Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The new Avengers campus was bursting with activity, people bustling to and fro with heavy equipment and boxes full of things Wanda couldn't even image. She watched the chaos from her window that overlooked the main lawn, her lips pursed. They all looked happy. And if they weren't looking happy, they looked determined. Like they had something to live for. Wanda envied them so. She turned her back to the window and surveyed her new room. The walls were painted a soft grey and there were windows in two of the four walls. one of which took up a whole wall. Wanda's bed lay parallel to the door with a nightstand on either side of it. A large desk was by the door, and multiple shelves hung above the desk. a closet on the other side of the door was just waiting to be filled and the bathroom next to the closet was bigger then her cell at Hydra.

Everything in this room was so much nicer then the cells she had her brother had been living in for years.

Wanda felt a wave of sadness and grief was over her. Her brother that she would never see again. Her brother that had gave his life to save their home. A home that no longer existed. She sighed. This had been happening a lot lately. She just hoped the grief would ease as the days went on. Vision smiled at her as he walked in, a large and heavy looking cardboard box in his hands.

"And these are the last of them." Vision said, setting the box down on her bed. Wanda smiled.

"Thanks Vis. I think I have it from here." She walked over and made a shooing motion with her hands, dismissing Vision.

"Actually I was wondering if I could stay." Vision said suddenly, sounding a little nervous.

"Vis," Wanda began. "I've got this. I'm good."

"I understand that, but I wanted to help. I have nothing else to do and I don't think you should be alone right now and-"

"Ok ok," Wanda smiled, cutting him off. "You can help if you'd like." Vision attempted to smile but it came off more like a grimace. He was still getting the hang of how to be a "human". "You can start unpacking that box," Wanda pointed to the box on her desk. "It has all the books Tony said I needed to read to get somewhat of an education."

"You know if you need a tutor I would be more than happy to teach you." Vision said as he pulled out the books and stacked them neatly on the desk. "I am after all a super computer." Wanda didn't say anything as she laid her clothes out on her new bed. It felt so good to have a full closet full of clothes to chose from. Tony had been very adamant that Wanda buy should whatever she needed, and Wanda was thankful for that. He was trying to ease her pain, trying to help her forget her old life and move on to her new one. And it was working, sort of. She started to hang up her clothes in the closet, trying to figure out if color coding was the way to go or if organizing by season was the way to go.

"I'd suggest color coding by season." Vision suggested from behind her. Wanda jumped in surprise. She hadn't heard him walk up. But when she turned to face him, he was floating about an inch off the ground. Wanda rolled her eyes, but headed his advice. The result was a rainbow of colors and complete organization. She was very pleased with it.

"Thanks for that suggestion, Vis." Wanda said as she walked past and grabbed a box full of shoes. Vision smiled normally at her.

"Happy to be of service." he said with a nod. Wanda started to hum to herself as she put her collection of shoes away. She wasn't even sure what she was thinking when she bought over ten pairs of shoes, but she knew she would wear them all at least twice. Who wouldn't wear six different pairs of black heeled boots, two pairs of black flats, Fuzzy black winter boots, and black converse? You could never have too many pairs of shoes, that's what Wanda decided.

Wanda hauled the empty box out of her closet and was surprised to find the rest of the boxes already unpacked and Vision looking rather pleased with himself. The bed had been made with a dark purple comforter and a stack of pillows. a string of fairy lights was strung across the top of the bed. Two white lights sat on the nightstands and a fluffy white stool had been placed at the foot of the bed. The bookshelves had been filled with books and other nick knacks. The TV stand had been assembled and all her favorite movies had been organized alphabetically. A globe was sitting on the corner of her desk. Wanda gave it a little spin and smiled as it whirled around.

"This... looks amazing." Wanda said as she lowered herself onto the bed. "Thank you Vis."

"I know you didn't really want me to help but you had so much work to do so when I finished with the books I just couldn't help myself." he looed a little ashamed of himself.

