AGNES had her arm wrapped around Wanda's shoulder as she lead her into her house. She walked the two of them into her living room and moved Wanda over to the couch, giving it a quick pat to motion for her to sit down.

"Oh, here." Agnes smiled. "Would you like a cup of tea, hun?"

"Sure. Thank you, Agnes." Wanda nodded.

"Okay, I'll be right back with that." Agnes gave Wanda's shoulder a small squeeze before walking into her kitchen. "Aw. Ay, ay, ay."

Wanda let out a breath, tiredly moving her hair out of her face. Her eyes travelled down to the two plates on the coffee table that held two half eaten sandwiches and she then looked up at the TV, seeing that it was playing away to itself on a kids TV channel.

But the twins, however? They were nowhere to be seen.

Wanda's brows came together and she looked around the living room from her spot on the couch. Her gaze fixed on Agnes in the kitchen, who had her back facing her as she poured the hot water into the mug.

"Where are the twins?" Wanda asked, loud enough for Agnes to hear her.

Agnes glanced at Wanda over her shoulder and twiddled the string from the tea bag around her finger before looking back at the mug. "Oh, they're probably just playing in the basement."

Wanda's head cocked to the side as Agnes walked to the other side of the kitchen. She noticed the faint smirk tugging on the older woman's lips and Wanda started to feel unsettled.

Once Agnes was out of view, Wanda quietly got up from her seat on the couch and walked through the house, coming to a stop when she reached the basement door.

"Boys?" Wanda called out as she opened the door.

No response.

Wanda inhaled sharply and started to walk down the steps and once she reached the bottom floor, her nerves only started to grow. The place was dimly lit by one single light in the middle of the ceiling, there was tools dotted around, wooden planks, tarps. Why would they be playing down here? There wasn't anything for them.

Her eyes landed on a doorway at the end of the room. It was surrounded by vines and branches that were coming from the wall. There was a symbol carved at the head of the archway and Wanda's eyes narrowed as she tried to think of what it could be, what it could've meant. But she had no idea.

"Wands? Boys?"

Wanda turned around to see Carson walking down the steps, his face scrunched up lightly as he looked around the room. Once Carson noticed Wanda his facial expressions softened and he started to walk over to her.

"I, uh..." Wanda cleared her throat. "Hi."

Carson gave her a tight lipped smile. "Hi."

A wave of silence washed over the couple as they look at one another. They hadn't seen or spoken to each other since Halloween and it was safe to say that the tension between them was still there, if not growing.

Carson was pissed at Wanda for lying and Wanda was pissed at Carson for also lying. Yet they were both too stubborn and headstrong to actually be the ones to apologize first.

"What are you—"

"Agnes said that—"

They both stopped, interrupting each other as they spoke at the same time. Wanda looked down at her hands and started to fiddle with her fingers and Carson let out a sigh as he scratched the back of his head.

"You first." Carson said.

"I was just going to ask what you're doing here." Wanda said quietly and shrugged. "I thought you'd still be out."

"Yeah, I was a little occupied." Carson rolled his eyes and huffed. "I came back to talk to you, actually. I went back to the house and no one was there. And then imagine my surprise when I bump into Geraldine. No, no, sorry, Monica."

"What did she tell you?" Wanda questioned. "Did you talk to her?"

"She didn't say much." Carson answered. "Just that you and the boys were here and that I needed to talk to you. Because apparently you wouldn't listen to her. You went all Sokovian on the woman didn't you?"

Wanda ignored his question. "Did she say anything else or—"

"No. Why, is there something you need to tell me?" Carson raised a brow, giving her a chance to come clean herself.

But once he was met with complete silence from Wanda along with the shake of her head, he couldn't help but clench his jaw.

"I know." Carson said bluntly.

Wanda's eyes widened a little and she swallowed thickly. "You... you what..?"

"I know. Everything." Carson told her. "Darcy told me—"

"Darcy?" Wanda glared at him. "That's why you didn't bother to come home? Because you've been talking to Darcy all day?"

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Carson gripped the bridge of his nose.

Wanda let out a frustrated huff. "No, Carson, I'm not kidding. The boys had no clue where you were, I had no clue! You could've been hurt... or— forget it. What was so important that you decided to spend your time with her instead of your own family, hm?"

"You want to know what was important? Alright." Carson whisper shouted at her. "Your little trick with expanding the hex last night? Well because of that, Darcy is now a part of it and if it wasn't for me she'd still be under your control right now. Turns out, she's part of the team that are studying this shit show and unlike you she had to decency to tell me what's really been happening. She told me who I am, about my life, my real life. She told me everything that you had been keeping from me! I— I had to find out from a stranger that I'm... I'm not even alive. You can't keep doing this Wanda you— you can't keep lying to me..."

