"Okay, that was rude."
Natasha pursed her lips and wiggled her eyebrows at Clint as she grabbed his black pawn and placed it next to her. "You know I'm a master in chess. There's no way you'll beat me."
Clint snorted and thought about his next move when his phone started ringing, the name of his wife putting a smile on his lips as he stood up to answer.
Natasha stood up as well and walked towards the couch, where Wanda was sitting with a paper in her hands.
"These days are so boring, with Steve away and Tony and Bruce spending all their time in the laboratory," she whined, crossing her legs.
"At least we're not risking our lives," Wanda replied, a sweet smile on her face as she turned towards Natasha, who furrowed her eyebrows.
"Something's really weird about you. Did something happen?"
A chuckle escaped her lips at the thought of all the things that happened, but she just shook her head. "I'm just in a positive mood, you know. I mean, what we do is really important for the world, and we've lost so many people during the way, but we're so strong because we're united."
"Okay, weirdo. What are you looking at?"
Wanda laughed as Natasha playfully elbowed her and handed her the piece of paper she was studying.
"Is that Pietro?" she asked, pointing at a small boy hugging a teddy bear.
Wanda nodded, pursing her lips. "And that's me," she said, placing her finger on a small version of herself, her arms crossed as a small pout adorned her lips.
"That's way too cute for me," Natasha mumbled, her eyes softening at the photo.
Wanda did nothing but smile, her head snapping in the direction of the door when she noticed Bruce walking in, a book in his hand. He walked towards them and sat down on an armchair, opening the book.
"Morning to you too, what are you reading?"
Bruce looked at Natasha with a lost expression, until he noticed the two girls were waiting for him.
"Oh, um- sorry, I'm just really into this book, I didn't notice you," he said, slightly blushing. "That's Oscar Wilde, by the way. It's a collection of stories."
Natasha nodded absentmindedly and stood up, walking away while Wanda kept observing Bruce's book. One of the stories that could be read on the cover, The selfish giant, were oddly familiar to her, but she didn't know where she had heard it from.
"It's really interesting, if you ask me. It's one of the first stories I read where an outcast had the chance to be redeemed," Bruce stated, playing with the pages of the book.
"Doesn't seem like the kind of stories you read," Wanda observed.
"It's not, but I woke up this morning with the sudden urge to read it."
"I wonder why," Wanda muttered under her breath, standing up and walking away as Bruce looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed.
Turned out she couldn't erase someone like Hazel completely. She physically couldn't, because of the enormous impact the girl had had on their lives, and she didn't even want to.
Wanda's mind went back to her for the thousandth time since everything had turned to 'normal'. She walked out of the living room, towards the elevator that took her to the last floor. The cold breeze of the roof immediately welcomed her, inviting her to walk outside and take a deep breath.
The whole skyline of New York was perfectly visible from where she was standing, and she thought that Hazel was probably somewhere out there, in one of the countries she knew of, probably studying for her future or helping her sister, who had started showing problems since a young age. But Wanda knew she was handling it all in the best of ways, like she always did.
Wanda stuffed her hands inside the pockets of her sweater and felt the familiar fabric of the postcard against the skin of her fingers, smiling widely. She grabbed the piece of paper and looked at it for a moment, her eyes watering at the sight. Steve was standing next to a black polished door with a 10 written on it, his smile wide as his thumbs were raised in a sign of victory. Wanda looked at his happy face for another moment before turning the postcard to the other side to read what was written on it.
Greetings from England! Got to visit the Prime Minister's house, maybe I'll get to meet him, as well. This place is amazing, wish you could all see it too!
Steve x
A single tear fell on the piece of paper. Wanda immediately cleaned it with the hem of her sweater as she forced herself not to cry more.
Out of all the people she had felt bad for the drastic decision she was forced to make with Pietro and Hazel, Steve was the worst. The love that had grown for him towards Hazel was something Wanda had rarely seen, and she had silently wished for them to be together for the rest of their lives, even if it had meant going against her brother's feelings. They had always been meant to be, and it was something she would have never forgiven herself for. But again, choosing between Steve and Hazel dying in each other's arms or living without knowing each other hadn't been a difficult decision, even for Hazel and Steve themselves.
And that was the reason why she was going to cherish every single moment she got to live on the earth. She was the only one whose memories about what had happened with Marnikov and his army hadn't faded, and she wished they were never going to. Because Pietro was dead, killed by Ultron, but she had had the chance to spend some more time with him, and Hazel was now a normal girl with a normal life and a normal family.
But Wanda was always going to remember her as The Green Leaf.
THE END
well, I guess we're finally here.
I am seriously impressed by the fact that I managed to start, continue and finish a story without messing it up but, as I repeated a million times already, I fell in love with it and I literally couldn't wait for the first free time I had to keep writing and uploading.
I know this is a really clichè ending and it's not really creative, but in my head it makes so much sense and I'm probably just really crazy lol. But anyway, if you guys have any doubts about what happened or something doesn't make much sense, just let me know :3
And now, the sentimental part lol.
I want to thank you guys a lot, but like really a lot. This is the story that has had more readings than any other story I have written in here, and I'm alway going to cherish the feelings of hitting 1k reads or 100 comments. You might think it's a stupid thing, but I'm really insecure about my writing, and seeing people being genuinely interested in what I'm saying gives me a feeling of importance that gives me dependance. That's why I'm going to keep writing on this account. Maybe not immediately, but I'm working on a few stories, even outside of the marvel fandom, and if you aren't annoyed by me already I'll let you know when I publish something.
Well, the endings are always the most painful part of a story, but it doesn't mean that things end for good. I've had really bad moments in my life, which I'm not going to talk about here, but the fact that I AM here, talking with you, has to mean something. There's always light at the end of the tunnel but, most of all, there's nothing wrong with asking a professional for help. We all grow up thinking that being different means being sick. That having a disease (physical or psychological) means having to be an outcast that can't be accepted in the society. And it tends to make people shut down, to close themselves inside a cocoon they never come out from because they think that no one can understand them. But that's not true. Hell, there are 7 billion people in the world, there is DEFINITELY someone out there that will understand and help you.
And, most importantly, there is nothing wrong with you. You might think that's a dumb statement, but you guys have no idea how many times I've hoped someone could tell that to me.
Well, now that I've made myself cry enough, I'm going to bid you farewell, hoping to see you all as soon as possible.
I love you with all my heart,
thank you,
Elena.