Sorry about the delay. I got caught up with something else I'm writing that isn't a fanfiction and I was determined to finish that. Anyway, now it's finished and I can get onto the next chapter!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Enjoy!
The next few days were among the strangest of Pietro's life. He wasn't sure how he should feel about the newest addition to the team-this girl who looked and acted just like Wanda but treated him like a complete stranger. And it wasn't just him either-it was like she didn't remember anyone. She kept having to ask Rhodey what his name was and what exactly had happened in Sokovia. Above all, she had no idea where she'd been or what she'd been doing for the past year.
Steve set her up in a room that adjoined with Pietro's. It was a little on the small side, but it was also clean and boasted an excellent view of the training courtyard.
"So, do you want to train a little bit later?" Natasha asked. "We just need a read on your skillset. Nothing major."
"Not right now." Wanda said almost curtly. "I mean, I feel pretty jet lagged. Is it all right if I take a nap for a couple hours?"
"Yeah, of course. Just call down if you need anything. We'll be here for the rest of the afternoon."
"Thank you." After that, they left her to unpack. At least, most of the other Avengers did. Pietro stayed in his room and lay on his bed, staying as still as he could while he listened to the sounds that filtered in through the walls: drawers being opened and closed, a bag being zipped and unzipped. He would have been content to listen to those noises for the rest of the afternoon; they meant that his sister was alive and well.
After a while he began to hear the sound of singing. He held his breath and listened carefully; he thought he recognized the tune as a Russian folk song their mother had often sang to them when they were small children. He listened in silence for a minute or two as Wanda's voice filled the room, high and sweet.
Pietro didn't realize he was singing along until he heard Wanda falter slightly. Slowly he trailed off and watched the door curiously.
"Do you know how to harmonize?" she asked after a while.
"Yeah. I can take the alto part, if you would like to take soprano."
"All right." Wanda started to sing first, her lilting voice echoing throughout the room. After a moment, Pietro added his low baritone under hers. The different layers intertwined until they blended into one all new sound-a sound that Pietro thought was pretty good, in spite of himself.
Finally, Wanda fell silent again. "Do you want to sing another?" Pietro asked. He felt that for a moment, just for a moment, they'd been connecting. And he wasn't willing to let that go so easily.
In response, he heard a door slam. By the time he reached the hallway, he was just in time to see a few strands of brown hair disappearing around the corner of the stairwell that led downstairs.
"Nice duet." Steve said, stepping out of his own room across the hall. Pietro could see a Brooklyn Dodgers poster-from 1943-glaring down at him from the other side of the room.
"Thanks." Pietro glanced at Wanda and sighed, as if that would bring her back upstairs.
"Something wrong?"
"She doesn't know me. She doesn't recognize me. We've been together for our entire lives. We've done everything together. And now she just….when she looks at me, she doesn't see a brother. She doesn't even see a friend. She just sees a stranger."
"I know how hard it can be: to have one of the most important people in your life not realize who you are. But thinking about it this way-amnesia doesn't have to be permanent. Amnesia can be fixed. Death can't."
"Do you think we can get her memories back?"
"I think it's worth a shot-and I know just who to call."
~V102~
It was Sam's turn to cook. Of course, he ended up making spaghetti tacos.
Spaghetti tacos were one of Sam's better creations. They were easy to make; all you had to do was boil a pot of spaghetti and fill a plain tortilla. Pietro couldn't get enough of them.
Usually, dinners at the Avengers base were filled with laughter, stories, and bad puns. However, tonight there was an almost imperceptible tension in the air-so thick he could practically cut through it with his steak knife. It was only a matter of time before someone set it off.
Wanda sat on one side of him, taken another forkful of spaghetti. She didn't talk to him; she wouldn't even look in his general direction. Pietro felt like whatever moment they'd shared that afternoon was gone. He was back to square one. "How are you adjusting?" he asked tentatively.
She took a bite of her taco listlessly. "Fine." Short, simple, and to the point.
"Can you find everything you need?"
"Yes."
James defused the tension by telling everyone his classic War Machine story. It was getting pretty old (he insisted on telling it at least once a week) but all the Avengers laughed in all the right places so as not to insult James. It worked-for a few minutes, everyone was laughing.
And then Wanda had to ruin the mood. She turned to Pietro, setting her fork down with a soft clink. "Why were you singing with me?"
"I recognized that song. I didn't know it bothered you-"
"How do you know that song?" Pietro knew she was really asking How do I know that song?
"Our mother used to sing it to us at night, when we couldn't sleep."
"I don't need your help." she said, changing the subject abruptly.
"What do you mean?" The other Avengers were watching the proceedings with unease; they were obviously just fishing for an excuse so they could leave the table.
"I notice things-like the way you follow me around. You're like my shadow-you just won't leave me alone. I don't need your help. I can take care of myself."
Then Pietro snapped. He wasn't about to forget all the sleepless night, all the days he'd spent by her headstone. He'd thought he was slowly dying-and she didn't have any right to dismiss or discount that for anything less than it was. "Do know why I feel a need to look after you and keep you safe? Because I need reassurance. I know you may not remember, but I remember you. And I remember how everyone thought you had died. Now I'm still having a hard time believing you're here. You're my sister. You're my responsibility-and I will do whatever it takes to protect you-even if that means making sure you're settling in okay."
For a minute she just glared at him, strains of red magic sparking from her hands. Then she stood up from the table with a huff, sending her chair flying back into the table. "Leave me alone."
She turned to leave, but Vision caught her wrist. The sleeve of her sweater had ridden up during the argument, revealing a series of numbers and black lines that had been inked onto her lower arm. It almost looked like…Pietro rubbed his eyes, sure he was just seeing things.