"Thank you Vis." Wanda leaned over and hugged him.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Vision leapt up. Wanda looked at him, startled. Vision pulled a picture off the shelf and walked back over to Wanda and handed it to her. Wanda looked down at it. A tear ran down her cheek. It was a picture of her brother that must have been from Vision's memory because she was sure no one had taken a picture of them when they were in the tower. They were only there for a day after all. Pietro had his arm wrapped around her neck and they were both looking at Vision. Pietro must have said something funny because they were both laughing. One of Wanda's tears splashed on the picture. She hastily wiped it off with her sleeve and set the picture down beside her. She held a hand up to her head. The grief was almost overpowering. She knew Vision had meant well, but she just wasn't ready for something like that. She looked over at Vision and put a hand over her mouth. Traces of her magic were snaked around his body, working their way into his limbs, eyes, mouth, anywhere there was an opening. She waved her hands, trying to stop it but it was ineffective. The strands of magic began pulling at his body, trying to destroy the thing that made her hurt. Wanda tried again and again but nothing was working. Wanda was sobbing now, trying desperately to stop it, to save him.

"Leave him alone!" she screamed at the magic. "He didn't do anything! Stop it!" She hadn't expected the magic to respond to her words. Why should it? But that's exactly what it did. The magic froze before slowly fading away. Vision fell backwards on the bed, his eyes blank and white. Wanda screamed at herself. Her one friend. And she had killed him.

"Wanda what's going-" Steve barreled into the room, shield in hand. He stopped short when he saw Wanda crying over Vision's body. "Wanda?" Steve knelt beside her, his hand on her shoulder. "What happened? Is he..." he couldn't make himself finish the sentence. Wanda didn't answer him. "I'm going to call Tony." Steve moved away from her to the other side of the room and pulled out a flip phone. Leave it to Steve Rogers to not upgrade. Tony was there in an instant. He and Steve had to pull Wanda away from Vision's side so Tony could see what was wrong. Steve hugged Wanda. She had stopped crying but all she could feel was guilt. If Vision really was dead it would be her fault. It would just be too much to bare. Natasha had joined them at some point. Wanda knew this because she could hear her low murmurings to Tony, offering him suggestions on what to do. Finally Steve released her and Natasha immediately grabbed Wanda's arm and pulled her into the closet. Wanda shrank against the wall and hugged her legs. There was only one reason they'd keep her separate from them. Vision was dead. Natasha sat in front of Wanda.

"Wanda, this is hard but it's not your fault," Natasha began.

"It is my fault." Wanda choked out. "It was my magic that killed him. It was my fault." Wanda buried her head in her knees. She couldn't think. she couldn't move. She wasn't going to ever again. All she did was cause destruction and kill the people closest to her. First her parents, then her brother, and now Vision. She should just stay away. Everyone would be safer that way.

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Steve sat at the dinning room table, frowning.

Natasha paced back and forth behind the kitchen table. He had never seen her more upset. Not even when Bruce went missing.

"She thinks it's her fault," Natasha said. "She thinks he's dead."

"He is dead, Nat. We all know this." Steve said with a sigh.

"Tony thinks he can bring him back." Rhodey entered the room. "What?" he asked when they all looked at him. "Vision is a robot right? He can just like reboot him or something. He still has that stone thing in his head and is still in one piece."

"Even if we tell her that, she is still a danger to herself and others. Look what she did to Vision subconsciously. What else could she do with that power?" Steve pointed out.

"So you're saying we should just leave her in her room and let her grieve?" Thor asked. "She could kill us all with a wave of her hand. Imagine what she could do with proper training. We should get someone to teach her how to control her power so if something like this happens again, no one else will have to pay the price."

"But who knows enough about magic to teach a witch at Wanda's level?" Natasha asked. Steve coughed. Thor looked at him.

"That is a terrible idea." Rhodey said.

"But it might work." Steve argued.

"There's the similar life experience." Thor mused. "And he wants out."

"He'll kill her the first chance he gets!" Rhodey protested.

"We can't trust him Steve." Natasha said, calmly. "We have no clue what he would do when an opportunity presents itself."

"But he might be her only hope. Listen, I'm not happy about this idea either, but it might be crazy enough to work." Steve told them.

"I'm in." Thor said suddenly. "It's a good plan. It will give him a chance to prove he's changed and give Wanda a chance to grow and learn." Steve pointed at Thor.

"That's the kind of attitude I'm looking for."

Why thank you." Thor said with a smile then became serious. "But there is the matter of his jailer."

