Disclaimer: I do not own any of the films in the MCU, nor do I own any of the comics. This is simply a work of fiction and is not meant for any monetary gain or to infringe on any copyright laws
Rating: T for violence and minor language
Author's Note: And now we get to my favourite chapter :) I think we'll have about two more chapters in this story (sorry about the late update, by the way) and then it will be over. Two notes about this chapter: 1) The whole power balancing thing between Vision's mind stone and the Cube is completely made up, so don't rely on that. It just works for what I need it for. 2) While I know the Cube can alter reality I'm not sure it can go back in time like it does in this chapter, but once again this is an AU story and it works for my purposes.
Chapter 10
Wanda throws out a blast from her hands immediately as they step through the staircase onto the fifth floor, assuming the amount of men will be more than Steve's shield can protect them against. Her hunch is right; the first line of men goes flying, hitting the second line and landing in groaning piles.
There are still dozens, way more than the three of them can handle without deliberately killing. Vision is getting to work, setting their guns on fire and crushing them under parts of the ceiling, and Steve is throwing his shield around and has pulled out his own gun, firing to injury, but there are just too many men. A distant corner of her mind wonders why the soldier has decided to use a gun, since that is very unlike him, but she can't afford to dwell on it.
Wanda retreats behind Steve and calls for any additional help from the other Avengers. She's relieved when Natasha answers, saying her and Clint are on the way up. Sharon is apparently helping Sam evacuate and protect the civilians, but the two extra Avengers can mean the difference in this situation.
The superhuman heads back into the fray, firing her powers like she never has before except for the time during the battle against Ultron. Vision and she are the biggest newbies, the ones with natural powers that they have to master.
Behind her Wanda hears footsteps and she sees a hint of blond and fire, and the infamous duo appears, guns in hands. They hit the fight running, so to speak, and they blend right in with Steve. Steve will throw his shield and Natasha will catch it, holding it up against fire before striking from under the shield and tossing it back to the super soldier. Clint covers Natasha's back, using his bow to hit and using his hand to eliminate threats quickly and precisely. The five slowly fight their way through the ranks towards the main room, where they all know MODOK is watching and waiting. He's the main goal, the biggest threat.
Wanda is firing a series of short blasts when she sees from the corner of her eye a man setting his aim on Vision. She whirls, trying to stop him, but the bullet is flying too fast. Vision sees it too, and suddenly he squeezes his eyes tight, seemingly concentrating on something.
The bullet hits, and it goes right through him, leaving him no harm. He looks up at Wanda's surprised face and grins sheepishly. "Little trick I've been working on," he yells over the fray, and Wanda turns back to her enemies. So apparently he can change his own density now. She wonders what else she can do—that's if she can do anything else special.
The way is clearing for her to get into the room with MODOK, and Steve and Clint motion for her, Vision, and Natasha to continue on. "We'll hold them out here in the hallway," Steve says, his voice strained. "Go and get MODOK. Finish this!"
The three follow his orders immediately, Vision flying slightly above ground level to avoid stepping on bodies. Natasha kicks the door open and the three of them enter the room.
There are two guards in the room with MODOK, and Wanda quickly dispatches of them. Natasha stands in the doorway with Vision, and the two of them guard it while Wanda approaches MODOK.
He stands in the center, his massive head staring down at the Cube in his hands. His face is in open, almost innocent (note: almost) expression, and he looks up at her as she walks toward him, arms at the ready.
"It's so beautiful," he whispers. She narrows his eyes; Ultron had always went on and on about how the Earth is so beautiful but the humans are destroying it, and thus they should be destroyed. She gets the feeling MODOK won't be so different. "It's a shame I have to kill you," he continues.
"Try," she taunts, and he returns his gaze to the glowing square in front of him. Wanda feels Vision coming up behind her, and as MODOK's forehead creases in confusion the other Avenger gives her a glance; so far it seems as though their plan is working. The Cube and Vision's powers balance each other out.
"Why isn't it working?" MODOK rages. He looks up and sees Vision beside her, and his eyes turn red in anger. "You are an unseen variable."
Wanda nods to Vision, and he focuses the beam of his gem's power towards the Cube in MODOK's hand. The Cube glows a mixture of the orange of the gem and the blue of the Cube, and MODOK's hand catches on fire. He yelps in pain and drops the Cube, backing away hastily. The creature locks eyes on Vision and a hatred wells up in him.
