Enjoy this chapter, and I hope you're all safe and well. :)
At one in the morning, and with the rain steadily turning into a downpour, the streets of Edinburgh were empty. While Wanda was running as fast as her soaked boots would allow, forcing her umbrella against the wind and rain, Vision had already arrived at Waverley Station.
He had not been into the train station at all since his arrival. His subconscious made him look away whenever he passed by, he didn't really have a reason or desire to go in there - and the sound of the trains rattling by made him feel anxious. But he had seen it in his mind, so he knew he had been there before.
Vision didn't think about Thanos, his guilt, or even the incident with the three men as he landed on the slippery glass roof. Shifting into his human form, he began scouring the glass, pacing across it in the rain. He was looking for an anomaly of some kind, some kind of proof, that it had once been broken, as he had seen in the flash of memory.
His eyes found a part of the roof that seemed new compared to the rest. The glass was cleaner, the metal holding it in place less rusty. Like the indents in his skin, it had been a replacement, but didn't quite fit the rest of the design.
The sound of breaking glass echoed again in his mind.
He phased through the roof, drifting to the stone floor of the empty station. His eyes scanned the dark corners of the station, the eerie silence in what would normally be a busy place causing his skin to crawl with unease, and, more worryingly, the indents in his torso to twinge.
He didn't like it here... but he couldn't leave until he'd found it, what stood out to him in that flash. Vision looked to the maps, the train schedule, coffee shop, the roof again. Where is it?
A thunderous sound and the screech of metal made him jolt. A train rushed past, buffeting him with cold air and raindrops from the tracks outside. After it finally passed, he spotted what he was looking for. The green metal barrier, separating the platform from the rest of the station floor.
Vision went to the barrier, and moved his fingertips moved across the slight, yet visible dent in the bars.
"Come on! You've got to get up! Come on, we have to go!"
The indent in his side seared with pain. He seized the bars, the stone feeling as though it were burning a hole in his skull.
It moved fast. They hit the concrete hard, and Vision went flying into the barrier at full force. He felt the wound in his side open further by the force of the jolt to his body. He dragged his limbs together, hands grappling at the floor in a weak attempt to rise, but the more he moved, the more his side radiated with pain.
Wanda began frantically pulling at his arm, but he could only slump against the barrier and shake his head in defeat. He lifted a hand to touch her face, trying to get her to listen. The alien's warning echoed in his mind; give up the stone, and she lives. If he surrendered now, she could live, she could be safe -
"Please, leave -"
Wanda's lips were moving in response, but his memory flickered, and there was no sound until the glass roof shattered once more.
They were there, the other worldly creatures stalking toward them, a look of sadistic satisfaction plastered over their faces; they knew they had them cornered. There was where to run, nowhere to hide now. Wanda stood, wobbling a little as she did, but she found her feet, standing in a protective stance.
She glanced over her shoulder at him.
"Just go." He pleaded.
"Never." She hissed, before turning away to face the two.
Their eyes narrowed at Wanda as she blocked their way. The male dragged his blade across the concrete as one last warning, offering her one last chance to stand aside. Wanda only stepped closer, hands beginning to flare, while Vision slumped against the barrier. He could only hope it would be over quickly...
Vision found himself back in the present, collapsed by the barrier as he had once been.
He didn't want to be there one moment more. He ran out of the station and into the street, into the pouring rain. Vision now knew what the feeling in his eyes had been when he lay on cold roofs at night. Days of bottled emotion broke apart. His entire body racked as he began to sob into his hands.
The voice of Josephine filled his mind. "He's a machine, no more. He can't feel."
"You're wrong." He whispered. "But I wish you weren't..."
Vision didn't see Wanda approaching, but it wasn't long before he felt her presence. He turned to look at her from where she stood under an umbrella.
The look on his face broke Wanda's heart. She had seen him display every possible emotion in the time she knew him, but the look on his face now... never had she seen him this distraught.
"I remember what happened inside. We were hunted..." Vision backed away when Wanda tried to step closer. "I don't know if I want to remember. I don't want to know -"
"What happened in Waverley Station, what happened after, that was only the end. Right now you only remember the the worst days of your life. But there was so much more before that. It wasn't all good, but a lot of it was..."
Vision barely heard. "Look at me. Think about what I have done."
Wanda lifted the umbrella over him, holding the lapel of his coat in a vice grip. At first he resisted, trying to break away, but her touch immobilized him. "I don't care what you've done. Siren used you. You don't need to feel guilty for anything, hear me?"
"But those people -"
"Vision." Wanda said, gently. Somehow her soft tone silenced all the voices inside his head. "Stop tormenting yourself. You've been through enough. And you know what? So what if you've hurt some people? You don't remember this yet, but you did so much good for the world."
The rain seemed a little softer, but it still continued to fall. Maybe she was lying to him to spare his feelings... yet he saw only honesty in her eyes. His gaze drifted to the faint scar above her eyebrow, and he recalled seeing a streak of blood in the same place in the memory.
"What kind of good?"
"Your whole life, you just wanted to help people, and you did. You've saved countless lives, including mine. When Thanos came for the stone, you didn't even think about what would happen to you. All you could think of was who would suffer when he got it. You were prepared to do anything to keep the stone from him."
Wanda briefly trailed off, but she found her voice again. "And I'm prepared to do anything to help you, because you deserved so much better. Your life wasn't perfect. But it was good."
The more Wanda spoke, the more change there was within Vision's eyes. They were no longer cold and fractured. Softer. More trusting.
"Wanda..."
"I will do everything in my power to help you get your life back. Come back with me, and we can help you remember it."
Go with her?
Wanda could help find the pieces of him that were lost. But what if they were scattered too far for either of them to reach? Pieces of him thrown overboard, possibly lost to the sea forever?
"I only have two memories." Vision whispered. "What if that's all? What if the rest never comes back?"
"We'll find a way. There must be something we can do. And if your memory doesn't return..." She quickly brushed the water from her face. "At least you can start a new life with us."
"You would really help me do that?"
"Of course I would." Wanda murmured.
Vision tried to remind himself just how little he knew Wanda, but he couldn't hear the doubts, nor the tormenting voices any more. He knew he could trust her. He nodded, and Wanda asked again.
"Please, come with me. Come home."
Home. That was no longer in Edinburgh - now that he thought about it, it never had felt like it. But as he stood with Wanda, he no longer felt lost. Vision's fingertips brushed the back of her hand, before he took it, interlacing his fingers with hers.
Their palms connected, but the connection wasn't just physical. To him, Wanda no longer felt like a stranger. To her, for a moment, she almost felt like she was holding the hand of the Vision she knew. The one who loved her.
"I'm not sure if I will be able to remember everything. But I will try."