Memories
There was a cabin in the valley. It had a little porch wrapping around the front. There was a lake beside it and a large field filling the valley with the occasional tree. There were not nearly enough trees for the four of them to swing their way there, so they contented themselves with walking.
Over the comms, Peter said, “We’re approaching the cabin now.”
“Okay, be careful.” Tony responded. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Peter snorted before composing himself.
When they were fifty yards away from the cabin, the front door banged over with a thud of wood against wood. Wanda stood in the frame, her hands glowing with that red energy of hers. She was wearing a deep red headpiece, elbow long gloves and a cape of the same color. Her pants were black with red vertical lines up each leg, crossing with horizontal blue lines. Her hair was wavy and slightly frizzed and her head was tilted slightly to the side. Paired with the threat of her abilities, she was quite terrifying to behold.
You beat Doctor Strange in a one on one fight. Peter reminded himself silently. You can fight her too if it comes to that.
He stepped forward despite his better judgement. “Wanda?” He called out and suddenly the red hue emanating from her powers dissipated. Her fighting getup was replaced by a cardigan that fell to her ankles, a t-shirt and sweatpants, topped off by fluffy slippers.
“Peter!” She called back, a smile breaking out across her face. She tilted her head again and squinted, then added, “And Peter? And another Peter? And Gwen.”
Peter nodded and rushed to hug her. She was thinner than she had been at Tony’s funeral, and Peter’s heart tugged in his chest. “Yeah, we have some guests from other realities. But, hang on, you can remember me?”
She nodded lightly, a serene smile lighting her face. “Strange’s trickery does not work on me anymore, no matter if it fools the rest of the world.”
“But… how is that possible?” Gwen asked.
Wanda turned to look at her. “Oh, dear girl, I’m quite sure you know the answer to that. It is because I am the Scarlet Witch. My powers are unmatched by any being on this earth.” She laughed then and walked into her cabin, holding the door open for Peter and the others to follow behind. “Come on in. Don’t worry, I’m not volatile as they have led you to believe.”
Relief flooded Peter, she wasn’t crazy.
“Oh, no, don’t go thinking that.” Wanda said, offering a fond glare in Peter’s direction. “I am indeed crazy. There are so many voices in my head. I can still hear my dead children and husband. My parents and my brother. They’re all their. Along with your voices, of course.” She put a tea kettle on the stove and started the flame. “Yes, I do believe I have gone quite mad. But I do not pose any danger to you, nor to your Tony hiding up in the mountain.”
“Why come here then, if you’re not dangerous?” Peter 3 asked, stepping slightly in front of Gwen, who rolled her eyes and shoved him back to her side.
“I made a bad choice. I held an entire town hostage in order to try for a normal life with the animated corpse of my husband… but eventually he led me to see reason, and I had to let him go- I had to let him die again, let my children die, to free the town. Then I came here. I’m a danger to others, yes, and I’m hiding from the police, but I am not a danger to you. Any of you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re all just like me.” Wanda said, as though like her was the worst thing anyone could possibly be. “You have all lost everyone.” She rounded on Peter 2. “Except for you. Somehow you won, you figured it out. You get that life that all of the rest of us long for, and can never have. Congratulations on Mary Jane’s pregnancy by the way.”
“Thank you.”
Peter 3 flung himself into Peter 2’s arms. “You’re having a baby!”
Even Peter couldn’t hold back his grin.
Wanda’s smile was warm for the first time as she turned her gaze from Peter 2 and 3 back to Peter. “Of course I will help you. But are you sure you’re ready for this? If I am mad then Doctor Steven Strange is fractured. I have voices whispering in the back of my mind. He has a voice that has cast him aside and taken over his body. As soon as you are remembered, he will target you again. I cannot make him forget you.”
“Can you see the future?” Peter asked.
Wanda shook her head. “I can only warn you to potential dangers.”
“Okay.” Peter thought for a moment. “Do it.”
Everything was red. There was nothing but the red behind his eyelids, light, light, flooding. And then it was creeping past his eyelids, into his very being, and he was gasping and clutching at his throat, choking, drowning, suffocated in the weight of memories.
Peter.
Peter.
Peter.
A hundred whispers. Faces.
His mother, her almond eyes filled with tears as she bent over his bed to say good night to him for the last time.
His father, running down the sidewalk beside him, pushing the bike along as he peddled furiously.