As MODOK and Vision face off, MODOK now using his mind powers against the hero, Wanda runs to the Cube, picking it up. Though she never told the others, her plan all along has been to use the Cube against MODOK. She knows, and she has always known, that she alone isn't powerful enough to take on the living computer.
As soon as the Cube is in her hands she yells to Vision, "Go! I can handle this! Just leave!" She already knows the Cube won't work with the man around.
He looks over at her in worry, but when she turns her gaze icy he flies straight upward, breaking the ceiling as he retreats. Natasha is still guarding the door, but her back is turned, and it's essentially just Wanda and MODOK.
"Go ahead," MODOK tells her. "Look into it."
She does, though not because he tells her. Wanda looks into it because she knows she will have to in order to use its power. To take it as her own, and to defeat MODOK.
At first all she sees is the glowing blue, but then images appear in it. She's transported to another world. No, not another world; she's transported to the future. The world is in flames, and the screams of dying and suffering people are in her ears. Buildings collapse on innocents, children are left to wander around parentless, and the oceans are drying up. The sun explodes, and all that is left of the pitiful humanity is gone, the charred ashes of thousands of years of civilizations just gone, blown away into the dark recesses of space and time.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" MODOK asks, his voice sounding strangely distant. "The world is in its rightful place. No one should survive. Humanity is doomed, though they don't know it." He sighs, almost happily. "I'm really glad you're here. You can actually understand me, Wanda. You can see what I see. We could be allies, you and I. The world would be powerless against us."
"Never," she replies, still gazing into the Cube. More images flow past her, and she sees the world in ways she never has seen it before. There is the past, now; a green and blue Earth with no deserts, only lush, green forests expanding over hundreds of miles and tall, peaked mountains covered in glistening snow. The oceans are a deep blue, and the lakes are a crystalline turquoise. Humanity is hiding deep in holes and caves, terrified to come out lest the wild animals come after them. The ashes of their failed fires blow away as if they had never existed.
"You're not strong enough to beat me, even with the Cube." MODOK is fading away even as he speaks. Wanda is literally disappearing into the Cube, the AIM base and the room and the sounds of battle fading away to nothing. She's in the Cube's consciousness, and she's seeing all it knows.
She visits the different realms, from the awfulness of Hel to the beauty of Asgard, to the frozen peaks of Jotunhiem, to the sunny skies of Hawaii. She's suddenly been everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. Information, facts, history, and knowledge floods through her.
"Help me to defeat MODOK," she asks of the Cube, knowing know that it isn't an inanimate object.
That's not what you really want, the Cube replies. I can give you everything and anything you want.
"No, you can't. It's impossible." Doubts are beginning to grow in her, though, deep-rooted doubts. The more she learns the more powerful she realizes the Cube is. The Cube is a living being, though still in fetus form, like an egg; it's alien, and one day it will "hatch" and become an organism in the universe, the most powerful one ever. And he can bring back what she wants most.
Steve had warned her about this, though. He had told her what might come back isn't what she thinks she's bringing. But she can't let an opportunity like this just go by. She has to do something! She has to at least try. This is so important to her, and she can't bring herself to listen and follow the wise advice.
I can do anything. I can alter reality, bring back from the past what you so desperately want. You need to help me, though.
"How? How can I help?" All thoughts of MODOK have left her mind; the Cube is showing her glimpses of her past; her brother, her parents, her childhood friends, her village, everything. She sees it all and nothing at once.
She's thrown on what is like a platform, surrounded on both sides and overhead by the currents of time. Wanda can see everything that is, everything that will be, and everything that has come to pass. So much information, so much goes through her that her head begins to hurt and she feels like she will explode. Her long hair is whipped around her face, stinging her skin, and the bottom of her skirt is flying up. It doesn't matter, though; nothing matters except what is in front of her.
Then she sees him. A single face appears through all the chaos swirling around her. It is not the face of her teammates, her fellow Avengers, nor is it even the face of her parents. It is her brother, the one she can't let go. He's reaching for her, his hands so tauntingly close. She knows he can never reach her, for he's frozen in the past, frozen at such a young age. And, until now, she's been unable to reach him.
Somewhere deep inside of her the Cube continues to whisper to her, telling her that if she tries she can reach him. She can touch him again, she can reclaim what has been lost. All she has to do is draw him close. She finally has the power to say goodbye. The power to do more than that, in fact.
And she does. Wanda pushes against the currents, her eyes focused on the prize, on him. Her brown ones searching his blue ones. Her arm trembles; she doesn't know what will happen. There's nothing around her except a vortex of time and space and past, present, and future all mixed up together. They are in the middle, and they are all that is there.
