Nothing good ever starts with the words "It'll be fun!" followed by "C'mon what's the worst thing that could happen?"
Everyone knows this, it's common knowledge. Wanda knew this and Demetria knew this, yet they both gave in and somehow found themselves in a dingy little cave in the middle of fuck-all nowhere.
Demetria had initiated their daily training session with the said worrying sentences, and Wanda (even if a little reluctantly) followed along.
It has been quite a while since either of them (or anyone on the team really), had has some time off and the young enhanced was getting pretty tired of it. Their boring and monotonous routine was driving Demi mad. After all, she was used to constant drama and movement so the change of pace struck her hard.
There was a rising tension in the air, the need to get everyone ready and prepared for something that hadn't even shown up. Their training sessions intensified as per request of Steve and Natasha, and all free time was occupied by lessons and paperwork. But the one who was impacted the most was certainly Tony. Even if he had proclaimed that he was 'retired' or that he 'wasn't currently Iron Man', it's clear that he's been hit hard, if not harder than anyone else. Between SI and The Avengers, he had his arms full of problems.
It wasn't really Demetria's place, but she always wondered what happened to the man, something that had really set him off. He seemed convinced there was something coming, some sort of looming threat and that he was working against the clock. The others dismissed him but Demetria had always been observant. However, she couldn't decide what she was worried more for, the man or what the man was afraid of.
Not to mention that with each passing moment she feels a little more infatuated for the witch so that was that.
The girls had undoubtedly gotten closer as time passed, even if they had only known each other for a mere few weeks. Demetra tended to fall hard and quick in (and out) of love, and Wanda was definitely easy to love.
She was quiet and kind, a little socially awkward. She didn't get along with most people on the team, but she did trust the Captain and she seemed to trust Clint (Demetria had made mental notes to bring that up later with her brother because seriously, what had she missed?). But when it came to hanging out with anyone she seemed to mostly just cling to Vision and Demetria herself, which the brunette had no problem with.
When it was the three of them the atmosphere was always more soft and slow, both Wanda and Vision had extremely quiet personalities which balanced out Demi's more loud and boisterous one, but the girl could be more soft-spoken too if she wanted.
They spent a lot of time together trying to integrate into society. Vision was created from an AI and a magical stone so his physical experiences were lacking, and Wanda had missed great periods of her childhood/adolescence both by her poor upbringing in an under-developed country called Sokovia, and through her ultimate involvement with Hydra.
So they hung out in the kitchen, curating Vision's sense of smell and taste. They hung out in the living room, watching recent movies and shows to help Wanda get acquainted with some of the things she missed. They hung out in the yard, taking care of plants and little animals and occasionally letting themselves get roped into Demetria's hijinks, which usually included mud fights and jumping into small lakes/swamps and/or puddles.
When it was just Wanda and Demetria things weren't much different, just more intimate. Secluded in (usually) Wanda's room, they'd built pillow forts complete with all the colourful blankets they could find and they'd turn off some music. They'd dance together and they'd paint their nails and they'd gossip and they'd play stupid teenage games like 'truth or dare' and 'never have I ever' (carefully dancing around the uncomfortable topics of each other's pasts and instead trying to focus on more silly and relaxing aspects of their life). They'd create fashion runways and on the occasion they'd even get Natasha to join and bring some of her best outfits and wigs and makeup-skills.
But that wasn't enough for Demetria, ever the over-achiever. She'd been dropping hints all these weeks and Wanda picked up on basically none. And the girl had been recently talking about how being cooped up in the compound was making her feel sad and gloomy.
And that's how the idea was born, on a very lonely and boring morning.
"Just through here!" Demetria's quiet yet excited voice ran through the empty forest as she tugged Wanda along. The girl had no option but to obey, giving her friend's hand a squeeze as they expertly descended a hill filled with rocks and dirt.
With one last tug, Wanda was pulled into the most beautiful place she'd ever been, and engulfed by water.
"Careful." Demetria giggled, grabbing Wanda before she could fall further and wet her clothes completely. Once they were both secure on a rock, she finally, if not a little regrettably, let go of her hand and instead took to staring at her.
"So, what do you think?" The curly-haired girl asked, a smile playing on her lips.
"This is beautiful, how did you find it?"
Wanda let her eyes wander around the cave, looking out of what seemed to be like a movie scene. The entire place was secluded and surrounded by rocks, small rays of sunlight peeking from the top of the dome. In the middle of all the rocks and small flowers, there was a body of water that seemed to go from somewhat shallow to deep in the eye. The water glistened under the light, lighting the entire place in glittering and dancing reflections.