"Carson I..." Wanda moved forwards to reach out for his hand.

"Mom?"

"Dad?"

The sounds of the twins voices were heard coming from the archway that lead into the other room. Carson and Wanda shared and look and he glanced down at their hands. He removed his hand from Wanda's grip and put them in the pockets of his jacket.

"Let's just..." Carson sighed. "Let's get the boys and take them home. We'll have to talk about it when they're asleep."

Sure what she did was wrong and she really did regret not telling him what was happening as soon as she realised it herself. But as much as she understood his anger about this situation, she'd be lying if she said that seeing him pull away from her didn't sting. It was justified of course, but it was still like a kick to the gut.

Nonetheless, Wanda forced the saddened look on her face away and nodded, following behind Carson as they both walked through the archway and into the room ahead.

Wanda kept her eyes on the ground while she was walking and she didn't notice that Carson had come to a stop. She bumped into him and her head shot up, wondering why he'd stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Wanda asked.

"The boys aren't here."

Wanda's brows came together in confusion. "What do you mean? We just heard them."

She watched as Carson slowly took a few more steps forwards, now being completely in the room. Wanda followed behind him and took in her surroundings.

The room was dark, the only light being from small slits that were in the roof. There were vines wrapped around the pillars, cabinets with bizarre things inside, more strange symbols dotted around.

"Wanda..." Carson called out from the other side of the room.

Wanda turned her gaze towards him. Carson was stood with his back facing her, his attention seeming to be locked onto something that was on top of a table. She didn't know what it was that he was looking at, all she could see was a faint orange glow.

She joined his side. "What is it—"

And that's when she saw it.

The Dark Hold.

The couple looked down at the book that was propped up on a stand. She didn't know what it was about the strange book, but she just couldn't seem to peel her eyes away from it. It was like it was calling out to her. Like it wanted her to open it, to read it.

And by the reaction Carson was having, it seemed to have to same effect on him too. He reached out slowly to touch it, but before his hand could make contact Wanda stopped him.

"Wait." Wanda spoke up. "Don't."

"It's okay, I just..." Carson mumbled. His eyes remained fixated on the book. "I just want to see what it says inside. Just one page..."

Wanda shook her head and grabbed Carson's arm, pulling his attention onto her. Although, when the couple made eye contact, they were met with each others eyes flickering between their normal colours and red.

"Your eyes..." Wanda moved her hand up, gently moving her fingers along the skin under eyes.

"Yours too." He watched as Wanda's continued to do the same.

They both glanced back at the book, shivers running through their bodies as they felt their eyes heat up again. Carson reached up and took Wanda's hand off his face. But this time he didn't let go.

He and Wanda had a lot to talk about and figure out, that was a given. But right in this moment he had to forget about it. Because now knew that this whole situation was clearly a lot bigger than it seemed, so much so that even Wanda had no clue what was happening down here. Not only was he in potential danger, but so were his children, so was Wanda.

And arguing or not, he'd be dammed if he let anyone hurt her, let alone lay a finger on her.

Carson slid his hand into Wanda's and turned to leave the room, pulling her with him. Although the sound of a door slamming along with footsteps coming towards them stopped him.

The couple watched as Agnes emerged from the archway that lead into the room, stroking the rabbit that she held in her arms.

"Oh come on you two..." Agnes chuckled. "You didn't think you were the only magical people in town, did you?"

Carson's jaw locked tightly at the sight, ever since his first meeting with the woman he knew that something wasn't right about her. Despite Wanda trying to reassure him on numerous occasions, he just couldn't let it go. And now he knew that he wasn't crazy, that he wasn't overthinking.

His grip on Wanda's hand tightened and he pulled her closer, moving her behind him in case Agnes tried anything.

"Carson..."

"Stay behind me, okay?" Carson whispered, keeping his glare on Agnes.

Wanda shook her head in disagreement. "Are you crazy? What if she tries to—"

"I said stay behind me." Carson looked over his shoulder at Wanda.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Agnes smirked. "Westview's happy couple still looking out for each other despite all the lying and deceit—"

"Jesus christ, you never know when to shut up do you?" Carson looked back at Agnes.

Agnes raised a brow and glanced over at Wanda. "Has a temper this one, doesn't he?"

Wanda scoffed. "What the hell is all of this Agnes?"

"Actually... the names Agatha Harkness." Agatha's eyes glowed purple. "Lovely to finally meet you, dear."

~~ ᗢ ~~

*cue agatha's theme song* 😏

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