Vision hung the first decorative item on the wall of the room he'd claimed in his new house. He stepped back to examine its placement. It was the portrait of Wanda he'd painted when he wasn't sure if she was dead or alive. Most of his painting he'd sold, left at his old workplace, or given to Darcy, but this one he would keep.
Darcy had been sad but understanding about him moving out. She'd teared up as she helped him pack his few belonging, and had extracted a promise that he would visit often.
He smiled wistfully at the memory. That had been his home for nearly a year, a time of recovery and self-discovery. But now he was beginning a new chapter of his life, one where his sons and Wanda would be the prominent features.
Wanda entered the room. "I finished stocking the fridge and making Tommy's bed."
"Thank you."
Tommy would move in tomorrow, and next week would be his first day at the same high school Billy went to. Their sons would have each other. They were planning to have a housewarming party next weekend. Mary-Jo had agreed to bring Teddy to it to meet Tommy and Billy. Vision had also invited Darcy, Jimmy, Monica, Sam, and Bucky. It would be the first party he would ever host.
"I hope Tommy likes it here," he said.
Wanda wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her head between his shoulder blades. "He will. You are a wonderful father."
Though her voice was sincere, there was also a trace of sadness in it. He would be living with one of their sons, able to see him every day. She would continue living at the Sanctum for the time being, only visiting once or twice a week. She was still enduring the effects of her sacrifice.
He took her hand and turned to her. His free hand went to her cheek. She leaned into his touch. "None of this would be possible if it weren't for you," he said. "You saved our children. Also, you saved the world, so..."
"We don't need to keep bringing up that question," she said with amused exasperation.
Vision knew she still didn't believe she deserved credit for saving the world, either by fighting Thanos or destroying the zombie Earth. He would respect her wishes that the things she had done not be made public, but he personally would never forget how much the world owed to her.
Sometimes he was overcome with awe at her strength and courage. It was astounding that someone so amazing loved him, that after everything he'd done, everything he'd put her through, she still chose to be with him.
She glanced down shyly, and he realized he'd been staring at her for several seconds. He tugged her to him and kissed her. She melted into it.
A few kisses later, he broke off. "This may be the last evening we have to ourselves for a while," he mentioned. "Would you like to go out to dinner, or dancing, or anything?"
She smiled at his consideration. "Actually, there's something I've been thinking about. Something I've been...thinking of trying."
"What?"
"Vision, I don't want you to ever think that I think there's anything wrong with you. I love everything about you. But I've been thinking about your voice. Since SWORD brought you back, your voice sounds like a computer. It's probably fine, but I've been wondering why that is. If they had to install some new device to allow you to speak, or if your vibranium circuits are disconnected somewhere. I could take a look and just make sure there's nothing to worry about."
He nodded. She used to use her power to explore his inner workings. She'd used her power to patch him up after they were attacked in Edinburgh, and to diagnosed the Vision she'd created in the Hex and remove the offending wad of gum in the second episode of the Broadcast. "If you could return my voice to normal, I would appreciate it."
"Okay. It shouldn't take long."
They sat on his bed. She took a deep breath and summoned threads of red light to her fingers. She directed them to his throat.
He felt her power flow inside him, exploring his circuits. It was a tingling sensation that was comfortingly familiar.
"Mm. It seems like there are places where your synthetic tissue and vibranium circuits aren't as aligned as they used to be. The connection points are microscopic, probably the kind of thing SWORD either didn't know how to integrate or didn't care enough to bother. I think I can smooth the connectivity out pretty easily." She smiled at him.
"Go ahead," he said.
She closed her eyes and focused her power. No longer just exploring, she now directed it to fuse connections between his vibranium and synthetic tissue.
And then something stirred beneath the surface. Something else bubbled up through her power, something huge but subtle, hidden behind the easy simplicity of apparent reality. It was otherwordly, unfathomable, and came quickly, but Vision felt no fear toward it. All he felt was an exuberant welcome, as of finding someone long lost. He was drawn to it, and it to him, exactly like a magnet coming within a magnetic field of the opposite charge.
Wanda recoiled from him, cutting off and burying the power he'd sensed. She trembled, cringing away. Her face and movements betrayed a frantic terror.
"Wanda... I felt that. What was it?"
She shook her head. "I don't know."
If that were true, she wouldn't be acting so frightened. There had been no sense of threat from it.
"I think that you do," he said.
She stumbled a few steps away from him, then sank to the floor. She raised her face to him, though she couldn't look him in his eyes. "I think it might have been what's left over of the Mind Stone. I didn't know it was still in me."
"It wanted to come to me. Why did you stop it?"
"The last time this happened, the last time I felt this, everything went...horribly wrong."
"In Westview?" he inquired.
Her nod was barely perceptible.
