CHAPTER ONE: THE LAST MOVIE NIGHT
There was a time where the Maximoffs lived in peace. Years ago, in Sokovia, they lived happily. Shops were lined up on the street, people bustling around them.
Olive looked at a doll with a small smile, tilting her head as she looked at it. Pietro walked up behind her with a smile, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I've been holding onto my savings for the past few years, if you want I could get you that doll." He said, his smile widening when Olive's did. The youngest Maximoff never took anything for granted, because there was a time when she had nothing. The day she lost her birth parents, she lost everything. When the Maximoffs came in, it was easy to tell that they weren't the richest (like most people she knew), but they were willing to help. For Pietro to offer getting something so simple meant the world to her.
Olive looked up at him hopefully and immediately started nodding her head, causing Pietro to smile. "Yes, please!" She spoke with a thick Sokovian accent.
Pietro giggled as he picked up the doll. He put it in front of the salesman and told him that it was what he wanted. He then handed over the money and gave the doll to Olive. "Thank you, Pietro." Olive said with an appreciative smile while gaping at her doll with wide eyes, her smile somehow growing.
"You're welcome, Liv." He replied, giving her the nickname she loved. She preferred it over her real name, even.
The two walked over to Wanda, and she turned her head to look at them and smiled at Olive while picking her up. Wanda was young, ten to be exact, but Olive was only five. "Hi, Olive, what's this?" She ruffled the doll that was held tightly in the girls hands.
"It's my new doll!" Olive smiled. "Her name is..." she frowned, "I don't know." She shrugged, but hugged her doll tightly anyway.
Wanda smiled, glancing a Pietro with raised brows. She was silently scolding the boy for using his money on a doll, but she didn't want to ruin the moment for Olive, "Pietro got it for you, right?"
"Yes." Olive said with a huge grin, not noticing the look Wanda sent her twin brother.
"That's very nice of him." Pietro smiled at Wanda's words (he also didn't notice the looks he was getting from her-he was often oblivious to the disapproving looks he received from his family, being the troublemaker of the Maximoffs). "Come on, it's getting late. Let's go find Mama and Papa." Wanda said softly.
The small group walked over to the food market where they knew their parents would be, and on the walk home Olive kept getting distracted by her doll. She nearly tripped as her foot hit a large rock in the middle of the sidewalk, but her father was quick to catch her before she could hit the ground.
The scent of dust eventually came in, meaning that they had reached the apartment. It took a few flights of stairs to get to their desired destination, but they made it to the right apartment. Number 106. Then, they walked in and Olive immediately ran to the room she shared with her siblings and started playing with her doll.
She mumbled words as if her doll was talking to the other dolls she owned, making a little world in her head. She heard her parents setting up for dinner when her siblings started walking in.
"Mama and Papa are making dinner right now." Wanda confirmed her thoughts while looking down at Olive. The girl nodded as the twins walked into the room and started doing their own things.
Wanda was reading one of her favourite books. She didn't seem bothered that it was one of the few books she owned. It was her favourite out of seven, to be exact.
Pietro sat on his bed, waiting for dinner as he watched Olive with a smile. He usually played with her, but he found his legs feeling like jelly from the long day of walking around outside.
"Kids, dinner's ready!" Their mother called them over, loud enough for the children to hear.
"I bet I can get there first." Pietro laughed, racing the other children to the small dining room. Pietro did manage to win, with Olive getting there last. She could only go so fast with her small legs.
"Calm down, eat up before it gets cold." Their mother said sternly, although, a small grin was clear on her face.
The children sat down eagerly, a bowl of soup in front of each of them. "Mama, I can't reach!" Olive called, it was a regular occurrence in the Maximoff apartment. Being the youngest, she needed a taller chair, but the family didn't have enough money for that.
"Come here, darling." Their father spoke, a small smile on his face. Olive nodded, rushing over to sit on his lap. Their mother passed her soup over so now two bowls of soup sat in front of the small girl. One for her father, and one for herself.
Olive had a much better view of her dinner, making it easy to sip off of the spoon. A smile grew on her face as the soup hit her tastebuds. "It's very good, thank you." She smiled at her mother.
"Thank you." Pietro and Wanda quickly added in sync, guilty that they forgot to say it before.
"You're welcome." Their mother said appreciatively.
After a few minutes of light conversation, commotion broke out. "Ow!" Wanda groaned, looking at Pietro in disgust. Olive's eyes widened as Wanda kicked Pietro softly.
"Wanda! No violence at the dinner table." Their mother shook her head disapprovingly.
"But, Pietro did it first." Wanda whined, frowning as her shoulders slumped.
"If I didn't see it, it didn't happen." Their mother pursed her lips, before taking a spoonful of soup and stuffing it in her mouth.
Wanda rolled her eyes in annoyance while Pietro chuckled quietly to himself, earning a quick slap to his shoulder by Wanda. Their mother raised an eyebrow at their behaviour, causing the twins to mutter a quick 'sorry'.
