The first time it happened was after the experimental procedures had finished. She wasn't used to her new abilities, and it took her months to gain control of them. The one time she had no chance of control was while she was asleep. For months, she'd lash out when she had nightmares. She'd wake up, and find her quarters had been destroyed yet again. The Hydra men rolled their eyes every time, and after a while they stopped bringing replacements for what she'd destroyed. When she gained control, her room stopped looking like a tornado had gone through. But the first time she fell asleep, she realized that her dream was not hers.
The room was dark, but she could make out the shapes of people moving around. The person closest to her was a girl who could be no older than nine, and she was holding a gun. Her hands were shaking, and Wanda was sure she couldn't shoot straight like that. She watched the girl raise her arms and take aim, taking a breath to steady herself. Like magic, her hands stopped shaking. The look on her face could only be determination, and she pulled the trigger with a grimace. Wanda heard the body drop, but couldn't bring herself to look and see which figure had fallen.
The girl systematically took down every moving form in the darkness, and then suddenly the lights were on and an older woman stepped into the room. The gun immediately fell to the floor, and Wanda wasn't surprised to see that the girl was crying silently. The woman wasn't looking at her, but studying the bodies all around them. They were men, easily twice the girl's size.
"This is sloppy, Natalia. You would be dead, had they been armed. You nearly missed the mark on three," she stated, still not looking at the girl.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," the girl, Natalia, replied.
"See that it doesn't. The next batch will arrive in five minutes. Be prepared. These men will be armed," the woman said with a frown. Then she left the room, and Natalia broke into tears again. Wanda wanted to hug her, to comfort her in some way, but she was sure she couldn't be seen or felt. This wasn't her dream.
She woke with tears in her eyes, and Pietro watching her anxiously. It wasn't the first time he'd come to check on her while she slept, but it was the first time he'd stayed until she woke up.
"What's wrong?" he asked as soon as he knew she was seeing him.
"Nothing. You couldn't sleep?" she replied calmly, wiping the tears away. He shook his head. "We should both be getting rest. They will run more tests tomorrow."
"I would sleep better knowing you are okay," Pietro admitted. Wanda wordlessly made room on her mattress, letting him crawl in beside her.
They slept like that for nearly a month, and Wanda kept her own dreams and didn't see Natalia again until Pietro was forced to sleep in his own cell once again. Even then, it took Wanda a little bit to realize that it wasn't her own dream. She'd dreamt of Natalia a few times on her own, so seeing her again (older, at least twenty-five) wasn't surprising.
They were outside, on a cliff overlooking a big city. Natalia was watching the sky, as if she were waiting for something. A man dropped from seemingly nowhere, rolling his eyes when she didn't react at all. He stayed by her side, watching the city instead of the sky.
"You know, I don't think the signal will come from the clouds. They're good, but not that good," the man said casually. She shook her head, still not looking away. "Fine, suit yourself. Don't complain when I beat you this time."
"You couldn't beat me if you chopped off my feet, Barton. You're slow and impulsive. Those are weaknesses I could never afford," she snapped. Wanda was surprised that he didn't seem to be offended or upset at all.
"You say that now, but eventually you'll get comfortable enough with me that you'll slip. We've only known each other for a few weeks, and I spent half of that time in Medical. Thanks for that, by the way," Barton replied calmly.
"Don't hold your breath. On second thought, please do hold your breath. Your face would turn that purple color you love so much," she told him, smirking. "Our signal."
She was right; there was an odd green cloud floating over them, something a person who wasn't watching for it would never notice. Wanda watched as Barton cursed under his breath, grabbing a bow that she hadn't noticed was lying beside him on the ground. They moved together, though Wanda could see that Natalia had waited for him. Just as they were about to enter the city, Natalia turned back and looked right at Wanda, raising an eyebrow as if asking why she wasn't coming along.
Wanda was shaken awake just as she'd been about to follow, and she glared at her brother when she finally opened her eyes. She let it go when she realized he was afraid of something, letting him pull her along when he was sure she was awake enough not to fall. They were being moved again, and it was utter chaos.
