We Will Say Hello Again

Seven

"Hello?"

"You are going to be jealous."

"Ooh! I knew it! Dammit! Tell me everything. What was it like, what did you find, how was it?"

Kate grills her as Yelena stows the few items of clothing she brought with her to Sokovia back in her closet. The phone sits on the bed on speaker.

"It was this apple tree farm in this valley in the mountains. Wanda Maximoff, you know of her?"

"Do I know her? Of course! Avenger, super powerful."

"Right. She's housing there. Alone. She's searching through different dimensions or something. Trying to find her children."

"Wait. Hold up. Are you telling me she's searching the multiverse? It's real?"

"What is that?"

"The multiverse! The theory that there are multiple universes that make up literally everything to exist ever. She's searching through them?"

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this," Yelena backtracks, putting her duffel in the closet.

"Too late. The beans are spilled. You spilled them."

"I do not understand your American sayings. Beans?"

"Oh, forget it. I need to meet you in person so we can talk about this more. I'm counting down the days."

"Me too," Yelena replies, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

The two end the call, and Yelena leaves the house in search of her boss. There was another discussion to be had.

Val types at her desk, sending encrypted emails with coordinates and targets to multiple assets. When the doors burst open she jumps, gritting her teeth. She leans back and closes her eyes when she sees it's Yelena.

"Jesus Christ, do you have something against making an appointment?"

"Why was I chosen to check in on Wanda Maximoff?"

Val catches her breath, clutching her chest and her rapidly beating heart. "What?"

Yelena leans down on her desk, arms spread. "You chose me for a reason. You could've picked any other agent. Any one of your little students. Why me?"

Val sighs, giving in. "As I'm sure you discovered, her power is unmatched. Sending in a rando might have spooked her, tipped her off. I didn't want to get a body in the mail. She worked with your sister, you're both Russian, you both have dead siblings. You seemed like the best option. Nice touch adding the dog, too. You weren't a threat to her."

"I could have been."

"A suit walking up and showing a badge could've made hell break loose. Seeing a small blonde woman with a fluffy dog is much less threatening."

"I'm not small," Yelena grumbles.

"I didn't want her to spark. Are you happy now?"

Yelena straightens, crossing her arms. "Fine."

"So. What did you find?"

"She's searching the multiverse," Yelena tells, using the new word Kate taught her.

"For what? Wait, how do you know about that?"

"For her children."

Val leans back in her chair, looking out the window wistfully. "Of course. The children."

"She's not a threat. She says she can keep it under control. I believe her."

"That's how we get her."

Yelena's brows come together. "What?"

Val looks to her quickly, caught. She stands, smoothing out her blazer. "Thank you for the report, Belova. I'll keep in touch."

"That's it?"

Val shrugs. "That's it. You may go."

Yelena cocks her head, turning around slowly. She walks out of the office, glancing over her shoulder. Val has her hand on the phone, dialing a number. Just as the doors close on Yelena, she catches Val's words.

"Sir, I have an incentive for recruiting her."

It's been a few weeks since Yelena had visited the witch. Within that time, her desperation has grown. The sunroom has grown too small for her power, and now she has situated herself in the living room. Her red swirls expand throughout the house, curling around corners and stretching down halls. It breathes and moves with her, images larger and slower now that she has more room.

She hovers above the coffee table, scarlet eyes flickering and fluttering as she works, as she digs. The black of the universes she crawls through has reached up to her elbows, her entire forearm a deep black. Veins of it stretch up to her biceps, wanting to consume her.

She won't let it.

She's too strong for that.

But here she hovers. She's been able to hold on to a few memories, put herself in the events of other universes. Tommy breaking an arm as he falls off a bike, Vision helping him up. Wanda and Billy bundled on a sled, him between her legs as they glide down a snowy hill. They're like home movies, taken by her or Vis, snippets of a great life that's just out of reach from her. So close, yet galaxies away. Even though she finds them, she can never stay.

Now, as she shovels through stars and kicks away comets, she enters a universe. This one seems different to her, more stable. She dives inside.

Wanda finds herself outside, trees surrounding her like a forest, the breeze rattling the branches. A crowd of people is separated by an aisle, all standing in front of long benches and dressed in their Sunday best. She sees herself, at the front bench, bleary-eyed and smiling. Vision stands beside her, suit crisp, an arm around her. He smiles softly.

Up at the front is an altar, and even though he is aged by twenty years it seems, she knows it is Nathaniel Barton as the officiant. Next to him stands Billy, a dashing groom, a green carnation as his boutonniere. Behind him stands Tommy, his best man, then the other Barton boy Cooper, and a few other men she doesn't recognize.

Softly, the bridal march begins to play. Wanda is positioned in the middle of the crowd, off to the side of the aisle. Her eyes are only for Billy. His face crumbles as he smiles, tears rolling down his cheeks as his future spouse walks toward him. Wanda grins, so ecstatic for her child she doesn't even turn to look at his partner, only her son. And then a suited body passes her, and she watches as her son's future steps up to the altar and takes his hands in his own, rubbing Billy's knuckles with his thumb.

Wanda chuckles lightly, in awe of her son and his partner. Of their love. But softly, the edges of her vision begin to blur black, closing in on itself. The image of the two men at the altar burns away and she screams, arms reaching out to get them back.