➢𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗢𝗡𝗘➢

『 And while you're sleeping I'll try to make you proud
So, Daddy, won't you just close your eyes?
Don't be afraid, it's my turn
To chase the monsters away 』
𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐓 ──𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 ♫ !

⟶𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 10: 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔!⟵

☟

𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 . . .

𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝟓: 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐑!

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜. Disturbances on Halloween separate Wanda from Vision, who looks into anomalous activity in Westview.

𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶 — 𝚆𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙰 𝙼𝙰𝚇𝙸𝙼𝙾𝙵𝙵

—𝚅𝙸𝚂𝙸𝙾𝙽

—𝙱𝙸𝙻𝙻𝚈 𝙼𝙰𝚇𝙸𝙼𝙾𝙵𝙵

—𝚃𝙾𝙼𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝙰𝚇𝙸𝙼𝙾𝙵𝙵

—𝙰𝙶𝙽𝙴𝚂

—𝙿𝙸𝙴𝚃𝚁𝙾 𝙼𝙰𝚇𝙸𝙼𝙾𝙵𝙵

ON A SPECTACULAR SHOWING, IT IS HALLOWEEN.

The fifth episode of WandaVision has a theme song that up until now, feels unhinged. The lyrics sing of knowing chaos, as well as the inevitable illusion in the fake sitcom world created by Wanda Maximoff—taking advantage of the small town in New Jersey, Westview. Wanda took advantage of Caitlyn.

Her initial perception of her—while before, not knowing much—has shifted greatly when the sixteen-year-old showed up on her doorstep, slightly off script, and really... Caitlyn needed help. But who was Wanda to give that to her? What about everything she's already put her through?

Where there was a bond developed between the vines of these two individuals—their small talk turned into a deep conversation about Caitlyn's REAL homelife—things were suddenly, different. Wanda saw Caitlyn differently. She knew her better, beyond her assigned role, and the telepathic powers Wanda possesses in being able to peer into her mind. She wasn't able to all the way, and there was a reason for that.

That... and Wanda's brother coming to town unexpectedly.

Unexpectedly, was an understatement, he's dead.

Billy opens the episode talking directly to the camera, a large shift from past decades of sitcoms, and it is now the 90s. The boy, dressed in his own Halloween costume, is flamed by his older brother—only by a few minutes. His other twin has an entirely different take on the spooky holiday, and it severely contrasts with his brother.

Tommy then teases Billy for acting sheepish around their Uncle Pietro, who sleeps on the couch—he soon wakes up and pretends to be a vampire, chasing the children around. Their loud shouting causes Wanda to emerge from the stairs, dressed in an all-red outfit, matching the color of her powers—and on her head is a red wimple.

The crown-shaped object is retro as is her costume, a Sokovian fortune teller. Pietro and Tommy think it's lame.

Vision soon joins in on the family fun, dressed in a vintage costume of his own, and Pietro has fun guessing what he is. Vision seems annoyed. Billy, later talking to the camera again, comments on his parents acting weird.

Wanda is thanking him for humoring her, only for her husband to still show resentment as of their last argument—he still doesn't believe her.

Vision doesn't believe that everything is normal, it's not.

WandaVision is not their home.

It's Wanda's... she has control.

Vision caves.

Deciding to play his part, he uses it to his advantage—altering the script. Wanda is angry with him for his actions differing from what she had planned, but luckily—as if on cue—her brother steps in.

'Pietro' tells his sister and brother-in-law that he is perfectly capable of filling in as Billy and Tommy's father figure for the night, their first Halloween. After all, he has the XY chromosome. Vision leaves with his own agenda in mind, but before doing so, puts both of his hands on his wife's shoulders—telling her to be good. Vision heads out.

Afterward, Pietro scares Wanda before asking her where their water balloons are. Wanda says they don't have any.

She then lowers her jaw into a gasp when seeing her son Tommy holding a plastic bag with shaving cream in it. He had already been influenced by his Uncle Pietro.