"You'll figure it out." Natasha said with a wave of her hand. "Wanda is counting on you." Thor got to his feet.

"Would it annoy Tony more if I left on the roof or on the lawn right outside of his lab?"

"The lab." everyone said in unison. Thor smiled and lifted Mjolnir from the table.

"I have some people to annoy." he marched out of the room. Steve frowned.

"You're not regretting this idea already are you?" Natasha asked. Steve looked at her.

"No, I was just worried that Tony would kill him for ruining the lawn again."

Chapter Text

Darkness and chaos engulfed the room, and a heavy silence reigned over the space.

The only sound that filled the room was Wanda’s quiet, whispering sobs.

She was curled up in a corner, hugging her knees tightly as if they were her only refuge in life.

And honestly, that thought wasn’t entirely wrong. Was it?

After all, how could anyone love a wretched being who would even kill their own friends?

Vision was dead, and it was Wanda’s fault.

That was the harsh truth—because she was a monster!

A monster that needed to be chained for the safety of others.

It was better this way for everyone.

Yet... a selfish part of her stubbornly longed to return to the embrace of her friends.

She needed it...

But Wanda quickly crushed that sick desire mercilessly, burying it deep within herself.

How could she be so selfish?

No! No one was going to pay the price for Wanda’s existence anymore. Not anymore...

She took a shaky breath and pressed her forehead hard against her knees.

She could easily feel the pressure of her kneecaps against her eyebrows. It was painful, but it somewhat silenced the noisy turmoil in her mind.

She wished her brother was there to calm her with the jokes she once called silly.

She missed Pietro. Even their arguments, which happened at least once a week.

She knew Pietro had sacrificed himself for a greater cause. But a part of her could never forgive herself for leaving him alone.

The sound of the door slamming pulled Wanda from her thoughts. She looked up and saw the Black Widow standing at the threshold, unreadable expression fixed on her face.

For a few seconds, they simply stared at each other—like a silent contest to see who would give in first to their own desire.

Natasha wanted to force her out of the room, and Wanda wanted to force her to leave her alone.

Finally, the silence was broken by the witch.

“Go away...” she muttered under her breath.

Natasha raised a dark brow and took a few steps forward.

“Wanda...” she began, but her words were abruptly cut off by Wanda.

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll die?” Wanda shouted, stunning the Black Widow.

A sharp red glow of magic flickered threateningly in her eyes and curled around her hair.

The swirl of magic was meant to scare the spy away. To banish her from this cursed room.

But Natasha did not flinch. Instead, she shrugged calmly and stepped even closer.

“No! I see no monster to fear.”

Wanda let out a weak laugh and leaned her back against the wall.

“I don’t know a good person who’s ever killed their friends.”

Finally, Natasha sat down gently beside her, leaning against the wall just like Wanda.

“Vision’s death wasn’t your fault. And you should know—he’s not ‘dead.’ Tony said he can fix him.”

The witch’s gaze locked onto the widow’s with hope mixed in disbelief.

Natasha smiled wryly and nudged Wanda’s arm with her elbow.

“See? There are few problems that can’t be fixed. And right now, you just need to learn how to control your powers.”

“I don’t even know what this is...” Wanda whispered hopelessly, staring at the soft energy glowing in her palm.

Natasha’s gaze slowly shifted to the red fire of magic, and after a brief pause, she began speaking again.

“Well... honestly, there’s someone who has similar powers and is skilled at controlling them. He’s coming to help you...”

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"So… I’m not your mother either?"
Tears burned behind Frigga’s eyes, threatening to fall.

For a moment, Loki felt as if his heart had missed one beat out of the countless steady ones, only to pound harder—twice as fast—to make up for it.

He took a deep breath, trying to swallow back the sigh that was rising in his chest.
"No, you’re not." The words slipped out purely out of spite—yet the instant he saw Frigga’s stunned face, they were replaced by a searing, gut-wrenching guilt.

A bitter smile tugged at Frigga’s delicate features. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, her breath hitched, growing ragged, and a rasping wheeze escaped her chest.

And in that very moment, something cold and massive tore through her back with brutal arrogance. Crimson drops of blood gushed forth like the spray of a fountain, staining the pale floor of the cell.

*"Mother…" *Loki gasped, rushing toward her—

—but something harsh and unyielding clamped around his neck and wrists, freezing him in place.

