"Brave New World"

Chapter Seven

By darthelwig


* I own nothing. I'm just having fun. ***

A/N: Just a brief update. I've written up through chapter twelve already, so will try to post more later. Enjoy!


She's not mine. Wanda reminded herself of that over and over as she sat with Carol, laughing as the girl wiped whipped cream from her nose. She didn't think she'd ever been so immediately enamored of anyone before, but there was something about Carol that had her sliding right inside the walls Wanda had carefully erected around her heart. This girl was goodness. Every sense Wanda had, both enhanced and otherwise, screamed it at her. This girl was untainted by the darkness Wanda had lived with for so long, and though that should probably deter her, it only made Wanda want her more.

And maybe Wanda felt a little less dark just being next to her.

"Okay, okay," Carol said. "Laugh it up. Keep in mind, though. Payback's a bitch."

"I will keep that in mind," Wanda said as she giggled. When had she laughed this much? Never? It felt good to let go.

"So." Carol cleared her throat. "I'm gonna record this, okay? That way I don't have to take notes while we talk."

"That is fine." Wanda sipped her tea, a bit nervous now that they'd gotten down to the reason they were here. The voice recorder was a jarring reminder. They weren't friends, not yet. She wondered if Carol would like to be. She wondered if Carol would like to be more.

"I'm gonna get this out of the way right now, because you know I'm going to ask at some point, so I might as well get it over with. Were you there during the Battle of Sokovia?" Carol dipped a spoon into her hot chocolate, scooping up some of the melting whipped cream. Wanda's eyes followed the spoon as it slipped between Carol's lips. She forced herself to focus.

"Um. Well, yes. Pietro and I were there," she said, wincing at the way she stammered. She took a deep breath to compose herself.

"You were?" Carol squeaked, clearly surprised. And why not? Who would expect a Sokovian citizen who had lived through that to be attending high school in a small town in the United States? Wanda nodded, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

"Pietro and I were very scared, but the Avengers were amazing. They saved us all." Wanda smiled. "I do not like to think about where Pietro and I would be without their intervention." If Carol detected any oddness in the way Wanda phrased things, she didn't show it.

"This is probably a stupid question. I mean, you were in the middle of a huge disaster, but did you meet any of the Avengers?" Carol's eyes were wide and interested. Wanda would do anything to keep Carol looking at her like that.

"Yes," she said. "I met Captain America. He is a good man, very just and noble. He has a good heart. And I met Hawkeye. He gave me courage when mine ran out. He was kind." Clint was always kind, always there for two teenagers who had seen and lost too much. There weren't words to describe what he was becoming for them. Not a parent, not just a mentor, but maybe a mix of the best of both. Clint shared his home and family with them, when he didn't have to. There was nothing she and Pietro understood more than the value of family.

She was jolted from her thoughts by Carol's hand touching hers where it lay on the table.

"I'm sorry if I've upset you," she said, and Wanda smiled reassuringly.

"You did not. I was just remembering." She flipped her hand over beneath Carol's, letting her fingertips trail over the girl's palm, and thought she saw something like heat in Carol's eyes before she pulled away to cradle her hot chocolate.

"So, uh... How did you end up here?" Carol asked, leaning back in her chair. Wanda wondered if the move was truly as relaxed as it appeared, or if it was an attempt to put space between them. She refused to dip into Carol's head to find out. For now, the not knowing was much more enjoyable.

"Well," Wanda said slowly. "Pietro was badly injured during the battle. American doctors saved him." Which was pretty much true, she supposed. "Afterwards, there was nothing left for us to return to in Sokovia, so we came here, where a family was nice enough to take us in."

"Right. The Bartons. They're good people," Carol said. "How'd they get involved in all that? I mean, how do you get selected or volunteer or whatever to take in a couple of foreign refugees? No offense."

"None taken, but you would have to ask them that question." Wanda gave her an apologetic smile, but she wasn't about to start making up answers about Clint and his family.

"Pietro seems fully recovered," Carol said wryly.

"He is." Wanda could still feel the rush of relief and joy she'd experienced when her brother opened his eyes for the first time after being shot down. "He is alive, and he is whole, and it is more than I could have hoped for. I did not think we were leaving that city alive." And that was something she hadn't admitted to anyone but Pietro, so why was she saying it now? Maybe it was the sympathy (or was it empathy?) in Carol's eyes, or the warmth in her gaze. Maybe it was the simple fact of Carol's integrity, a quality she could feel radiating off her, that made it so easy to talk. In the end, did it matter?

"I'm glad you made it out," Carol said. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Wanda replied, and she meant it in more ways than one.