The Scarlet Witch
The room that Wanda is standing inside of is dark. Not necessarily pitch black, but it was hard to see and she couldn’t recognize the setting. She wasn’t at the battle anymore. She had no idea how to get back there. Too afraid to even breathe. But there was an urgency in her that made her move. Wanda takes a step forward to get a better sense of what is happening to her and then she hears the sound of a baby. She begins to panic as she searches for that baby. What was a baby doing in the middle of all of this? When she hears another, she begins to worry what kind of nightmare this is going to be.
Then she sees them. The setting has shifted again, this one is a cold lab. A man with a metal suit looms over a baby girl and a baby boy laying in separate plastic beds. She holds her stomach as tears spring to her eyes. “Don’t worry, dear. This isn’t about what you’ve failed to have.” A hand with long fingers holding her shoulder follows a voice similar to her own.
Startled, Wanda spins around to face the witch but instead she is met with an angry mob carrying torches and pitchforks marching towards a carriage that is already up in flames. A womans’ cries for help have her shaking and she runs to help her when she notices the mob is attacking a man with stones. She yells at them to stop but she has no voice. Then she sees them. A young Wanda and Pietro, taking one last look at the damage before he gets them out of there.
She is confused, what is she witnessing? She doesn't remember any of this. None of this happened to her. This wasn’t her childhood. These weren't her memories. “That’s right, this wasn’t your childhood,” the voice moves with each word. Wanda whips her head around to follow it, to find her, but she doesn’t. There is another angry mob and this time they are pelting her and Pietro with stones. “It’s my story,” as she talks there are flashes of traumatizing memories, one right after the other. It hits Wanda too fast that she starts to feel faint but she knows that she has to stay standing.
Outside of her mind she knows that you and others are fighting to stop the Scarlet Witch. She needed to try to reason with the woman before you killed yourself trying to stop her. There has to be another way to stop her.
“This is my life, and the life of so many of us,” the painful images and screams come to a halt and for a second Wanda thinks it’s over. She thinks she can breathe and think for herself again. Then she is presented with her own memories and feels the presence of someone beside her. She doesn’t have the urge to find the demented mirror image of herself when she sees you holding her niece with her brother distracted behind you. She is helping her mom prepare food in the kitchen and her father is watching the meat on the grill. She misses her family. But all she can focus on is you. The bright smile on your face and the sparkle in your eyes as you talk softly to Luna. “Whereas you? What have you suffered?” Scarlet Witch continues in a venomous tone.
With tears in her eyes, Wanda shoots a sharp glare in the direction of the voice. She only gets a glimpse before the figure moves again. “I have suffered. Not everything in my life has come so easily,” she casts her eyes to the dark ground of her subconscious. She is thrown off by the fact that she can’t see her feet but instead an inviting spot of light flickering through the darkness.
It stops flickering and she thinks maybe someone is trying to rescue her from the Scarlet Witch’s manipulation. But then her hand reaches out and yanks her through. “If you’re looking for my pity, you can save it,” the woman’s sinister eyes give her pause but she doesn’t show her fear. She can’t afford to be afraid inside of here. Not when there are so many brave people risking their lives. Not when so many have lost their lives. Scarlet Witch continues showing Wanda more versions of them. This one is a Wanda in what looks like a doctors office. “See her?” Scarlet Witch starts as she walks around the crying woman, “She’s finding out that she’ll never be able to carry children.” The setting changes again, “This one is being told that the boys she actually gave birth to aren’t real.” Then, to get to her point, she speeds up glimpse after glimpse of the struggling Wanda’s from other universes. “You don’t know how good you have it.”
Instead of falling into the heaviness, the weight of the despair radiating from every version of herself, she thinks about you. She thinks back to everything the two of you have been through together. She thinks about the strength the two of you give each other. “Why do you have to take over everything? Don’t you have enough power?” Wanda says. “Have the life you want! You don’t need to destroy every universe to get it!”
