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It took some hours to get over the excitement of this Pietro (?) person entering their lives. He didn’t look like her brother, but he felt similar. He and Wanda talked into the early morning hours, while Vision politely excused himself. When Pietro finally began to get tired and Wanda set him up in the guest room, she made her way to her own room.
The one she shared with Vision. It would be a tight fit after their argument earlier.
When she opened the door, she saw Vision sitting upright in their bed, holding his head in his hands.
He looked up at her entrance. “I’m sorry about earlier,” she said.
“About what part?” Anger was still evident in his tone. It tore at her heart.
Wanda forced herself to look at him directly. “About everything.” She had been wrong about so much the last few days, and she knew it. “I shouldn’t have threatened to control you.” She focused on the words she regretted the most.
Vision sighed. “And I should listen to your side. I am not sure why I leapt to a horrible conclusion so quickly.” He extended his hands to her. She was touched by the gesture. “Do you truly not know what we’re doing here?”
“I really don’t, but I do know a few things. I know things are bad out there. The world is falling apart.”
He seemed to accept that without difficulty, but she did not know how to make him understand the true magnitude of the world’s troubles. “Then, don’t we have a duty to help?”
“We have helped. We fought for years to try to help, and it was all for nothing.”
“I don’t remember any of that,” he said so quietly that she could hardly hear him.
The pain in that statement threatened to break her. She had chosen to forget things, but she should have realized that Vision might not. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She sank deeper into the mattress. She almost wished she had Vision’s trick of phasing through the floor.
He paused. For a moment, she thought he would push her away, something irreparable had shifted between them. But instead, he looked her in the eye. “Could you show me? Please?”
She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to ruin this world. But part of her realized that it was already crumbling around her. She owed it to Vision to give him the truth. “Yes, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
Wanda reached out to his head to enhance their connection. “May I?” He nodded. She touched her fingertips to his temples. This was going to hurt. So she started with a simple memory. Both of them attending their first official training as Avengers. Then, she worked backward to the fight with Ultron and Vision’s birth.
She had to take a break. It was such a shock to see her Pietro again, not the stranger who was sleeping down the hall. Wanda disconnected and Vision offered her a sympathetic gaze. “I am sorry if this pains you.”
“I just need a minute.” He nodded in understanding. They sat in silence for a time. “Ok. More?”
“Yes. If you can.”
“Alright.” She moved on to their time together with the Avengers. Then, to the night of their fight. They both winced at their renewed memories of that time.
Then, on to finding each other while she was on the run. Their secret meetings. Falling in love. When they reached that night in Edinburgh, Wanda lingered on their happy moments in the hotel room. She needed a refresher before she got to the most painful moments. Vision pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she smiled at him slightly.
But soon it was time to move on to the fight with the Black Order, their journey to Wakanda, and the moment Thanos arrived. “Can we skip the next part?”
Vision’s eyes were full of sorrow. “I asked you to kill me. To destroy the Stone.”
Wanda was on the verge of tears now. “How did you know?”
“I do not know. I suppose our conversation unlocked something within me.”
Wanda waited for her husband to cringe away from her once more. She was a monster. No matter what she did. But he gently placed his hands on her shoulder. “None of that was your fault, Wanda. We had no choice. I asked you to do it because I trusted you. And you did what few could do. I was so proud of you.”
“That wasn’t even the worst part.”
“Tell me?” She couldn’t resist his plea.
“It’s five years later.” Vision showed genuine surprise at that. She showed him the bombed out cities, the riots, the hopeless faces all around her. With great reluctance, she showed him the final piece of the puzzle. “And you didn’t even get a burial. They were experimenting on you.” Vision’s face went absolutely expressionless at the sight of his dismembered corpse.
She choked back a sob. “I tried so hard to put you back together, but I failed. Then, I woke up here. And I was with you. You were happy and whole. I didn’t understand anything at first, but then I didn’t want to know the truth.”
She stared at him, tears pouring down her face now, willing him to understand. He reached forward to cradle her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead and her cheeks and even her chin. When he released her, Vision stayed close.
She delicately touched the Mind Stone. It was real; she was sure of it. No matter what else in this world was all pretend, her Vision was real. She didn’t know if she had the strength to let him go again.
Vision’s gaze remained sympathetic. They were still in each other’s heads. He could feel her pain, and she could feel his. But when he finally spoke out loud, his voice was firm. “But how ever this started, we have the power to stop it. If Norm is in pain like this, I have to believe everyone in town is as well. We can help them. We have to help them.”
Wanda knew he was right. She wasn’t going to fight him anymore. “I’m scared.”
“I know. As am I.”
“What if everything falls apart?”
“Then we will find our way back to each other as we always do. But we are Avengers, first and foremost.”
“While I live and until I die, again.” She leaned against Vision’s shoulder. “If this is the end, can we hold each other a little while longer?”
“Of course. I would love nothing more than to hold you all night.”
So they embraced each other tightly, all their limbs intertwining. They offered each other what comfort they could through their physical selves. Preparing themselves to face the truth the next day.
***
Meanwhile, Agatha tuned her TV to the WandaVision station. “That just will not do.” She chuckled as she considered how she would interfere next.