Author's note: Final chapter. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 34: Afterlife

'Tell me, where do ghosts in love

Find their bridal veils?'
'If you and I were ghosts in love
We'd climb the cliffs of Mystery,
Above the Sea that Wails,
I'd trim your gray and streaming hair
With veils of Fantasy
From the tree of Memory,
'Tis there the ghosts that fall in love
Find their bridal veils.'

~Vachel Lindsay, "Ghosts in Love," from Poems Bewitched and Haunted, ed. John Hollander

She couldn't find Vision. She searched for him, but couldn't find him. Where had she searched? She didn't know. She couldn't see. She couldn't feel. Couldn't touch, or hear. All she knew was she didn't know where Vision was.

The Source had begun to unravel. Had she destroyed it? Or did it destroy her? Was she dead? Was Vision? Did he escape when the giant Mind entity collapsed?

She'd seen him use sorcery—or had she imagined it? Was he able to use a sorcerer's portal to escape?

The architecture of the Source filled her mind. It wasn't that she could see it, but it was burned into her memory, making it hard to think of anything else.

She smelled something. Something fresh, sweet, floral.

Her eyes opened.

The room was unfamiliar, though after a few moments she recognized the furnishings as Wakandan. A window opened to a bright green garden. There was a vase next to her bed holding plumeria flowers. That's what she'd been smelling.

Was this real? It seemed real. The bed beneath her seemed solid. The breeze drifting in from the garden felt real. She touched one of the soft, delicate flowers. It seemed real.

The bone-deep ache and buzzing sensation throughout her body were definitely real.

This room seemed safe and comforting, but Vision wasn't there.

There was a sound, a soft knock. Wanda saw Princess Shuri tapping at an open door.

"I was hoping I could get here before you woke up," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?"

"You won," Shuri replied. "You saved the world."

"What happened to Vision? Did he..." She couldn't finish the question, couldn't even formulate it.

"Vision's fine. From what I heard, he found you after the Source disintegrated. You were pretty banged up and unconscious, so they brought you here. At first I thought you had a concussion, but—"

"Where is he now?"

"In the next room. He's been worried about you, but he wasn't sure you would want him here when you woke up. He said you might be angry with him."

"I want to see him. I need to see him."

He phased through the wall (he'd obviously been eavesdropping) and flew to her side. "Wanda," he breathed. His hands clenched, resisting the impulse to reach for her.

He didn't appear to be physically hurt, Wanda noted with intense relief.

"Vizh, how are you? Are you okay?"

That elicited a look of incredulity. He couldn't believe after what she'd been through she could be worried about him. "I'm unharmed," he said. "The Source incapacitated me, but it was destroyed before it could do serious damage."

"What were you doing there? You promised me you would stay away, stay safe."

"I'm going to just go," Shuri said, slipping out of the room.

Vision kept his eyes on Wanda's face, in that familiar intense stare that always melted her. "I couldn't. If it is ever within my power to protect you, I will. I can't do otherwise," he said. A long, tense moment passed in silence. "Wanda, can you ever forgive me?"

She found she was too tired and relieved to be angry.

But it shouldn't have been within his power.

"How did you get there?" she asked. The explanation came to her even as she spoke. "Strange has been teaching you, hasn't he?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "I was desperate to find a way to help, and he was curious as to whether I would be capable of sorcery."

Wanda discovered she wasn't too tired and relieved to be angry after all; she just couldn't be angry at Vision.

"I do forgive you."

Though she felt relief from his mind at those words, it was quickly surpassed by a wave of fear. "Do you still... Are we still..." He took a deep breath. "Do you still wish to be with me?"

That insecurity was coming from Red Ultron; with the crimes of his past, he still didn't believe he deserved her, and would readily believe he had lost her. He didn't need to worry. She understood, because she would have made the same choice. She would do anything to protect Vision, even if it meant she would never see him again. Because she loved him.

She realized she'd been silent for several seconds—seconds which had been agony to him as he awaited her verdict.