Once the family had finished dinner, their parents decided it was a good idea to watch a movie. Olive and Wanda were in the kitchen as the oldest girl decided to clean up the dishes, the youngest one watching.
"Wanda! Olive!" Pietro called from the living room, and the two girls were quick to join the rest of the family.
"Hey." Their father smiled, giving Wanda a hug as she giggled. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and Olive a kiss on the forehead. "Now we can begin. Wanda, you pick."
The man brought Wanda over to a box of movies, and Wanda looked at them with a small frown. "My pick isn't here."
"I have forgot." The man spoke, "I put it in the special place for extra safekeeping." He smiled at his children, Wanda smiled widely with delight.
"Don't look." Their mother smiled, covering Wanda's eyes.
Olive watched as her father and brother went to retrieve the movie Wanda so desperately wanted, a little bit clueless, but happy nonetheless.
Their father reached into a hole in the wall that a curtain once blocked, pulling an item out of it and turning to face Wanda. "This is your pick, yes?"
Wanda leaned closer to look at it before nodding, "season 2, episode 21."
Their father nodded, going to reach for the episode Wanda wanted. "Dick Van Dyke again? Always 'sitcom, sitcom, sitcom...'" Pietro groaned as the children went to find their seats on the floor.
"The walnut episode." Their father smiled at Wanda.
"Yes, Ron and Laura have for the most fun shenanigans." Their mother added, taking a seat on the couch.
"What is a 'shenanigan' again?" Pietro furrowed his brows, his lips pulled downwards into a frown.
"Shenanigan is like problem, but more silly than scary, but can sometimes be a little scary." Wanda answered as she tilted her head, before smiling at the boy.
"Yeah, like mischief." Their mother smiled.
"But a silly mischief that always becomes fine." Their father added, taking a seat on the couch next to the children's mother, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"Okay, Papa, start it for us." Their mother smiled, turning to the small TV that sat on the floor. It was the size of a large cereal box, a pathetic TV to be fair. But, the Maximoffs treasured it for their movie nights.
"The Dick Van Dyke show, starring Dick Van Dyke." The TV started, in black and white.
The family smiled as a man tripped over a couch on the TV, eyes focused on the episode they've watched many times before.
"And, Mary Tyler Moore." The TV continued to introduce the characters as the episode started.
The family smiled, unknowing that this would be their last movie night. Giggles chorused throughout the room every once in a while as the show continued playing.
It felt like everything was right in the world, but they had no idea of what horrors were going on outside.
A small family watching TV was surrounded by fire and chaos, the walls of of the building they lived in kept it silent. It kept the peace.
But It all happened so fast, Olive didn't even know what happened. Her ears were ringing, and the room went dark and foggy. Dust filled her lungs as the walls broke down and she could finally hear the chaos that was happening outside.
She heard the explosions and crying. She heard her heart racing as tears spilled from her eyes. She looked around her and saw fire and rubble. It surrounded her. The peace was gone.
"Olive!" Pietro cried as he ran through the house, dragging her by her arm and pulling her under Wanda's bed. Olive was relieved to find Wanda already there, but the fear on her face brought tears to her eyes.
The ringing no longer came from her ears, it came from the missiles that were flying through the air and causing destruction.
Olive screamed as a second one hit, landing three feet from their faces. It taunted them as a red light blinked while it stuck out of the rubble. The children feared that it could blow at any second.
"Are you guys okay?" Pietro asked in Sokovian, "we have to get out of here."
Olive watched as the red blinking on the missile continued, she pursed her lips. She was too scared to breath.
"We can't." Wanda shook her head.
The children could hear the sounds of the voices outside, causing them to look around in confusion. "Shh. Do you hear that?" Pietro asked softly, "maybe they're here to help."
"Maybe they're the ones who sent it." Wanda disagreed, feeling much safer under the bed.
Olive frowned, just behind the missile was the TV. It continued playing Wanda's favourite show. The TV was the opposite to the missile. One brought happiness while the other brought pain.
"At the end of the episode," Wanda mumbled, hope mixing with the fear in her voice, a dangerous combination, "you realize it was all a bad dream. None of it was real."
Slowly, Wanda reached her hand out with a concentrated look. "Wanda, don't!" Pietro called out in fear.
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lizzie speaks...
oh wow i can't believe i'm republishing this, this fic used to be a mess but wandavision helped me rewrite the first chapter. in 2019 when i first wrote this i had to improvise omg i'm terrible at that y'all
i'll warn you that the first few chapters are not my best work. i wouldn't say terrible and maybe it's just me but until the movie starts, i didn't know how to write her time in sokovia. (the movie starts in chapter 3 btw)
if you ever see the name 'ellie' pls lmk so i can fix it. while revamping i decided to change her name to olive, and i went over everything but i might've missed some mistakes