Hey all! I decided to post a second chapter in the same day since the first one was so short. Also, I want to let you all know that I'm probably not going to update as often as I did with You Found Me, but I will be updating a few times per week. Once I figure out a set schedule I'll let you all know. Anyway, I don't own anything (which I forgot to mention in the first chapter).
Enjoy!
X_X_X
Wanda rose from her bed for the fifth time that week. With a sigh, she made her way to the Winter Soldier's room where she stood outside his door, letting her magic pull the nightmare from his mind again. She shivered as the black matter slithered it's way into her body, adding to the coldness inside her.
"Wanda?" a voice called behind her.
Turning, Wanda saw Steve poking his head out from his bedroom.
"Steve! I, uh, thought this was your room?" she offered hesitantly.
"No, that's Bucky's room. Did you need something?" Steve asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Um, not really? I just, uh, had a bad dream and thought that maybe I could talk with you. But then I realized it was too late, so I didn't want to wake you, which is why I'm just standing here… I promise I'm not lurking," Wanda said in a rush.
"That's alright," Steve chuckled. "Did you want to come in and talk since you're here already?"
Wanda shook her head.
"I don't want to bother you any more than I already did. And I should also get to bed, it's late," Wanda added the last bit when she saw Steve was about to argue back.
"Okay, goodnight Wanda," he said.
"Night, Steve," she said, quickly walking back to her room, trying to swallow down the sudden guilt for lying to Captain America.
X_X_X
"You're betraying their trust," Pietro said.
"I'm helping them," Wanda argued back.
"You know they won't see it that way. They'll think you make it a habit to go invading their minds," he said.
"Steve would understand. He's the one who taught me to help whenever I can," Wanda said.
"You're pathetic for believing that. You're nothing to them but a lost bitch they found on the road," Pietro smirked.
"You're wrong. I'm part of their team, I'm an Avenger," she said, biting back the doubt that threatened to spill from her lips.
"They don't even trust you, Wanda. And they aren't wrong to doubt. You'll kill them all in the end, you know. You bring death to everyone you get close to. You killed mom and dad. You killed me. You killed the people you promised to protect in Lagos. The Avengers are next," Pietro mocked.
"No, you're wrong!" Wanda yelled.
"You're death, Wanda," her brother sang.
"Death," emotionless voices began calling around her.
"You're dead, Wanda," her brother's voice rang out clearly around her.
"Dead," the voices sang around her, reaching out with cold hands to drag her down.
"No!" Wanda yelled, springing up on her bed while covered in sweat. Her bed sheets were tangled around her legs, making her heart feel like it was about to jump out of her mouth in fear.
Picking up her phone, Wanda saw that it was four in the morning. She'd only been asleep for two hours before the nightmares began.
Laying back, Wanda forced herself to go back to sleep, silently praying for a dreamless rest.
X_X_X
"Hey, Wanda, are you alright?" Steve asked a few days later.
Wanda looked up at him, dazed, as she tried to process his words.
"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" she asked.
"You seem a bit out of it," he said, stepping to the side to let his friend into the kitchen.
Wanda watched as Bucky moved around the room in silence, preparing his breakfast as he went.
"I'm fine. Just a bit tired," she said.
"Nightmares?" The Soldier asked, taking a bite out of his apple.
"Something like that," Wanda answered with a tired smile.
"I used to get them a lot, but I've been doing better in recent years," Steve added.
"Yeah, I've been getting them less recently," Bucky said. "I don't remember the last time I've rested so well. It must be something about this place."
"Don't worry, Wanda. Your dreams will get better. It might do you good to also get out of the palace more. Being in your room all day can't be helping you at all," Steve said.
Wanda nodded and stood up.
"Thanks, guys. I'll think about it," she said and walked out, heading straight for her room.
She'd discovered a few days ago that sleeping during the day helped her keep the nightmares away since the sun kept waking her up every few hours.
"Wanda!" someone called before she bumped into the owner of the voice.
"Shuri! I mean, princess, I'm so sorry!" Wanda apologized as she took a step back.
"Don't worry about it. But are you okay? You look terrible," the princess inquired, taking in the appearance of the frizzy haired, pale girl in front of her with dark circles under her eyes and wrinkled clothing.
"I'm fine, princess. Just a bit tired," Wanda answered with a forced smile that come out more like a grimace.
"Is it the room? The bed? Are they not comfortable enough for you?" Shuri asked, wondering how to help the young witch.
"No, no! Not at all, princess. Everything is perfect, I've just been having difficulty getting out of my head lately. I'll be fine," Wanda said.
"Alright… If you say so. But if there's anything we can do, please let us know, yeah? And please, call me Shuri. I feel uncomfortable when people call me princess," Shuri said.
"But you are?" Wanda inquired.