"Someone load up the twins, now!" Strucker shouted when the came into view. Two men stepped forward to shove them back down the hall and out of a door they'd never seen before. They were loaded unceremoniously into a truck that was waiting, and driven for hours away from the base they'd been staying in. It was times like this that made Wanda wonder why they bothered to stay. They didn't owe Hydra anything, but Pietro was convinced that if they stayed they would get their chance at revenge against Tony Stark. And she was not used to arguing with her brother, so for now they were forced to be prisoners to the same people that had promised them freedom so many months ago.
The new base was much smaller, and they were forced into one cell that had two tiny matresses and no bathroom. She knew from experience that they would only be allowed outside of this room twice a day. Once for testing, and once for bodily functions. They'd be fed twice a day (if the sludge they were given counted as food), and they wouldn't see the outside world until they changed bases yet again.
Wanda didn't enter Natalia's dreams again for three weeks. The experiments had gotten worse, more painful, and Wanda's nightmares had started again. Sleeping with Pietro no longer helped. On the night of a particularly painful set of tests, Wanda found herself in dreams that weren't hers. She couldn't believe how much of a relief it was.
They were alone this time, sitting in an empty room and staring at a wall with a mirror. Wanda knew from experience that it was a two-way mirror, and Natalia was staring straight into it with a blank face. She was the same age as before, but she had a few cuts on her face and a brace on her wrist. Wanda stepped forward automatically to check for other injuries before remembering that she wouldn't be able to. So she went to the mirror instead, hoping to see whoever was on the other side. She couldn't.
"This is like a prison. I truly hope these are only dreams and not memories," she whispered, mostly to herself.
"They've been a mix of both," Natalia replied, smirking when Wanda jumped and spun around in shock. "Yes, I can see you. I've known you were here from the beginning. Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Wanda said cautiously. "Also why you've never spoken to me before."
"I wasn't sure if you'd hear me," Natalia admitted. "I'm not this person anymore, and I'm not that little girl. Your turn."
"My name is Wanda. I am also a prisoner, and exactly as I appear here. What do you mean, you aren't this person?" she asked.
"This is my past. I'm older than this, and I know quite a bit more. I don't get to pick my appearance. This was the day I was employed. You could say I'm waiting for my interview," Natalia answered, lips twitching in something like amusement.
"This does not seem like any job I'd want," Wanda protested. "Before, when you were a child, was that a memory? It was horrible."
"I didn't have a good childhood. Someday you'll have to show me yours. I'm pretty sure you could change the dreams if you wanted to. You already have changed a few things. This isn't the room I was kept in," Natalia told her.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. You are the only one I've seen like this," Wanda admitted. "And this is only the third time."
"We can learn together," Natalia offered. "I'm Natasha, by the way. Or Natalia, as I used to be called. I think you saw that in the first dream. I lost that name when I turned my back on the Red Room. Natasha fits me better most days."
"Which do you prefer?" Wanda asked. Natasha looked surprised for a moment before she shook her head and cleared the emotion off of her face.
"Natasha is fine," she said quietly. "It's what I'm used to."
"Then I'll call you Natasha," Wanda nodded. Then she thought of something. "Please don't tell anyone about these dreams. I don't want people to look for me. I'm where I need to be."
"You said you're a prisoner," Natasha stated, raising an eyebrow.
"I am, but of my own choice. My brother believes it will benefit us for the time being, and I am not inclined to argue yet," she explained. Natasha nodded. "I doubt we have much time left, and I don't know when I will join you again."
"It doesn't matter. My life is on the line every day. There's every chance I'll die before we'd ever have the chance to do this again," she stated. Wanda frowned, already shaking her head. But she was waking up before she could reply.