"Exploring." Demi shrugged as if that served as enough explanation. Truly it had been a little more like running away from her problems rather than exploring but she wasn't quite ready to explain that yet.
"So what now?" The Sokovian asked, hugging herself slightly.
She received a smirk in response. "Now we get out clothes off."
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After hastily pulling their clothes off and neatly placing them on the rocks where they could avoid getting wet, the girls giggled together. It had been a while since Demetria has had any time for herself like this, and Wanda had never really had an opportunity to grow up like a normal child or teenager, so they both ran with excitement in their veins.
Wanda was unexpectedly hit with water as Demetria canon-balled into the water, splashing it everywhere. She emerged from the water smiling, her hair slicked back and her body mostly covered by the water as she swam near Wanda, resting her arms against the rocks. Wanda now realized there was very little shallow point, as opposed to what she originally thought.
"Coming in?"
Her response came in the form of a similar cannon-ball, making Demetria giggle.
And that's how the girls spent the next few hours, splashing each other and laying on their backs, staring into the sky above as the birds soared by and the sun illuminated their faces.
"So you do this often?" Wanda commented from their position on the water. It briefly reminded Demetria of this article she'd once read, about how otters slept holding hands to avoid losing each other. Although they weren't holding hands, there was a sense of security that came with them just laying on their backs, enjoying the serenity.
"Do what?" Demetria hummed in response, turning her head slightly to look at her companion, avoiding submerging her face in the water.
"Running away with girls to beautiful places." Wanda giggled in response, turning slightly towards the girl so that they could both momentarily stare at each other.
"Runaway with girls and boys? Yes. To beautiful places though? Not as often. I like to keep my personal places to myself." Wanda then got off of her position in the water, swimming towards the rocks and sitting on them, extending her hand towards Demetria so she could do the same. Demi took her invitation, raising herself from the water and taking the hand to help herself up.
They sat together, shoulder to shoulder, hands on top of each other for a while, basking in the light and quiet.
"You run away with boys and girls?" Wanda finally asked, breaking the silence that has fallen on them like a mantle.
Demetria supposed that she should've seen this coming, people often questioned her sexuality but she'd never let that bother her. Before she got her powers, she hadn't really worried about things like dating or sexual attraction, so by the time she did reach the age to care, all her feelings were weird and tainted by her powers so she supposed that could've affected her. Demetria doesn't dwell much on that thought though, how much different she could've turned out if she hadn't been turned.
"Yeah, don't like limiting my options." She gives Wanda a dashing smile. "Who do you run away with?"
"I don't really know. I haven't really had the time." Wanda fidgetted, obviously uncomfortable.
"I'm sure you'll know it when you know it. Those things happen and they take time. Don't worry bout' it."
Wanda seemed grateful at the gesture and calmed a little in return.
"But you do like Vision." Demi said with a cheeky smile, making Wanda giggle slightly.
"I guess." Wanda tried to be nonchalant, she really did, but despite her many skills lying and subtlety were not amongst them.
"So at least we know that you like microwaves."
"Vision is not a microwave Demi!"
And they laughed together, the sounds echoing around them.
Demetria really wanted to kiss Wanda right then and there, scram in her face 'and you like me too! The one that doesn't resemble a kitchen appliance with a bad paint job!' but she didn't want to scare off Wanda, and she also knew that someone as inexperienced as Wanda it would probably take a little more than light touches and glances to get the point. Wanda didn't seem to be the best at interpreting social cues, so Demetria developed a plan. A shitty one at that, but a plan nonetheless.
"Ooooh look shiny!" She exclaimed, before diving into the water and swimming a little bellow. Wanda simply laughed in return but remained in the same position until a few worrying seconds passed and nothing could be heard of her companion. Panicking, Wanda took a big gulf of air and swam bellow. When she saw a mess of curls float bellow she acted quickly, swimming quickly towards them and dragging her friend to the surface laying her carelessly on the rock above.
Demetria was nowhere near passed out, but she was a good actress and she could hold her breath underneath the water for a very long time (she went through an 'i-must-speak-to-fish-in-their-natural-habitat' phase). The plan was in motion.
Wanda took a deep breath and let her magic guide her, as she tried to get the water out of the girl's lungs but when that didn't work her panic rose. Not giving in to her anxieties she brought her mouth to the supposedly passed out girls and tried her best at giving her oxygen, while her magic worked on chest compressions and holding her nose closed.
