The Scarlet Apprentice

Desperation

Through the thick glass of her bedroom window, wanda watched y/n struggle to walk herself over to the mountain. Her finger gently held back the thin curtains that hung over the view to see her clearly.

She could see how much she was struggling, but she couldn't help but admire her determination. Though, she was considering if it was y/n being persistent because she wanted to get to other people, or forcing herself to keep going to protect her pride.

After a few moments of waiting, she realised that y/n wasn't going to turn around and come back for help, so she dropped the curtain and turned back to continue with her day. Part of her did want to be able to get the satisfaction from helping someone as adamant as y/n, but she'd learned overtime never to put too much hope into someone else.

Y/n kept her head to the ground as she walked over to the mountain. Partly to hide her head from the weak rays of sunlight, but mostly to stop herself from being tempted by her urge to turn back and get help from wanda.

Although it was a painfully exhausting journey for her - which contained a route she improvised with every step she took - she didn't want to depend on someone else, she couldn't.

It was a trait that she didn't like about herself too much. She always used to be as independent as she could, but after someone she loved paid the price for her dependency, the need to do everything herself was amplified.

By the time she'd walked off the clearing and onto the rocky stone at the very bottom of the mountain, she was already out of breath. However, she kept her determination strong and vowed to keep going.

She pressed her foot harshly onto the ground to secure it while lifting her damaged one up after. There was nothing close to her to lean against or hold onto, so her feet were the only things giving her security.

Slowly but surely, she began moving across the rocks at the bottom of the mountain. It was flat where she was, but she knew it would take a lot more effort to climb the actual part as she got closer.

The bottom of the mountain was a slightly slanted surface with a few stones scattered over it. As she got closer to the mountain, the slant deepened and the number of rocks around increased to the point it became dangerous to walk on.

The feeling of the few rocks shifting beneath her feet with every step she took made the anxious poison grow inside her. The faint heat from the afternoon sun was just starting to hit her, which didn't help with the woozy feeling that clouded over her. She tried her best to ignore the pain in her leg, but there were moments where she'd have to stop for a few moments just to catch her breath.

On one of the occasions she stopped to catch her breath, the rocks felt incredible loose. They were so loose to point that she couldn't even stand still without some of them slipping from underneath her.

With one mindless step to the left, the rocks slid right from under her, causing her to fall along with it. As she fell, her other leg landed on a rock, slashing another cut, opposite to the previous one.

"Fuck-." She mumbled under her breath before bringing her knee up to her face and pressing her hand tightly against the cut.

She was never usually one to constantly get hurt on missions or in fights, but the shock from the fact her jet crashed still poured onto her. She tried to push it away and ignore it, but with that she also tried to push down her exhaustion, pain, and anger, which wasn't good for her at all.

Her face scrunched tightly as she dropped her head to rest on her knee cap, keeping her hold on the cut, wishing that the pain would just disappear.

While holding the pain of her new injury, the rest of it finally began to hit her. All the cuts and bruises she'd gained from the jet crash, the large cut that was still leaking blood through the bandage, and the exhaustion she felt from having not rested for a while.

The pain all flowed through to her head, then the weight of the exhaustion she felt built up so much to the point she couldn't hold it anymore.

It started with her eyes gently starting to flutter close, getting weaker and weaker every time they shut. Then, her head began dropping in any direction it seemed to want to fall. The only thing that brought it back was when she realised that it was actually falling down, but even then, she couldn't fight it.

All in one moment, her eyes closed and her head dropped back, pulling the rest of her body with it. She dropped back onto the rest of the rocks and laid there, unconscious.

It was almost as if the second her eyes closed, wanda's finally opened. A deep worried feeling grew in her gut before she pieced it together and realised what the feeling was hinting towards.

When she figured out what she needed to do, she sighed and lingered around in her house for as long as she could before leaving and using her powers to glide across the clearing.

With small threads of red energy slithering between her fingertips, she approached the area where she saw y/n lying on the floor.

Her eyes quickly glanced over to assess the situation, and they quickly saw that she'd not only worsened her original scar, but she also gained another from, what she assumed was, a fall.

Shaking her head, she muttered, "it really wasn't worth it, was it?" To herself before she lifted her unconscious body by wrapping her magic gently around it.

With y/n's body in her hold, she turned and began slowly and carefully walking her way back to the cabin.