Continued from here.
Chapter One
"Welcome to the Family, Son"
Dear Journal,
All I wanted to do was help. All I wanted to do was help. All I wanted to do was help.
All I wanted was a family. Little did I know, so did she. I do not know if this brief moment of thought is of clarity, but at least I feel almost like myself. I want to write more urgently, but something is holding me back. I have been writing all day. Invitation after invitation. My hand is sore and so is my heart.
If only my invitations had said what I wanted. If only I could have told them:
Stay away.
"The gift?" Wanda asked.
"It's not something I can explain by myself. I'll need the family here to explain." She shot Phil another unimpressed glance but obliged him with a single sticky bun. She moved to sit back down and seemed like she was about to ignore Rant altogether, but she eventually paused and looked to him.
"I invited you because I simply believed you to be misunderstood. Terrible situations make people do terrible things. However, I've found out that you are exactly what everyone thought you to be. How sad."
After this, Wanda was all smiles for a time. She ate her food and watched over the children, shooting bashful glances Genji's way. Suddenly, the light of the room flickered and the door out into the hall burst open.
"Child. I was on vacation in the Hamptons after being dead, a death you caused I might add, and you already are in a crisis?"
The words echoed around the room. Wanda froze, eyes affixed on the woman who had so suddenly entered.
"I guess I should have continued as a spirit," she said, the hint of a smile on her face.
"I do weirdly miss haunting your maid when she came to clean up."
The dry sense of humor did not amuse Wanda as she stood up. Genji tried to settle the children.
"Why must you do this, Agatha! Why now? Why here?"
"..."
It seemed that beyond reality warping, one of Wanda's greatest super powers was the ability to constantly surprise Kyoko, minute after minute, with all these strange new developments. She knew not who this strange old woman was, but it was clear that she intimidated even the Scarlet Witch, and that was never a good sign for anyone. Still, to act without having any of the facts concerning who this woman was would be a rather foolhardy move, so she remained where she was, for now, silently watching the exchange unfold cautiously.
The older witch softly laughed as she came closer.
"Oh child, please. I've been around for centuries. I survived the Salem witch trials. I've died and been revived. Did I mention did you're the one who killed me?"
"Yes..."
"Why am I here? Because I hold no grudges, Wanda. Mistakes happen, my student."
Wanda looked at the younger Billy and Tommy, as well as Genji.
"You killed me because I made you forget about them. The children, when they died all those years ago. I knew it would haunt me and bite me, but I cared about you. And I still do. You and I made amends." The lights began to flicker on and off.
"Suffering is near. They feed on it. The fear."
"Agatha, stop. Please. Not now."
"Wanda, you need to stop, not me. What is happening now? It's not your fault. It's something else--"
Suddenly Wanda jumped out of her seat, sending it crashing to the floor.
"Daddy won't like this, Agatha! I slaved over a hot stove and oven for hours, cleaned this house from to top to bottom and you just come here and-- what? Ruin this!? I deserve a life! I just want..."
Agatha stopped her.
"The pain and mistakes won't go away, dear girl. You know that."
Wanda paused at that. She was silent for just a moment, but then she yelled wordlessly and raised her hand to magically toss the chair at Agatha.
"Wanda, stop this! This isn't like you!" Kyoko yelled out in the confusion, all the while the reminders of the deaths from before seemed to come back to Wanda's realm of reality, breaking apart this illusion she had conjured up.
"She--"
Wih the chair incoming, Captain America ducked out of the way, pushing T'Challa and Billy aside. The chair ended up slamming against some kind of magical barrier before it hit Agatha.
"No!" screamed Wanda.
"You are not welcome! You spread lies! No one died, do you understand?! You are not welcome in this family!" Wanda raised her hands into the air, conjuring up a small wind that blew throughout the room. Agatha's eyes went wide as if something was hurting her, but nothing seemed to happen. The wind simply dissipated, leaving everyone confused as to what it did.
"... He's here."
Then, from behind Agatha came Pietro, flying through the room to crash into one of the dining tables. Agatha quickly stepped aside to avoid a man walking into the dining room. Even though he was balding and had on glasses, his tall stature came across as intimidating.
Or maybe that was just because he was carrying an axe.
The man let out a booming laugh.
"This young man thought I was intruding. Wanda, did you not tell him that I live here?!"
Wanda gasped happily.
"Daddy's here. I... I'm so sorry, Daddy. I tried to get them to behave, really!"
Knowing this guy seemed incredibly off, Billy chanted under his breath to conjure a spell but found that he seemed unable to do anything at all. Tommy began running forward to crash into the man, but seemed surprised at his regular speed and ended up tripping over his feet and on to the floor. Indeed, it seemed that as of this time,
everyone's powers were missing.
"What is the meaning of this?!" cried Josephine, standing to her feet. The man walked a few steps toward her and grabbed her by the hair.
"My little girl would like you to sit down!" he said, slamming Josephine's head against the table. She did not proceed to move.
"...!" Kyoko let out a sharp gasp when the man, whom Wanda unsettlingly referred to as "Daddy," quickly knocked Josephine out without a second thought. Kyoko had seen enough; this had all clearly gone far enough. Turning to Wanda, the detective clenched her fists and called out to her.
"Wanda, listen to me! None of this is natural! You need to stop all this right now! Please!"
