It had only been a week
7 days
164 hours
60,4800 seconds and counting
Without him and she still felt the emptiness in her chest.
Dreams of him haunted her, his teasing, the breeze of him rushing past her, even his fingers in hers reassuring her, his piercing blue eyes..
Each time she awoke tears blurred her vision, blinking she let them fall willingly.
She was now truly an orphan.
She was alone, alone and unwanted.
The group of people who called themselves "Avengers" took her in.
She wasn't sure if it was out of pity or out of fear at this point she was too numb to care.
Her brother was dead.
There was nothing left for her, nothing but death.
The man - Hawkeye- who had given her a pep talk about fighting for what was right when all odds were stacked against them, the same man Pietro had saved, took to his family farm, saying it was only temporary until they could get her legal papers in order. It was also partially to keep her out of the spotlight for a while and she presumed to give her time alone before being flown to New York to join the rest of the team.
She wasn't even sure she wanted to be a part of them or why they would welcome her among them. Especially after being Hyrda's secret experiment/weapon, and then being called upon by Ultron only to realize what his true intentions were.
It was then that she realized they had been wrong.
So very, very wrong.
They tried to fix it.
Tried to make wrongs right.
And in the end Pietro died.
It should have been me, a voice so unlike her own whispered hoarsely. It wasn't until her lips closed that she realized it was her own words escaping.
She shivered despite the midday sun being on her face, pulling her coat closer but it did nothing.
She was a stranger in a strange land, there was hardly anything left of her home now.
There was no reason to go back, there was nothing to go back to.
Just memories of them as children, playing laughing - she had nearly forgotten what that was like - until the war came, the bombings, the screams, the smell of death and decay..
His fingers in hers, his blue eyes steady on hers, wordlessly reassuring her, steadying her.
Pietro…
The field warped and bent before her, blurring the past with the present.
The bomb crashed into their room, the cold metal coupled with cold words STARK across it.
The fear of death coming at any moment.
The thought of seeing their parents again comforted them.
Then when nothing happened for days of being frozen to the spot, the fear turned into anger which festered into hatred that boiled to the surface.
Pietro...
When they finally decided to leave, neither of them hesitated to take their revenge on all of those that had caused them such pain.
It wasn't long after that they were approached with an offer that could and would change their lives forever.
Together they would right the wrongs of the war, together they would get their vengeance, together they split the group that was trying to kill their new family.
It was too easy to bring the fear to the forefront of the IronMan's mind, he feared causing death and destruction. He had been witness to too much already, it had almost overwhelmed her, but she focused letting the red tendrils of her telekinesis work on him.
Much later she had gotten the chance to work on the others, the tall muscular blond in the red cape feared being forth an apocalypse, the other blond with the shorter hair and brightly colored outfit feared missing out on a second chance and the red headed woman was a challenge to read, as she had been through much more than the others and her memories were more difficult to bring forth but they were filled with pain, fear, anger.. all the things Wanda herself could identify with.
She moved onto the next victim only to get a comment from the archer that he had been mind controlled before and it wasn't fun, then her memory went blank.
Pietro..
He was there holding her, she smelt grass and felt the sun on her face. He gave her the option for them to leave, but she pressed on wanting to finish, wanting to complete their mission.
The big guy.
He was easy to find and unprotested.. Pietro left her to distract him while she crept up behind him and pulled as his memories, scientists, experiments, pain, anger.. the anger nearly overwhelmed her, there was something much more lurking just under the surface of it all, something extremely large and dangerous if only she could just reach a bit further should could…
Something roared loudly at her, before she could react she was swept away by Pietro.
"You didn't see that coming?" he asked with a slight smirk on his lips but his eyes were filled with concern.
She shook her head slightly and moved out his arms hearing the dull roar in the distance.
"We are done here."
She nodded an affirmation the memories of the other swam with her own for a moment before she pushed them back.
Now they had vengeance, now they could go home.
How wrong they both were…
Now she was alone, on her knees in the middle of a field, a stranger in a strange land, swimming in memories of those whose minds she invaded along with the memories of her brother Pietro.