"Well, yeah, but it's still weird. Everyone here is older than me and yet they treat me like a 90 year-old-woman," Shuri said.
Wanda laughed and she felt something inside her melt as she felt the first authentic emotion in days.
"Alright, Shuri. Thank you," she said, and walked around the royal to finally rest in her room.
When Wanda felt like her back couldn't stand anymore, she got off the bed. She'd been dozing off for the past 12 hours and knew that if her brother was there, she'd be in trouble with him.
Deciding to take Steve's advice, she took a shower before leaving the palace for the first time.
However, she didn't know the lands and knew that in the night time, no one would find her if she got lost. Instead, Wanda decided to lift herself onto the palace roof where her breath was taken away by the view.
The far away lights of the city reflected along the ocean's surface and made it seem like another world existed underwater. Above her, she could see all the stars that never shone in Sokovia.
Wanda felt so incredibly small and insignificant in that moment.
"Oh, Pietro. You would've loved this," Wanda murmured to the air around her.
She sat on the rooftop and glance out into the surrounding forest.
"You'd have a field day running through the trees," Wanda said with a choked laugh. "I still remember the first time Hydra let us go outside for training… You mixed a handful of glitter into your lotion before putting it on."
Wanda laughed as tears streamed down her face.
"Then you went running as fast as you could around the field, yelling at the top of your lungs that you were a vampire," Wanda said as she wiped away at the tears. A soft smile appeared on her face. "You said you only did that to make fun of me for being so obsessed with that stupid book, but I know you were trying to make me feel better.
"You always knew how to get me out of my mind. All of my happiness came from you, Pietro. And now…" Wanda broke off in a sob.
"Now you're gone and I don't know what to do. I'm so lost without you, Pietro. I wish it was me that Ultron killed, not you. You had so much more to offer the world than I could ever dream of," Wanda hiccuped and felt uncontrollable anger wash over her.
Anger at losing her brother too soon.
Anger at Ultron.
At Hydra.
Anger at all the people who tortured her.
Wanda wondered briefly if she should be feeling sadness, too, because that was what she normally gravitated to, but anger overpowered her thoughts.
Most of all, she was angry at herself for being who she was, for torturing other people just like she'd been tortured. She hated herself for being a monster that, with a few random words, could be brought out to kill anyone in her path.
And that fucking arm-
Wanda was left gasping as all emotions emptied her body and mind. She was left numb and cold, the only things she'd been able to feel for the past few days.
Not the blinding anger she'd been experiencing just a few seconds ago.
With a wildly beating heart, Wanda let herself down and ran inside the palace, all the way to the Winter Soldier's room.
With her powers, Wanda reached for the Soldier's mind only to find it in chaos as he tried to regain control of his own thoughts, of his own body.
Wanda tried to pick out the nightmare but everything was in a disarray and she didn't know what was a dream and what was real.
Suddenly she felt a painful tug on her left arm and used her powers to open the door.
Inside Wanda saw the man scratching the skin above his prosthetic arm and tugging, as if he was trying to pull it off.
"Mr. Barnes, please stop, you're hurting yourself!" she whisper-shouted.
The Soldier continued to scratch and began drawing blood.
"James, stop!" she said, using her magic to hold him down.
His eyes opened and he struggled against her hold, shouting at her in Russian. His eyes were empty and cold. Wanda could feel the anger radiating off of him.
"Wanda! What's going on?" she heard Steve yell behind her.
But before he could take another step, Wanda lunged at the Winter Soldier and connected her hands with his head, pushing the spells into his mind. Wanda's own head twitched as she read his emotions, pushing everything back except for the nightmare, which she brought into her own body.
Wanda was pulled back by Steve but she didn't notice. All she could focus on was the ice travelling up her arms, chilling her soul. Wanda couldn't feel her body. She couldn't feel Steve's hands as they tightly grasped her arms.
"Wanda, what did you do?" Steve asked again.
"I… I was only trying to help," Wanda stuttered.
"Steve?" the Soldier asked, finally waking up. "What's going on?"
His eyes met Steve's before landing on Wanda.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"You were having a nightmare… I was only trying to help," Wanda said.
She felt like she was suffocating in guilt and shame, although she didn't know why. She hadn't done anything wrong.
"Buck, your arm. We need to get you to the infirmary," Steve said.
The two men brushed past her as Steve dragged his friend out of the room to go take care of him. Wanda stood in the doorway wondering whether or not to follow them.
X_X_X
"What are you still doing here?" Bucky asked.
Wanda quickly stood up from the bed and walked closer to the man.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It looked like it hurt," she said.
Barnes rubbed the back of his neck.
"A bit, yeah," he said.
A quiet beat passed and Wanda shifted.
"Right. Um… I should-"
"I wanted to ask you about what happened earlier," Bucky said, cutting her off mid sentence.
