Warning: Rated M for explicit language, violence and dark themes. This story is canon divergent. For all FAQs and info, seek my profile.

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Wanda Maximoff's Apartment
Seattle, Washington

It started out simple.

It started with Wanda's eyes closed as she tried to meditate, giving herself a moment to try and calm her behind before she accidentally caused something to explode from the stress she always woke up with.

Levitating in the air was a habit she'd picked up early on when she meditated; creating an entire hallucination around her when she meditated was something she'd never experienced before. Creating small things around her to ease her mind, sure, that was something she did often - the bracelet being a prime example. Maybe once or twice she recreated a photograph she'd lost. But to create an entire environment around herself that she could immerse herself in? Never happened before.

The environment she had created was dull, plain even - seeming like all the color had been drained from it. She was standing in what seemed like a living room and all of the furniture around her was different shades of grey, while some was simply white. In the process of scanning the room, she looked below at her hands to see if they were responsible for creating this illusion without her realizing. But when she looked down, her hands were in color - contrary to the room she was in.

Taken aback by the imagery she was seeing, she figured it had to be a trick. Someone had finally found her - had found the place she'd been hiding and was here to bring her back to the life she'd been so desperate to get away from. They were using mind tricks to finally drag her back to her so-called home. It's probably Strange, she thought.

"Wouldn't it be funny if it really was Strange?" her voiced called to her, echoing around her.

This wasn't possible - there had to be someone assuming her identity in this daze, something trying to trick her into thinking there was suddenly more than one of her in this place.

"Don't be mad, Wanda. I am you, silly." the voice called out again.

There was no absolutely no way that this thing was her. It made no possible sense - even though Wanda's life heavily focused outside the laws of possibility, but this was nonsense. Another her creating this whole illusion - what was the purpose of it?

"I'm no separate entity - I am you. The Wanda Maximoff that you know best, the reflection, you. We are the same," the voice giggled as she said this. "You know, you can talk instead of letting me do all the work."

"Who are you, really?" Wanda asked, not holding back.

"I am you - the best parts of you. I'm the Scarlet Witch. The hope you once had, the optimism that you slowly began to have, the humor you forgot about... The part of you that loved Vis." Scarlet Witch explained.

Was this possible? Could it be that her subconscious had assumed control while she was meditating and pulled her into a dream world that let her be able to communicate with herself? No, this wasn't possible either. The subconscious could not make the self do anything - this was entirely a dream that she was having. That was the logical explanation for this. She had fallen asleep during her meditation and this was just bizarre dream that she would cease to remember when she woke up later.

"Keep telling yourself that, but I am you. You created this."

"You're just a dream." Wanda stated.

Suddenly, the area around her dissipated and Wanda fell to the seat beneath her with a heavy thud. She'd been floating high in the air while levitating, but that was no mere dream. As she often did, she began to analyze the situation at hand.

Her reality powers had always been advanced - so much so that she once let Tony Stark see the end of the world, his worst fears being brought to life around him. Could it be that her subconscious was fed up with her pushing down her grief that it interacted with her powers? Could it be that her powers were reacting more so than they had ever before to her grief?

Wanda took a deep breath and tried to gather herself.

She had created a reality around her - one she swore was real - where her subconscious was attempting to communicate with her. The part of her she hadn't felt akin to in months. The best parts of her died when Vision died, or so she thought, but maybe it was simply buried underneath many layers of grief.

Maybe there was more to this than she knew.

But Wanda wasn't going to find out anymore at the moment. Once her mind was to a point of calm that she could tolerate, she felt a sudden wave of tiredness. She yawned, stretching her arms out and finally standing up from the seat. She walked towards her bed, laid down, and closed her eyes.

Whimsical Books
Seattle, Washington

The bookstore wasn't a popular one - it wasn't one that drew customers in with its outside appearance, but it drew in the fans of the small bookstores one would find in a movie. The outside appearance was a small bit rundown, but the sign still looked new. Outside in the windows were stacks of books with small display flowers on top of them. A neon open sign was turned on in the right window.

Wanda didn't know why she thought a regular human bookstore would have books she was looking for, but she made an attempt to look there before she sought out an old friend. Most bookstores have fictional genres that are built on sorcery, but she was looking for the nonfiction type. The ones about the occult.

Wanda scanned the shelves, trying to see if her powers would let her be drawn to a certain book, but neither her powers nor instincts were working for her.

