhouettes sitting by the seashore and her feet automatically guided her over to them.

"Oh, Wanda. Do tell, where are we now?" Agatha demanded as she followed the redhead across the sand. Judging from the setting sun, and the way everything around them was bathed in a warm, orange light, she could already guess what kind of memory this would be.

"Orchard Beach." Wanda replied shakily, finally having reached the past version of herself and Keira. "Pietro was dead, and I was in a new country. Had it not been for Keira, I would've been completely alone. She... She was the only one I could trust."

Keira mindlessly played with the frayed edge of the blanket she and Wanda sat on, just waiting for the sun to completely disappear behind the horizon so that they could watch the stars. Sure, it wasn't much and some might say her attempts were feeble, but if she could distract Wanda from the horrors happening inside her head even for a moment, Keira would do it.

"He was always there for me." Wanda sighed and somewhat tentatively leaned her head against the blonde's shoulder. "Through everything. You know, during our time at the orphanage, there was this boy. Much older than we were, and he always made fun of my freckles, claiming they were a disease and that they would stop us from being adopted. That it was my fault that we were stuck there."

"He sounds horrible. No wonder he never got adopted. Punk." Keira huffed and shook her head before slinging an arm around Wanda's shoulders.

Kids could be so cruel without ever having a reason to be.

A watery chuckle escaped Wanda's lips. "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Anyway, when Pietro got wind of what the boy had been saying to me, he retaliated with full force. I don't know where he got it from but he managed to get his hands on some itching powder. And he put it on all the boy's clothes." This time, a genuine laugh left her. "And somehow, the boy's shoes were always nailed to the floor after that. The caregivers never caught the perpetrator but Pietro admitted to me that it was him."