“Silly girl, I’m not going to destroy every universe. All of this was only ever meant for two people,” she states. Before Wanda can express her confusion, the witch continues. “When I lost everything, a book made it clear to me that I could have it all back. If I truly wanted it.” A small wave of her hand causes the Darkhold to appear between the women. Even in a mental form, the book radiated dark energy that affected Wanda. “There were spells that could sort of bring the love of my life back, however, they were always tethered to something. That bothered me. I couldn't have Y/n that way. No, I wanted my Y/n back. As they used to be. Not some puppet. Unfortunately, the only being throughout the multiverse capable of successfully bringing someone back from the dead without constraints or complications happened to be the variant of the one person I missed the most.”
“What are you talking about? Y/n has never brought someone back to life,” Wanda says.
“Oh how quickly you forget,” Scarlet Witch shakes her head. “You died in their arms, Wanda. The only reason you are standing here today is because they gave you life. Because they are the only one who possesses the ability to truly resurrect the dead. Not so that they're a zombie or a puppet. No. A true resurrection. You get your own life, have your own thoughts, you don't have to only exist within some sort of bubble. You can simply be.”
Wanda couldn't believe what she was hearing. This wasn't about destroying the multiverse. This was about saving you. “Why go after everyone else?” She asks.
“It wasn't my intention to destroy any universe. At least, not as many as I have,” she steps around Wanda as she changes the scenery again. “There was one light at the end of my very dark tunnel,” Wanda stares at the variant of you asleep on a couch with two beautiful baby boys cozy and sleeping in your arms. An image she longed for herself. An experience she wanted so desperately. “Then she took it all away from me.” The scene changes. The once warm home was now nothing but rubble. Scarlet Witch, once a Wanda herself, is on her knees. Beaten down and bruised. Her home with the only family she had left is reduced to nothing but ashes. Behind her is Jean Grey, floating in the air delivering some speech that the Scarlet Witch refuses to replay. Then, in her grief, power explodes from Wanda and instantly knocks the Dark Phoenix to the ground. It doesn't kill her. It only weakens her. This is the first time that Wanda had been able to absorb power from another person. And when Jean is left as nothing but a shell, that Wanda falls to the ground in tears. “I found the Darkhold shortly after that. I discovered things about myself that I hadn't known possible. I discovered things about the universe and all of its mysteries. So many spells I'd never learned before. My destiny is to rule everything.”
“So this is a revenge plan,” Wanda whispers.
“Yes, well,” the Scarlet Witch laughs to herself. “I had a much simpler one, long before I perfected multiversal travel, but Y/n decided they were insane and instead of killing the nexus Jean as I tried for months to convince them to do. They killed themselves. Tragic really, it was such a waste of time. Luckily not a complete waste, I mean, it brought me here. Didn’t it?”
Wanda wipes away her tears, she needs to remain strong. Her world is being threatened and nothing was making any sense to her. “If you loved Y/n so much, why have you killed so many of them? Why not only go after Jean? Why hunt down other Nexus? You didn’t need to harm any of them! You–”
The book disappears and the Scarlet Witch stops in front of her variant and bows her head. “You wouldn't understand,” the little bit of this Wanda that isn't corrupted by the Darkhold whispers. She raises her head and instead of her normal skin tone and young features, there stands a dried version of a woman. Her veins are visible and black, her skin is a dusty white, her eyes completely black with thick oil like tears rolling down her face. “You haven't experienced loss like I have. You haven't been as desperate as I've been.”
She shows Wanda her dark journey in quick overwhelming flashes. The woman has never felt this much grief and despair and pain in her entire life. She doesn't know how it doesn't consume her completely. She doesn't know how it helps her break out of the Scarlet Witch's compulsion.
Once she is free, Wanda opens her eyes and catches herself as she falls to the floor. “Y/n,” she whispers as she looks around frantically. The scene she is witnessing isn’t the one that she left. Jean is knocked out behind the Scarlet Witch while the woman towers over you as you are in a kneeling position. You look tired and defeated. Blood shows through the dirt you have gotten covered in through the fight. Wanda stands with the purpose that she has to get to you before it's too late.