Wanda warns them of getting into trouble on Halloween, causing it no less, and the consequences they would face—no less.

Wanda threatens them but not nearly as much nor as harshly as she had threatened the S.W.O.R.D. Agents the other day. The other night.

Once again, she was proven to have held all the power.

✦✦✦

BACK IN THE REAL WORLD, S.W.O.R.D. is dealing with the ramifications of threatening a superpowered individual. One who was especially terrifying, because she was a mother.

Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy confront Hayward on the scene he made outside with Wanda not even an hour ago. They question his actions in pointing a missile straight at her kids. Hayward diminishes them.

Agent Woo reminds him that he is starting a war he cannot win, just before that Darcy refers to him as the 'man who almost got murdered by his own murder squad'. Monica steps in to defend her when Hayward asks about her purpose there. The headstrong woman advocates for the solution to the problem being Wanda, it had to be—she was their problem, after all.

Not to mention antagonizing her was not working, neither was reasoning, and none could predict what would happen to the citizens inside Westview if Wanda were to die.

This is when Director Hayward grows angry with Captain Rambeau, him bringing up her association with Carol Danvers and attributing it to her in favor of Wanda Maximoff—a superpowered individual. Monica still refuses to talk about the friend of her mother's she once looked up to, Captain Marvel.

When Hayward goes too far, he—senseless—has the audacity to bring up the Blip, the ones who stuck around and were not dusted, and how hard it was to remain positive.

Monica calls Hayward a coward. He exceptionally crosses the line when mentioning her late mother, someone that meant the most to Monica, whom she is still grieving over, and it relates back to her as a person. She just doesn't have the stomach for this job. 'This job' however, was dead-set on trying to kill Wanda Maximoff. Monica wishes to understand her.

Unfortunately, Hayward doesn't give her the chance. He kicks her as well as Jimmy and Darcy off the S.W.O.R.D. base, and just when the Director thinks he has removed all obstacles—there is one more. Two.

One is Wanda's sister.

The ramp Dani Rogers walks on, returning from hours away, is almost taken out from below her due to the force behind Bexley Nightingale's run, "Dani! Dani!"

Her fearful call has the eighteen year old's expression sharpening, "What? What?"

"What happened?" She asks. "Is everything okay?"

A lip quiver and shake of the head is followed by a shaky reply.

"N-No, you see," the seventeen-year-old is visibly shaken up, but she relays the information she just witnessed not long ago, "Wanda came out. She came out and cast a spell on the guards, making them target Hayward."

Dani quirks a brow, "The S.W.O.R.D. Director?"

Bexley is still trembling, it affecting her voice as well, "But because he was going to launch a missile right at Wanda's kids! So she threatened him! She threatened us!"

"And..." the seventeen-year-old swallows, stammering and brown eyes closing, "she said... about Caitlyn,"

A comforting hand is placed against her shoulder, the older—post-Blip—girl calming her, "Hold on."

Dani reassures Bexley before striding into S.W.O.R.D. Headquarters herself.

Her appearance is accompanied by the dark-haired girl, as well as a snide remark from the S.W.O.R.D. Director—but that is after Dani enters, "What's going on here?"

"Oh, Ms. Rogers." Hayward addresses, "Lovely for you to join us again."

"Was the frat party not enough for you?" He takes a dig at her priorities.

Dani frowns. She doesn't go to frats.

"I want a follow-up on what happened while I was absent." She says, stepping downward to where she is on the same level as Hayward, and insisting with both hands on her hips—she doesn't hold back in her judgment, "I heard you tried to kill her kids."

Hayward doesn't either, "Are they even?"

"Or were they kidnapped," he suggests falsely, clearly—like with Monica—trying to get a rise out of her, and Hayward relates things back to her, "stolen from their homes... just like everyone else."

"Just like Miss Strange."

Bexley shudders.

Hayward re-emphasizes his point, regarding Dani, "Just... like... you."