"Oh, okay," Wanda answered, digging her nails into her palms as she crossed her arms.
"You pushed the Winter Soldier out of my mind. How?" he asked.
Wanda bit the inside of her cheek.
"I didn't exactly push him out. He's still in there I just…. I just pushed him back so he wouldn't bother you. And I took out the nightmare so he-"
"You took out my nightmare?" Bucky interrupted.
"Yeah," Wanda confirmed. "It was feeding him with all the anger you were feeling."
"How do you know what I was feeling?" he demanded.
The hardness in his voice made Wanda take a step back.
"I felt it inside your dr-"
"You were inside my head?" he cut in, clenching his fists.
Wanda saw his jaw twitching in anger and she drew her powers to her for comfort.
And protection, should it come to that.
"No, I didn't go inside your mind. I just picked it up-"
"Just picked it up?" he asked, incredulous. "Like what? A penny on the street?"
"No! It's not like that! Your thoughts came to me! If anything, you're the one who went inside my head!" Wanda defended herself.
As soon as the words came out of her mouth she realized they were the wrong ones to say. The Soldier wiped his face of any emotion and went rigid. Wanda could feel frost picking at her skin.
"I've heard all I need to. If you don't mind, I'd like for you to leave," he said in a flat tone.
"Mr. Barnes, I didn't mean-" Wanda tried to explain herself but he cut her off again.
"Now, Miss Maximoff," he said, going to open the door for her.
Wanda furrowed her eyebrows as she felt something heavy settle in her chest. She straightened herself and walked out, jumping slightly when the door shut behind her.
"Alright," she whispered to herself.
Deciding she was too cold and too numb, Wanda went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She nearly turned back when she saw Steve in there.
"Coffee?" he asked.
"She prefers tea," came a voice from the counter behind her.
Wanda closed her eyes and turned to smile at the princess.
"Shuri. What brings you here so late?" she asked
"Steve went to get me, he said his friend was in desperate need for my help. To make it up for me, he offered to make me coffee. Lucky for him I'm working on a project right now, so I need all the caffeine I can get. Otherwise he'd be drowning in guilt at having interrupted me," Shuri said with a grin as she took a sip of her drink.
"Right. Um… Steve, if you don't mind, I'll take some coffee. It's been a long night," Wanda said.
"Wanna talk about it?" he asked as he poured her a cup of the black drink.
"Not really," Wanda winced.
"Alright, that's fine as well," Steve said, handing her the mug.
"Careful, it's hot," Shuri warned from the counter.
"What's that?" Steve said, taking one of her hands in his.
There were four little cuts on her palm in the shape of a moon.
Or nails, Wanda thought to herself.
"I'm not sure. I didn't even realize when I got them," she said.
"They look fresh. I can still see the blood glisten inside," Steve said, bringing her hand closer to his face.
"That's weird, Steve. I'll take my hand back now," said Wanda, placing her hand around the mug he'd given her.
"Is that coffee I smell?" came Bucky's voice from the entrance.
Wanda turned to look at him and froze. She saw him stiffen as well and before she could give it much thought, Wanda gulped down the hot coffee. Her eyes teared up in response but she couldn't feel the burn of the liquid going down her throat.
"Thanks for the coffee guys, bye!" Wanda managed to choke out in a slightly raspy voice.
Without waiting for a response, Wanda practically ran from the kitchen. However, she didn't miss the questioning way Shuri looked at her. Trying not to think about it, Wanda ran to the one place she knew she'd feel safe- the palace roof.
"Oh, my god," Wanda gasped as soon as she made sure she was alone.
"Pietro, you would not believe the day I had," she said, touching her chest as she felt it hard to breathe.
"Or night," she amended.
Slowly raising a hand to her throat, Wanda tilted her head in confusion.
"I couldn't feel the coffee. I know it was hot, I could see the steam coming out of it. So why couldn't I feel it?" she muttered to herself.
Taking her hand off, she furrowed her eyebrows as she saw blood stains. Wanda knew it must have come from when she was clenching her fists, but how did she not feel it? Was there something wrong with her?
"Pietro, I'm so confused. And scared, I think," Wanda whispered. The breeze blew her hair back and she closed her eyes.
"I know you promised to always protect me, but what can you do against the living?" she asked.
Wanda giggled.
"Remember when we were five and thought out house was haunted? We made a promise to each other that whoever died first would protect the other from ghosts and demons. Of course, we thought it pointless back then because we'd die within minutes of each other. We never prepared for this…" Wanda trailed off.
Tears escaped her eyes and she groaned as she wiped them away.
"Right. No more tears. You aren't here to comfort me anymore or fix my problems for me. I'll figure it out eventually,'' she said a lot more confidently than she felt.
Wanda laid back and looked at the sky. She imagined her brother was looking down at her, winking ever so often as the stars twinkled above her.