It's because nothing matters, no one matters to her except him. He's her anchor and while he's been gone she's just been drifting, not even trying to keep her head above water. Lately she'd been drowning, but now's he's reaching to pull her up, to save her. And she's about to do the same for him.
First her fingers brush against his, then she takes hold of them firmly, never breaking eye contact. She's never letting him go, not again. She's come too far to lose him again.
"Come home, brother," she whispers, her eyes tearing up. Even though the vortex of jumbled up time and space is as loud as an inferno her quiet plea thunders, as if the sounds around her all faded into the background just for them.
"Show me the way," he replies, his eyes deep and dark. "I'm lost."
Everything suddenly shifts, and she's ripped away from him. It happens so fast. She's traveling, caught up in the currents of time and space. All that's ever to be and all that has been passes by, and she watches empires rise and fall in seconds.
Wanda doesn't know how long she's been caught in the current; time has no meaning, no power over her anymore. Everything is slow and fast all at once, and it's all she can do to not get drawn into an era.
Then she sees him again. She sees years of their childhood flashing by in seconds. Everything she dreams about, it's all here. Suddenly she knows what to do.
Wanda begins pushing against the current, hoping she's aiming right. She quickly shoves forward and pulls a window open, entering into it.
The transition from the time stream is rough. She feels jumbled for a moment, then everything clears up. She's standing next to the core in the floating city, firing her powers against Ultron's minions. Her brother is there, too.
"What about the core?" Barton inquires, looking around at the remaining Avengers.
"I'll protect it," Wanda volunteers. At everyone's concerned glance she adds, "It's my job." Barton nods, a sort of proud look in his eyes. The Avengers leave and Pietro speeds up to stand near Wanda.
"Get the people on the boats," she orders, leaving no room for argument.
"I'm not going to leave you here," he insists, his voice tight. He's always trying to protect her.
"I can handle this," she replies just as firmly, taking out another robot with her red hexes. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." Pietro humphs and begins walking past her. "You understand?" she confirms.
He stops and turns toward her, a smirk on his face. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."
She laughs, because despite the age difference she has always been the one issuing the orders. "Go."
Pietro speeds off, and Wanda continues to protect the core. Things are going well; her powers are at an all time high and the mindless robots are easy to take out.
Then she feels it, feels the telepathical link between her and her brother severed. Grief fills her, a grief that she has never felt the equal of, nor anyone else on this world. She falls, her power practically leaving her as so much of it shoots out to kill everything around her. She's all alone, left. Pietro died.
"No," she whispers to herself. "I can save him. Take me back!"
She's yanked out, and suddenly she's traveling through the time stream again. She locates the window and pulls herself through.
This time we have to change something, she reminds herself and the Cube. We have to prevent his death somehow.
"I'm not going to leave you," Pietro insists, his voice tight. He's always trying to protect her, and maybe she can use it to her advantage to keep him safe.
"Good," she replies. "I can handle inside of the church. You go set a perimeter."
Pietro nods and speeds outside, and all she can see of him is his blue streamline left over from running. As long as he's in her sight he's safe. She can protect him here.
She hears the quinjet, the one she knows Ultron is in, and she knows this is it. Her brother is running a perimeter around her, protecting her. He won't die.
A thought occurs to her—if Pietro isn't going to take the bullets for Barton, then who will? By saving her brother she's dooming Clint. Guilt rises up in her in a torrent. By saving her brother she is condemning another man to death, and a man that has practically become the best father-figure in her life right now at that. How can she justify her actions? She can't, and it pains her that she has to make such a damning choice.
Her mind suddenly shuts down, pain filling her. Where's Pietro? She looks around, but he's not running perimeter anymore.
"Pietro?" she calls, calmly at first. She reaches out with her mind, but she cannot locate him. "Pietro?!" He's gone. Somehow he managed to get away from her, and now he's gone again. "Pietro!" She falls to her feet, sorrow consuming her. She's failed him again.
"Take me back," she orders the Cube. "I'm going to fine a way to save him."
Again she enters the time stream, and again she's thrown back into the situation. She makes up a new thing to say to Pietro, and he agrees; then somehow he's again killed off by Ultron. No matter what she says, no matter what she does, she always loses Pietro. How many more times can she experience her brother die? She's already been through this a dozen times, two dozen times, a hundred times, a thousand times. She just keeps going through, trying to save him.