"I understand your connection to Maximoff," he tells the eighteen-year-old, and his tone is still condescending and menace-filled, "but can't help but also question your loyalty as an Avenger? To the government?"

"Stopping potential threats?"

He manipulates her and makes her feel inferior. Dani folds her lip.

"And if you would just trust—"

She cuts him off, "Oh, I don't trust you, Buddy. And let me tell you something else: My instincts never lie."

Her last phrase is declared with tightly crossed arms, the girl still naive and learning at this time—it had only been a few weeks of being on her own—but Dani put up a strong front. She felt like she had to... for Wanda's sake.

She could've done a lot more for her.

An example, not leaving.

And Hayward, assuming all the power, now taunts her, "Sounds like something a super-powered individual would say."

He articulates a similar point made to Rambeau, but upon the thought of Monica—Hayward is reminded of Wanda's actions, "But, it doesn't matter. Because your 'subordinate' tried to kill me."

"She threatened us." He says, and that is the second time Dani has heard the words 'threaten' and 'Wanda' in the same sentence.

She grows concerned. She grows unfocused.

Just as Hayward proceeds to debrief her, with what Wanda said, "One warning. To stay out of her home."

"A home where she's holding thousands hostage." He thinks of the Westview residents.

But now... all Dani can think about, is Wanda. Wanda... who she thought she knew well. Wanda who was kind, Wanda who always thought of others, and Wanda who was a good big sister. The two girls bonded ever since they'd met in Sokovia. They were both two people cursed and hunted for abilities they never even asked for, they had an understanding for one another.

But, plainly, Dani could never figure out why Wanda would do something like this: hurt people.

So instead, she blames someone for it.

She blames Hayward.

"What did you do?"

Dani confronts Hayward, lowering her arms and walking forward a few steps, features loosening out and her mouth a simple 'o' shape—light green eyes a little glassy.

And she asks him, demands, "What did you do to make her do this?"

From watching Dani, Bexley tips down her gaze.

Tyler Hayward doesn't give either of them an answer, to his motives, he just dismisses them.

He kicks them out. "Make sure you get the edgy teenager and impolite college student off this base as well."

Men soon surround both Bexley and Dani, beginning to guide them with physical touch.

Dani prevents that.

"Hey, hey! Don't touch."

She and Bexley are led off the S.W.O.R.D. base and they do not advance further in trying to figure out why Wanda did what she did... if she did what she did. Did she steal Vision's body? Is she a villain?

Is she a monster?

And finally... Did Caitlyn really come to her?

 ✦✦✦

While she was previously a 'guest star' spot in each of WandaVision's catchy jingles, this time around—Caitlyn is absent from the opening credits, ones that again, appear more and more unhinged. Like the fake world was collapsing.

On the inside, Caitlyn was broken.

She stands in front of the bathroom mirror connected to her bright-walled and colored bedroom—a style completely opposite from one she'd value now—a constant reminder of the role she is playing. That, and how much she has changed. While Wanda and Pietro take Billy and Tommy trick or treating, the boys and their uncle first cause a ruckus, smashing pumpkins, to then discovering Tommy has powers—Caitlyn remains in the darkness that threatens to consume her.

She was able to push it off last episode, being comforted—oddly—by the one responsible for most of if not all of this... Wanda. After all, she was the one who designed Caitlyn's character, her part—mirroring her mother whom Wanda didn't even know wasn't alive. 

The powerful woman had no intention of hurting anyone, however, those who got in the way of her happiness—although at the expense of others—she threatened. If Caitlyn had tried to screw anything up, Wanda would have given her that look, the red, misty power inches away from materializing out of her palms. 

Wanda still scared Caitlyn... but what surprised her the most, was how she took care of her just last episode.

