Again, I'm sorry for the delay - this was a tough one.


Everyone had that negative, cynical voice inside their head. Having been a pessimist for the majority of her life until the last few years - she credited the team for changing that - Wanda was used to hearing it. She could almost feel that tiny demon on her shoulder, filling her mind with fears and assumptions that the meeting would be a disaster, if it happened at all. Where was the angel? Stuck in traffic?

He's late, sneered the demon. He's changed his mind.

It's only ten minutes. He's probably lost.

He's not to going to show. Why would he?

Shut up.

He thinks you're a killer. In his mind this is suicide...

Oh, for the love of god, shut up.

Wanda tried to block it out, as she continued to pace up and down by the park bench, eyes flickering about, trying to spot him. People were giving her odd looks as they passed - she probably looked like she was waiting for a drug dealer. She sank onto the bench to try and calm herself.

She gazed across the gardens, watching the tourists gathered around the monument for the formerly vanished. Edinburgh had opted for glass-like transparent shards, with black engravings for the names of the formerly vanished. It was probably one of the prettiest memorials Wanda had seen.

She shook her head slightly when she saw one tourist trying to pose with the shards in the same way people posed at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Apparently some people found being erased from existence less traumatizing and more hilarious...

Wanda was so absorbed in the memorial, that she didn't notice the tall, familiar man with blonde hair slowly approaching her.

Vision studied her from a distance. Wanda didn't look like much of a threat now, with her magic hidden away. She was shivering on the icy bench in a pair of jeans and a grey coat, brown hair pulled over one shoulder in a braid. Without warning, her head snapped in his direction, for she had sensed him. She stood quickly, looking both surprised and relieved to see him.

"Hi."

"...h-hello." Vision stuttered. He looked so much like a startled deer, it was almost comical, but the expression only made the pit in Wanda's stomach feel bigger.

Wanda gestured for him to sit down, and he did, sliding as far away across the bench as possible. They sat there awkwardly. Several times one of them would open their mouths to say something, before looking away.

"Sorry I'm late." Vision still had that urge to be polite ingrained into him.

"It's okay."

In the daylight, and much closer, she got a proper look at the strange, scar-like mark on his forehead. What had Josephine used to replace the lost tissue? She had probably stolen some vibranium when she was in Wakanda, so it would be compatible with Vision's body. Whatever tissue she had used to fill in the gaps, it clearly wasn't the same as the one created by Helen Cho.

"I..." Wanda trailed off, before starting again. "Do you know me?"

"I don't know."

"I don't want to hurt you. I just want to know you're okay."

"I'm managing." Vision said, evasively. He avoided her eyes, his arms pulled close, hands repeatedly tugging at the synthetic sleeves of his black coat.

"What have you been doing for the past week? Where have you been sleeping?"

"On roofs." Wanda's heart sank another inch. "Wherever nobody will walk in on me..."

"You must have been freezing."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because you were my friend."

Vision finally forced himself to look at Wanda. Her eyebrows were creased with worry, grey pools forming under her eyes. Her face was flushed from the cold, her lower lip swollen from nervous biting.

Despite the tension hanging in the air, he could see she was relieved to see him. He couldn't describe the look in her eyes - there was a little more light in them compared to their last encounter, along with another emotion she kept guarded and hidden. His enemy wouldn't look at him like that; this was no trap.

"Friend?"

"Yes. For a long time."

Curiosity began to overcome his fear. For her to go through all this effort to find him, he must have meant a lot to her... "How did you find me?"

"I had a hunch you might be here." Telling him she saw him in a dream might be a bit weird. "Why did you come here?"

" I don't know. I just needed to be here. It's feels -"

"Familiar?" Wanda asked, hopefully. He frowned before nodding. "We stayed here for a few months. I lived here, and you would come to visit me." Vision looked around the gardens, at the outline of the castle through the branches of the trees, as if trying to stir his memory.

"Strange..." Vision murmured, before his brow furrowed. "What happened to me?"

