Just a Doll
Announcer: And the Block is down! Will it stay down?!
Wanda Greenleaf: Don't tease me. I do not own The Avengers.
Chapter 3: Roller Coaster
I winced a bit when I saw the price for three young adults to enter the theme park for a day, but I had been given a whole bunch of money by my parents for the two weeks I'd be spending alone.
Pietro looked rather wrong-footed, completely surrounded by the crowds as we were. Wanda was holding his hands, glancing all around somewhat nervously. I acted confident for them, standing in the lines and leading them through the front gate.
I could already tell that Pietro hated waiting – he would start tapping his foot against the ground if we stood in one place for too long. I hope waiting for the individual rides wouldn't annoy him too much. But when you can move as fast as that, I suppose everything else seems twice as slow as a normal person perceives it.
That must get annoying sometimes.
"First ride I tried last time was the Vortex!" I said after we got through the gate technically the last thing I tried here was Bumper Cars, but that's a bit too safe for these two. "Let's try that out first."
Normally I was a bit jittery around rides – I had been a lot braver when I was in the single digits, I'm not gonna lie.
%&%&%&%&%&%&
"Oh, c'mon Wanda. I've carried you while moving faster!"
A mildly hysterical Wanda's response to that was to psychically pick up an abandoned water bottle and dump the contents on her brother's head. I slapped my hands over my mouth to strangle my snickers as Pietro sputtered and yelled at her in German.
It was really cute.
"So I guess that puts the Leviathan or the Bahamut out of the question," I guessed.
Wanda glanced at me, and I pointed to the enormous blue railed ride that had given me chills the first time I looked at it. I had never tried either, and frankly I didn't plan to.
"Absolutely not." Wanda agreed flatly, straightening up.
"Oh, come on you two. It's perfectly safe." Pietro said. Wanda just glared at him in response.
"Sorry, not all of us have nerves of steel," I said, and I meant that as a compliment as it was something I myself didn't have a lot of. Of course I never really had the need for it given my nice, safe life, but I often wished I could be a bit braver in the face of the world. "But we can always try Wild Beast. That one doesn't go upside down, at least."
Wild Beast was a ride I had to be cajoled into taking the first time – mainly, my grade school friends had run on ahead of me and assured me it wouldn't do loops, so I figured that meant it was fine. Of course, it started with one of those slow ascent, quick drops that always made my stomach churn. So I had the good sense to warn Wanda about that before we got on.
A couple other rides also made the cut – the sky high swing set, the great drop (easily my least favourite) and the Vortex again – before games and food became our primary interest.
Wanda hated the ring tossing game. After a while, I saw a blast of red light as she influenced the large, clumsy ring to land on the middle bottle. Just like everyone who ever played this wished they could do. This game had eaten a lot of tickets when I first tried to play it.
Wanda shot a slightly smug grin at the flabbergasted game master before pulling down the giant Zorua doll I'd been eyeing and handing it to me with a warm smile.
I felt my cheeks go red and stuttered my thanks. She didn't have to do that...
We wandered through the plaza for hours, trying different games. The twins quickly got into a game of trying to outdo each other, which was hilarious to watch and also kind of heartwarming. They both seemed so happy and relaxed.
**~Later, at Dinner~**
Pietro piled his plate with brownies and cookies – moreso than anything healthy – and whisked back to join us. It was really funny to see normal people try to make sense out of his super speed; originally I'd been afraid he'd get caught, but my Earth was so set in its belief of nothing spectacular existing that everyone just refused to believe what they were seeing.
Watching people spin in circles, trying to figure out who had been right behind them, got a giggle out of me every time.
"I haven't had that kind of fun in a long time," Wanda admitted as we ate. "Not since we were kids."
"That was kinda the point." I said, taking a huge gulp of milk. "I'm glad it worked out. Too bad we can't hang out longer."
Ashley was very specific about when she wanted to be fed.
"No, it's fine. I'm glad you took us out here, and I know it cost a lot." Wanda said seriously, before kicking Pietro under the table.
"It was very thoughtful of you," Pietro added, before cursing under his breath and sending his sister a wounded puppy look. I pulled my eyes away from him and looked at the various Pokemon plushies we had won in the games so he wouldn't see the redness in my cheeks – or catch me staring.
