Chapter Text
New York, 2018
The house was unnaturally quiet. Usually, the rooms would be buzzing with the sound of magic, or a plate shattering against the wall, only to be fixed and shattered again. However, today, the entire place was dead silent.
Agatha was sitting in the living room, staring in disbelief at the computer in her lap.
“Hey- hey, are you okay?”
“I did it.”
You froze, fearing the worst. “Did what?”
“I found her.”
Found her .
“Holy shit- how did you-?”
“I’m not sure. But she’s here. In the country, at least.”
“We’ve done it. We- we’ve made it.”
She smiled as you took her in your arms. “Her name is Wanda Maximoff. Her brother died a few years ago, and her parents years before that. It makes for a lovely little backstory, don’t you think?”
You nodded, before losing the feeling in your arms. “What the fu-”
-
You woke up in the same seat, but you were alone. You didn’t remember falling asleep, but you must’ve because it felt like it had been at least an hour. The sky was a different shade of orange, but you quickly realised that wasn’t all that was different. There weren’t any paintings on the walls, the curtains were blue instead of black, and multiple voices were coming from a few rooms over.
You stood up, walking to the door. “Agatha, honey, do we have company?”
As you stepped into the hallway, the voices stopped abruptly. You couldn’t tell if this is because you spoke or because of the door slamming behind you.
“Hello?”
You continued to walk down the hall, in the direction you thought you could hear people talking. “Is someone here?”
There was, in fact, someone here. Just not the people you were expecting. “Can I help you?”
“You returned from the Blip, didn’t you?”
You paused, eyes wide. “I what?”
“The Blip? Like, five years ago, a bunch of people disappeared? Thanos? Any of this ringing a bell?”
You shook your head, looking at these people you’re sure you’d never met. “Am I supposed to know any of you?”
They look at each other. It looks like a father and a daughter, although you can’t be sure. “We bought this house a few weeks ago. The person you’re looking for already moved out. We can’t help you any more than that.”
“Well, thanks anyway,” you said with a sigh. How the fuck were you going to find her?
-
You wake up. By the light outside the sky you guess it’s been a few hours since Agnes - Agatha - knocked you out. Your head is killing you, but that’s not the point. That’s not going to help you now.
Clenching your fists, you try to summon any form of magic left in you. It’s still there - you can feel it, coursing through your body, forcing its way to your fingertips. You stand, walking to the door. You’re still in Agnes’ house, and it's still emptier than you would’ve hoped, but at least there’s some form of familiarity.
You walk outside, your heels clicking against the concrete. You mean, really , did Wanda need to put you in this dressy outfit? Where were you going to go? What would you even be doing that required this? That’s beside the point, you think, clicking your fingers to change into something a little more appropriate for what you’re about to do. You have a feeling that if Agatha had only just restored your memory, it was for a reason.
-
“Actually- before I leave, have you found any of the past owner’s possessions?”
The man paused for a second, before nodding. “There was this book on the ground, in the master bedroom. We kept it in case she wanted to get it back. Do you want it?”
You nodded.
“Of course, just give me a second.” He disappeared down the hall.
-
You roll back your shoulders, clenching your fists again, hoping to get some form of power that can help you more than just changing clothes.
Nothing.
You sigh and begin to walk down the street when you hear a crash. Red and purple flashes of light emanate from above the town square. You begin to make your way in that direction, fearing the worst.
The closer you get, the more dire the situation becomes. Agatha doesn’t seem to be losing , per se. But she’s definitely not winning.
You look up at the two women in the sky, a blur of red and purple. Suddenly you’re soaring, up to them, up to her, the feeling of magic pulsing through your veins again, finally .
“Agatha!”
This is your first mistake. That word alone throws off her rhythm, drawing her attention to you. “No, you’re not-”
She gets hit. Hard.
“Fuck- no .” You begin throwing liquid-like light. The blue-green magic you’ve felt building up after week(s?) of you being under her - Wanda’s - control, finally released. You don’t bother aiming, only continuing to target Wanda and Wanda alone.
But she’s stronger than you.
Of course, she is. The fabled Scarlet Witch. The myth. You hadn't even thought you’d live to see her.
And yet.
The next thing you feel is cold. A searing, cold pain that starts at your centre and spreads its way out, down your arms and across your fingertips. And you’re being propelled backwards.
You land on the ground, pain shooting up your spine. A few cars surround you, and you can sense that their intentions are less than desirable.
A megaphone shrieks and you wince as you stand up, brushing yourself off. “ Who are you? ”
You look up at the car you assume contains the speaker, and you find yourself asking “Are you here to kill Wanda?”
It’s not that you don’t want to hurt Wanda. She’s about to kill your wife, for fuck’s sake. If anything, you’ll be the one to kill her yourself. But you can’t seem to allow these people to get to her.
So maybe it’s instinct, the desire to not let the Scarlet Witch get harmed, that causes you to raise your hands and force the cars backwards with the remnants of your once-great magic. Perhaps it’s instinct when as they surround you, you let yourself completely give in to your power, letting it consume you as the cars and guns and men are flung backwards. And possibly it’s instinct to then immediately turn around and find your way back to the two women engaged in battle behind you.
The boys - the twins, Tommy and Billy, Wanda’s sons - are fighting too. Fighting against the people you missed. Fighting the fucking military . Maybe you should’ve given them more credit.
You continue to make your way over to Agatha and Wanda, only to be stopped. You’re not sure why, but you can’t go any higher, any further to them. Like your magic is dying out.
But that’s impossible , you think, looking down at the fading blue mist around your hands, because nobody is stopping you from moving.
You look around, at Wanda, at the sky, and make the connection. This, like everything else in this godforsaken town, was Wanda’s doing.
This means that Agatha will be completely fucked in a few seconds if she doesn’t figure out what’s going on.
You yell her name, but she’s occupied. Clearly.
-
“There you go. Good luck getting it open, though. Couldn’t for the life of me figure it out.”
You stared at the book in your hands. It looked so familiar, but you couldn’t quite figure out where you’d seen it.
It was only when you opened it that you realised it was supposedly Agatha’s “diary”. There was a page in the middle that was bookmarked, so you flipped through to that page immediately. It was the beginning of a chapter titled “The Scarlet Witch”.
Your eyes widened as you realised where she was.
-
You can feel yourself falling to the ground, but your mind is elsewhere. It’s focused on the women above you, it’s focused on Agatha. On your wife .
As you slowly sink to the ground, your immediate thought is to run over to them, yell at the top of your lungs for Wanda to get away, leave her alone . But you can’t.
Because it seems that they’re on their way over to you already.
You stand up, brushing yourself off, and begin to run towards the town square. That seems to be the main place of important events in Westview.
Upon seeing Agatha and Wanda seemingly unharmed, you smile in relief.
Your smile drops when you call Agatha’s name and she only looks at you with an empty smile.
-
Westview. All of this, weeks of searching, just to lead you to a town in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Typical Agatha, you supposed.
As you approached the town, something seemed… off. It was too quiet, there was nobody outside, it was almost as if the town didn’t exist. The results on Google certainly thought so.
You squared your shoulders and continued to walk towards Westview.
As you entered the town, your ears began to ring, your vision blurring.
And you heard a tired voice in the back of your head sigh and say “Welcome to Westview.”
-
“Wanda, what’s going on? Why isn’t she talking?”
The Scarlet Witch only smiles. “She’s better now.”
And your stomach drops.