CHAPTER FOUR

Please.

Please.

This can't be real.

She didn't often dream of entire worlds, but it did happen.

Wanda hadn't spared much thought to any of this being real during the night at camp. At some point during the night, she started trying to convince herself that this was a hallucination, that she was somehow still stuck in observation.

Currently, she was focused on thinking about the map she looked at briefly last night.

The map that she started to think was a joke.

Assuming the most recent marking on the map she now has in her possession is indicative of her being in the country of Ravka, she had briefly focused on the markers that hopefully indicated large areas of people. She focused on the closest town by her location, "Keramzin," and mentally marked it as her destination.

The only other marker worth note was "Os Alta" – the only one on the map within Ravka with an actual depiction of what she thinks is a capital.

She was surprised by this discovery.

The Os Alta marker mimics the style of older, more traditional maps of Russia, bearing a likeness to the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael… maybe, just maybe, she has ended up somewhere in Russia.

The twins had rummaged through the maps in the chest, settling on grabbing a collection of maps, one of which represents what they called "West Ravka" which turned out to be the small strip of land on the other side of "The Unsea".

Wanda is sure the Unsea is a canyon, like the pictures she'd seen of the American west.

She can't help the bitter smile that stretches across her face.

What a fantastic world she's created.

Her.

An angry, orphan Sokovian whose only pleasure in life is beating the hell out of iron and metal, and occasionally her idiot brother. Thanks, Strucker, for that description.

Wanda wants to be proud of herself.

Wants to be proud of herself for creating something out of seemingly nothing.

She knows this feeling won't last. This has got to be just a dream…only an escape from reality…

Gently, something tugged at her.

Focusing on that, she found a small part of her reaching out, trying to find something to latch on to.

A pit formed in her stomach, and the bridge of her nose started to burn.

Was she too far away from Pietro to feel him? How had she not noticed this before?

She wants to continue to convince herself this is a dream, but Wanda can't remember ever thinking that she would dream of this – a far-off place with plenty of mystery and anonymity without her twin.


Jumping out of her thoughts as something lands with a ting! at her feet, she looks down at a water canister and back up towards the twins with a slight smile of thanks. That would certainly be helpful for her long journey. She mentally kicked herself for splitting her thoughts into two and not focusing on the moment. Luckily for Wanda, the twins knew what they were doing as they moved around, searching for clothes and supplies.

It was the morning of her first start towards an official destination. The twins and Wanda left the campsite at the first light of day. As the sky started to lighten up, the men were still asleep, quite deeply actually, which was strange. People don't usually last this long after she's tricked their minds into a living nightmare, so it can't be because of her. Wanda looked over at the twins to see if they were confused by the men's slumber as well, but the twins were not worried. They appeared to be relaxed and spared no thought to the group.

She's gotten the impression that people in this… country do not talk much; they are intentionally closed off, and hands-on. Neither of the twins introduced themselves to Wanda at any point the previous night or early morning and were quite good at remaining closed off. They were, however, not as experienced as many of the people she's met in her line of work. They unknowingly left their behavior and interactions open for her to monitor, something they noticed her doing and something she obviously wasn't going to correct, convincing herself it was just a little help in case she needed to mimic any actions for the future.

If this is the start of her own adventure or nightmare, she wants to be prepared.

The pit in her stomach seemed to grow with that thought.

After the twins were finished gathering their own supplies, Wanda followed them toward the wagon they were trapped inside, watching as they veered off the path and headed straight for the horses to saddle up. Wanda stayed on foot, preferring to be grounded as she had absolutely no experience with horses. Once navigated towards a small but completely cleared path that stretched from left to right, and how did she not notice this the night before, Wanda and the twins said their goodbyes.

The twins turned away first, heading towards the mountains she could spy out past a few downward sloping hills.

Nodding to herself and figuring that must be the border for Shu Han, Wanda turned in the opposite direction on the path and began her journey, alone.

What followed was roughly seven days of questionable attempts to survive and navigate actual wilderness she has only heard from stories.

Wanda has been measuring the time and way she has been traveling by using the trees around her. Using the color of the bark of the trees gives her direction. The lighter side of the tree shows its path in relation to the sun and using this she can reference how the sun rises and sets. She would use the bird's nest trick to track wind direction, but it's probably closer to fall (maybe just ending and approaching winter) based on the chill and darkening of the skies throughout the days so that obviously wouldn't work.

Walking for a full week by her estimation is exhausting and eye-opening.

Wanda is even more resolved to not continue questioning if her current situation is real or not because there is no way her days would be filled with such mind-numbing and anxiety-induced travel if it wasn't.

The days have mostly been filled with thoughts of her brother and how he is probably worried about her. Probably searching for her with the help of Martin and his kompaniya.

