Here Lies...
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It's a cold rainy morning in upstate New York. Which, I'm not sure how because it has been less than twelve hours since Spider-Man and I trained but now I'm here standing in another rainstorm. I had really hoped that today would be a clear and sunny day because it would help Wanda just a little bit. It has been a week since the rock exploded and a small funeral is being held for Pietro Maximoff. At the same time a mass funeral is held for all of the civilians that died. Whether it was before the shattering of the rock or after, a funeral was still held regardless. At this funeral there's just me, Wanda, Clint and Natasha. The rest of the Avengers didn't feel like it was appropriate for them to come since most didn't know who Pietro was. Stark especially felt the worst out of everyone because he paid for the plot of land and service out of guilt. At least that's what Natasha said this morning when I first arrived. Now Wanda is sitting down on a chair with her face in her hands while I'm standing next to her holding an umbrella over us. Clint and Natasha are standing nearby with their own umbrellas too. Since this was a small and private event it wouldn't last very long, however it's been nearly two hours since Clint and I had lowered the coffin into the ground and Wanda has not stopped crying.
Clint looks down on his watch. "I don't want to sound rude or anything but I'll take my leave now. I have a flight to catch." He walks over and pat Wanda on the shoulder before leaving. "I hope he's in a better place now with your parents." Wanda lets out a piercing wail into the sky as Clint walks away from our umbrella. I continue to stand by Wanda's side as I turn to look at Natasha. All she gave me was a simple smile. A smile that says that she wasn't sure if she should leave or stay because there's only two cars here. I waved my left hand towards her to show her that we have a way to get home. She gives me a nod before turning around to follow Clint out of the property. I watch their cars slowly drive away from the graveyard before turning to look at Wanda. I wave out my left hand in the air to perform a magic spell. The invisible shield that's protecting the still open grave from rain water, slowly rises up as I push the dirt into the hole. After a few short minutes the grave has been closed and flattened to reveal a granite stone that reads 'Here lies Pietro Maximoff. A brother and hero.'
I rest my hand on Wanda's shoulder. "We can go whenever you're ready, Wanda." I continue to stand beside her in silence as she continues to wail and bawl her eyes out. Her eyes are red and dry from crying countless hours. Her black dress now even more disheveled than when she first arrived with it on. After a few more minutes, only then did she finally take in a deep breath to finally allow herself to attempt to move forward. Even though her head is still hanging low I can tell she's doing a lot better than she had for the past week. I slowly reach up to remove my helmet that I've been wearing since we started this morning. Maybe it might have been a little bit disrespectful to not show your face and wear a helmet at most funerals. But Wanda didn't seem to mind it since I've already shown her my face and allowed her to go into my head to see why I keep my helmet on. Although I did get a glare from Clint this morning when we both arrived. "Do you want me to send you to the facility? or uh..." She pulls me close into a hug and I slowly let go of the umbrella to cover her in my embrace. The umbrella continues to float in the air while we hug in the rain.
"Can we just go home...your home." I can feel my face suddenly warming up because I did not expect things to end up like this a week ago. When I allowed her into my mind, I initially wanted to show parts of my plan and life story to try and rein things my way, but I figured why do that when knows her ways around a person's psyche and will eventually find out about everything. Now I wouldn't say that Wanda is love struck or whatever because that's not how things work. But she's definitely a lot more comfortable around me now that she has found someone that she can rely on. I don't know what she thinks about my future plans with the world and life but I think she might've liked something because I'm the only one that could comfort her and calm her down from her state of grief. "Ned, are you alright?" She tries to put on a smile but her face seems so tired from expressing grief and loss for a long time.
"Just...thinking about stuff I guess." I try to smile as a million thoughts flashes through my head. "Are you ready?" I look into Wanda's eyes as she slowly gives me a nod before resting her head on my stomach. I reach out to form a barrier over our umbrella to stop an even bigger area of the rain. I open up a portal and allow her to step into my room before closing the umbrella and stepping through too. I close the portal which also deactivates the barrier spell. "Oh shit!" I let out a giggle as even though I tried so hard to keep my house dry, a few drops of rain still fell through the portal anyways. Wanda breaks into a light laughter too as she walks over to grab a towel to help me clean. I walk to the door of my apartment and begin to take off my shoes. "Wanda, uhm can you take off your shoes...I kind of don't like having shoe prints all over my floor." I start to turn a bit red as I want to keep my house clean but don't want her to get offended at my house rules.