"Of course I do, Vizh," she said. "I watched you die, twice. Then I had to survive without you in my life. I was yours, and then you were gone, and I was no one's. I never want to be that again."

He finally took her hand. "Wanda, I am the one who is yours."

She smiled tiredly. "Then we're each other's, I guess."

He chuckled. "You should rest."

"Stay with me, Vision?"

"I will."

Wanda sat on the broad windowsill, looking out into the garden, deep in thought.

Vision returned, handing her the cup of tea she'd requested. "Are you sure you should be out of bed?"

"I'm feeling much stronger," she said. "Not back to a hundred percent yet, but that might be for the best."

"Why might that be for the best?"

She didn't answer directly. "Do you know where Doctor Strange is?"

"I haven't seen him since we brought you here, but I expect he is either at the Sanctum in New York or at Kamar-Taj, the sorcerers' training compound. Why?"

"Can you take me to him? Can you open one of those magic portals?"

"Yes. The key to opening a portal is picturing where you want to go as vividly as you can, and with my photographic memory, that was the first spell Doctor Strange taught me."

"Okay." She stood up. "Let's go."

"You wish to go now?"

"I need to talk to him. And I'll need you with me when I do."

"Why?"

"Because I might need you to stop me from trying to kill him."

They found Doctor Strange sitting at a table in the library in the New York Sanctum. He looked up at them evenly. "I wasn't expecting you quite so soon."

Wanda took a deep breath. "You lied to me." She took a small, involuntary step towards him. "You betrayed me. You used Vision."

Vision glanced at her, frowning, then at Strange, whose impassive face showed not even a hint of disputing her accusations.

She continued in a quiet voice creaking with restrained rage. "You led me to believe you wanted to recruit Vision because you thought his powers might be useful, then that you just wanted him to implant the memories that would let us find the Source. But that wasn't the whole reason either, was it?" She took another step closer, threads of red orbiting around her twitching fingers. "When I told you I wouldn't let Vision come with us, you taught him sorcery in secret, because your real plan needed him to be there." She paused to take another deep breath.

Strange sat impassively, hands flat on the table, making no visible preparations to defend himself.

"You decided to recruit Vision right after I told you how my powers work, that their strength depends on my emotional state. Your plan the whole time was to put Vision right in the path of danger, that you would risk his life to make me..."

"To make you strong enough to destroy the Source," Strange stated. "Your strongest emotions center around him." He nodded at Vision. "So, yes. I knew your best chance of destroying the Source was if you did it to save not the world, not your own life, but the person you love most. And I knew that you would never go along with it knowingly."

"You bastard," she whispered.

"I did it to save the world, and it worked. If you kill me for it, it was still worth it. Are you going to kill me?"

"I don't know," she said, trembling. "I want to."

"We all want to do things we decide not to do." He looked from her to Vision. "You look like this is news to you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you the whole plan from the beginning. I knew you wouldn't feel right about putting yourself in deliberate danger to manipulate her."

"You're right about that," Vision confirmed. "There must have been a better way."

"Maybe. Maybe Wanda could have destroyed the Source without you there. But with the world at stake, I wanted the best chance we could get. Was I wrong?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "I think..."

When he trailed off, Wanda asked, "What do you think, Vision?"

"I'm upset that you were so cruelly manipulated, but this plot Doctor Strange devised is what brought me from a solitary life in my world to this world, the reason my memories were resurrected, the reason I am no longer alone. It gave me friendship, redemption, and...a second chance at a life with the woman I love. Subjectively, it feels as if it were worth the subterfuge."

"You're saying the ends justify the means?" She still wasn't sure if she would give in to the urge to kill Strange. She already would have if she didn't fear Vision's reaction.

"In this case, perhaps. At any rate, it can't be undone, and further violence will not heal anything."

Wanda hated how well Vision understood her sometimes. She let the red glow around her hands fade out.