She keeps moving no matter how much she just wants to sit and rest for a full day, continuously praying her brother will find her soon, and even at times contemplating giving herself a moment to cry.

She doesn't do that, though. She doesn't give in to her exhaustion.

Instead, she focuses on that small, persistent tug within her. Each time she stops to set up camp and wanders in the opposite direction from her original path to gather wood, the tug stops abruptly. It is subtle, so subtle she wouldn't have noticed it otherwise if she wasn't so isolated.

This reminder is what is keeping her near the path she started down, and throughout the days she sees it widening into a bit more of a road for travel – no gravel or pavement in sight, and no travelers either.

Food during her journey is a bit of a problem for her.

Fortunately, she has mastered sensing energy nearby during the journey, this skill only taking a matter of hours to control whereas weeks ago it wouldn't have been possible unless she had a real connection with the object, like her and Pietro's connection. There is honestly no explanation for this that makes sense to Wanda, besides maybe stress pushing her past her normal limits. This new ability makes catching rabbits easier for her, thankfully, it's just the cooking outside part.

And by cooking outside, it's the actual campfire situation. She's having to try and emulate one when she's never personally seen one. It helps knowing the general setup, and what is needed to light a fire, thanks to Pietro's stories about Daniel and Ilia, and her experience in the forge, but she still struggles.

Unfortunately, she can't utilize the same campfire night after night like Pietro and the boys during their campouts. She has to erase her presence each morning to avoid being tracked or questioned and completely recreates her set up in a new location each evening.

Lonely travelers bring about questions. If she is ever in the position to be interrogated, she knows she wouldn't have the slightest clue what to say. Add to this the fact that she has no idea where she is besides the vague sense that she is in Ravka currently, and hopefully heading towards Keramzin.

Unrolling her zip-up hoodie from its balled-up state within her bag, she shakes it out in case there are some creepy crawlies and puts it on, zipping it all the way up to her chin and settling the hood on top of her head to cover her ears from the slight chill of the wind whistling through the trees. The clothes she borrowed and currently wearing, are dusty and have a few especially dirty areas, mainly the knees of her trousers and the sleeves of her tunic, but otherwise fine enough for a traveler without transportation. Peeking down at her feet, she cringes at the sight of the well-worn boots she doubled back for within the first hour of her travel. These shoes are going to need duct tape soon, or the magic of a cobbler.

Closing her eyes, she tips her head back and angles her face up towards the sky, taking deep breaths of the cool, crisp night air.

She's thankful for her brother.

Even though he never allowed her to go with him on his trips, if it wasn't for his stories about his time out in the woods and mountains with Daniel and Ilia and the rest of the kompaniya, she honestly thinks she couldn't have made it this far.

"…Better to cook your food and not to eat anything raw. Your body uses more energy on things that take longer to process, and that's not something you want to happen when you're low on supplies and time, and unable to rest."

Wanda looks at Pietro, bringing her pint of red lager up to her lips, gearing herself up to ask this question - "how do either of them know this?" She still knows next to nothing about the two brothers, and it's been months since they've been a part of Martin's kompaniya.

Pietro glances at Wanda to his right, measuring her with a flick of his eyes, and then proceeds to do a quick scan of the room, looking to his left then over his shoulder, making sure none of the people who like to hang around and weasel their way into Martin's good graces – men and women alike – are there to eavesdrop or shoulder their way into the conversation.

"Martin keeps them for two reasons, and neither of them are for their undeniable charm." Pietro timed that sentence perfectly, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Wanda had to smack her hand on her mouth to keep from spewing her drink across the bar.

Back when Daniel and Ilia had first joined the team and moved into the warehouse with Pietro and Wanda it was touch and go for the first two months. Neither set of twins knowing how to communicate or share communal space, yet. The ice was initially broken a few months in when one of the twins, Daniel, was sent to collect Wanda from work. He caught her mid-focus, working at her forge in Karel's closed, and darkened shop.

She was working on a new, single blade – a hollow-grind with a base thicker than usual, trying to make it sturdier for the coming winter and the boys' next trip out to the woods. She had been working for days on this project, sketching and timing it out. Finding a nice mix of sturdy and precise; sturdy so it won't damage the blade after a few uses and precise for skinning animals. She didn't hear what Daniel said at the time, too shocked at the sheer absurdity of seeing him there remaining calm with her gun aimed at him, her first response after looking up and realizing she wasn't alone.

He and his brother are massive. Both standing around 6'4", with athletic frames, like Pietro after bulking up, and strangely silent movement for how big they are. He did not even flinch when she pulled the gun on him, only offered her a closed-lip smile and came up to her to take it and set it down. Somehow, he knew it wasn't loaded, and she didn't think to question him at the time.