"I'm not going to leave you here," Pietro insists.
"Yes, you are," Wanda sobs. She can't keep doing this. She can't keep losing him. Not again. She's lost him far too many times. "No matter how this plays out, no matter what happens, you always end up leaving me."
Pietro's face grows a wide, timeless look in it, as if he is suddenly aware of all the times she has tried and failed to save him. "Then maybe there is a lesson in all this," he says. "Maybe some people can't be saved. Maybe you can't alter reality for this. Perhaps I'm always destined to die."
"I can't do this without you," Wanda cries. "I need you, Pietro. I'm lost, and I need you." A few tears drip down her face, and he comes close, holding her and wiping them off her face.
"You can do whatever you wish to do," he assures her. "You are the strongest person I've ever met. You don't need me."
"If I can do anything then why can't I seem to move on?" she asks softly, though deep down she suspects she knows the answer.
"Because you don't want to move on." Pietro holds her at shoulder length, looking down into her eyes. "Wanda, let me go. This is the only way you can have peace. Let this play out the way it always plays out, and then find peace. Please, do it for me."
Wanda can't look him in the eyes, so she looks down and nods. She's crying again, but what else can she do? She can't save him; she never could. This has just all been an illusion, a waste of time. A torturous taught, like dangling a biscuit in front of a dog but no matter how high he jumps or how fast he runs he can never get it. Kinda like that Greek guy, Sisyphus. He had been punished for all eternity to push a rock up a hill, but right before he reached the top of the hill the rock falls back down. There is another guy, too; Tantalus. He had been punished to stand in a pool of water underneath a fruit tree for all eternity but he could never drink the water or eat the fruit.
"Go," she says, hardening her voice. "I can handle this." She doesn't mean handling the core; she means handling his death. She says it with such confidence that she almost believes it. She has to believe it. It's the only way she'll be able to do this, to sentence her brother to his inevitable death.
Pietro runs away, and as Wanda stands to protect the core she cries harder, knowing she is letting him to towards his death. And now he knows it, too.
A sudden thought occurs to her. Wanda ditches the core, knowing that the robots will get to it anyways and that the Avengers will win in the end, no matter what. She runs as fast as she can through the floating city. She hears Ultron's quinjet firing its machine guns, and she pushes herself harder.
Then she sees them. Barton is a few feet ahead, crouched over the body of a little boy, ready to protect him from the oncoming bullets. Wanda watches Pietro's blue streak as he runs in front, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. She uses all the bottled up emotions from inside to create a mass of red power that is bigger and stronger than anything she's ever been able to make before. She thrusts it forward right as the bullets rain down, and they bounce off right before hitting Barton or Pietro or the boy. They deflect back into the quinjet, bringing it down as it flies overhead. Wanda watches it crash, and she watches Ultron stumble out of the wreckage, broken as he is.
Wanda strides up to him. He looks at her tenderly; she knows he has always liked her more than Pietro, and that he always really did like her. Wanda doesn't care; he killed her brother. She has no sympathy for him as she summons her power and uses it to push him to the ground. He lays there, watching her stand over him.
"If you stay here, you'll die," he tells her, and she hears pleading in his voice. She ignores it.
"I just did," she replies, letting her emotions show in her tone. "A million times over and over. You know how it felt?" She puts her hand out in front of her, palm facing him. Her red power glows as she viciously rips his heart out from inside his vibranium chest. She takes a moment to appreciate the hurt and pain in his metal eyes. "It felt like that."
She examines the metal heart in her hand, then suddenly her knees feel weak and the heart seems to fall from her hand in slow motion, bouncing on the cement ground twice. She follows suit, her legs giving out.
There's something that catches her, something warm and comforting. No, not something; someone. He lays her down gently on the ground as she cries; everything she's wanted to say, everything she's wanted to do, all her regrets, all her bad memories—it all just leaks out now. She's held herself together for so long that letting it out is such a relief. This is something she's needed to do but has not been able to do; now, with Pietro by her side, she can.
Her brother, the one that she finally saved, holds her tight against him, and she lets it all out. It's all over now. She can finally be in peace. It's such an empty feeling, though; she had expected love and warmth radiating from inside, but instead all the hatred and grief and bitterness that has called her heart home is gone, and she can't feel anything. It's strange, and she feels so lonely without it that she almost wants it to return. Almost.
She's yanked out of the timeline, and she's back into the depths of the Cube. She hears a voice, distant, but something real.