He left the bed and joined her on the carpet. "This is different. You know what you're doing this time. And I'm here. I exist."
"I have no idea what it would do to you. Vision, I..." She shook, staring not at him but past him. She seemed somehow both on the verge of tears and beyond tears. "I can't lose you again. I can't."
He sympathized with her, but he had to somehow make her understand what it meant. He took her hands. "Wanda, please. I need this. I feel it's a part of myself I didn't even know was missing, and now I will never be whole without it."
Her head shook. "Something will go wrong, just like always happens. If anything good comes to my life, something always happens to take it away."
"I understand why it may feel like that, but it's not true. You are not fated to lose everything. You are not cursed."
She looked unconvinced. "Please. Please don't ask me to risk it."
His hands released hers and cupped her face. He stroked her cheeks, trying to soothe and reassure her. "I trust you completely. With everything that I am. So if you trust me, trust yourself. I know you can do this."
"It could erase your memories. It could rewrite you. It could... It might destroy you."
"It won't," he promised. "It is only trying to come home."
That seemed to be the magic word. She finally met his eyes, held his gaze for several seconds as she contemplated the situation, then nodded.
He took her hand and pressed it to his forehead.
"I love you. Please never forget that."
He leaned forward and kissed her deeply, needing to reassure her with his actions as well as his words. "I never could."
She rallied her power again, this time directing it into his head.
He felt the raw, ineffable power of the Mind Stone appear again, more slowly this time. Through their link, he felt Wanda's fear, but also her determination to honor the decision she accepted was his right to make.
The energy of the Mind Stone entered him as a warmth, as the satisfaction of the last piece of a puzzle clicking into place times a thousand. And at the same instant, his mind flooded with new memories.
"Wanda, welcome home."
Being confused about the purpose of his job.
Being accepted at the neighborhood watch committee he soon realized was just an excuse for some friends to get together and gossip.
Wanda rewinding time to make him forget he suspected something was wrong.
A man in a beekeeper suit coming out of the sewer at night, a sword logo Vision didn't recognize.
"No."
Running his hands over Wanda's rounded belly.
Holding his newborn sons for the first time.
Realizing he had no memory of his life before Westview.
Finding Agnes sitting in her car at the edge of town, as if in a trance.
Feeling his body disintegrating as he tried to leave Westview.
Recognizing Darcy at the circus. Her explanation of who he was as she drove the funnel cake truck as fast as it would go.
Seeing a version of himself trying to kill Wanda.
Taking the risk of talking to his weaponized amnesiac double who was trying to kill him.
Putting his sons to bed for the last time, concealing his own emotions to spare them the knowledge of what was soon to happen.
Kissing Wanda goodbye.
"So long, darling."
Many of those memories he'd watched on the Broadcast, but it was very different to experience them from the inside.
Darcy had told him about their meeting—her meeting with the Vision of the Hex—but hadn't mentioned she initially though he was hitting on her.
There were so many things he remembered that hadn't made sense to him at the time—so much of what Wanda said, and the way she acted—that took on new interpretations with the full context of memory.
"Vision?"
He opened his eyes slowly. Wanda was staring at him, her eyes wide.
He saw a golden light in her eyes.
It was his own reflection, with the light of the Mind Stone once again glowing in his forehead. From a dark crimson face.
He looked down at his hands, turning them to confirm what he was seeing. He was no longer the dull white SWORD had resurrected him with. His original color had returned.
His eyes returned to Wanda. He wanted to tell her he remembered everything, that he understood why she had done everything she did, that she would never lose him again.
He knew the perfect thing to say to her first.
"Hello again."
The breath she'd been holding since he opened his eyes exploded in a relieved laugh. "Hi."
His hands returned to her face. He brushed her tears away, noting the pleasing contrast between his dark red fingers and the pale skin of her cheeks. "I knew you could do it."
She hesitantly reached for him. "So you're...all here?"
"Yes. I have all my memories, from my life before, from Westview, and everything I've experienced since."
"You're really okay?"
She found it so hard to believe that she could ever use her powers in a way that wouldn't somehow lead to catastrophe. He wasn't sure how he could convince her otherwise. "Wanda, you are capable of creation, not just destruction. You created Tommy and Billy. You have saved worlds, creating peace and happiness where there otherwise would have been suffering and death. I can't promise that there will be no more pain and sorrow in the life we have ahead of us, that there won't be troubles and failures to come. I'm sure there will be, because I don't believe either of us will be able to ignore the call when the world needs the Avengers again. But I promise there will also be triumphs, and this is one of them." He took her hands and kissed them both, then brought one to his forehead. "If you're still not sure it worked, see for yourself."
She did, using her power to read him. She gave him the brightest smile he'd ever seen. "Welcome home."