After that encounter, Daniel took to hovering around Wanda, following her to work, silently, watching her work at Karel's, silently, monitoring her working the bar at the warehouse, silently. It came in handy one time when one of the hangers on decided to get too grabby during a party because next thing she knew Daniel and Ilia were both there to throw him and his buddies out. This was okay…until it wasn't just Daniel anymore and instead both Daniel AND Ilia. Even now, they're probably somewhere in this building watching her.

"The twins were a part of the squads capturing mercenary groups causing trouble in our region, and when I say region, I mean not just for Sokovia but Eastern Europe. They were the ones bringing them in for interrogation and disposal. I've watched them while we're out camping and you either develop those skills on the job, or you were born into it…"

Throat suddenly dry, Wanda rasps out "Well…think they'd help me with Karel's assignments before it starts going off the rails?"

Pietro chuckles at his sister, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm not joking, Pietro. Don't get me wrong, I like that Karel is trusting me and allowing me to work with him, but I have a bad feeling about these next few weeks. My first assignment is coming up, I don't know what's going to happen…" She trails off towards the end, adjusting her shoulders to avoid slouching even further into the bar where she's been sat for an hour with her brother. Her brother tightens his arm around her shoulder and refuses to move it as she tries to straighten herself and get her nervous energy under control.

"Those two are good, Wanda. But you're the best at anything you set your mind to, and I'm not just saying that so don't shake your head at me," Pietro sighs out as she finishes doing exactly that, running his left hand through his hair and mussing it up a bit. He's just dyed it a deep silver, making him look even more dangerous than he already is, but she still sees her scrawny twin from before. "I've known it since we were kids. You don't need those two to watch your back, ever, and they know it, too. I think that's probably why they've taken such a liking to you. According to them and what I've gathered of their home life, you're unlike any woman from their village." Pietro can't contain his laughter at the end of his thought, laughing even louder as Wanda scrunches her face, scowling at her beer.

She doesn't have a problem with the twins, at times she even likes their quiet company, but it is ultimately the silence that gets to her. She doesn't know how to initiate a conversation with them, either together or separately, and when she tries it ends up stilted. Which one is even interested in her anyways? She doesn't know and she doubts she'll get any hints out of either of them, so she's resigned herself to leaving the situation as is.

"Besides," Pietro continues, "Karel would never put you in harm's way, and if he ever thinks about it, I wouldn't let you go back there. Your safety has always been my priority."

Squeezing her shoulder and kissing the top of her head, he drops his arm from around her shoulder and sips at his drink, glancing over his shoulder again to see if anyone new had walked into the warehouse. He grimaces for a moment before clearing his face when he spots the twins sitting at a table by the door, speaking lowly with Martin who just arrived.

"That's my cue, sis." Pietro sighs, draining the last of his beverage and standing up, grabbing his coat from the back of the chair, and swinging it onto his shoulders. Before he leaves her side, he slips into the space between the stools and leans his elbow on the bar, peering into her face and making sure to catch her eye. "Some movement has been happening around town lately, something involving the military base that's set up near here. I know you want the brothers to back off, but let them watch out for you for now, okay?" Unable to avoid the earnest and worried look in his eyes, she stares at him hesitantly for a moment but nods her head, backing down for now.

With a nod of his head, he bends down to press another kiss to her head, then stands up straight and turns to leave. As soon as his calming presence is gone, she can feel the prick of eyes on her. Sighing as she picks up the rest of her drink, she squeezes her eyes shut and slams the rest back. This is going to be a long night.

She shakes herself out of memory lane quickly, trying to remove the phantom feeling of eyes watching her with a shiver followed by a full-body shake, and thinks back to the last time she had human contact in this new place.

Knowing she at least isn't on a desolate island gives her a little comfort, but not by much as she rests at her current campsite watching the area around her, and the sky above her, lighten.

She should be reaching what she hopes is Keramzin within the next few hours.

She utilized her spatial recognition skill the day before by spreading her own energy out in search of living organisms similar to her yesterday evening and was able to pinpoint a large grouping of life about eight kilometers away. She's been using her energy recognition each day and hadn't hit on anything until yesterday, deciding that this energy should be a village at least, if not Keramzin.

After dismantling her fire and spreading the ash in different directions, Wanda starts to think back to her obvious lapse in analytical reasoning before she and the twins split.

Mainly, the absence of communication devices.

Where exactly was she that the people she freed did not immediately think of searching for, or asking about, a watch or a satellite phone? Pietro always made sure Wanda had a way to contact him on trips in case anything happened, so why did the men and the twins not have something similar?

More and more questions kept popping up and she didn't like what it was adding up to.

Wanda Maximoff, what did you get yourself into?

This train of thought will hopefully be answered soon, but for now, it is time to move.