"No. You can't do that. Why did the Cube help you?" the voice is raging, extremely angry, and she suddenly remembers her original purpose with the Cube. A new purpose floods her, and suddenly the depths of her heart are not empty anymore.
"Help me defeat MODOK," she orders. "Please. This is what I need to do. Lend me the power."
All power comes with a cost, the Cube reminds her. Are you willing to pay the price?
"Yes." She's willing to pay anything except the one thing she just reclaimed. That's the only thing that really matters to her now, the only thing that has ever mattered.
She can feel the Cube's power merging with her own. She feels stronger than ever, and she blood running through her veins seems to thrum. Not only can she defeat MODOK with this power but she can also defeat all their enemies in the vicinity. She feels the energies of the aircrafts outside, the energies of the men inside, and the energies of MODOK.
Wanda pushes against them all, pushes out with her mind, expelling all that power. She hears the distant sound of fire and explosions and screaming. She hears it all and digests nothing. MODOK's energy goes silent, stops thrumming, and she knows she's won.
Now its time to pay the price for the power.
Pietro whizzes around the AIM base, tripping up his opponents and pushing them against hard objects enough to keep them down. He's working his way up to the fifth floor, where he knows the main force of the Avengers are fighting, Wanda included. He needs to get up there, he needs to protect her.
He practically flies because he's speeding so fast. His legs ache and he has a side stitch, but he needs to keep going. He has to make it up to Wanda. He finally makes it to the fifth floor, and the whole floor is a battlefield. Bodies are everywhere, yet even more agents are still fighting against the Avengers, pushing them into a retreat by their sheer numbers. Steve is throwing his shield around, his jaw clenched tightly and his side dark red under his uniform. Natasha is jabbing her widow's bites into shoulder blades and necks, Barton is whacking people with his bow like a five-year-old with a tantrum (Pietro did not see that coming) and outside the window he sees Vision and Rhodey flying up in the air, fighting the AIM aircraft. One the ground Tony Stark is picking off stray quinjets and escape pods.
Natasha is guarding the door into the office, and there's a strange light coming from inside the doorway. Pietro sprints forwards, throwing men into the air and tripping them at high speed. He ends up next to Natasha, and the two of them slip into the office, Pietro's disturbance strong enough to leave a manageable amount of agents to the two Avengers still fighting in the hallway.
Natasha still guards the door, though she's half watching Wanda. Wanda is standing in the middle of the room, a bubble of blue around her. MODOK is wailing on the bubble, firing an asssorment of weapons at it to try and penetrate and using his mind power (a strange greenish yellow color) to try and break through. It all is to no avail; the Cube's protection around Wanda is too strong for even MODOK.
Inside the force field Wanda is staring into the Cube, which is held in her hands. Her whole body is thrumming with her red power and the Cube's blue power, and even more startling is that she's levitating a few inches off the ground, a part of her powers she has not demonstrated before. Her hair is flying back as if a wind is blowing on her.
She's nothing like when Pietro last saw her. He's startled by her change; she looks too powerful, too strong.
Wanda opens her eyes wide and her eyes, which are normally brown, glow with the red and blue power. She looks alien, completely different. She looks aged, too, in a way. Her eyes glow with a greater power and density, and they continue to grow, until the light has become more than just her eyes. The bright spots become as big as tennis balls, and soon they touch each other. The moment they touch the whole building shakes, and a supernova of power just explodes. Pietro steels himself, but the blast does nothing to him. He looks over at Natasha, and sees she's unaffected, also.
She peeks out the door, and at her confused face he follows her. All the AIM agents are lying on the ground, but Steve and Barton are not harmed by the blast at all, either. Through the window Pietro can see the whole armada of aircraft falling, but Rhodey and Vision are fine. On the ground Tony is looking around in puzzlement, and over the coms he's complaining that the fight is already over.
Inside the office MODOK is no more, completely erased by the blast. Wanda is still levitating, her eyes back to normal size but still glowing. The protective bubble still surrounds her.
"What is she doing?" Natasha yells over the humming of the power. "She needs to let go. The Cube will consume her!" Even as Pietro watches, parts of her start dissipating. Her feet fade until they are no more, and her legs are starting to literally turn to dust. Her eyes glow just as bright, and she continues staring into the Cube.
"If you don't shake her out of it she'll die," Clint says, coming into the room. His eyes are dark and sad as he takes her in. "If it's not too late already."
"It isn't," Pietro insists, and he starts walking towards her. "I'm not going to let anything happen to her." He can't. Not after she saved his life in Novi Grad. Now it's time to repay the favour.
