this is way much more well received than i ever thought. i'm glad you all enjoyed it!! thank you for all the love you gave the first chapter!!

i'm gonna put the replies to some of the comments at the end of the chapter. that way i don't take too much time up here!

hope you enjoy!

It takes a moment for me to fully realize that yes, the girl reflecting back at me in the small dirty mirror is indeed me.

Well, it's the girl's body that I took over and while the thought of that makes me feel slightly nauseous, I can't help but also feel giddy and happy because I'm alive. Whoever this girl is, although she looks very familiar, she's gone now. I do feel somewhat bad for having taken her place, but it's only a tiny bit if I'm to be completely honest.

Does that make me a bad person, I wonder?

The reflection is a surprisingly short young looking girl, with messy dark auburn hair that looks like it hasn't been washed in days that deeply contrasts my once light brown locks. I'm content to find that her eye color isn't that far from my original own, a soft green. I lift my right hand and the girl in the mirror raises her own. I touch my cheek and she does the same. Lips twitch upwards and she smiles back at me.

It's really me.

I can't help the laugh that escapes me.

To think that second chances like this are actually possible. Even if I wanted to, there's obviously no way for me to prove it, other than my behavior being drastically different from how this girl once was I'm guessing. Her family would be the first to notice, I think and maybe even siblings if she has any.

Does she even have anyone? She could be an orphan for all I know.

I turn away from the mirror towards the rest of the cell that I had woken up in a few moments ago. It's a small thing, a square, with a metal table that I'm guessing it's the bed against one of the walls, a TV in one of the ceiling's corners right across from it and a camera and clock right beside it and a metal door, the only obviously closed way out of here.

But why am I locked up anyways?

What did this girl do?

In a moment of horror, I think that I may be in prison, the grey rag that I'm wearing being an obvious sign of that. But the TV and camera make me think otherwise. Not that I've ever been in prison before, so I wouldn't really know.

Maybe a mental institution?

I go to the door. It's in a moment of stupidity that I grab handle of it and try to open it. No dice, fully closed and the small window on it is also closed shut.

Well then.

Back to the table it is. Laying on it is uncomfortable, but at this point there's nothing else I can do, but wait for something, anything, to happen.

Tick tick tick tick

The clock ticks away the time slowly. And even though I think that I'd be able to fall asleep, there's something keeping me from it. Something right underneath my skin, ready to come out, that thing I had felt right before I passed out. It seems to become more alive as I think about it. As if I'm bringing it to existence. It's right there, somewhere deep and I can feel it like tendrils reaching back at me, begging and singing to be let free to-

And that's when I notice it. Red, no scarlet tendrils wrapping around my fingers from the pure center of energy in my palms. It's not big, but I can't stop staring at it. My hands don't hurt, but there's this ache in my temples as I keep this alive.

What is this?, I think to myself, more fascinated than anything else.

Perhaps I should be scared of it, but oddly I'm not. It's not hurting me, bar the small ache. It's not destroying anything. It's just there, in my hands, almost as if waiting for me to do something with it, as if I'm in control of it.

And maybe that's what this is.

There's also a familiarity as I observe it, much like the girl in my reflection gave me. I feel like I've seen this before. Somewhere. A memory that I can't seem to think back to. Something . . . I had seen with my brother. On TV?

Think, I tell myself firmly.

And I do. Doing my best to go through my most recent memories, the ones before I died, my free time between university work. I used to go home, to see my family. My parents and my younger brother. My brother, who had been obsessed with all kinds of series and comics and manga. There had been this one series, loved worldwide and that I had seen every movie of it because my brother had wanted me to go with him to see each of them. And there'd been this one character that . . .

But no, surely it couldn't be possible . . .

Could it?

I try to recall the most recent one. It was this huge thing and when we had gone to see it at the movies, everyone in the room would cheer and show their emotions loudly whenever something cool or funny would happen. Clearly, all those people don't know how the movies work, but I digress. They were just excited. I'll give them a pass.

What was the godamn name?

Pretenders? Revengers? Wait, no. Wasn't it Avengers?

That was it!

It was the Avengers. And the character . . . What was her name?

"Miss Maximoff?"

The sudden voice jolts me back to reality and it the moment of distraction and possibly the sudden fear that is running through me, the energy in my palms seems to explode in itself and it's gone. I turn towards the door and there was the person that had spoken. A man in a white coat, his hands were up and I could see them tremble.

He's afraid, it's the only think I can think.

But of what? Of me? I didn't do anything to make him afraid. Yes, I did manage to conjure pure energy into my bare hands out of nowhere and in a world that it's most likely a sign of something not being right, but other than that, I haven't done anything.

And Maximoff?

Maximoff. Wanda Maximoff. That had been the name of the character in the movie, I finally remember.

There is no way. Absolute no way.

But the red energy . . . The doctor saying the name directly at me . . . The reflection in the mirror . . .

What in actual fuck?