Though not knowing how much control Wanda really had—whether or not she remembered how all of this started, Caitlyn didn't—the sixteen-year-old definitely went off script during the 80s, showing up announced. Yet, despite not admittedly not knowing her well, Wanda saw something in Caitlyn that was enough for her to take her in. To give her a real break, without giving into being hostile, or madness...

Wanda letting Caitlyn into her home led to them having a real conversation again, the curly blonde not attached to any script because, from the get-go, she was not under Wanda's control: only felt she had to act in order to stay safe. To survive.

But really... did Caitlyn want to?

The past few days had been hell, before that a blur and just barely coming to her senses when having moments to breathe, but the whole time—Caitlyn has been uncomfortable.

Her extreme dislike for the spotlight followed by her own internal issues made for a poisonous mixture, that would only hurt her more in the end. That was it. She had to get out of here.

But then, where would she go?

She hadn't heard from Bexley since that one time she was able to contact her—while Wanda's powers fritzed during her pregnancy—and during the 70s Caitlyn was stuck in her old house with parents who looked just like the ones she sat in the back of the car with, right before the accident.

Paige had turned to look at her from yelling at Ethan, the storm outside raging on—but on her mother's face in her last moments, was a smile.

One that dissipated when that truck swerved into their lane on the highway, and flipped the car—Caitlyn remembers the feeling of glass sliding into her skin. Though before that, she remembers the feeling of flying—floating. She floated in the air while time felt irrelevant, just like she later felt in the years that followed—broken, angry, alone... and depressed.

After that, Caitlyn had trouble experiencing emotions at all. She had trouble opening up because she constantly lived in fear that those closest to her would be ripped away from her.

Again, just like her parents.

Caitlyn misses her uncle.

While children laugh and play outside—locked in their rooms until now—one child, a teenager, stands in front of the mirror, and looks back at herself. Caitlyn is haunted by what she sees.

Devil horns and a red costume cover her entire form, a dress with long sleeves dawning her figure—and glancing up once more, it becomes apparent. Great. She was Satan for Halloween.

Caitlyn never considered herself a 'good' kid, no goody-two-shoes, a rule follower, if anything, after moving in with her uncle—she always broke the rules. She skipped class, smoked cigarettes, a variety of other victimless crimes... all until she got pneumonia and then paid for it.

She gave up her old life and ended up getting more in return. A community, an uncle-turned-father figure, and a best friend... one whom she missed so much, and FEELING that way about someone is hard for Caitlyn Strange to endure. The intensity and rush of emotion to the front of her face are one that is unmatched, almost not feeling as much since the night she broke down in front of her uncle—when he apologized to her, for not being there. 

Well, he was there, he was just a jerk. An asshole, actually, was the better word.

Caitlyn would have given her own that she would get through this. She could.

However, this time, when the girl looks in the mirror—she gets a headache.

She is shocked by what she sees, is horrified by it.

Caitlyn's tired and depressed features are soon replaced by ones of malice and devious nature, ones of her own—that smile.

But beyond the reflection, Caitlyn's face doesn't make any of the sorts. She didn't do that. It wasn't her.

However, the creature wore her face.

It startles her, the sixteen year old's gasp light as her fists clench on either side of the sink—the feeling was powerful, one of raw enmity, evil, even.

Devilish... ha ha ha.

Caitlyn frowns while looking at her costume through the mirror, and with more thinking—wonders if Wanda had planned this. For her to be dressed as the evil, horrifying creature she feared becoming because lately, Caitlyn had felt like she's been going crazy. Her thoughts were consistent, almost like they were someone else's, yet her own if that made sense. Everything inside her head was spinning constantly, like a long strip of movie tape—that never ran out.

Even when the blondie's head pounds louder than the beating of her heart, feeling like it was splitting.

She was splitting... but into what? She had to stop it. She had to get home.

To her real home.

Yet Wanda's next play pretend has Caitlyn finally snapping and losing all control.

"Caitlyn," her mother's voice is muffled from downstairs. "Are you almost ready, Dear?"

