revivalproject

[Of course it works. Because the whole fingers in the hair is PROBABLY just a Maximoff thing. The same thing soothes Tommy, and he knows it.]

You don't have to protect me. Not alone. I'm a super hero, Wanda. We're both Avengers. You and Billy and me, we're all Avengers. We fight together.

[He doesn't want her to think she has to carry that weight alone. None of them do. He's here for her, and she's here for him and Billy's there for them both. That's how it works. As Avengers, and as Maximoffs.]

We're gonna help the Agrii and make it better and then you'll go home to Pops and you'll have that life you two chose back. Together. I promise. I'll make sure it happens. I give you my word as a speedster of the Maximoff line. You know how fucking stubborn we are.

I know but... [She sniffs.] This is my job. I have to protect you, and Billy, and Sansa, and Vision--

[And Wanda promptly dissolves back into tears. Her survivor's guilt has never really gone away, even if it hasn't reared its head since her last birthday on Naviadna. She carries so much: all those dreams for a better future of the other young, starving Sokovians who Strucker had lied to, all of Pietro's hope and dreams.

And right now she has to fight to protect Vision from suffering a similar fate. Whatever has happened to him can't be good.]

I can't lose anyone else.

[It's... It doesn't have to be her job to protect him. Tommy squeezes her a bit tighter and keeps stroking her hair. Let her cry. He doesn't intend to let her think it's all on her shoulder. It can never be on her shoulders.]

Wanda, please. B and I, we protect each other too. And if Sansa is important to you, I'll help protect her as well. We're... We're family. We're Maximoffs. We work together, right? No one carries all the weight because we spread it between us. But I swear, I won't let you lose us.

[Maybe Billy and Teddy will go home, but Tommy will be here for her. He swears it.]

[Of course it has to be on her. If the situation was reversed, if her Pietro or Vision were here and the other Wanda didn't protect them as fiercely as if they were her own, Wanda would never be able to forgive her.]

I want you to have better than I had.

[And with Tommy in particular, she knows she's fighting a losing battle but this is a hill worth dying on, dammit.]

You should be safe and happy. You shouldn't have to worry about these things.

Everything Pietro and I did...we did it so we would be strong enough to bear this for people who couldn't, or shouldn't. I can't tell you what to do. But please promise me you'll be careful.

[Oh dear. Tommy sighs and finally releases Wanda.]

Dude, the better than you had? The safe and happy? Those ships are SO past sailed. Don't try and take that burden on your shoulders. The boat is gone, it's not coming back. But it makes me stronger. Like... like steel or some shit. I'm strong and I protect other people. If you take that from me, I don't have anything left.

[She can't shelter him from a world that has already broken him down. It's pointless, it's useless.]

So maybe instead... instead we be strong for those who can't be. And we be strong for Billy. Because I doubt either of us are about to be 'careful'.

[She is not ready to let go but manages to stop herself from clinging to him.]

I felt like that once. [She looks smaller, diminished somehow - Wanda Maximoff the war orphan instead of the Scarlet Witch.] Like I would never be anything more than a weapon, just...maybe aimed at people who deserved it this time. You can't live like that.

[It will always be a struggle not to fall into old mindsets, especially when people like the Agrii keep dragging her in for this exact reason.]

I learned to see the world through Vision's eyes...literally, when I couldn't do it myself anymore. There's more for you than just being an Avenger.

[She hesitates and reaches for his hand. This is definitely a case of 'do what I say and not what I do' because she can't really promise she'll be careful right now - she's never been able to promise to be objective or rational when the people she loves are in danger and if that's just how Maximoffs always are...maybe there's no helping it. And she's always going to feel like she's responsible for Billy and Tommy in some way.

But the way Tommy talks about himself is definitely a problem that needs addressing.]

Whatever happens today...I need you to know that. That 'boat' isn't gone, not yet.

[God how Tommy wishes that Wanda didn’t have to share this particular issue with his own mother. The being a weapon in someone else’s hand until they found their own agency. But he scoffs at the idea that the boat isn’t gone. Even his team had only used him for their own ends. Even Billy had failed him when Tommy wasn’t convenient anymore. It had been... stressful. Complicated. Painful.]

Being an Avenger is the only good thing in my life. It’s all I have. So no, there really isn’t more to me than that. Even the job I work when I’m working just uses my power so I have money to go other places and help people. It’s what I am.

[Not ‘who i am’. Just what I am. Tommy sees himself that way, and he can’t help the bitter disgust he has for himself in his mind, bubbling just at the surface level right now.]

And right now, this Avenger, despite his age, is saying that we’re a team, and so we work together, okay? That’s how it’s gonna be, Aunt Wanda. Sure, we’re family, but we’re a team too.

[Wanda doesn't say anything for a moment, just gives him a long, brittle look.]

You're a 'who,' not a 'what.'

[She's been there. Her mind still goes there some days, but she's had enough gentle correction from Vision over the years to recognize those thought patterns. All the more reason to find him faster - Tommy needs him and his gentle logic just as badly as she does.]

...let's go find Vision.

[Too bad they're doomed. But he nods and offers her his arms.]

Come on then. Let's go find Pops.

[Some part of her knows this is hopeless. But she still has to try.

Never quote a Maximoff the odds.]

Where do you want to start? I haven't gone far from the city.

[She hasn't had much reason to - all their needs are close and she's been more focused on improving their immediate living situation.]

[Tommy lifts her up and sighs.]

I don’t know. Everywhere. Keep your shield up and your mind open. We’re gonna go fast.

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