The emotion that is going through me at the momentit's not exactly explainable. The mere idea of me being inside a fictional character in a fictional world is absurd. It's insane. I died and got brought into a fictional character that I have no knowledge of except for the fact that she makes things move with her mind and can blast people way with energy and that there's that one purple freaky dude who wants to kill off half the universe just because he thinks it's right and there was Chris Evans and Hemsworth too right? And Scarlett Johanson? And Robert Dawney J.? And they portrayed the main group? You know, actors that were bringing fictional characters to life on the big screen? Actors, not real life, not actual people having these crazy lives-

Okay, calm down. Just need to calm down.

Yes, I'm in the body of a fictional character, in a world that I don't know much of. That's fine, that's fine. I can handle that. Right? I can't handle it, yes.

You're alive, I tell myself. You died and got to breathe again.

That's what matters. It doesn't matter how you got here, because you'll probably never find out the actual reason of how this works.

I'm alive. In a body that isn't mine, but it's still here. It's real. I'm real.

I'M REAL

And really, I don't care about anything else. If I just focus on the fact that I'm alive and in a fully functional - with the added extra - body, I can stop the mental breakdown that my brain is trying to make me go through, because the small thing can't possibly comprehend of any of this is possible--

". . .iss Maximoff?"

Oh right. The dude is still here, not having moved from his place at the open door. I focus on him, I could easily walk pass him, just by summoning the same energy as before. But would that even work? There's probably many others behind him, in this whatever it is place.

Well shit.

I'm taken from my cell and right into another one, but instead of looking like a passable actual room, this one has basically all windows as walls and on the other side of the windows are countless men and women with all kinds of machinery, computers and right behind them is the staff with the glowing orb that I remember picking up when I first appeared in this body.

Wasn't that thing important for something? The orb was like one of those important crystals or something?

Damn the time I decided to actually not watch any of the other movies for context.

I'm also not sure what exactly they want me to do here.

"Miss Maximoff."

The voice that reaches me was deep sounding, with an heavy accent. I don't say anything. Just stare at the through the glass, hoping they'll just get over it and tell me what they want me to do.

"If you could," The voice is coming from a man with glasses that is right in the middle of everything. Is he like the boss of this place or something? Also, there's something about his voice that I can't quite explain. "Ah . . . Create what you did back in your room. To show us."

I just sort of blink at him. That's all? They just want me to show off the energy thing? That's easy. I just need to focus and think about whatever it is beneath my skin and will it forward into my hands and-

Wait.

Aren't I . . . forgetting something about this place? Wanda was like created here or something, right?

But I recall once, during our viewing of one the most recents movies (well, not so recent here because the movies no longer even exist), my brother had explained to me certain characters' stories and backgrounds. And I remember him mentioning . . .

"She did have family! But her brother died . . . Protecting someone."

Right. Wanda has a brother, right? Don't remember exactly if he's younger or older, but I do know she has one and that . . . he'll die. At some point in the future, he's gonna die.

And normally, I wouldn't care. He's not my brother. He's nothing to me. I don't even know what he looks like. But . . .

I know what it's like to die. And a part of me doesn't want someone that I could potentially find a way to save to die. He's Wanda's brother, so wherever I go, they'll associate him with me and if I do get out of here, he'll most likely follow.

Am I that cruel to leave someone to die at some point when I have some knowledge that could eventually be his rescue?

I guess not.

And that's when the very first words since I've come to this place leave my lips, "Where's my brother?"

The people observing me seem to look between each other and the same man from before speaks up again, "Pietro Maximoff is currently in his own room incapacitated."

Pietro. I commit the name to memory. Can't forget it. Also incapacitated? Did he like develop powers as well in this place and is currently down because of it? That seems to be the most logical explanation.

"Can I . . ." I lick my dry lips, forcing the words out, "See him after this?"

They look at each other again. A spark of annoyance comes to life in my chest when they don't answer right away. Did they want to keep the siblings separate? Is that it?

"Perhaps we can't get to . . . an agreement, Miss Maximoff. But now, if you would . . ."

With that, all talking was over and I search for that thing that seems to always be there inside of me and summon the scarlet energy forward.

They keep me in that place for three hours.

Asking me to do all sort of things, to see if I can make the energy do anything to the objects they keep bringing to me and I discover that yes, I can use it to pick up and throw stuff (sorry not sorry, unknown doctor whose name I didn't care to know) and also that I can somehow change an object's shape into something completely different. Molecular control perhaps?

It all comes so naturally to me for some reason.

It does cause me some discomfort and headaches depending how much I use it.

But it still feels it's meant to be here, within me (in this body) and being utilized by me although I have no fucking idea what it actually is.

A part of me wants to call it magic. It acts the same way some books and series and movies described magic as and if I'm currently in a world where literal Gods exist and interact with Earth, it's not too outstretched to call it magic. But the other part of me just thinks that maybe there's a scientific reason for this, even though there's most likely nothing that can reasonably explain it.

It's only after I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically, and taken back to the room I woke up in when I remember Pietro.

And I don't get to see Wanda's brother the following days.

They're instead spent with me linked to machines for them to study my brain waves, I think that's what they said and to perform all sorts of annoying tests to my blood and whatever. I can only lay down on the metal table, feeling them probe into my skin with needles and all that and I'm slowly going crazy.