His uncle Ben helping him with his first lego set.
His aunt May reading him a bedtime story.
Peter.
Tony helping him with a science project in the middle of the night when Peter had forgotten it until the very last minute.
Happy rescuing him from the flower field in the Netherlands.
Peter.
Morgan smiling up at him. “My dad has a picture of you.”
Pepper’s sad smile, “If there’s anything you need, ever, you come to me.”
Peter.
Ned and him cramped in the back of the school bus making up their own secret handshake.
MJ’s laugh as they laid together on the roof, not a care in the world for the first time in his life.
Peter. Peter. Peter.
Red turned to white and then…
***
Peter awoke to a thundering in his head. Wanda was dabbing a cool cloth over his sweaty forehead and tutting softly. While she’d been in Westview she really had become quite motherly. “He’s awake.” She called out and instantly three more faces joined hers in his limited sightline.
He couldn’t turn his head for the shooting pain he was sure would go through it. It took his brain a second to catch up with who he was seeing. Gwen. Peter 2. Peter 3. Wanda. “Did it work?” He croaked out.
“I think so.” She replied. “We cannot know for sure until you get back to the states. Unfortunately none of you thought far enough ahead to get international cell plans. As soon as you can, check the news. If it worked- which I believe it did- there should be no mention of Mysterio’s video anywhere. I made it as though that video was never made, for everyone. Other than that, everything happened exactly the same as you remember it. It would do you well to release a statement about how Strange made the world forget you. He will not be able to work as much against you if he is trapped in the public eye. You may even be able to get into MIT.”
Peter sat up and Peter 3 and Gwen were quick to help him up. “Thank you.” He said sincerely, grasping Wanda’s hands. “I owe you for this.”
“You owe me nothing Peter, but if you must do anything for me, then do this; keep your heart, keep it close and keep it safe. No matter what.” He nodded, though he had no idea what the hell that meant. “You will.” She said, responding to his unsaid thoughts once again.
Gwen and Peter 3 supported Peter all the way out of the cabin and across the field until they reached the line of trees.
“You okay, kid?” Tony said into the earpiece.
“Yeah, I think so.” He muttered.
It took longer for them to get back up than it did going down since Peter was still too out of it to swing himself through the trees. Luckily Gwen and the Peters were all strong enough to swing with Peter on their own so they alternated between carrying every fifteen minutes or so to keep from any of them getting tired.
Whoever had Peter at any given time would talk to him, making him recount the dozens of memories he had seen, anything to keep him present, to keep him conscious. His mind begged him to slip from wakefulness, to give in to that tired feeling that had sunk deep into his bones. It was like he had just been in the biggest fight of his life, minus the pain. It was just infinite fatigue. He wondered if it would ever fade.
“Stay with me, Peter.” Peter 2 pleaded with him as the trees washed by him, blending together in a blur of greens and browns.
His voice meshed into sound, no longer real words.
He caught some of the words, but most of them evaded him, as voices mixed together over the comms.
“We’re losing him.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Hang on.”
“Almost there.”
Then it all faded.
When he came too again he was at a significantly higher altitude, though they were still in the trees. He was in Gwen’s arms now. He felt better. That fatigue had faded into something manageable, something in the background. What would this be like for a normal person? Someone without his super strength and regenerative abilities. Would they even be alive?
“Peter?” Gwen asked. “Can you hear me?”
“Yeah.” He said. And his voice was stronger than it had been before. “I think I’m alright now. Not enough to swing on my own yet, but I don’t think I’m going to pass out again.”
“Good.” Gwen said. “Just try to stay awake, okay? We’re almost back to the plane. We’ll have to start walking again in a minute. Do you think you can do that?”
“Yeah. I think I’ll be fine to walk on my own.”
He staggered up the rest of the way to the plane. Peter 2, 3, and Gwen were close on his heals, watching him like a hawk, looking for any sign that he might collapse. But he really was okay now. Tony was further back, hiding any traces of his suit and recreating his disguise.
And there was Happy, standing outside of the plane, waiting anxiously for their return. When he saw Peter their eyes met and there were tears in them.
He ran for Peter, hugging him tightly. “Peter.” He whispered. Peter’s knees threatened to give out. Happy remembered him. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Happy, Happy, it’s okay,” Peter breathed into his shoulder. “You remember, you remember.”
“Yeah kid, I remember.”