we lost faith, in the arms of love
wanda/vision
Pietro had a small picture, but Wanda had a vision.
The world was hers to burn, she saw it in his head, fingers pressed against glass. She heard the screams of children - children such as herself, left for dead under the rubble of men who thought they should play God. She was no better, she saw that now, her fingers glowing under her grief.
Losing Pietro could never be quantified in words, only to say it felt like each day she woke up drowning in his blood. Everything was so very red those first few days - it reminded her of the early days of their experimental trials, spent ricocheting off the walls of a cold concrete dungeon.
"Wanda," A voice came from behind her shoulder, and in turning she discovered The Falcon, his face wide and warm. She tried to imitate it, but she knew it was a pointless attempt.
"Sam," She acknowledged, and his name felt odd on her tongue - letters which did not belong mixed in her mind.
He continued smiling and walking at her side as they move from the training center to the housing units. "Great job today, it's not often people get the best of Cap."
She knew he was trying to make her feel accepted and she tried to be grateful, but then she looked in his mind and saw the horror of war - the fear that he would never be more than a soldier searching for a battleground. She watched Sam interact with the Captain and wondered if he realized his idol is also his greatest fear.
"He has a solid mind - It is," She struggled for a moment to find the right words, "It is certain, even in doubt, his thoughts are strong. I like it, it is harder to read him."
Sam nodded, "Well, none of us can imagine what he's been through. His family and friends, everyone suddenly-" He stopped himself, realizing too late that Wanda's face was contorted in pain.
"I am so sorry!" He said immediately, but the damage is done. Wanda's mind had slipped into that dangerous territory she so feared.
"I need to be going," She muttered, looking for a way into the fresh air in this labyrinth of glass and stone. The pleas of Falcon were left behind her as she pushed the doors open and sucked in the warm dry air of autumn's beginning.
The world was quiet around her when she stumbled into the forest near their new headquarters. Her new home. She mentally snapped at herself, trying to forget all those other places she had called home. Without Pietro, she felt like she was free falling with no home in sight.
When she had first arrived to begin her training, Clint pulled her aside, his eyes saying enough without her gently looking into his thoughts.
"Pietro…" He began, but the name felt like a sword in her side, causing her to wince under the weight of it. "He's always gonna be in here." He continued, pointing to her breast."Sometimes that's all that makes the bad days feel okay."
She had nodded, pretending to understand how anything could be okay again, but as she looked into Clint's mind and saw that he had lived long enough to watch his fears unravel inside his mind and beyond his control, she forced herself to believe him.
.:.
It was Clint who came up with her "team" name for when they're in the field.
"Do you even own another color?" He was laughing, taking in her usual red and black outfit, as though Clint Barton, Flannel Connoisseur Extraordinaire, had any right judging fashion sense.
Her eyes flashed red and she sent him across the room with a lazy flick of her wrist, careful to ensure he doesn't land on his injured side.
"Our own little Scarlet Witch," he'd muttered, pulling himself off the floor, not realizing that the name would stick for the rest of their days as teammates.
Wanda didn't mind. For so long her named seemed to have been "Wanda and Pietro" or "the Maximoff Twins". Somedays Stark called her "Girl Wonder" but she hated that name, it made her feel small and childish. Scarlet Witch could be what Wanda thought she never could - brave and strong and good.
The Captain grinned over at his new team and their progress, "You are all great fighters, but there is more to being an Avenger than knowing how to fight," he paused and looked to the Widow. "To be an Avenger means you are more than just any one individual. Your teammates depend on you, and you, on them. If you break that trust and loyalty, you will lose every fight."
Wanda felt Steve's mind drift and a hazy form of a shadow briefly flitted through his conscious. It was hard, especially for her, to trust these loud and brash Americans with their materialistic culture. She had grown up with nothing but Pietro and a bitter hatred to fuel her. She did not understand this alleged love forged through teamwork.
The Widow's mind, nearly impenetrable, felt the most like her own. Wanda watched her other trainer interact and instruct with careful precision. It seemed so much easier for the others. Rhodes and the Falcon, hardened by war, buried their fears behind bravado and jokes.
Vision was altogether different. Though she could read his mind like she would any man's, his thoughts flowed like a river downstream, effortless and smooth. He wondered at so much around him, despite an encyclopedic knowledge of the world. They often sparred as he stood as the only true match for her powers in the room.
"May I ask you a question?" He inquired, his foreign accent gently rolling off his tongue.
"You have," She said, but relented by nodding her ascent.
He looked to her like someone torn very much between wanting the truth and hoping never to get it. "I know what gifts have enhanced you, so I wish to ask… What is my fear?"
Wanda blinked at him. "You do not know what you're afraid of?" She asked bewildered. Most people would never ask such a complex question, but she had to remind herself, he was not wholly a person.
"I am afraid of becoming Ultron," He said, tone filled with sorrow and mild curiosity at his own discovery. His eyes flitted over her face. "You knew that, I believe?"
She nodded, "You fear what I think he feared. You do not wish to be alone."
"Do any of us?" The Vision asks in return, turning to stare at the mass of dense trees beyond where they stood inside the training facility.
She tried not to think of Pietro in that moment - not of his constant warmth, not of depending on his protective nature, of knowing though they had no family, no money, no hope, they always had each other - but Vision's oddly mechanical eyes pierced through her. She conceded by turning her gaze from him.
"I do not know loss. Not the way the Captain, or Natasha, or especially yourself have," he said, reaching a hand out to turn her face back toward him. "I am sorry for bringing it up."
She shook her head, looking up once more and finding a resilience in her reflected image. They had lingered behind as the others made their way to dinner and rest. Wanda enjoyed the silence, it became exhausting to be around them, to see a love she wished she could feel.
"If-," her voice trembled only slightly, "If I do not talk about him, I may forget why I continue to fight. He died to save someone, that is his legacy. I can only hope to have that."
The Vision nodded, "Your fear of failing your brother is admirable, but unfounded. You have already saved many lives."
She blinked, then without even thinking about allowing it, a bitter laugh flowed from her mouth and she said, "I will never save enough lives to repay the destruction at my hand for which Pietro paid the price."
The Vision held a hand out to place his hand over hers, and she felt his presence in her mind. They were two oddballs, burdened by thoughts and morals, but in that moment she allowed his serenity to wash over her mind and calm her.
"Have faith," his voice urged her. "All is not lost. I have no family in a literal sense, but these people," his thoughts flashed through images of their teammates and mentors, focusing finally on her, "I believe they could be as close as I shall ever get to having one."
When he released her hand, she felt a chill run up her spine.
"Thank you," Wanda whispered, not knowing anything else to say.
He tilted his head toward her, turning to stare out the window once more, "As long as we trust each other, we have extraordinary potential. I am honored to be your partner on the battlefield, as well as your friend, Wanda."
And she didn't think of Pietro as she followed Vision out of the training room and up to where the rest of their team sat, laughing and eating together, eager to welcome the stragglers they'd left downstairs. She instead thought of her new friends, especially her sparring partner sitting to her right. The future seemed oddly bigger than before, full of possibilities and she no longer feared living on through them alone.
And that would have to be enough for her.