*C66 - Wanda's Awakening.

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'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word Count: 1,976)

~ Later that night with Wanda ~

Wanda sat on her bed, looking dazedly at the wall ahead of her as her thoughts were in a chaotic state. The events of the battle replayed in her mind. She could still feel the rush of adrenaline, how she felt facing the creatures, and the denial she was in when she was about to be buried in a pile of debris.

But now, in the quiet of her apartment room, everything seemed like a distant dream. 'How did we survive?' She wondered.

The memories of the battle were clear, but there was a gap, a moment where everything went dark and then. . . they were safe. Crystal, Pietro and herself were alive, and she had no idea how. Even both Crystal and Pietro had no idea how they survived when Wanda had asked them.

Wanda's thoughts drifted to Luke. At the end of the battle when Luke had appeared in their medical tent, there was a moment, a connection that felt deeper than anything she had experienced before. This had caused her to stare at Luke, something that she would not have done in the past. It was as if she had known him for most of her life, but that was impossible.

She was not his Wanda.

'But then why did he feel so familiar?' Wanda closed her eyes, trying to understand what she was feeling. She remembers the emotions that she had suddenly felt surge through her, emotions that she was certain were not present before the battle.

As she sat still in concentration, a flicker of red energy sparked across her fingertips, unnoticed. Her powers were awakening, triggered by the stress and trauma of the earlier events. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing mind, but the questions kept swirling around.

Suddenly, while in her current state, a low whisper called out to her, "Wanda. . ."

Spooked, her eyes snapped open as she felt a presence in the room with her. "Who's there?" She asked aloud. Not getting a response, panic and caution began rising within Wanda as she scanned her surroundings. As she scanned, her eyes caught the sight of the figure who she believed had called out to her.

However, instead of feeling scared or worried that there was an unknown presence in the room with her, Wanda was currently surprised and shocked. "You. . . How are you here?" She muttered as the thought that she was dreaming was forming in her mind.

Standing by the window of her apartment room was none other than an older Wanda. "It's not a dream, Wanda." The figure spoke.

Wanda's eyes widened as she suddenly felt all the delayed panic flooding her all at once. Swiftly raising her blankets and covering herself, Wanda began thinking to herself, almost to the point of hyperventilating, 'it's not real, it's not real, it's not real.'

A few moments later, she finally felt the presence disappearing. However, Wanda did not immediately uncover herself to check. Instead, she let a few more second's pass before she gathered enough courage to check her room again. Slowly peaking out from under her blanket, Wanda sighed in relief when she confirmed that the figure had truly left.

Without warning, a knock on the door jolted her from her relief and caused her to scream.

"What happened?! Can I come in?!" Pietro's voice sounded from behind the door, filled with concern.

'It's just Pietro.' Wanda sighed in relief, the effects of the earlier incident with the older Wanda still evident in her reactions.

"Yeah, come in." Wanda called out, trying to steady her voice.

Pietro entered the room, his face etched with worry. He closed the door behind him and walked over to sit beside her on the bed. "Are you okay? I heard you scream when I knocked."

Wanda sighed, unsure what to say to Pietro. "It's. . . Just been a long day today. Everything's still got me jumpy and scared." Wanda started in a low tone, "We ran out that café chasing after someone who we don't even know much about, and from that point on, every corner we turned into and every street we walked on, was just like walking on a thin line between life and death.

Those. . . things were everywhere. And just when we thought we were safe with the soldiers arriving, what happened?" Silence hung in the air at her question. "We almost died, Pietro. I know it's as much as our fault as it is Crystal's, but we almost died. And the worst part of it all? I don't even know how I'm supposed to be feeling right now."

Hearing his sister's plight, Pietro could only take hold of Wanda's hand as he remained silent.

"What? No motivational speech tonight?" Wanda jokingly asked.

Pietro shook his head, "Not tonight. Even I don't know how to feel after going through what we had today. And that's perfectly fine, because as long as you're okay, then I'm okay too."

Wanda scoffed at his reply, nudging him slightly with her shoulders.

~ An hour later ~

As they sat in comfortable silence, Pietro and Wanda were both appreciating the silent support that they both had for one another. They had ended their sibling sharing session more than half an hour ago, covering topics of experiencing their near-death scenario to watching soldiers die in front of them.

However, Pietro had not yet left the room as Wanda had requested for him to stay with her for a while longer, since she was still spooked by the presence of the older Wanda earlier.

"By the way, Luke? Seriously? You even hugged him out of nowhere!" Suddenly, Pietro's voice cut through the silence as he raised his eyebrows and looked at her in disbelief.

