Emerald Eyes | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 10: Ghosts

there is a brief mention of r*pe in this chapter, so please be careful if this triggers you. and my dms are always open if you need to talk. this chapter contains some flashbacks.

~~~~~~

After the somewhat awkward talk with the girls, Wanda was glad to get away. Her anxieties had been running wild ever since she discovered her missing daughter, and emotions and Wanda didn't exactly go hand in hand. Ever since the Westview incident, her hands had never quite stopped shaking and her senses were just that little bit more heightened. Yes, Lia had only been gone for a night, but Wanda wasn't exactly the most emotionally stable person out there.

She didn't know much about the Romanoffs, but Lia seemed comfortable enough around Natasha, so that gave her a small piece of mind. But she couldn't help but feel some unease around the new family, but whether that was her maternal instincts kicking in, well, she wasn't sure.

She had brought Lia back home after the conversation about safety and had sent her to her room to do homework, the best punishment she could think of for the teenager. Behind the tough exterior, Wanda was a mess. Her heart pulled between wanting to do what's best and what's right.

She could blame the move as her reason for feeling uneasy, but she'd felt that something wasn't right for weeks. But she had no proof, nothing that could either prove her theory right or put her mind to rest. So she distracted herself, fully immersing her energy into family life.

She'd become an excellent cook, even without using her magic. She relished in creating baked goods for Billy and Tommy's cake sales at school, and Lia never turned down freshly baked cookies or homemade lasagne. They'd all become closer as a family, and Wanda vowed never to take it for granted.

Many of her teenage years had been tainted with grief, so when Avelia was brought into her life, it was like the sun shone again. The topic of Lia's father was a taboo subject, and Wanda very rarely brought it up. She was only 17 when she gave birth to Lia, and it was one of the darkest times in her life. Memories of Hydra's sick and twisted ways sent shivers down Wanda's spine, but there was a small part of her that couldn't help but be grateful that they'd given her the blessing that was Avelia. Wanda didn't know exactly who Lia's father was, but in a way she was glad.

But she could never look past what they'd done to her daughter. Avelia spent 8 years with Hydra, locked in a cell next to her mother and her uncle. The moment she was born, Wanda vowed they would escape, but the security increased tenfold and their chances of survival became slimmer and slimmer. Lia was put through the same testing and experimentation that Wanda and Pietro were put through, but her newly 4-year-old body struggled to cope with it.

And it only got worse as Avelia started to demonstrate her powers. Hydra wasn't dumb; the only reason they wanted Wanda to have a child was so they could replicate her powers. She was 6 years old when that first flicker of green appeared around her fingertips, matching her jade-green eyes perfectly. The tiny child didn't know what this meant, and she called out to Wanda the night it happened. The mother and daughter duo sat back to back, the thick stone wall the only thing between them, and Wanda desperately tried to console her sobbing daughter. All Avelia wanted was to be in Wanda's arms. To feel her mother's love in such a cold environment.

But their conversation was a big mistake. At sunrise, 2 guards burst their way into Lia's cell and took the screaming child away, ignoring Wanda's desperate pleas to stop. She became angry and Pietro had to calm her down. They couldn't risk Wanda being taken too. They needed to be smart if they were ever to escape.

Pietro fell asleep with his sister in his arms every night for a month after Avelia was taken. Wanda was distraught and she became more restless with every day that passed. Until a month and a half later and the cell door finally opened. 2 guards stepped in and a bruised 6 year old girl was thrown onto the ground. She had burn marks across her back and her whole body was covered in bruises. Her hair was matted and the poor girl looked exhausted. But neither of the twins moved until the guards had left.