Wanda's heart clenched. She had always carried a piece of that conversation from the garden with her. She gripped his hand tighter.
"Tell me," she whispered. "I need to know."
Aryan looked into her eyes, seeing the strength and resolve there and he knew he couldn't deny her the truth, no matter how much he wanted to shield her from it.
"The future viewing panel started years from now... around 2014," he began. "It showed Sokovia under the thumb of a HYDRA cell. They were using the chaos of the region as a cover, preying on the anger and despair of the people. They were offering power to anyone willing to fight, promising them the strength to take back their country."
Tony stiffened at the mention of HYDRA, a dark shadow passing over his face.
"In that timeline," Aryan continued, his gaze locked on Wanda's, "your hatred for Tony Stark... for the weapons that had killed your parents... it was the central fire of your life. It consumed you and Pietro. When HYDRA offered you the power to get revenge, a chance to become strong enough to make a difference... you both volunteered for their experiments."
The air in the room grew cold.
T'Challa's expression was grim and Namor's was one of stony disapproval.
"They used an energy source... something alien... to try and unlock latent abilities in people. Most of the volunteers died. But not you two. The experiments worked. They awakened the power that was already inside you. You became their living weapons."
He saw the flicker of horror in her eyes as she imagined a version of herself willingly submitting to the very organization they now fought against.
"You had power. And you used that power to fight Tony." He paused, the next part clearly difficult for him to say. "Eventually, you realized HYDRA was the true evil. You turned on them. You fought alongside the heroes you once hated. But in that final battle... in your world's battle for Sokovia... Pietro died saving someone. He died a hero, but he died. And you... you were left completely and utterly alone."
The breath caught in Wanda's throat. She could feel the phantom pain of it, an impossible grief for a brother who, in this reality, was safe and alive. A single tear traced a path down her cheek.
Aryan's thumb gently wiped it away. "After that... the world was terrified of your power. The very heroes you had helped tried to control you, to contain you. They saw you as a weapon of mass destruction that needed to be managed. You were isolated, feared and manipulated by all sides. You were the most powerful person on the planet and the most alone."
"The future viewing panel... it showed me all of this tragic story of your life. But then, it just... stopped. The image froze on your face, on this look of soul crushing loneliness and then it just went black. The system told me the rest of the timeline was Unreachable."
He looked up. "I didn't understand why it was cut off back then. But now... after what The Fool just told us about me being the Anchor... I think I do. The system couldn't show me any more of your future, because maybe... maybe that was the exact moment in the original timeline where you and I were fated to finally meet. And just like I can't see my own future, maybe the system can't show me any future that involves a direct interaction with the Anchor. Our paths converging created a blind spot."
He looked at her, his expression filled with tenderness. "So I couldn't see the rest of your story. I don't know what happened after that moment of terrible loneliness. But what I did see... was enough. I saw a beautiful woman, consumed by a grief that never healed. Used as a weapon by her enemies and caged by her friends. And I knew... I knew that if there was even a chance that a woman who had to endure all of that could be the most important person in my life... then what could the woman who was saved from all that pain become?"
He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles gently. "I couldn't just stand by. Not after seeing that. I spent the rest of that year in this castle making a plan. How to find you, how to get you and Pietro out of Sokovia before HYDRA could ever sink its claws into you, how to give you a safe place where you could be a person. I couldn't see my own destiny. But I swore to myself, right then and there, during that lonely year in this castle, that I could rewrite yours."
He finally looked up, his eyes meeting hers and in them, she saw the truth of his devotion, a love so profound it had literally altered her fate. "That's why I intervened," he whispered. "That's why, when the time was right, I came for you."
Wanda simply let go of his hand, stood up and walked around the table.
She came to a stop behind his chair, wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind and buried her face in his hair, holding onto him as if he were the only solid thing in all of existence.
The tears that fell now were of a love so immense, so powerful, it felt like her heart was going to burst. It was the love for a man who had seen the worst version of her fate and decided that she deserved better.
Tony watched them, a genuine smile on his face, though his eyes were misty. He looked at T'Challa and Namor, who were observing the scene with understanding.
PS: Come on guys, we just need 40 more Power Stones for a bonus chapter. Let's push it, haha.
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