He approaches the protective bubble, putting his hand against it. At first it doesn't budge, put he presses against it gently and closes his eyes in submission; if Wanda is at the center of this—controlling it—then maybe she will subconsciously feel his presence and allow him entrance, just like she had subconsciously kept MODOK out.
His hands sink in, and he slowly follows with the rest of his body. Once inside of the bubble he can feel the immense power surrounding him. His blood sings to him, his bones rattling softly and his hair whipping around his face. He feels stronger and faster than ever before, like he's just drank a dozen expressos (yes, he's tried that, and no, it is not a good idea. He didn't sleep for days). In front, Wanda is still levitating—now she's the same height as he is—and she's faded away up to her thighs.
"Wanda!" Pietro shouts. "Listen to me! It's killing you!"
She doesn't answer, doesn't even give him and indication that she's listening. He steps up and grasps her shoulders tightly, shaking them a little. "Wanda! It's consuming you! Let go!" She has to listen to him. It's the only way he can save her. Throughout his whole life she has always listened; now, when it matters most, she won't even look his way. It feels like a punch to his stomach when she's right in front of him but ignoring him.
"I can't!" she cries, her eyes never leaving the Cube. At least she can hear him; it's a step in the right direction. "I can never let go. I've seen too much. My brain can't process it all—I can't ever let go."
Her legs are completely gone. Pietro holds her tighter. "Please, Wanda," he pressures, his voice cracking in pain. He can't lose her. How could he ever live without her? His world would be a dismal place of shades of grey. He needs her so much, and she needs to know that. "The Cube can't control you. Put it down."
"I'm trying. I just can't." Her words are broken and quiet. Her stomach is fading even as time passes by. Pietro feels sadness well up in him. He really is losing her, despite his best efforts. It's too late, and they both know it. That doesn't mean he's going to step trying, though.
"You can't leave me," he tells her. "I need you. I need my little sister. I'm supposed to protect you. Father told me I always need to protect you, no matter the cost. But I can't fight this battle for you."
"All power comes with a price," Wanda replies, gasping. Her words are short and full of pain as her chest blows away. "I used the Cube's power and now it's making me pay my debts."
Her arms are disappearing, though somehow her hands are still intact enough to hold on to the Cube. Pietro moves his hands to her face, cradling her tender cheeks in his rough hands. He's losing her, and he can't lose her. She's all he has. "Wanda, please," he whispers. "Let it go. Let the Cube go, sister."
"Tell me how," she begs, and her face is beginning to disappear, though he sees her glowing eyes dim in the glowing and the brown he's used to shines through. A small part of her coming back to him...right before she's gone forever.
"You're in control. Just let go." Pietro holds her eyes, though she isn't looking at him. "Look away from it. Look at me, Wanda. Look at me." Desperation colours his tone. She's his world, and he's watching it burn in front of him. The pain he feels doesn't even comprehend right in his mind.
He sees her struggling, feels her struggle. She's fading away, her neck and now her chin. She still struggling, and Pietro keeps talking, keeps encouraging. He won't give up her her; he never will. Her eyes lose their glow and she finally manages to tear her gaze away, just as her face disappears. He locks eyes with hers, and suddenly the Cube falls to the ground. The moment it hits the ground it seemingly explodes, sending out a blast that throws Pietro against the wall, hard. He hears the others hit the walls too, but his focus isn't them. His focus is his sister.
As the dust settles he sprints over to where she is laying on the ground, her body fully there again. She's laying in a crumpled heap, not moving. Pietro crouches down and brushes away the hair on her face, but when he touches her skin it burns him and he retrieves his hand, yelping quietly.
Her skin is steaming red and blue, as if the trace of the power is still on her. He picks her up, being careful to touch her only where clothes cover her body. She's still hot, but it's a bearable heat. For her anything is bearable. He runs out of the building, seeing the others getting to their feet as he runs past.
He sets her down on the ground outside and waits a few minutes while the steam finally finishes seeping out. Then he pulls her upper body onto his lap and holds her close, feeling for a pulse.
Joy fills him when he finds one, and though it's weak he still rejoices, pulling her into an embrace and vowing to never let her go.
Author's Note: In case of any confusion about what happened, Wanda went back in time and created an alternate universe in which Pietro is still alive. The rest of this story will take place in this alternate universe, and she's the only one aware that Pietro died in the original universe, but we'll explore that a little more in the next two chapters.