I decided to write this while "studying" and the day I finished is when WandaVision finally got its own category on this site. I figured that since Loki comes out today, I might as well publish this story.
So a while back, I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig which serves as inspiration for this story. This is another one of my I came up with this idea before watching WandaVision stories, which is almost all my WandaVision ideas.
Disclaimers - I don't own anything.
I hope you enjoy :)
The Maximoff Anomaly:
Wanda doesn't remember much.
She isn't sure how she got here.
Her body is cozy and relaxed. There's a thick comforter wrapped around her, keeping her warm. She's lying on something soft. She guesses a bed. Wanda skeptically opens her eyes and she sees nothing. She must be in the dark.
She joins her hands together at her chest as if she's saying a prayer. Wanda lights up her hands; a dim red light from her magic under the sheets. She catches a glimpse of herself wearing a striped pyjama ensemble. She holds one of her glowing hands out to the space beside her and sees nobody lying in the bed next to her. She notices a small dip in the sheets, indicating that someone was once there.
Her powers dim and Wanda throws the sheets off her. Cool air hits her body as she sits up and swings her legs over the edge of the bed. Her feet slip into fuzzy slippers as if she's automatically done this movement many times before that she knows perfect placement.
Wanda stands up and she lights up her hand again, finding her way to the door. She's lucky the floor is carpeted so she doesn't make a sound. The bedroom door is silent when it opens and she doesn't close it behind her.
She enters a hallway, hovering her hands on the walls. She catches framed photos of her she doesn't remember taking or being taken. There are many with other people whose faces she doesn't catch. Wanda passes a bathroom and some linens closets but one door calls out to her. She approaches it and grips the knob gently. The red dims as she slowly opens it to peek inside. A small light in the corner grabs her attention and her heart stops. She flicks a hand upwards to turn on the light and she sees two pairs of young eyes tucked in their beds staring at her.
Two little boys in matching beds. A bedroom decorated to look like space. Posters on the walls and toys on the floor.
"Mommy?" One of them asks as the other kid sits up in bed.
She tries not to act surprised. Does she have kids?
Wanda warmly smiles at them as she walks into their room. She sits in the middle of a rug on the floor.
"Are you okay?" The other twin asks her.
Wanda isn't sure what's going on but doesn't want to lie. No, children, Mommy has no idea where she is, who you are, or how she's a mommy. The twins look as if they've lived a whole life with her, unlike her who only saw them for the first time when she turned on their bedroom light.
"Come here," Wanda whispers to them, patting down spots in front of her. Without another thought, the twins scurry towards her, crossing her legs. Wanda smiles at them. "Let's play a little game."
"Cards?" The first twin asks.
A small laugh escapes Wanda's lips. "No, no. A little catch-me-up game. I'll ask you some easy questions and you'll answer them for me."
Her twins look at each other skeptically before facing her again.
"Okay, here's my first question and it's an easy one," Wanda purses her lips together, pretending to think, "what's my name?"
"Wanda Maximoff," the first twins responds.
"Good." She barely knew that answer and if it applied to wherever she is right now. "What are your names?"
"Tommy." First twin.
"Billy." Second twin.
Wanda nods, pretending like she knew that the whole time. "Good, good, Tommy and Billy. What about your dad? Who is he?"
"Vision," Billy responds.
Wanda's heart flutters. Only Vision would be their father. He had to be. She wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
"And we love each other?" Wanda asks.
"We all do," Tommy says.
Her smile never leaves her face as she nods, going along with her twins' words. It's always the most basic place that she learns life-altering news. The church falling from the sky. The forest in Wakanda. The floor of her children's bedroom in the middle of the night. Wherever she is now, Vision is alive and they've settled. They married, bought a house, had children. It's the life they should've had together.
"Mom, are you crying?" Billy asks.
Wanda dabs under her eyes and they're dry. Still, her body feels so tense and tight that tears would relieve her.
"No, Billy, I'm fine," Wanda responds. "Mommy's fine."
"You look like you're crying."
"Mommy had a bad dream. She doesn't remember what happened but she thinks she was protecting someone, and it's always with the people closest to us that doing the right thing isn't so clear."
"So, are you okay?" Tommy questions. "Should we get Dad?"
"I'm fine … or I will be. It's been quite the night."
Wanda leans forwards and kisses both of their foreheads, a gesture that feels strange yet natural at the same time. She holds one of the bed frames to help herself up. Someone appearing at the doorway catches her attention. She doesn't feel threatened since her boys don't react and Wanda tries to hold back when she sees Vision standing at the door, smiling at her.
She can barely contain her tears but hides them with a bright smile. Both reactions are genuinely true. She can't get her eyes off of him, his pyjamas, and his glinting gold wedding band against his red synthezoid body and the dark hallway behind them. A sight that's also strange yet so natural. A vision of what their lives should be.
He's whole and present. He's here. They're married.
"Are you alright?" Vision asks as her boys did. "You've been having trouble sleeping since you cut gluten from your regimen."
Wanda starts laughing as Vision smiles, walking over and kissing the side of her head. The boys squirm, jumping back into bed and covering their eyes in the absolute horror of seeing their parents kiss. Everything about this moment feels like she's had it the whole time. A warm feeling in the pit of her stomach burns like a flame that's been present for a while, flicking embers into her heart.
"Come on, dear, let's leave the boys to go back to sleep," Vision says as he pulls her to the door.
Wanda leans on the doorframe and looks at her twins one last time. "Goodnight, boys."
And she turns off the lights.
-o-
Wanda remembers everything.
She knows exactly how she got here.
Her body is warm, sweating from the trip her mind took. Eyes dry from crying marked with tear tracks rolling down her temples into her hair. The floor she lies on is cold with glass shards poking through her clothes and into her back. Wanda forces her eyes open and bright florescent lights nearly blind her. Scientists look down at her cautiously, an agent in a suit glances from the gallery above.
Without help, Wanda slowly rises. Her arms and legs go numb. Below her, on a lab table, is the sight that caused her mad hysteria so much so that she dropped to the ground and dreamt an alternate domestic life.
"Why did he die, Wanda?"
Wanda laughs, not knowing why someone would ask that when everyone knows the answer. "Sometimes there isn't a special reason. Death just happens."
Even in the midst of heartbreak, she's still laughing. The human mind, even when wracked with grief, is a mystery disguised as an enigma. Grief changes the way she saw things because it changed her. It's still piecing her back together into someone new, someone she isn't sure who to become. Love doesn't always endure or overcome everything. Everything could be taken away and it has - her country, her brother, her love - so what protected love from that?
To read the rest of my WandaVision AUs taking place in different decades, check them out on my profile!
Thank you to anyone who has read this story. Please let me know what you thought. If you have a story idea that you want me to write or a story that you want me to beta, don't be afraid to ask!
~ MysteryGal5