I couldn't help it, but I could acknowledge that Pietro was so far out of my league it was pitiful.
My phone buzzed. It was Alexis. While the twins were eating, I started texting again.
"Hey."
"How's life with the Maximoff Twins?"
I couldn't help but chuckle. Once I'd gotten over my shock, I felt like I was in a dream. One of the best dreams I could imagine, except maybe if I had met the Skywalkers or the Maverick Hunters. "It's freakin amazing. I realized that they never had the chance to be normal teenagers, so I took them to Canada's Wonderland."
My wallet was still smarting ever so slightly, but it was worth it.
"Really? How'd it go?"
"Pietro loves the Rollar Coasters. Wanda...not so much. Dunked him in water for teasing her about it, too."
"and you?"
I bobbled my head a bit before writing, "Had to steel my nerves a bit and act like I was less scared then I was. It was easier after the Vortex."
There was a pause, then I got a picture. Loki and Alexis were in a park, chatting. "He came back," She wrote, somewhat unnecessarily. Lucky!
"Wow. Did he say why?"
"To return the sweater...and he said he was lonely."
My heart ached. I'd felt desperately sorry for Loki since the first time I watched his movie; I knew what it was like to be different and to have everyone look at you like you're something weird. No matter what you did to fit in, there was something about you just different enough that you couldn't enjoy things the same way most people did – and everyone knew it.
It was so frustrating.
"Aww." I wrote sympathetically. I was glad Alexis was there to distract him from how awful his life currently was.
I also believed Loki could very well be innocent of the attack on Earth. After all, he'd been in the hands of the Chitauri for over a year before the attack, and the stone in the staff he was given was the bloody Mind Stone. The stone only needed physical contact to brainwash someone, and his eyes had a similar look to everyone who got taken over...
"He said he doesn't get many visitors. One of the few people who visit him are his mother and the guards. Frigga's nice, obviously, but the guards just shout abuse; them and the "Warrior's Three." Thor and the King of Child Abuse don't show up at all."
I made a noise similar to Ashley when she didn't want to get picked up. Those vicious, savage, barbaric, backwards-! No wonder they thought showing emotion is weakness – they were all violent sociopaths! With superpowers!
Alexis agreed on this front, it was obvious because despite the monotone of the text, the next words were in all caps.
"WONDERFUL, right?"
"I know. Fucking Wonderful." I added sarcastically. Noticing my pasta was getting cool, I pocketed my phone and dug in.
"Do you not have school tomorrow?" Wanda asked curiously; I'd told her I was in grade 12.
"Thankfully, no. I have a week and a half for Term break." I explained. "My dad's out on tour and my brother's in residence at University, so I've got the house to myself. My parents split when I was young," I added by way of explanation.
"Oh." Pietro blinked, and his face softened sympathetically. He was remembering his own parents, who were very loving, but died during the civil war. "I'm sorry to hear that."
I felt my cheeks getting warm all over again. A list actress, I was not. "It's hardly your fault...but thank you."
**~Later that Evening~**
We took the bus home; the sun had already set by the time we stepped inside. Ashley had warmed up to my two guests pretty quickly, and now she was rubbing against Wanda's leg asking the girl to play with her. I dropped off my newly acquired plushies downstairs; now I was getting quite the collection.
"My dad's room is in the back," I said, walking to the end of the hall and pulling the bed down from the wall. "The other room's my brothers. You can sleep in either of them, I know they wouldn't mind. There's a shower here and a bath downstairs, so that's there if you have a preference..."
Wanda smiled at me. "Thank you, Eileen. You didn't have to do any of this."
"Of course I did," I protested. "It's the right thing to do."
That wouldn't have been high on HYDRA's list of priorities, but what did they know about anything?
Pietro put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump and stare at him. He looked at me for a second before saying, "We'll pay you back for this, somehow. I promise." He smiled a bit. "Good night, Eileen."
"G...Good night." I echoed faintly, as the silver haired boy disappeared into the shower. Faintly touching my shoulder with my finger, I hurried downstairs, my heart hammering in my ribs.
If this is insanity after all, it's such a sweet and gentle kind.
End Chapter
So, how long will this peace last? When will HYDRA or Asgard show up to ruin our collective relaxation?
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