Philophobia ➤ W.M.

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One Month Later; With Wanda's POV

  The month after the Lagos incident had been long, and had put a strain on everyone at the compound, especially Wanda. It didn't help that she had read every single report she could get her hands on. Countless news articles portraying her as the bad guy, as a creature to be locked away in the deepest and darkest of pits. While she didn't actually believe herself to be a person to be feared, their words burned.

  Due to the outside pressure of the media, Wanda had locked herself in her room for several days, practically having a pity party. Or, at least what Astrilde claimed was a pity party, the few times Wanda had allowed the princess in. That wasn't too often for the first week or two. Wanda knew that her friends, several of the Avengers, were trying to clean up her mess, so she shut herself off from them. She wasn't sure that they were very happy with her anyway. Especially Stark, though she had never been the best of friends with him. Or friends in general.

  Wanda's mind started drifting to the dark place Astrilde had been keeping her from as best as possible. Unfortunately, the Goddess of Love was absent from the compound, so Wanda couldn't stop her comparisons between Pietro's death and the ones in Lagos. Pietro was good, and so were the people who were killed. Pietro was doing what her perceived as best for his family, for the world. So had those Wakandans. Wanda swallowed shakily, and turned up the volume on her TV.

  "Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred," The news anchor spoke gravely, and images of the aftermath displayed on screen for a moment. Wanda's heart clenched at the sight, and she glanced away until the King of Wakanda began speaking.

  "Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil, not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all," The King of Wakanda spoke, before it returned to the news anchor.

  Wanda kept listening to the TV, taking every single horrible thing they said about her to heart, no matter how hard she tried to ignore the unforgiving words. How could she not? Part of her blamed herself for all those deaths. "If only"'s floated around in her head constantly. Their pointedly hurtful words only added fire to the already burning landscape of her mind, only quenched by the small thought that she was human – she made mistakes just like the rest of the world

  "What legal authority does an enhanced like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Niger-" A man's voice said from the television before the screen turned black. Wanda reached out with her powers and recognized the mind behind her as Steve's, but didn't turn to look at him.

  "It's my fault," Wanda spoke quietly. Her voice was more accented than it had been in the past few months, her attempts at trying to blend in forgotten. The American accent was a way for Wanda to become a spy, sure, but it wasn't really her. Also, what was the point of disguising your voice from one of your best friends?

  "That's not true," Steve responded. Wanda knew that Steve believed what he said was the truth, but it didn't make it a fact.

  "Turn the TV back on. They're being very specific," Wanda responded, finally looking at the blond standing in her doorway. She hadn't bothered to close the door, since everybody had been preoccupied with other things lately.

  "I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it." Steve walked into the room then, his face grave, like it had been for the past month. "Rumlow said 'Bucky' and... all of a sudden I was a 16-year-old kid again, in Brooklyn." Steve slowly sat on the bed, not looking at Wanda. "And people died. It's on me."

  "It's on both of us."

  "This job.... We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, then next time... maybe nobody gets saved." Wanda felt a bit comforted by Steve's words, and it eased her consciousness, no matter how small.

  They sat there for a moment, before Vision strolled through the wall. Wanda looked wide-eyed at Vision, even though she was barely surprised by his appearance. "Vis! We talked about this," She exclaimed softly, causing the android to become a bit defensive.

  "Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that..." Vision paused, noticing Wanda's expression. "Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving."

  "Thank you. We'll be right down."

  "I'll use the door," Vision said, walking to the door before pausing in the doorway, "Oh, and apparently, he's brought a guest."

  "We know who it is?"

  "The Secretary of State." Wanda glanced at Steve in question, but even Captain America didn't know why the Secretary was there. "Also, Wanda," Vision started, causing the Scarlet Witch to look back to him.

  "Yeah, Vis?"

  "The Goddess of Love has arrived as well."

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