"The Halloween festival in Westview is going to start soon and your uncle's on his way in from the city."

Everything in Caitlyn stops upon the—potential—mention of Stephen. Not him. Please not him, too, please...

Hasn't she been through enough?

From her eyes, Wanda's intercepted the deep and maybe even therapeutic talk they'd had last night and just uses it to add to her show, putting it in the script, "He just finished a long, grueling surgery."

In the script, Caitlyn glowers, "Uncle Stephen?"

Her parents have mentioned him coming to town, to what? Be cast? Caitlyn believes Wanda used the information she revealed to her in private to do something like this. Why? To hurt her even more?

Why the HELL is she even here in the first place?

Caitlyn Strange grows unrivaled in her anger.

She grits out, "That... witch."

She can't take this shit anymore.

✦✦✦

THE TRIO FINDS A WAY TO SNEAK BACK IN. Jimmy and Monica, after taking out a couple of guards—Darcy demanding to know why she wasn't part of the plan—manage to make their way back into one of the S.W.O.R.D. tents that are investigating Westview, and while doing so, acknowledge Pietro's new looks.

"Who is that?" Monica asks, looking at the screen.

Jimmy informs her, "Wanda's brother came to town."

Darcy adds on with a flat tone, "He brought the wrong face."

"Over here." Jimmy leads them over to a computer screen.

There, they find out what Hayward has been hiding, thanks to Darcy.

She hacks into their system, "Donezo. Now, should be able to access the data on Hayward's devices."

She pauses when stating her discovery, "... Oh. That's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out a way to look through the boundary."

Monica continues to show suspicion for her former friend, "And he didn't share it with the group."

The FBI Agent points to a moving signal on the S.W.O.R.D. computer, "Is this Wanda, right here?"

"No." Darcy tells him, "The program is tracking the decay signature of vibranium."

Monica is confused, "Vision. Wait. Why is Hayward tracking Vision?"

Dr. Lewis shakes her head, "I don't know. This is all I can access so far."

The trio then digs further into the research they find, what Director Hayward and his team are doing, "These other dots, those are Westview residents?"

"The ones in Vision's immediate vicinity, yeah."

"So Hayward must have an accurate headcount by now," Jimmy affirms.

Monica hums, "Hmm."

The FBI Agent is perceptive in noticing more, leaning forward, "And some sense of their well-being."

"Huh... These people, near the edge of town... They're barely moving. Are they alive?"

The trio discovers Wanda's powers can only extend so much in Westview, the Halloween Spooktacular not as spectacular at the edge of town—past Ellis Avenue, near where Caitlyn lives.

Dani and Bexley soon arrive in the room, discarding their disguises as well.

"Hey, we got your message."

The eighteen-year-old couldn't help but overhear a second mention of Wanda's brother, and her heart becomes stuck, "What about... Pietro?"

"He's in the Halloween episode." Darcy explains, "But his costume could use a little work."

With a tilt of her head, Dani follows her gaze, and upon seeing a silver-haired guy who looked NOTHING like the late Maximoff twin that once saved her life, a noise of shock leaves her mouth, "Oh, my..."

"If Wanda can recast people," Darcy is saying, moments later, while Dani recovers, "then I wonder if she re-casted Caitlyn's parents? They've never been shown onscreen."

"Guess we'll have to wait til season two?" The eighteen-year-old jokes.

But before anyone else can chime in, Dani takes over—fervently pacing as she talks to herself, "Okay, good to know he's up to something, then. Now we just need to figure out Wanda's motive."

All in the room follow her and when doing so, their expressions drop.

Dani continues talking, "You know, why she did all this? Why she created a sitcom out of Westview."

She acts as if she is solving a big mystery, and while there is still a lot they don't know—the general premise has been located. That happened when the words were heard from Wanda herself.

When she exited Westview herself, to deal with them.

To deal with Hayward.

Dani was not there, and due to that fact, is not caught up to speed.

"What?"

