Dorogoy

Wanda Maximoff has never felt safe, when a bomb killed her parents and destroyed her childhood home, she did not feel safe, when her and Pietro were left on the streets to fend for themselves at the ripe age of 10, she did not feel safe, when she was kidnapped by hydra, she did not feel safe, when she watched her the only person she had left sacrifice himself for a group of people they were supposed to be fighting against, she did not feel safe.

Even now, tucked up in her bed at the avengers compound, she did not feel safe. Deep down she knew she was, she was in a building full of superheros who spend their lives, killing aliens and saving the world for fucks sake but it wasn't enough to hold off the overwhelming sense of unease that spread throughout her body and made her legs feel weak. She wanted Pietro. He always knew how to comfort her but he was gone, never to return. She let a tear slide down her cheek at the thought, it had been a week since Sokovia and she still struggled to believe it. How could the one person, who had been in her life since she was a fetus, her other half, her twin flame truly be gone. He was the only person who knew exactly what she needed by the slightest tug of her lip or twitch of her nose and she didn't have him anymore.

She didn't have anyone anymore.

Sick of tossing and turning, Wanda sat up in bed, letting her eyes drift to the alarm clock sat by her bedside. Where 3:26 am was written in bold, red, flickering digits. She hadn't slept yet and she knew she wasn't going to. She pushed back the duvet and swung herself out of the bed, her bare feet were cold against the wooden floors and Natasha's sleep shorts that practically hung off of her did nothing to prevent the draft from the slightly open window. She'd arrived at the compound sobbing hysterically over her brother, with only her bloodied dress and her broken heart. Natasha Romanoff being the only other woman in the compound offered the witch some of her clothes until Wanda was well enough to go shopping for her own. She didn't expect the black widow to even show her the slightest bit of kindness after what she did to her, but the woman never ceased to amaze her. Due to the girl's malnourished and still developing body, they didn't even begin to fit her. She had to use shoelaces as a makeshift belt to keep the bottoms from falling down but Wanda didn't mind, they were soft and smelled of expensive vanilla perfume with the subtle hint of gunpowder that always seemed to linger, of Natasha. She didn't know why she liked the smell so much she simply thought it was soothing.

She continued to put one foot infront of the other until she ended up in the big, spacey, kitchen. It was extravagant to say the least but it was Tony Stark's building after all so she didn't expect any less, she climbed on top of the counter as carefully as she could, at barely 5'2 she struggled to reach the high shelves. She pulled out whatever mug was closest and rolled her eyes when she brought it down to her face to see the stark industries logo painted across it. Did Tony really need to own his own merch?

She navigated herself around the kitchen, guessing where most things were to make herself a hot chocolate with the slightest dash of honey just like her mother used to make. She smiled as the warm, sweet liquid travelled down her throat. It wasn't exactly like it was from her childhood but it was close enough. She carried the mug with two hands over to the sofa before curling up against it, she watched the cars go by through the oversized window. She'd never seen a car before she moved here, back in Sokovia only the extremely rich people had cars which was next to no one considering how poor the country was. God, she wished Pietro was here to see it.

………..

It was 5:30 am when Nat stumbled into the living room in her workout gear, to find a sleeping teenage witch curled up on the couch. She couldn't help but be in awe. Natasha hated the girl for bringing her worst memories to the surface but since then the nightmares had stopped and one look at Wanda's too-skinny body and fearful eyes as Steve carried her in from the quinjet after Sokovia and every ounce of hatred she ever held for the girl was replaced with the albeit motherly urge to keep her safe. She walked closer to the girl to see her thumb planted firmly in her mouth. She frowned, ready to move the girl's arm for the sake of her teeth but decided against it. The girl was grieving her twin brother and her home country was destroyed, not to mention the trauma of hydra and god knows what else. She'd be a monster to rid her of comfort. She carefully lifted the teen into her arms, grimacing at how light she was. They had to get some weight on her soon. The brunette began to stir in the black widow's arms.

"Shhh little witch, you're okay"

"Nat?" Came a groggy voice, pulling her thumb away from her mouth abruptly, cheeks burning .

"Go back to sleep, malysh, i'm just taking you to bed"

Nat turned the corner into Wanda's room, laying her down and tucking her under the covers with ease. She surprised herself and the younger girl by planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep well, little witch" She muttered to the unconscious teen before turning to leave and closing the door behind her. Wanda didn't need to be up for training for another three hours so she had plenty of time to rest and even if she didn't the redhead would probably let her skip it. She had argued with Tony for hours about putting the witch in training, the multi-millionaire deemed it time to get the girl up and running and in the end he got the final say but Natasha simply didn't think she was ready yet. It had only been 7 days since she lost her twin brother and she was still far too thin to be doing any exercise at all let alone sparring with super humans. Or maybe the redhead was just paranoid.

………….

