Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 188

Pietro is ready to pass out.

It has been a miserable few days. He has not touched a bed in far too long, and when his head hits the pillow, he's convinced he could fall asleep in seconds.

But when Wanda goes to bed, she just sits there, cross-legged, her blanket draped over her shoulders. She looks sad. He doesn't like it when his sister is sad. So, unfortunately, his long-awaited bedtime will have to wait even longer. His sister has to come first, even when he really, really doesn't want her to.

He sits up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and gives her a small smile. "How are you doing, Wanda?"

Wanda lets out a long breath. "I don't know," she admits. He suspects that's not true. He suspects that she does know, and he suspects that the answer is not pleasant.

"Talk to me," Pietro says. "We have not talked nearly enough of late."

"Perhaps if you had not run off with Rogers without me, that would not be the case," Wanda says. It sounds like a teasing remark, but she doesn't have that teasing lilt to her voice. She sounds so... flat. Monotonous. There's definitely something off.

"I didn't want to," Pietro tells her. "And if I'd thought I could contact you without contacting anybody else, I would have, but it all happened so fast and your phone was broken and it was just a very big mess."

Wanda lets out a long breath. "It certainly was."

"Are you okay?" Pietro asks her. "And do not say 'yes,' because I know that you are not."

"That defeats the purpose of asking the question, does it not?" she remarks.

Pietro shrugs. "Maybe," he admits, "but I know that you are not okay, and now I want you to talk to me."

Wanda just nods, lowering her gaze to her hands clasped together in her lap. She's quiet for a few moments, and he gives her the time she needs. She's been through a lot. They both have. If she needs time to get herself together, that's time that she can have.

Finally, she says, "I still don't know that it was wrong."

Pietro cocks his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"The Accords," she says. "I still think they might be right."

Pietro stares at her.

After all of that, she still thinks the Accords might be right.

He tries not to judge his sister when he can, but right now, he is a little judgmental.

"Or, at least, they may have been a place to start," Wanda says. "Something to keep the Avengers in line; to minimize casualties. I don't know if we can continue to operate the way that we do."

Pietro sighs. "The Accords were never going to minimize casualties," he tells her. "They are designed to stop us from helping people. That is all they do."

"But what if we are not helping people?" Wanda asks. "What if we are bringing more harm than good?"

"We are helping people," Pietro says. "And sometimes, people get hurt when we do, but what we do is important, and we save many more people than we hurt."

Wanda twiddles with her thumbs, silent. Pietro suspects she's not convinced.

"The Accords were never a good idea," he says. "They were going to leave fights unfought. They were going to let the bad guys win because they would not want to or not be ready to fight the battles that we do."

Wanda still seems hesitant. "I just don't think..."

Pietro gives her a minute to finish that sentence, and when the end doesn't come, he prompts her, "You don't think...?"

Wanda sighs. "I don't think I should be doing this anymore," she says. "Maybe you are right. Maybe the Accords were not the answer. Maybe this is."

Pietro eyes her warily. "Maybe what is?"

"Maybe it is time that I quit," she says. "Maybe it is time that I leave the fighting to the rest of you."

Pietro shakes his head. "Wanda, we need you," he says. "You are a part of our team – maybe the most important part of it." The most powerful part, for sure.

"No, I am not," she says. "Not anymore. I have hurt too many people that I've tried to help. I think it may be time that I give up the hero facade."

Pietro shakes his head. "You cannot blame yourself for what happened in Lagos," he says. "If you had not stepped in, just as many people would have died; it simply would have been the people on the ground and not the people in the building."

"And if Loki had not stepped in, there would have been far more casualties," she says. "You are good at what you do. The Avengers are good at what they do. But I was not meant for this." She sighs and finally looks up, meeting his gaze across the room. "I'm done," she says. "The world will be better for it."

Pietro sighs. "If that is truly how you feel, that is your choice to make," he says. "I will not force you to do what you do not want to do. But I think you are making a mistake."

She shakes her head. "I made a mistake when I joined the team," she says. "Now I am going to do the right thing and stop."

"You can change your mind, you know," Pietro tells her. "If you want to. We'll always take you back."

"I don't think that is going to happen," Wanda tells him.

"But if it does, you know that you can always join us again."

Wanda just nods. "I know." She takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I guess we should go to bed."

"I could not agree more," Pietro replies. "Goodnight, Wanda."

"Goodnight, Pietro."

He lies back down and covers himself with his blanket. He closes his eyes, and he's hit with a wave of exhaustion once more; one he knows will take him out within minutes.

He's earned this.

He's earned some goddamn sleep.