More months passed, and Wanda didn't see or hear from Natasha. She tried to research her, but there wasn't enough information to go by. And then out of nowhere, she saw her on the news. It was the briefest flash, but she was completely sure it was Natasha fighting in the battle against aliens in New York. Her (literal) dream girl was an Avenger. It was at that very moment that Wanda started making plans. She'd never leave her brother behind, but she couldn't remain a prisoner for much longer. Revenge was no longer at the front of her mind, though she'd always hate Stark with a passion. She was much more interested in meeting Natasha in real life, and she knew she could convince Pietro because she was on a team with Stark. It would be perfect, with the right distraction.
The day after she'd decided what she wanted, her distraction came. There was chaos again, men screaming through the halls about the Avengers attacking. Explosions shook the floor under them, and it was her turn to pull Pietro through the base to find out what was going on.
This time, Strucker and the others were too distracted by what was happening outside to send them away immediately. She could hear them talking about the attack outside, and someone mentioned using them as a distraction to get the equipment out of the base. She was pulling Pietro outside before Strucker had even finished his protest, uncaring whether or not they'd be punished. She had no intention of going back to them.
"This is our chance," she told Pietro, knowing they were thinking of two different things. "We don't have to stay here anymore. Everything we want is just outside."
"Can you manage? I know my speed won't fail me, but can you handle using your power for more than seconds?" Pietro asked anxiously. Wanda smiled at the concern in his voice, pulling him into a hug.
"I can. I have before, and this is different anyways. You worry for yourself, and I'll take care of me," she replied. She made sure to keep her voice steady, but inside she was a mess. What if Natasha didn't want to meet her? What if she shot at her, thinking she was an enemy? There were so many things that could go wrong, but she couldn't change her mind now.
In the end, she didn't get to speak to Natasha. She knew that she was seen, but Pietro didn't let her stop to talk. He made sure to get her into position to do as they'd discussed, and then took off to distract the others. Wanda had no choice but to go through with their plan, letting Pietro take her far away from that place when she was done.
She was expecting the dream that night, but she wasn't looking forward to it. It took her hours to fall asleep, and she wasn't sure it wasn't her own dream at first.
"You're with Hydra," Natasha stated, face blank. They were in a meadow that Wanda remembered from her childhood, but she couldn't see her village in the distance. There was nothing to be seen, other than the meadow and the two of them.
"No. I was their prisoner," Wanda corrected.
"You said it was by choice, to get what you wanted. How does that make you better than them?" she demanded, crossing her arms. She looked angry, almost hurt.
"It wasn't by choice at first. Pietro and I, we were orphans. Our parents were killed by Tony Stark's weapons, and we had nothing. We answered an add, thinking we could find jobs and take care of ourselves. Instead, we were treated as experiments. It is how I gained this ability to speak with you in your dreams. Once we had our abilities, we could have escaped at any time. Pietro has wanted revenge from the beginning, and I was inclined to agree until very recently. It was his idea to stay prisoners with Hydra until we had an opportunity to strike. I managed to convince him today that we should go, because I wanted to meet you. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance," Wanda explained carefully.
"You volunteered to be guinea pigs unknowingly?" Natasha asked, face blank again.
"It is infuriating when you do that," Wanda told her, frowning.
"Do what?" she replied, lips twitching.
"You know exactly what," Wanda said, amused. "And yes, we did. Once we realized our mistake, we knew we'd have to be careful. Neither of us care for Hydra. It was a means to an end, as you'd say."
"And I'm just supposed to trust you?" Natasha asked. Wanda nodded. "You've seen that I don't trust easily. I watched you walk out of a Hydra base today. You just walked out, and nobody tried to stop you."
"Because nobody noticed us. My abilities have to do with probability. There was every chance we could be seen or stopped, but there was also the possibility that we could be ignored or not noticed. I enhanced that possibility. We walked out because we wouldn't be seen," she explained.
"You volunteered to be guinea pigs unknowingly?" Natasha asked, face blank again.
"It is infuriating when you do that," Wanda told her, frowning.
"Do what?" she replied, lips twitching.
"You know exactly what," Wanda said, amused. "And yes, we did. Once we realized our mistake, we knew we'd have to be careful. Neither of us care for Hydra. It was a means to an end, as you'd say."