But it is through one of those exams, maybe a couple of days after I first woke up, that I learn another aspect of this magic.

And that's mind control.

Utter complete mind control of someone else's head. I did it at first by accident to one of the scientists and it caught me so off guard when I could see images and people and moments that didn't belong to me. And slowly, I began to move through those countless memories, feeling like something was drawing me. It felt weird and dark and hidden away in plain sight behind many of this persons memories, most that consisted on being in bridges and roller coasters or on a cliff.

Ah, I realized then, it's fear.

And I reached out for it and twisted it, using the person's fear and making them think that they were falling and falling down with no way to escape it.

All of this happening while I was still lying on the table, one of scarlet covered hand in that one scientist's left temple and then red everywhere on their face. And they started struggling with themselves as they slowly walked backwards from the table and when someone would try to help them, they lashed out and struggled even more, screaming their lungs out at something no one else could see or feel.

I can vividly remember the smile, grin, on my face as I watched the entire thing, before one of the other scientists stabbed me on the neck with something and everything went black.

Hours later, I woke up in my cell and laughed.

This place, this world, may end up being more fun to live in than I thought.

After three weeks filled with only exams and more testing of the capabilities of this energy of mine, they finally let me see Pietro.

From what they explained, apparently Wanda's brother's body wasn't as accepting of his new abilities, the complete opposite of what had happened to her - me. His metabolism was off the charts and the control he had on his speed was mediocre at best, despite the people who worked here apparently having done some tests for him to get used to it. Despite the slow progress however, he apparently has gotten much, much better at it, much to the scientists' glee.

They want to use us for something, that much I already figured, but what? Destroy the Avengers?

That seems the most probable thing. Or maybe they just want to change the world, in their own scientific and horrific ways because no matter how cool these powers and also Pietro's are, they are still result of human experimentation.

Volunteered human experimentation.

Just what did these siblings go through to resort to this place as a future?

I suppose I'll never truly know.

Pietro's room is identical to mine. And when I go through the door, his attention is immediately on me and in a second, he's standing right in front of me and I just know that if there were any clutter around the room it'd be flying everywhere at this point.

He wraps his arms around me and, after reminding myself that this is supposed to be my brother and that I am supposed to love him, I let my arms circle his waist, returning the hug.

It's weird, I decide immediately to myself. And not just because he's much taller than I am. But also because I'm not his sister, not really, but in his eyes I am and there's no way I can just go, ha ha actually i am not wanda i am just this girl who took over her body and wanda is probably forever gone now ha ha more hugs? because he'd never believe me on something like that.

But one thing I'm sure of is that thanks to the fact that I'm in the body of his sister, it means that Pietro trusts me. I have his unconditional sibling trust and that's more than enough. It'll have to be enough.

(It doesn't help that he remind me toomuchtoomuch of my actual brother that I'll never get to see again--)

In the end, I need his help if I wanna get the scepter's stone and both of us out of here, which means that I'll have to play my role until we're out.

After that . . . Well, that's a problem for future me to handle.

aka the chapter where wanda-not-wanda realizes where she is,nearly has a completely breakdown and learns that she has cool powers that can control all kind of things and people's heads ft. a plan starting to get made and pietro maximoff because i love him and he wasn't even supposed to be in this chapter at first, but he got a mind of his own and here he is i love him

i'm having a blast writing this story. seriously i'm having the time of my life.

me, throughout this chapter: *goes to google and searches what other ways to write and describe wanda's powers* *decides on overusing scarlet/red energy*

and with this chapter done, i'm off to start the next one. but first i'm gonna sleep because it's almost 3am now and i have an Headache. thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed!

replies to some of the comments:

fire dolphin: honestly, it had been something i wanted too! i've been searching for si/oc stories for wanda for a while now and decided instead to write it outsksjsjsjs about pairings, well, i still haven't decided because one thing i'm sure of is that romance won't be like a major focus in this story, mostly because i don't really know how to write it. but if does, i was already thinking i didn't want her to end up with vision and instead with another character and the ones you proposed are few that i did think about! i'll be sure to let everyone know if romance does turn out to be a part of the story!

hiareportsyou: i think this chapter answered your first question :D because i just couldn't pass the idea of someone other than wanda having wanda's abilities and maybe end up causing havoc with themsjsjjssk yelena is definitely a candidate for a relationship. i loved her in black widow and i think it'd be interesting to see her dynamic with wanda-not-wanda lmao. but like i said above, i'm still not sure what exactly or even if i'll put romance in this story but i'll let you all know if it does!

ghouly-girl: i'm glad you liked it!! saving pietro and you know, eventually leading to changing things in the mcu was the very first reason of why i began writing this, so to answer your question: yes, wanda-not-wanda is gonna try her best to save her not-really-brother and hopefully other things too!

pmac788: well, since this will at some point reach civil war (still not sure when since i'm not even at age of ultronsjsjssjs) i figure that yes, i'll eventually have to choose one of the sides. or maybe not :D who knows?