"Well, if you're not going to kill me, I have an offer for you," Strange said.

"I am not interested."

"Vision might be."

Wanda blinked, suddenly curious.

"Train at Kamar-Taj. Both of you," he said. "Study the mystic arts. Study your powers. Free room and board and a generous stipend for as long as you want to stay."

"We'd be free to leave?" Wanda asked.

Strange tilted his head, looking at her like he was assessing a patient, or a job applicant. "Miss Maximoff, I think it might not have sunk in yet, what you just did. You saved the world. You. Saved. The world. Anything you want that's within my considerable power to grant in repayment is yours for the asking. But what I want for you, and what I believe you may want for yourself, is a few years in a quiet Himalayan retreat to study and relax. Meditate, explore, maybe even take some online courses and get a college education. Kamar-Taj has excellent wi-fi."

She was stunned by the offer. It seemed too good to be true. But she didn't read any hint of deviousness in Strange's mind—in fact, despite his apparent lack of remorse for his deception, she detected regret. He still believed he'd done what was necessary, but he was sorry for it, and sincerely wanted to make it up to her.

She glanced at Vision. He was keeping his expression carefully neutral. He didn't want to influence her decision, but she could feel how much he wanted this.

"You've been to Kamar-Taj?" she asked him.

"Yes."

"Is it nice?"

"It's beautiful," he replied.

Where else could they go? The Avengers had disbanded. The compound—the only home Vision had ever known in this world—was in ruins. They could ask for sanctuary in Wakanda, but she didn't like the idea of trying to build a life so close to the battlefield where she'd killed Vision. That moment haunted her enough without the daily physical reminder. She also didn't want to ask Clint to take them in, or crash on Sam's couch in New York. But those were all possibilities.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

He answered slowly and thoughtfully. "I would like to return to my world, continue my work there. But I do not want to stay there permanently. I feel I belong in this world now, but I still feel a responsibility to do something to improve the other. If I could study with the sorcerers and improve my skills with portals, I would not have to choose."

She could go with him to the world devastated by Ultron and help him in his work. She wondered if with her powers she could clear the dust and ash from the sky and get the sun to shine again. She could help save another world. She liked that thought.

She looked at him a moment longer, then back at Doctor Strange. "You know I'll never trust you again, right?"

"I don't see why you would have to," Strange replied.

Though she'd never forgive him for putting Vision in danger, she found she didn't hate Doctor Strange. His offer was tempting. It was, in fact, exactly what she wanted. And she and Vision would be together. "In that case, I think I'll give Kamar-Taj a try, see if it works out."

Chill air wafted in from the open window, but Wanda didn't mind. The window gave a fantastic view of rugged, snowy mountains, currently glowing orange in the light of sunset. And she was comfortable, wrapped in a heavy quilt, her head and hand resting on Vision's chest.

"You're right; this place is beautiful."

"Yes," he agreed.

"I think I'll like it here. But sometime soon I want to visit Clint and Sam and Steve."

"I would like to see them too, as well as Ms. Potts and Doctor Banner," Vision said. "Though perhaps you should explain who I am before we spring my existence on them. It may come as somewhat of a shock."

"I think they'll take it fine," she said. "After everything that's happened, I think they'll just be happy to have you back."

"I hope so. Other than our close friends, I would prefer if the world continues to believe I am dead, for the time being. I am not ready to explain my identity to the public, or to answer questions about my past as Red Ultron, or to relive the details of my death."

"I understand. The Sokovia Accords are still technically in effect, even though after Thanos nobody's wanted to worry about them, so my legal status is still iffy. I'm grateful for the chance to lay low for a few years." She smiled as a thought occurred to her. "I guess we're just a couple of ghosts."

"This is a better afterlife than I had hoped for." He held her close, stroking her hair. "Shall I close the window?"

The temperature was dropping. The evening light had left the mountains, though the high cirrus clouds still glowed bronze.

"Leave it open a little longer," she said. "I'm not cold."