By the time, Wanda had sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes it was already 9am, the memories from getting up for hot chocolate to now were all a bleary haze but she can distinctly remember being picked up and carried away by Nat. Her face heat up in embarrassment. She was already seen as the baby of the compound no matter how many times she pleaded she was old enough to drive (Just about). Her face froze in panic as she turned towards the clock, she was nearly half an hour late to training. "Shit, shit, shit" She muttered before pulling herself out of bed for the second time that day. She threw on her workout clothes as fast as she could only getting minor whiplash in the process. She put her long brown hair haphazardly, into a messy bun and raced out of her room. Sometimes she wished she had pietro's powers instead. She tripped over her own feet countless times before she eventually made it to the training room. 8 sweaty avengers looked up to see her crashing through the doors, a distinct look of embarrassment and shame painted across her face.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, she spoke "S-sorry i'm late"
She didn't feel particularly comfortable under the hulks gaze, out of all the avengers he was the one she was scared of the most. She knew how guilty he felt about what he said to her, after he found out she was still only a kid, but it didn't make her any less afraid of him. She stepped in one wrong direction and he could turn into a big green monster at a moments notice. She was too busy burning holes into the floor to notice Tony sneaking up behind her. "You're alright, kid" He said, placing his hand on her shoulder with a quiet smack. She visibly flinched at the contact and once again a moment later when he brought both his hands up in surrender. "Sorry" She muttered. "Don't be"
"You're working with Natashalie" He said pointing to the flushed redhead in the corner.

She sighed in relief, she trusted Nat. The older woman waved her over as Tony went back to training with Bucky and Steve which mostly consisted of him getting knocked on his ass. "Anyone ever taught you how to kick somebody's face in?" Nat spoke, jokingly. She smiled.

Mid-way through the black widow pulling her too-warm body off the floor for the hundreth time in what felt like the past-hour but was actually about 15 minutes, the witch began to feel faint. Black-dots filled her vision as she felt the older redhead press her hand against her forehead. "Wanda?"
"Wanda are you okay?"

"Fine, I-i just need to sit down a minute" she replied, weakly as another wave of nausea ripped through her body. Nat grabbed onto her arm as her knees gave way and gently lowered her against the wall. "Hey, deep breaths little witch"

"In through your nose, out through your mouth. Like this okay" She said calmly, breathing deeper to demonstrate. Wanda let out a few deep, shaky breaths through her mouth as the other avengers came crowding over. "Is she okay" came Clint's voice, sporting a sweat-lined t-shirt and basketball shorts. "I told you all, she wasn't ready!" Nat yelled at no one in particular. "Pass me that" the redhead, spoke pointing at her water bottle. "Thanks"
She pulled it out of her best-friends clutches before unscrewing it and pressing it to Wanda's lips. "Swallow dorogoy" She said, pouring it into the witches mouth. "Good girl" She muttered as the brunette let out a few harsh gulps.

Wanda's vision began to clear and she found herself breathing at a normal pace. "Better now?" Nat asked. "Better"
"Training is over for today!" Yelled Tony, over the hysteria. One by one a group of exhausted superheros began to file out, leaving the two girls to their own devices. "Come on, little witch. We better get you to Dr Cho" Said the older redhead, moving her hands under the girl's armpits.
"No!" yelled the little witch, suddenly.
"No? you almost passed out dorogoy" The brunette pulled herself out of the assassin's grip and shuffled backwards away from her.
"No, no, no" She muttered in quick concession, curling in on herself.
"Sweetheart..." Pushed the older woman before proceeding to make the big mistake of putting her left hand on Wanda's shoulder. The smaller girl made a shriek-like noise before wrapping her arms tighter around herself.
"IM SORRY, i'm sorry p-please don't hurt us!" she cried out. Nat cursed under her breath before putting her hands up in mock surrender. "Wanda, look at me its okay. You're not back there and you never will be again" she tried. The brunette began to sob. "Fuck, uhh okay. Wanda, I'm going to touch you now sweet girl" She said before hesitantly getting closer to the curled up teenager. "No, no hurt!" She screamed. "No, no hurt sweetie i'll be gentle"
"Like this, see?" She spoke before softly placing a hand on her knee. When no more cries came from the brunette's lips the assassin began to peel her arms apart, placing them around her own shoulders. "Shh there we go" she cooed, scooping the teens bum off the floor and lowering it over her own lap. She felt Wanda tense and then relax, still letting out heartbreaking sobs into her neck. "Deep breaths, little witch. Just like I showed you earlier" She ran a hand up and down the witch's back, cringing at the feel of her spine against her palm. "Thats it dorogoy" After a few long minutes of whispered encouragement the smaller girl's sobs began to dissipate.
"You wanna tell me what that was all about?" The russian asked, cautiously.
"In H-Hyd-Hydra The-They" She tried, fresh tears started gathering at her eyes.
"Shh take your time little witch" Nat said, catching the droplets with her thumbs.
"They w-would take us t-to a doctor wh-who wo-would Inject us with need-needles that m-made us s-ick" Nat could guess why the girl reacted the way she did, she had read Wanda's files and got disturbing insight on the experimentation procedure her and her brother were put through but for the teen's benefit she wanted to hear her say it.
"Whe- When... It felt like I was back t-there" Her lip trembled.
"You had a flashback?" Natasha questioned. Instead of answering the brunette buried her face further into the black widow's neck and gave a slight shrug.
"Its okay little witch, everything is gonna be okay" The assassin whispered, moving her hands down and patting the brunettes bum.
For the first time in Wanda's life, she believed it.