Finally, Demetria thought, opening her eyes and raising her head slightly to meet Wanda's kinda-almost kiss.
Wanda quickly opened her eyes and pushed her off. "Are you okay? What are you doing?"
"M'fine, just seemed the only way to get your attention was get in trouble, so here I am." Demetria smiled at her softly as if it made perfect sense.
"Are you kidding me? You nearly died for a kiss?" She retaliated, outraged.
Sitting up and hugging her knees, Demi answered with a frown. "I was okay really, didn't mean to scare you that badly just thought it would be fun."
"That... That was so-" Wanda had started pacing at this point, walking back and forward in their small space.
"Reckless?" Demetria supplied, replaying the word that had been used against her time and time again.
"Yes!" Wanda yelled back, a red hue expanding around her making Demi flinch.
"I'm sorry, didn't mean to do that." Wanda back off, hugging herself close and suddenly Demetria regretted every single one of life choices. This had never been her goal and now she had fucked up and had to somehow deal with the fall out of her actions. Talk about history repeating itself.
"No I'm sorry, I should've thought before acting." Demetria got up too, moving towards their pile of clothes, getting ready to leave and give the other girl some space.
That was until she was tackled by a hug, long arms wrapping around her and a kiss placed on her forehead. "Just don't do that to me again please."
"Okay."
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"Hey, can I ask you something?" Demetria's voice rang out as they both sat in the back of her black chevy truck, different coloured blankets around them and the food randomly placed between them.
Wanda simply hummed in response as she munched on a random sandwich.
"Why did you join Hydra?" The question had been bothering her for longer than she could admit. If Wanda had been shocked at the question she didn't let it show, simply giving her sandwich another bite and adjusting herself.
"I'll never be able to pretend what my brother and I did was correct. I can see that now, and I don't think I can blame anyone for being wary of us, of me." She began, moving so she could lean against the truck and look at her fellow enhanced better.
Demi simply squeezed her hand in support and gave her an encouraging smile.
"When we joined Hydra we didn't really know about the experiments we didn't- well we did, I-" She sighed rubbing her eyes and leaning her head back.
"I need to stop making these excuses you know? To own up to what I did but I feel like context is important too you know? It's just... It's hard to process and I've been hiding behind these lies and curtains for so long I think facing the truth is hard but-" She took a deep breath.
"When Hydra approached me and Pietro, we were at our lowest, I suppose they must have been waiting for us to reach the point of no return. We were young and hungry and scared, oh so scared. We'd lost our family and we were in that house for so long waiting for that Stark bomb to go off, that bomb that never did,"
"I don't blame Stark, I've seen the news about his partner Obediah doing so much behind his back and I know what betrayal feels like, but at the time I didn't know any of that, neither of us did, so when Hydra came and told us they'd give us a home and feed us and give us anything we needed at just a small price we didn't even think twice."
"It didn't matter that they spawned from a Nazi organization, it didn't matter that they wanted to turn us into human experiments and feed us propaganda to brainwash us, nothing mattered except that we were finally safe."
"By the time that we were both comfortable, had our own rooms, properly fed and used to the random kindness of strangers, we didn't even blink when they led us into the test rooms and by then, we couldn't back out. So we hung on and we learned survival and we fell right into their trap."
"I'm not proud of my actions. I know of all the wrong I've caused, trust me, I do, but at the time we didn't have a lot of options..."
Wanda was crying by the time she was finished with her story and Demetria had been inching closer with every word, snuggling the girl in her lap, and wrapped her arms protectively around her as if she could shield her away from the harm. She whispered sweets nothings into her ears and held the girl close as she cried herself to sleep.
"It'll be okay. It'll all be okay Wanda. I have you now. You'll be okay."
Authors Note!
I happen to read a lot of Anti-cap fanfics on AO3 (I have no solid explanation as to why, besides the tony content there is always LIT and I'm a white man's whore) and I always come across a lot of Wanda hate. I see that a lot of criticism aimed at her spawns from the fact she willingly joined Hydra so I thought I could really explore that aspect in my own story and give my interpretation as to the how and why.
I hope y'all enjoy the arcs and personality traits I added to Wanda, not just in regards to her past but possibly her future and I'm also welcome to any and all suggestions.
I also started this story pretty much hating on Vision but we ain't about that life anymore so I've created my new fic. Enjoy.
This is beta'd by