Wonderland: fell down a rabbit hole, you held on tight to me ('cause...

Chapter 11: i will stay with you, (i'll wait for you)

Pietro's first thing to do, after all other niceties passed and it was officially stated that Wanda was completely healthy, and there were no after-effects from the coma, nor the bullet or the concussion---a true miracle, the Doctors said, but then again, Wanda was a superhero, an enhanced, her body worked differently (which meant they only narrowly avoided letting the Doctors' curiousity grow and try to experiment on Wanda, for her unique abilities)---and that she was fine to do whatever she wants, after a few days of observation, was to apologize.

For choosing that mission.

For overlooking the signs that something was wrong.

For putting her in danger.

For relying in her power too much.

For almost losing her and not being able to do anything.

For being so weak and helpless.

He didn't know which fault exactly he was apologizing for, maybe for all of it, but as he started to utter the words, Wanda smiled at him lie she understood.

"It's okay, Piet." She said, interrupting him. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Pietro stared at her, and finally, for the first time in months, he broke into tears and wasn't left to comfort himself. Wanda ruffled his hair as he cried into her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he still uttered. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know that this would happen. I'm so sorry I put you in danger. I'm sorry."

And Wanda shushed him, the more he spoke. "It's all fine, Pietro. You're not at fault."

Pietro couldn't help but remember a certain dream, of Wanda's, and then Pietro's, when she said those words.

It wasn't his fault.

Then whose was it?

Because from her tone, from her dreams, it was clear--- someone was at fault.

"Then---"

"Don't say it, Piet." Wanda said--- had she read his mind?

"Okay." He replied, and he kept his mouth shut. There were some answers Wanda couldn't give him, that was clear, when he asked who else faded after the Snap aside from her. Things of the future that would affect how he'd react to certain people, that's what she kept from him. So he'd have to trust her.

In the week that she'd been awake, there'd been yet another change in her, another sort of happening that he missed that changed her from thesisterthatheknew to someone else, something else. Someone he'd never met before. Someone who went through something he hadn't, someone who'd evolved for the better or worse, and left him behind again, playing catch up.

He hated catch-up.

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Two weeks in; Wanda had been too quiet.

He understood, because she'd gone through something she couldn't talk about, just like when she time-travelled, but it hurt that she couldn't talk about it with him . They were twins. They were supposed to be two halves of a whole. They were supposed to be able to talk about anything.

But here she was again, burdening it all in silence.

Pietro watched as she slept, it felt familiar, in a bad way. But unlike before, Wanda was muttering, the signs of a true bad nightmare if it leaked out enough for her to speak, like Pietro did in his nightmares or dreams.

Unlike before, her face twisted with expressions, and she moved. She wasn't the still body reminiscent of a doll.

But Pietro didn't like what he was hearing.