"Oh? Umm sure Ned. No problem." She puts on a shy smile while picking up the towel from the floor. She walks towards me and begin to take her shoes off to put them next to mine. "So are you hungry? You've been crying all morning I'm sure your stomach and energy must be running on empty by now." I grabbed onto my helmet and made it float into my bedroom. I walk towards the kitchen and begin rummaging through my fridge for something to make for her to eat. "No it's okay, I think I should be fine. Maybe a drink or something but I should be fine for now." Wanda walks over to the couch before sitting down and putting something on my TV to watch. A grin appears on my face as I close my fridge to grab a glass. I summon some ice cubes into the cup and fill it up with water before turning around to walk back to her. I flick my wrist towards the direction of the living room to call for a bag of chips from my snack bowl. I joined her at my couch and I handed her the glass of water and also the bag of chips that she didn't ask for.
"You know...I still don't know how to feel about you calling me Ned. I mean it's my government name and all but it feels..." I sit down next to her on the opposite side of the couch. "Weird? What's so weird about it? It is your name after." She takes a sip of the glass before setting it down. Not even a minute has passed and she's already digging into the bag of chips. Which I couldn't help but laugh because I knew she was hungry but didn't want to say it. "Well for one, none of the other members know my 'real' name or how I even look like." I finger quote in the air while trying to stop myself from laughing. "Why do you keep that away from them? Aren't they your allies too?" She slightly tilts her head to the side. "I mean they are, it's just...well you know my age now and yet..."
"And yet I don't treat you any different." She reach over to grab on to my wrist. "I don't care if you're younger or older than me. You're someone of good heart and you're a good person." I starts to blush a little and gently rub my free hand over her fingers. "Even if we're almost ten years apart?" She burst into laughter causing me to feel confused and uncertain. Which was a common feeling I didn't miss from my previous life. "You think I'm that old?" She gently hits me in the chest. "I'm only 18 young man! Certainly an adult but nowhere near 25." She tried to comfort me by scooting closer to me. "Wait really? I could've sworn-" I quickly shut my mouth as if I've just tasted the most sour and tarty candy in the world. I can see a storm of fury brewing behind her eyes as her hair begins to flutter slightly. OH FUCK IM IN THE WRONG UNIVERSE?!?
"I-I mean yay....?" I put up some jazz hands to mockingly celebrate before the two of us burst into laughter. "You sure know how to mess with a woman kiddo. You must be popular with the ladies when you're not being a superhero." She puts on a smirk before getting a little closer again. "I uh...I can't tell if you're making fun of me or being honest here. I'm getting a little bit confused about all of these new information." Honestly I'm in a whirlpool of emotions. Even after death I'm still not over the damage my ex had put me through. Hell even after becoming an Avenger and going through hellish training to get here I don't think I've healed emotionally from my past life. "Am I...am I pushing on too hard, Ned?" She suddenly backs away, not wanting to make me anymore uncomfortable. "I'm sorry Wanda. It's just...it's just I have a lot of teenage hormones and emotions and I don't know how to process them right now..." I reach back to scratch my head, not sure of what I should do. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I...I've never been alone like these in my life. Even when I lost my parents, I always had Pietro by my side. Through everything we were always together...and now."
I slowly reach over to touch her fingers tips with mine. "And now you're looking for something to hold on to. Something-" "to not feel so alone in this world. I-I'm sorry if I'm coming on too strong. I don't know what I want anymore. I don't want to feel alone but I don't want to feel hurt again from losing anyone special to me." She hesitantly accepts my touch. We sit there with our finger tips touching for a few silent moments before she advances with her own. She open up her fingers, as if inviting me to finish the last step. I start to turn bright red as I slide my fingers into her embrace. Our skin warming each other up as our fingers intertwine. "D-do you...do you want us to start over again?" I look into her eyes. My senses seems to block out the world and only focusing on her. "Ned...will you..." She slowly move her head closer to mine. "Will you be-" BLURT BLURT! My phone suddenly rings out causing me to nearly jump from my couch. I want to yell at whom ever is calling me at this time of the day. It's...it's only one in the afternoon. "Hello!" I answer the phone while looking at her with an annoyed and irritated face before it quickly shifts into laughter as she also had the same idea as me. "Hey Ned, it's Peter. How have you been bro? Want to come over and build some Legos before we start highschool school in two weeks?"