Water ran through Wanda's face, sleeping was not an option anymore so she decided to take a quick shower, not only to rest but to distract herself, Vision had gave her hope, and however unreal that hope seemed to be, it was something.

She tried to ignore her reflection in the mirror, she thought that perhaps if she didn't focus too much on herself the anxiety and pain would stop.

Wanda changed into her same clothes except her shirt, Loki had given her a long black blouse he had found in one of the drawers, rather normal for alien fashion.

She left the bathroom quietly so she wouldn't wake Peter, the poor boy was so exhausted that she had let him stay in her bedroom while she kept watch on the set up.

They had made sure to send Stark a message that they were back into hiding after having gone to Wakanda, of course she felt selfish and responsible for having risked the stone and her team's lives, she could almost hear the Avengers judging her, in a way she deserved it, but at the same time she was angry that they would dare to disapprove her actions, no one's life had been easy and hers was no exception, she had every right to try to do something for herself.

She sat on the couch and stared at the black screen, specially at Stark's last message:

THIS IS BIGGER THAN ALL OF US.

Wanda could feel a deep rage inside of her, she kept it inside her throat and took a deep breath.

"Infuriating, isn't he?" Loki's voice asked from behind the couch, he had slouched over to read the message "he suddenly thinks he's better than the rest of us"

She smirked "You can always do what I do" he arched his eyebrows questioning and she continued "ignore him"

He chuckled and sat next to her "You do not like him. I am aware there are plenty of possible reasons, but I am rather curious on your specific one"

She rubbed her temples "One of his missiles destroyed my home and killed my parents, and a second one landed in our living room, we stayed with that thing for days waiting for it to explode, somehow it never did"

"I presume that by saying we you mean your twin" he asked in a softer tone.

She nodded and stared at Stark's words. Pietro had sacrificed himself for something he had believed bigger than him, she had always felt he was the better person between the two of them, and so when she joined the Avengers she had promised to be more like him, and every time she had felt like giving up she thought of Pietro's legacy and kept on going; this time would not be different, she would keep going for him, for Vision, and also to keep her promise with Peter and Loki, perhaps she could not envision the whole universe's fate in her hands, but she could see herself doing the right thing for them.

Loki hadn't added anything, in fact he had felt quite guilty for having brought up a difficult subject after knowing she was not in the best mindset, he would have reacted way worse if someone had tried to force him to comment on his dark past, and specially if he had been told that the love of his life could technically die in any moment, to be honest he was rather curious about Wanda's relationship with a synthetic being, but asking her directly would be a thing he'd never actually try to do.

"His name was Pietro" Wanda said almost whispering, her eyes still glued to the screen.

He stared back surprised, and deeply honored she had chosen to be vulnerable with him, no one would have dared to share with him something personal, and less so willingly.
"My mother's name was Frigga" he added, why? He did not know, specially since she had already been inside his mind.

Wanda finally looked at him and gave him a small smile.
"Thank you"

He found himself smiling back.

She took a deep breath and sat straight
"You mentioned earlier you would teach me enchantments"

"I did?"

"You did"

"Was I drunk?"

"Were you?"

He arched his eyebrows and studied her, she genuinely wanted to be taught by him, the fact that she had acquired abilities of the mind without proper training was enough to make him intrigued, and maybe for the first time she was questioning herself. Loki had never been one to give something without him winning another, and yet he had already risked his life because Wanda had been in possible danger, he had already made an alliance with his former enemies just because she had shown him a little hope, who was he kidding? He could not deny he had felt a strange connection with her, something he could not describe yet, but in that mixture of things there was a special one, trust.

"Show me your palms" he instructed her "now your power"

She did as told, he gently studied her hand and the red energy that flowed from her hands, he casted his own power and with his index he touched the center of her palm, both hexes reacted to the touch of the other, he gently removed his finger and placed his palm on top of hers without them touching, her red energy seemed almost hostile towards his.

"Easy now" he told her

"I'm not doing it on purpose" she apologized

"Sometimes magic can feel like it has a mind of its own, those who are able to conjure it must learn to understand it, not control it" he began explaining "if you learn to know where it comes from, you will be able to conjure it"

Wanda closed her eyes, she had never thought too much about her powers, she simply attributed them to the mind stone, yes Pietro and her had been lucky enough to survive such experiments, but never in her life had she thought of them to be more than extra abilities, however she had not expected them to feel almost natural, like a missing piece that finally became part of her.

"There is it" Loki spoke

She opened her eyes and saw her own power flow normally, red and green energy danced around each other.

"May I try something?" He asked not sure of what he was expecting to happen.

Wanda nodded almost immediately and closed her eyes, Loki did too and closed the gap between their hands as well, he conjured his own magic to reach for hers.

At first he only saw a younger version of Wanda walking barefoot inside a cell, she looked sick and famished, but mainly she looked scared, in the middle of the room his scepter appeared, inside of it the mind stone, she slowly walked to it. Wanda herself had a strange feeling, just as if she was reliving the events, floating inside her own mind.

They were blinded by a white light, and felt like drifting from reality, Wanda held onto Loki as hard as she could, she could not see him but felt his hand closing around hers returning the same sentiment.

An image appeared, the easiest way to describe it would be to compare it with a curved M, a helmet, and a figure? A woman? Herself? It flew towards her at great speed, inevitable it crashed into her. She felt no pain but grasped for air.

Loki let go of her power, he had seen her vision, he had felt her puzzle piece coming back to her.

Wanda opened her eyes and realized she was still sitting down in the hotel suite, the figure was nowhere to be found and her breath normal as ever.
Still she reached for air as if she had been drowning.

Loki immediately reached for her neck to keep her steady, and calmed her down with what she assumed was a conjure, spell or however he called it.

"It's alright" he began whispering "breathe, just breathe"

She was exhausted, drained, out of focus and out of breath.

Loki had never seen something like that, as a young boy learning he had had his share of bad experiences with magic, but his mother had always known what to do, he wasn't a teacher, and he could not explain what had happened, Wanda's magic seemed an external thing and yet something so buried inside of her, that there was no other explanation but to say she had been chosen to bear the gift of magic.
Her hand was still holding onto his for dear life.

"Loki" she whispered with her eyes closed

"Yes?" He was probably panicking

"Thanks" she whispered before fainting.