"And I'm just supposed to trust you?" Natasha asked. Wanda nodded. "You've seen that I don't trust easily. I watched you walk out of a Hydra base today. You just walked out, and nobody tried to stop you."
"Because nobody noticed us. My abilities have to do with probability. There was every chance we could be seen or stopped, but there was also the possibility that we could be ignored or not noticed. I enhanced that possibility. We walked out because we wouldn't be seen," she explained.
"Let's assume I believe that for now. You said you don't want revenge anymore. Why?" Natasha asked. Wanda sighed, wishing for the first time that the dream would end.
"I decided I would rather meet you. I've never been as driven with that need as Pietro, and I doubt it will go away for him as it did for me. But you intrigue me, and I found that I wanted to meet you more than I wanted to wait for something that may never come," she admitted quietly. "You seemed like a more attainable goal."
"And is it?" Natasha asked, equally quiet. Wanda looked up at her, wanting to see the expression on her face when she answered. But it was too late; everything was fading to black as one of them woke up.
Wanda didn't have time to worry or think about Natasha much at all over the next few days, as she tried to keep Pietro from getting himself killed by the robot called Ultron. She was still working towards her own goal of meeting Natasha, as he was going for his revenge. As long as it continued to work in her favor, she had decided not to argue with him. That was until she'd seen into Ultron's mind and realized what he intended to do.
It was only because she trusted Natasha (and she'd really need to work through why that was, later, because she hadn't even officially met the woman) that she agreed to help Captain America. And later, as she tried to stay alive through an army of robots, she recognized Barton as the one from Natasha's second dream. She followed him and kept him safe because Natasha had done the same. And it was only the thought that she would finally get to meet Natasha that kept her from falling with the city when Pietro was killed. She very nearly fought Vision off as he saved her, but something inside of her made her stop.
She was unconscious by the time they reached safety, and nobody tried to wake her up. She slept for three days, but Natasha didn't join her. When she woke up, she wasn't alone. She had to pinch herself to make sure she really wasn't dreaming this time, and then she was up faster than she'd ever managed before.
"Careful, you're not completely healed," Natasha said softly. "The doctor says you've got a few more days of healing. Why didn't you tell me you heal faster than an average person?"
"I didn't know," she admitted.
"It's that very ability that saved your brother's life," Natasha informed her, actually smiling at her shocked and happy reaction. She caught Wanda easily as she fell forward to hug her. "I thought you might like that."
"Yes," Wanda answered, hoping Natasha would realize she was answering two different things at once.
"Yes?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I never got to answer your question from before. So yes," Wanda nodded, smiling slightly. "You are a worthier goal. And I'm sure Pietro will agree, when he wakes."
"He's been awake all along. He woke up three hours after we reached this place. It's been nearly impossible to keep him in bed, because he knew you still weren't awake. Actually, I should probably have someone let him know that you're okay," Natasha replied.
"Is that all you have to say?" Wanda asked, feeling disappointed. It must have shown on her face, because Natasha reached up to brush hair out of her eyes, giving her a reassuring smile.
"I'm not sure that I believe I'm worthy, but I am glad you're here. I hated never knowing if I'd see you again or not," she admitted.
"I will make you believe you're worth eventually," Wanda promised, wrapping her arms around her again. "I have all the time in the world."
"That's an exaggeration. But you've got all the time I have, for sure. I'm not going anywhere, and I have a feeling you'd follow me if I tried," she said, smiling. "And strangely enough, that doesn't bother me."
"I don't know what the future will bring, but I hope to be by your side for it," Wanda admitted shyly. Natasha started to stroke her hair comfortingly.
"I'd be honored," she whispered, pulling Wanda in for a kiss.
(Later, when she'd gotten to know the rest of the team, Wanda had the satisfaction of learning that Natasha had trusted her in far less time than it had taken her to open up to Clint. It would be her greatest accomplishment- according to Pietro, who found the whole thing extremely funny.)