Rose Red (An Avengers Fanfiction)

26

The holidays moved too quickly for my liking. Thanksgiving was a month ago and I had spent it with Clint and his family. It was only a couple of weeks until Christmas and then the New Year.

Natasha and Agent Richards along with Dr. Franz (who had cleared me) agreed that it was time to put me back into the field. I had a simple "bag and grab" mission next week. Until then I just trained with Bucky and Natasha to keep myself in shape.

Stark was hounding me about going back home to Seattle and spending time with my mother. I gave in when he bought nonrefundable tickets to Seattle and I had no choice but to go. Mom was on a return trip from London and would be in Seattle for a week.

I was busy packing my bag for my trip to Seattle, Wanda sat on my bed casually reading one of my books. Trix flew around the room, bringing me things to pack.

"You're mother is beautiful," Wanda remarked, as she picked up old picture of Mum and I.

"Yeah. She is." I said. I pulled out a black sweater from my closet and ebated if I should pack it or not. "Unfortunately, I look more like my father."

"What's you mother like?" She asked.

"She's something." I said picking up another picture next to my bed. I rember this one, it was when I was ten. The both of us went hiking that summer. "But there's always a sadness to her, almost like there's a burden on her shoulders that she refuses to share."

"She's beautiful." Wanda said.

"Yeah." I nodded absently as I looked into her blue eyes. "She is."

I never felt like I belonged next to mum.

Mums skin was fair, mine was tanned. Her eyes were a vivid blue, mine we a dull and boring brown. She had flaxen hair like starlight while mine was like crow feathers. There was a small resemblance in our facial structures, the cheekbones and nose but everything else was my father.

She always told me I was beautiful and that just because I looked different didn't mean that I was. I still bled red when I scraped my knee and I cried when I got called names.I wondered how many times mum looked at me and thought of the man she once loved. She could've hated me but she didn't. I guess that showed how much compassion she had.

"Sometimes I wondered if I was ever her own child," I said emptily as I petted Trix who nuzzled my face. "I don't like being so distant from her."

Wanda smiled sadly and held my hand in hers. I squeezed her hand silently thanking her.

"You're a lot like your mother in more ways than you know, Maya."

"I wish that was true."

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Loki stood outside Mays's door contemplating if he should go in or not. He sensed The Scarlet Witch nearby and set him on edge. Wanda Maximoff may be mortal but she possessed a powerful form of chaos magic that he had no intention of getting entangled with.

For once he listened to that pesky voice in the back of his head that told him to swallow his pride and go in. All he had to do was apologize for his actions during their duel and for the things he said after that. He didn't feel remorse for pushing her to her breaking point and not holding back. She had to use her powers, that was a given.