She sighed as she kept looking around the store, wondering if maybe she wasn't looking hard enough.

There were books on everything but the things she was looking for. Books on basic essentials of witchcraft, books on how to convert to Wicca, books even on how to summon a portal to Asgard - granted she chalked that down to fiction, but they still had a book for it.

Wanda had just about given up when someone decided to help her.

An older woman, definitely in her early-fifties, approached Wanda while she was browsing. Her hair was short, curled and a graying brown. Her eyes were narrow, dark and were alight with interest. She had high cheekbones and lips formed into a friendly smile. "Hello, dear. Do you need some help looking for something?"

Wanda almost jumped when the woman spoke, too busy in her own world to notice the woman approach. "Oh, I'm sorry," Wanda began, "I do need help, yes. I was wondering if you had a book on... This is going to sound silly."

The woman - Wanda read her name tag - Agatha, laughed. "Dear, there are no silly questions when it comes to literature."

Wanda took a breath, "I was wondering if you had any books on altering reality with your mind. Like, dreaming wise."

Agatha smiled, "I think you mean lucid dreaming - but yes, we do have books on it. Follow me and I'll lead you there."

Wanda nodded as Agatha led her towards a shelf that read Nonfiction - Spiritual. Something about this made Wanda's lips twist into a small smile, the fact dreaming was being considered spiritual.

"There are plenty of books here for you to look at about that topic," Agatha said, still smiling.

"Thank you," Wanda said, "I can take it from here."

"If you insist, dear. I'll be at the front counter if you need anything." Agatha called out as she walked away.

Books on lucid dreams wasn't really what Wanda was after, but she couldn't say she was looking for books on reality magic. It would make her seem like an unhinged mental patient, and she didn't want to be put inside of a hospital because of this.

Just as she was turning to leave, a portal opened above her and a book fell from it. Curious, Wanda picked the book up and opened it to see what it was. Reality Warping. It was an interesting title, to say the least. There was a note sticking out from behind one of the pages.

Wanda, I know you've been looking for a book on this. DS

Strange had sent her book - he knew where she was and wasn't coming to get her. Maybe she was wrong about him. However, he knew what she needed and she was grateful.

Turning around once more, she left the store with just what she needed.

Wanda Maximoff's Apartment
Seattle, Washington

Wanda had spent days reading the book that Strange had sent her, making notes about all of the things she might need to know to do the goal she had ultimately set for herself. She'd decided days ago that she wanted to bring a recreation of Vision so she could attempt to give herself closure from the grief, but finding out she could make an entire reality she could immerse herself in changed everything.

She'd been spent nights meditating to try and create something, but her focus was too off. She was too anxious that this attempt to give herself closure would fail. Aside from the anxiety, she didn't have a specific place she could create herself and Vision. She thought about Edinburgh, but it was too distant of a memory to try and recreate. She'd thought about the Avengers Compound, but all she could picture about it was the destruction - it overpowered her good memories of it.

Wanda needed a place that was calming, stable. Some place where nothing could interfere.

That's when it dawned on her.

She could create the environment she had been in with her subconscious. The grayscale living room that she had been in could possibly gain color once she had control of it, but it was the safest space she could think of.

Wanda closed her eyes to meditate, levitating from the ground and focused on the living room. The plain and generic, grayscale living room. She thought about Vision - the Vision she'd come to love without the human appearance, the android body.

As she pictured the images in her mind, the living room and her Vis, she didn't notice everything around her begin to change. She hadn't noticed anything until she felt the environment around her shift.

A voice startled her from the trance she had gone in to create the space.

"Wanda."

Vision stood before her with a smile, but just like the living room, he wasn't in color - and more so, he was dressed like it was the 1950s. That was when she noticed the environment around her looked similar to the era. It was an era she admired - one she grew up thinking would be a nice one to be in. Things were normal, no strife, no superhumans. Everything was normal.

Taking a deep breath, Wanda did what she knew she had to do. She closed her eyes and made herself just look like Vision - the 1950s aesthetic. As she felt herself transform, she grinned at Vision while she did so.

Giggling like a schoolgirl, Wanda looked at Vision with the biggest smile she'd ever had, and the most joy she'd felt since the dark day in Wakanda. Vision looked at her, and returned the grin she had, almost as if he remembered dying that day. Regardless of his memories, he beamed at her.

"Wanda, welcome home."

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