𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐌━︎━︎ W. Maximoff ✓︎

𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
STRONGER THAN YOU THINK

SALEM AND WANDA LAID ON Salem's bed, watching the movie that was on the screen. Well, they were supposed to be. Wanda was too busy thinking about Pietro and his recent death, and Salem was too busy making jokes in her head about how she had managed to get Wanda in her bed without even having a first date. Salem turned her head towards the woman, immediately sitting up upon noticing the tears that were rolling down the woman's cheeks.

     "Hey, what's wrong?" Salem immediately asked. Wanda sat up, wiping the tears from her face as she shook her head. Salem frowned, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Wanda, you can talk to me."

     "How do you do it?" Wanda asked, turning her head to look at Salem, her voice cracking as another tear slid down her cheek. "How do you get over losing someone you love?"

     "You don't." Salem answered as she shook her head. "You never truly get over the death of a loved one. Getting past grief is different. You're accepting the fact that they are no longer here, but instead you cherish the moments when they were here, and you never forget about them because they never leave you."

     Wanda looked at the woman, meeting Salem's eyes and watching as she gave Wanda a gentle smile. Wanda gave a small one back as she wiped away her tears once more. "I'll never understand how you can do that so easily."

     Salem gave her a sad smile. "I'm just used to it, I guess." Salem softly sighed. "I'm not as strong as everyone thinks I am. I'm just a teenage girl who's seen way too much shit and just wants a taste of normal."

     "You're much stronger than you think you are." Wanda told the woman. "You were fearless when we first met."

     "Then I've done my job successfully." Salem admitted. She sat up a little straighter as she looked at the woman beside of her. "Wanda, I was terrified when we were at the HYDRA base. I was terrified of the things you were capable of. I was terrified of being so close to HYDRA again."

     "Again?" Wanda carefully asked.

     Salem nodded. "I was like you. I was an experiment, I was born with the power to teleport, however the visions were given to me by HYDRA. My parents gave me to them when I was only five years old. And I stayed with them for a long long while, until I was fourteen―︎almost fifteen―︎to be exact. They would experiment on me every single day. I grew up knowing nothing but they experiments that were given to me. It wasn't until Natasha and Clint rescued me that I knew that not all people in the world were bad, and that I wanted to be the ones to put people like HYDRA away." Salem hadn't even realized she had been crying. "I saw so much death in that place. Hear so many screams and tortured souls. I didn't know what it was like to be anything but terrified."

     Wanda brought her hand up to the woman's face, wiping away her tears that had fallen. "You are strong, Salem. Stronger than I or anyone else could ever be." She offered Salem a soft smile. "I guess we're both a little damaged, aren't we?"

     Salem chuckled as she nodded her head. "A little." The two shared a smile with one another.

     "So, I have to ask." Wanda spoke, trying to change the subject. Salem rose an eyebrow, silently telling her to continue. "Salem? As in the Salem Witch Trials?"

     Salem let out a laugh at this as she nodded her head, a wide smile now covering her face. "Yes, I was in fact named after the Salem Witch Trials. And would you look at that! I have powers and you're an actual witch. I say that's a match made in heaven."

     Wanda laughed, smiling at this and trying her hardest to keep the blush from rising on her cheeks at the woman's words. "Did your parents hate you?"

     Salem smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. "Probably." For the rest of the night, the two stayed in Salem's room, laughing and talking about everything they could. Taking the time to get to know one another until the eventually fell asleep with Wanda wrapped in Salem's arms.