Wanda knew she should have expected this question sooner rather than later, but it still threw her. "It's complicated."

"This." Vision said, lifting a hand to his forehead. "If we were friends... why did you do this?"

She felt her powers flare with her emotions, as she tried to block out what happened in Wakanda. "That wasn't me."

"Then what did I see in that bunker?" He waited for an answer, human blue eyes suddenly cold and untrusting, his state of mind as fragile and versatile as a human's.

Wanda twisted her rings around her fingers, trying to hide how much her hands were shaking. She could tell him the truth. She should tell him the truth, he deserved to know. Infinity stones, a sacrifice neither of them had wanted to make, an alien warlord. As if he didn't have enough to deal with...

The demon made it's reappearance. Lie, it whispered.

Vision's stare grew more intense as he grew suspicious of the long pause. Wanda made a decision that she instantly knew she would regret later. But if it would make him trust her a little more...

"That image wasn't real. I'm not in complete control of my powers. I accidentally showed you one of my worst fears - I was always afraid of hurting you."

It wasn't completely a lie - Wanda had spent a long time being afraid of her powers. She used to be terrified that one day her magic would become too much and hurt those around her. And using her powers against Vision was indeed her worst fear now.

Vision blinked in confusion, and his gaze retreated inwards, as if he were recalling that image, trying to tell whether it was real. It wasn't a memory. It was her fears? It didn't make sense, but - he had seen two deaths. Only one could be true, couldn't it?

"It seemed... real."

Wanda dug herself into an even deeper hole. "My magic does that. I used to have this power, well, I still have it, I just don't use it as much. I can create illusions... show people the things they fear the most. Sometimes my own fears will come through. I'm sorry."

The silence stretched out, but it wasn't so unbearable now. Vision sank against the bench, and he no longer flinched when Wanda moved. "It's - alright." The barrier of coldness between them faded, but that was only the ice melting off an otherwise stone wall.

"What do you remember?"

Vision looked into the distance. "I see blurry pictures. I hear voices... and I keep having these horrible dreams... " He was having recurring dreams of that dark universe with the hotel room door, but there was also something else, too...

"What dreams?" Wanda asked, gently.

"I keep dreaming that I'm being chased." Wanda looked away quickly, but not quick enough - Vision saw the haunted look enter her eyes. "Wanda..." It was the first time he had called her by name. "Who did this to me?"

"Vision, I don't think..." Wanda trailed off. "Look. What happened to you - it wasn't nice. There are some things that you may be better off not knowing. Things you should remember in your own time -"

"Please." Vision pleaded. "If you sincerely were my friend, tell me the truth."

Her eyes glazed with pain, as she began to cast her mind back to the final seconds. She slowly shook her head, silently begging him. His hand found it's way into the bench, next to her's. He didn't hold her hand, but the hems of their sleeves and the edges of their fingers touched.

He deserves to know.

"Okay. I will." Wanda was finding it hard to breathe. "The stone you have in your head now, I'm not sure what it is. There was another before, it was called the mind stone. It gave you life, and it gave me my powers."

"This being from another world came to earth. He was called Thanos. He wanted your stone, and there was no stopping him. We tried to protect you, and you tried to keep the stone from him, but it wasn't enough. He got to you, and then he... he..."

"He took it. Killing you."

A great empty feeling descended over Vision. If he had the capability, he probably would have been sick there and then. Suddenly he felt like he couldn't breathe, as if he actually needed the air. He heard Wanda speaking, but it was as though he were underwater - her voice was muffled and inaudible. His circuits began racing and his synthetic heart was beating madly, dangerously.

He was consumed by terror. He felt himself being lifted off the ground, and he heard Wanda scream...

Vision almost fell off the bench trying to stand. "I... I have to go."

Wanda caught his sleeve before he could rise. "I tried to stop him. I'm so sorry -"

"Just - stay away from me!"

"Vision, please, don't -" Wanda protested, but he was already gone. "-don't leave me." She whispered to empty air.