Wanda ran the brush through her thick hair. She hadn't dyed it again, and it had grown out to her hips. Brown hair went down past her shoulders, and red hair cascaded down her back. But that would change pretty soon. She grabbed a pair of scissors.

She took a deep breath. She wanted to do this, but she wasn't sure how she'd feel about it when she was done. For all she knew, it would trigger her. But she steeled herself and raised the scissors to her hair. She cut it where brown met red. When she was done, she smiled slightly at herself. She looked much more like Wanda Maximoff than she had for years. She slipped the red locks into a ziplock bag to be donated later.

She then took the bleach in her hand. She once again hesitated for a minute before gathering her courage. She put the bleach in the top few layers of her hair. She followed the directions perfectly. When she saw the results, a wry expression crept across her face. She ran her fingers through her hair- which had curled up more than she'd anticipated it to, since she had bleached it. But apparently her natural curls demanded to exist.

Blonde hair on top, brown on the bottom couple layers. As she expected, she looked achingly similar to her late twin brother. But... she liked it. It was something new, but old at the same time. Wanda needed that in her life. She slipped on a blue dress and some silver jewelry before walking outside and sitting on the porch swing.

She lived in a nice house in a small town in Poland. She missed Edinburgh, but it had too many bad memories now. One of her neighbors'- the Kowalskis- kids ran over. "Hey, Ms. Maxi!" Wanda was going by Maxine- Maxi- , as the whole issue with the Sokovia Accords was still shaky. The other Avengers decided Wanda's safety wasn't worth playing around with. Plus, Maxi was already one of her several nicknames.

"Hey, Pietro," She said, nearly cringing as she said the name of the six year old.

"Your hair looks so pretty!" He told her.

"Thank you," Wanda smiled at him as he came up, sitting next to her.

"You look pretty in blue. You should wear it more often."

"Thanks. But I don't wear it for a reason."

"Why?" Pietro asked innocently.

"It reminds me of my brother."

"I didn't know you have a brother!"

Wanda did cringe this time. "I... don't anymore... not really. He died eight years ago today."

"Oh, Ms. Maxi, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok. You didn't know."

"What was his name?"

Wanda gave him a sad smile. "Pietro."

The boy's jaw dropped. "You're joking!"

"Nope." She pulled a little picture out of her pocket.

'I don't have a big picture. I have a little picture. I take it out, and I look at it everyday.' Her brother's voice rang in her head.

'Now I do,' Wanda thought sadly.

"Whatcha looking at?" Little Pietro's younger sister Alana asked as she ran over to them.

"A picture," Little Pietro told her. "Is that your brother Pietro?" He asked, pointing to the little boy in the picture.

"It is."

"You have-"

Little Pietro clumped his hand over Alana's mouth. "No, Lonnie!"

Alana looked confused and Peitro whispered something in her ear. She looked sad and then gave Wanda a big hug. "I'm sorry Ms. Maxi."

"It's ok, Alana. It's gotten better."

And it really had. The pain would probably never go away, she still felt the ache of her other half being gone. But over the last eight years it had gotten better. During the day, at least. Nightmares, night terrors, and panic attacks still plagued her at night, showing her both happy memories and terrifying illusions of Pietro- her brother, obviously, not the kid-and Vision, which did occasionally drive her to cutting. But it was better. Definitely better.

The little girl's voice snapped Wanda out of her thoughts.

"Ms. Maxi?"

"Yes, Alana?"

"Was he your big brother or was he your little brother?" Alana's voice was completely serious.

"He was my twin brother," She said with a small smirk.

"I didn't know that there was boy girl twins!" Alana exclaimed in surprise. She suddenly blushed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Wanda laughed. Laughing on her brother's death anniversary. She would have never thought she would do that. Ever. But here she was. "Sometimes it's surprising, I know. Boy-girl twins are on the rarer side."

She always enjoyed talking to these kids. The four and six year old were nice company, and loved to talk. They had just moved to Poland from Germany. There dad was from the town, and they'd moved back to take care of his parents. Wanda knew all of this from what the kids had told her.

"Hey, kids!" Mrs. Kowalski called. "Time to go to lunch with Dziadek and Babcia!" (Grandpa and Grandma)

"But I wanna play with Ms. Maxi!" Pietro whined.

"Pietro," Mrs. Kowalski said sternly. "You can play with Ms. Maxi later. Now it's time for lunch."

"Aw man! But, Mama-"

"No buts. Get over here."

"Bye, Ms. Maxi!" The kids said sadly before running to their mother. Alana also gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, you two!" Wanda called back before heading back inside.

"I FORGOT TO TELL YOU HOW PRETTY YOUR HAIR IS, MS. MAXI!" Alana suddenly yelled.

"Thanks Alana!"

Wanda chuckled. Those two didn't seem to realize it, but they really made her life much more enjoyable. On the most recent occasion when a suicidal fit had popped up, the thought of the brother-sister duo had probably been the only thing that stopped her. Not that she told them that. She had long decided that they should be able to keep as much of their innocence as they could for as long as was reasonable. It wasn't her place to ruin that.

She smiled and looked back down at her picture. "I miss you. I really do," She whispered, letting a few tears drip down her cheeks. But she did her best to only think of the good memories. Pietro- both of them- would only want her to be happy. So she would be.