"Oh, get over it, Pietro. I'm not a young girl anymore, I'm turning 17 soon for crying out loud." Wanda replied as she rolled her eyes at him.

"I know that, but this guy, Luke. We barely even know him. In fact, we only just met officially today." A thought then came up in Pietro's mind, "Wait a second. . . Is this the fabled love at first sight?" He asked, a smug smile forming on his lips.

"Shut up, you're no better yourself Mr 'I will protect Crystal with my life'. Which, by the way, why didn't I get the same treatment? You literally shielded her instead of me." Wanda spoke in mock anger, cornering Pietro into a corner after he had tried to put her in one by bringing up Luke.

Raising his hands, Pietro attempted to defend his actions, "You can't put that on me, Wanda! You were already backing away and Crystal was frozen in shock. I had to help her! It is my duty as a man! A single, bachelor ready man!"

"Excuses, excuses, excuses are all I'm hearing. This isn't the first time either, remember when-"

Like this, both Wanda and Pietro spent the rest of their night bantering with one another and reminiscing their past together, the events of the day already fading into the recess of their mind.

~ At the same time with Natasha, in her apartment in Los Angeles ~

"Luke was a key player in the battle." Natasha concluded. "Without him, the casualties would have been much higher."

Natasha was currently giving her report to Fury regarding the debriefing about the battle with the Messengers of the Abyssal Covenant, along with Luke's involvement. On the other hand, Fury was inside his personal office, listening to the report without interruption, but his mind was processing everything she reported with rapid efficiency.

"You seem to have forgotten one tiny little detail, Agent Romanoff." Fury finally spoke when it did not seem that Natasha had anything further to add.

Sighing, Natasha defeatedly spoke, "Luke's powers. . . they were out of control at one point. He went berserk."

Fury leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing. "And the cause?"

"I believe it was the sight of Wanda in danger." Natasha replied. "I looked into it, and apparently at the moment he lost control, Luke had seen a building collapsing onto Wanda. This caused something to snap inside him. His powers surged, and then he became. . . Unrecognizable."

Fury's gaze hardened as he spoke, "We can't afford to have someone that powerful losing control. It's a risk to everyone around him."

"I understand, sir. But I believe Luke's intentions are good. He saved countless lives today, and he managed to regain control eventually. I've spoken to him, he's working on finding a way to keeping in control of his powers." Natasha agreed while trying to help Luke's case.

"And what happens if he goes berserk a second time? Can you guarantee that it won't happen? And when it does, who's going to stop him then? Do we even know what stopped him the first time?" Fury asked in succession.

Natasha had nothing else to say, these were questions that she did not have the answers to.

"Agent Romanoff, keep a closer eye on him." Fury decided. "The more you can figure out what the causes were, the more we can help him."

Surprised at Fury's decision, Natasha did not hesitate to agree, "Understood, sir."

Fury hung up the call as he delved further into his thoughts of concerns and strategies. 'Luke Sullivan. . . He's not a threat, that much should be certain. But in case he becomes one, we need a contingency. At the very least, we need a place that can contain him should he ever go berserk again.

Why can't shit ever be easy. . .' Fury mused. He already had a headache trying to ensure that everything was in order in regards to the clean-up of the battle. There were many bodies that needed to be accounted for, as well as investigations into the owners of the bodies and informing their next of kin. 'We'll just have them as fatalities of the battle.'

Moreover, Fury now needed to prepare himself to report to the World Security Council regarding the battle. He had already decided that he would keep his knowledge regarding Luke's involvement to himself, however he also knew that he needed to give whatever information that SHIELD had figured out regarding the creatures to the council, possibly even providing samples.

Thankfully, collateral damage in terms of public and private property was not too bad, except for the collapsed building. It could have been worse, but this battle would not be covered financially by SHIELD, since this was a battle that they did not start. Fury decided to leave the financial aspects to the U.S Government as he began compiling his reports.

~ With Luke ~

Back at his apartment, Luke sat on his bed, thinking of his next course of action. 'Hmmm, if the timeline is right, then Tony should be escaping very soon. I should write about the events that happened today. Hopefully this would get their ratings up before Tony re-emerges into the world.'

- End of Chapter 66 -

Next time in C67 - The Sixth Entry.

'The covenant. . . So, it truly was Marak who appeared before us. If Luke was not with us, then. . .' Shaking her head, Natasha did not want to think about the what ifs. Instead, she was glad that Luke had been with her and was on their side during the battle. 

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[Author Note]

I realize that a lot of you don't read the Author note's at the end, so i will also post the A/N in a comment paragraph from now on.