Two of a Kind | Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 32: I Shouldn't Have Said That

The uneasiness that Claire felt before telling Bucky about her and Wanda dating subsided as their afternoon together progressed. Much to Claire's delight, Bucky and Wanda were getting along well, spending the afternoon laughing at various stories of Claire doing something stupid (and in case you didn't know, there were a lot of those). Bucky's roar of laughter pulled Claire out of her thoughts and back into the conversation of Wanda telling a story on how Claire shifted into her wolf during a fight one time and ended up chasing her tail.

"Did you really do that Claire?" Bucky laughed, slapping his knee. Claire rolled her eyes but gave a small amused smile.

"Yeah, but in my defense, the fight was over." Bucky laughed harder and fell over now lying on the floor of the hut.

"You really haven't changed a bit you know that Claire Bear?" Bucky said sitting up and coughing a bit as he tried to stop laughing. Claire rolled her eyes again as Wanda leaned over bumping her arm with her elbow.

"So, now that you two are here, I wanted to take the time to apologize for what happened in Germany," Bucky said, suddenly turning serious. Wanda frowned and looked down at her lap, her left hand reaching up to touch the still visible scar that ran around her neck. Claire grabbed her right hand, squeezing a bit, but kept her eyes on Bucky.

"You don't have to apologize, Buck. It's not your fault we were arrested."

Bucky shook his head and said, "But it is. Claire, I shouldn't have brought you in with me and I'm sorry you took the fall for me. And Wanda..." Wanda lifted her tear stained eyes to meet his. "I'm sorry I couldn't have done more to protect you."

Wanda inhaled a shaky breath, but the air was stale and heavy and not matter how hard she tried to breath, there wasn't enough entering her body. Her lungs screamed at her in panic as the air in the hut suffocated her from the inside. She stood up from the floor, mumbling an excuse me, and ran out of the hut, down a small man-made path in the grass.

After walking—or rather running—down the small path, Wanda came across a large tree standing in the center of a circle of flower bushes that surrounded the tree completely except for a little space that acted as an entrance. On the grass inside the circle and in front of the tree sat little pottery dishes with candles of various lengths, sitting in dried melted pools of their own wax, implying that they have been lit many times. A small multi-colored woven rug like the one in the hut laid on grass towards the entrance of the little sanctuary. Looking up, Wanda saw a bunch of scattered paper lanterns hung on the low hanging branches. The whole setup looked rather peaceful and Wanda's accelerating heart calmed as the soft wind blew against hidden sets of windchimes, creating a harmonious sense of ease.

Wanda sat down on the rug, tucking her legs under her, and stared at the large tree, studying it. In the center was a large cutout of a hole, and inside were more smaller candles and a book of matches. Wanda took deep breaths as she though back to Bucky's apology and the resurfacing of the suppressed memories of her time in the Raft. Her left hand flew up to her neck, feeling the divot of the scar where the collar cut into her skin, her fingers wrapping around her neck, following the scar. Tears stung her eyes and she shook as a phantom shock flowed through her, frying her nerves. She couldn't move her arms and the hand around her neck tightened as she began to cut off the air. She could still hear Ross's voice, questioning her for information, threatening to fry every nerve in her body unless she told him where Steve and Bucky went.

She gasped as the skin on her side below her ribs ached as she remembered the tough combat boots of the guards kicking her as they beat her when she didn't give them the information that they were looking for or when they were bored and wanted something to do. The aches kept coming, her grip getting tighter, and the tears kept streaming down her face as her free hand stayed frozen in her lap, the invisible straitjacket preventing her from defending herself.