The tattoo looked almost like a bar code.
Steve stood up and cleared his throat so they would all look at him, although he spoke directly to Wanda. "We have a friend in New York City who's a lot more equipped for this then we are. He'll be able to figure out what happened to you."
"What is his name?"
"Tony Stark."
~V102~
Avengers Tower was almost deserted at this time of night. Most of the SHIELD agents who made it their workspace had already gone home for the night.
Tony met the small group in the lobby. "And what can I do for all of you at nine o'clock at night?" he asked jovially.
"We need you to do a quick brain scan on Wanda using that machine you were telling me about." Steve gently encouraged Wanda to step forward. Ever since they'd left the base, she'd shadowed the rest of the group like a nervous puppy.
Tony's mouth practically dropped open and he had to struggle to close it. "Wanda…Maximoff? I thought she-"
"We did, too. But apparently she didn't. Listen, we wouldn't be bothering you if this wasn't a matter of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, Wanda has a bad case of amnesia and she can't remember us-or where she's been for the last year."
"Oh. Well, I'll see what I can do. Let's go to the lab." He led them up a series of staircases and passed numerous offices with darkened windows until they reached what Pietro assumed was a laboratory. It didn't look like any laboratory he'd ever been inside. He didn't see the harsh lighting and sharp metal objects that looked like medieval torture devices. Instead he saw a room that was airy and clean, lined with tables on both sides of the room and floor to ceiling windows with a view of the sleeping city.
There was a long metal table in the center of the room and Tony gestured for Wanda to lie down. "I'm just going to run this over your forehead to see if we can locate your memories." He pulled down on a large, flat machine that had been attached to the wall with a thin black bar. Wanda eyed it suspiciously and for a moment Pietro thought she would outright refuse.
"Please, Wanda." he whispered. "Don't you want those memories back?"
Reluctantly, she eased herself the rest of the way to the table. "Will it hurt?"
"It shouldn't." Tony said. "Just close your eyes and try to relax. I made this machine myself; it's very efficient. This'll all be over before you know it.
Wanda followed his advice. Pietro stood by her side, as close as she would allow him to be, in case anything went wrong.
Tony swept the machine back and forth once and then twice. "There's some interference…I can't quite pinpoint the problem…" Suddenly the device began to beep at an extremely fast pace, faster and faster until it was one constant noise. "Holy-"
And then Wanda started to scream. Immediately Pietro had her hand clasped in his, murmuring things under his breath to try and calm her down. "What's going on?" he yelled at Stark. "What are you doing to her? Turn it off!"
Tony was fumbling with the control panel on the wall. "It's not supposed to do that-"
Wanda was still screaming. For once, Pietro had no idea what was wrong. As such he didn't know how to help her-and it frustrated him. A lot. "Calm down, Wanda. It's going to be all right. There was just a little malfunction…Mr. Stark is going to fix this-"
Why wasn't the machine turning off? "Stark-"
"I'm trying." Tony said quickly. In a last ditch attempt, he ripped all the wires out of the wall. For a minute nothing happened-and then the machine completely shut down. Wanda took a moment to calm down, automatically creating a force field around her as she lay on the table, shivering. Pietro was pushed back-that had never happened to him before. Usually, Wanda had always allowed him to be with her, even in the midst of his worst episodes.
"What was that?" Pietro called. "What happened to her? You said there wouldn't be any tests! You promised!"
"I don't know why it did that! It was supposed to show me where the memories were stored-instead it just showed these flashes-and not good flashes either. Flashes of needles, scientists-and those were the most recent ones. I saw you during the Battle of Sokovia…you looked dead. I think Wanda was forced to relive those memories-that's why she was so upset. I think whoever took her memories put some kind of lock on them so she won't remember."
"Why would-"
Tony and Steve exchanged a look. "Let's take this outside. I have a feeling Wanda wants to be alone." Steve said, gesturing to the hallway. Pietro was reluctant to leave, but he knew Wanda needed time-and he was happy to give it.
"There are other ways of unlocking memories." Natasha said. "We can look into it…there are always triggers or something. Amnesia is never a flawless process-"
"I don't know if we necessarily want to do that."
"Why not?"
"What if the reasons were taken away for a reason? From what Tony was saying, they didn't look very good. Or maybe her brain did it subconsciously. We don't know where Wanda was for the last year. What if…it got to be too much?"
"Steve, we can't just ignore this. She has to learn who we are-who she is-"
"She can relearn. She can make new ones." Tony said.
"She can't go through life not remembering her first eighteen years."
"She'll learn in time. And, granted, we'll get rid of some of the good memories-but we'll also get rid of the bad memories too. I'm not saying we don't need pain in our lives, but Wanda has a chance to make a new life-a new life free of all memories of experiments and tests."
Pietro shook his head. "I'm finding a way to get those memories back-no matter what it takes. All the memories."
"Are you sure you want her to remember the experimentation? Sounds like what HYDRA did the two of you was a lot worse than getting injected with a serum. We'll help you with whatever you plan to do either way, but think it through first. This could be a good thing for her."
"She got through it before. She can get through it again." Pietro glanced back into the office. Wanda was sitting up by now, watching them carefully. He still didn't see even a sliver of recognition in her eyes.
He realized how much he missed that recognition-seeing her smile him, knowing how she was feeling just by looking into her eyes…they knew each other so well. Wanda had been his constant for as long as he could remember. He hadn't quite realized just how much he depended on her.
He was going to unlock her memories. He was going to get his sister back, no matter what it took.
One last note: I'm considering putting a romantic side plot in this story at some point, but I'm still debating pairings.
Review, follow, and favorite! Thanks for reading!