His eyes darted downward in horror—chains of shimmering magic now bound him to the wall, locking away even the smallest movement.

Panic flared. He struggled violently, desperate to wrench himself free.

He had to stop this. He couldn’t let her leave him. He couldn’t—

But it was far too late.

The warm light of life faded, second by second, from the Queen’s honey-brown eyes.

She looked at him with aching sorrow. "Why didn’t you stop him?" ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ

Loki’s eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright. Sweat clung to his face, strands of dark hair plastered to his skin.

His heart was pounding painfully in his chest, his breath coming in shallow gasps.

Another nightmare.

It seemed that after Thanos, peaceful nights were no longer meant for him.

Of course… what had he expected? After all the ruin he had caused, longing for a calm night’s sleep was nothing short of greedy.

With a tired hand, he raked his fingers through his greasy hair, trying to sort through the mess of thoughts in his head.

He could hear the slow, deliberate footsteps of the guards and the murmured conversations of other prisoners echoing faintly from their cells.

It wasn’t much to focus on, but it was enough to keep his mind from unraveling completely.

He rubbed his face in frustration, letting out a weary sigh. He didn’t know how much of the night had passed, but from the faint light filtering into the prison corridors, he guessed it was early morning.

He took a few deep breaths, willing his restless heart to calm and trying to push the nightmare back into the shadows of his mind.

The guilt over Frigga’s death would never leave him. And he hoped it never would. He deserved worse—far worse—for showing that Dark Elf the way out.

He had never thought the creature would find Frigga… but did it even matter?

He had killed his mother. That was all that mattered.

It was a bitter truth—but truth all the same.

And sometimes the truth was so heavy that it bent him forward, forcing his elbows onto his knees, his hands supporting his bowed head.

He was so tired…

"Loki?"

He looked up groggily at the sound of his name. Thor stood outside the shimmering barrier of his cell, staring at him in quiet disbelief.

For a few seconds, he just stared at Thor. Truthfully, he didn’t know how to react.

That—and the fact that he had no idea how to untangle the thousands of unanswered questions crowding his head.

For example, one of the most obvious questions was: What in the Nine Realms is he doing here??

Well. He had to admit, this visit was… a little beyond what he had expected for today.
Straightening himself as much as possible, he tried to compose his posture in front of his elder brother.

With a cold, lifeless glint in his green eyes, he fixed Thor with a piercing gaze, studying him.
He cleared his throat slightly and raised an eyebrow.

“Missed me? Because it’s rare you’d trouble yourself to come all the way down here just to see me.” He spoke with a cool, taunting tone.

Thor shifted where he stood, hardening his expression in an attempt to present a display of authority.

“I have no time for your jests, brother. I have a request.”

Ah, yes.

Of course Thor had a request.
There was always a request… otherwise the God of Thunder wouldn’t have bothered to come visit him.

It had always been that way.

Letting out a weary breath, his gaze grew even colder.
“And what makes you think you can come to me whenever there’s a problem? Your little band of ‘Avengers’ won’t lend you a hand?”
He let out a small, mocking smirk—though the venom in his words dripped from every syllable.

Thor’s frown deepened, his teeth pressing together as he fought to keep his temper. This was not the time for an argument with his troublesome brother.

Absolutely not.

“Loki…” Thor began.

“No!!” Loki cut him off sharply, not even giving him the chance to respond.
“Don’t you dare ask me for help. Why should I? In the end, I’ll just end up back in this cell anyway. So no, Thor. I’m not going anywhere with you. Leave.”

The words were a double-edged blade, wounding not only Thor but slicing into his own chest as well—yet he still spoke them firmly.

He had to keep his stance, to make Thor understand he was not some disposable tool.

He drew a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

Thor had been silent the whole time, his expression unreadable—as if he questioned whether Loki had even a scrap of sense left in his head.

He knew Loki wasn’t wrong. Even if the words stung. They hurt… truly hurt.

Rubbing his temples, Thor exhaled. “Listen… Loki. This isn’t about me. In fact… it’s not about anyone you know.”
He looked at the dark-haired god, and after making sure he was calm, continued.
“It’s about a girl named Wanda Maximoff.”

by: white dragon🤍