Darcy, with caution, steps forward, "Well, when Wanda came out of the Hex... she told us she had what she wanted, that there wasn't anything else she'd bargain for—and that no one would ever take it from her again."

Them. Her family. Dani takes those facts, Wanda's words relayed by Darcy, and inevitably twists them with her own beliefs, maybe even, her own hope.

That Wanda wasn't behind this, "A-Are you sure she's not... under some sort of spell, too, by some other sorcerer?"

"Dani," Monica takes her turn, her voice steady and strong, and she approaches the eighteen-year-old.

Monica speaks from her own experience underneath Wanda's control, "With the evidence, and power we know Wanda has... it's clear, she's the one behind all this."

"At least the one holding the people of Westview captive." Monica doesn't deny the truth in the matter, "She did that."

She emphasizes, "She chose... that."

Prior to exercising her own beliefs, and intentions—where she stands.

To help, "But, she's grieving right now... and that's why I want to help her."

"I could've done more." Dani's shoulders slump, and one of them is grabbed reassuringly by Captain Rambeau.

"You did your best." She tells her.

The eighteen year old's gaze drips further when Dani is aware of the ache settling into her chest, the emotion threatening to come upon her.

She bites her lip, ashamed, "I could've done better."

"You came back?" Darcy reminds her, Jimmy Woo giving as gentle and easy a nod that he can send her way, as she continues, "Didn't you?"

"We'll figure this out." Monica re-instates her values, and her alignment with not just a super-powered individual, an Avenger like Wanda—but also, someone who is experiencing loss and grief.

Monica intends to help Wanda.

Bexley is angry with her.

Dani voices her only opinion viable, that she has left—tangible.

She can't believe this, "I just never thought it could come to this."

She never thought it could get this far.

Excluded from the conversation, sitting down and leaning up against a large set of blinking systems, Bexley's hands are ciphering through the satin-feeling material of Caitlyn's golden-embroidered cloak. The one Bexley found for her when preparing to defend Kamar-Taj, to stop Kaecilius... back in Hong Kong. That was when time really did stop.

Though, lately, it felt like it was never going—like life wasn't going on for Bexley, since Caitlyn left. Since she went missing. Not knowing if she was okay brings a hefty amount of anxiety and fear onto Bexley's shoulders, entering her body, and the only means of comfort she has left is the material to which she sewed back up for her friend after she and her uncle went to the Dark Dimension.

Bexley holds crumpled fists full of the black, hooded cloak and upon finding the right spot, runs her finger over the etched-in letters. The ones she put in there.

C+B.

The seventeen-year-old sighs.

While Monica learns of her interchanging cells since being through the Hex, Dani finds it in herself to check in on Caitlyn's best friend, and to the other sorcerer, she walks over to her.

"You ready?" Dani is planning on leaving with Jimmy and Monica, to meet the aerospace engineer who will send Monica back into Westview—Darcy staying behind.

Bexley hides the names from view and looks up at her, "Yeah."

Her response is breathy, lacking fullness.

Dani places a hand on her hip and tries to be helpful in reassurance, "Look, you know her, right? She's one of the toughest people you've met."

"Pretty unemotional," she rolls her eyes upon remembering their first meeting, though otherwise, Dani doesn't diss Caitlyn any longer—Caitlyn wouldn't have done the same, "but, tough. She'll be alright."

"I hope so," Bexley replies, tone and face still dripping down into the dumps, though when Dani extends a hand—she takes it.

The dark-haired brunette helps the dyed-haired girl up and the two of them say farewell to Dr. Lewis before following Jimmy and Monica to the van parked outside the S.W.O.R.D. test.

Intaking a deep breath and hugging Caitlyn's cloak close to her, Bexley takes one more look at the outside view of the Hex.

Dani, in her own way, does the same, having her own thoughts.

And from on the inside, Caitlyn had erupted with boiling wrath... and rage.

✦✦✦

Pietro calls Westview 'charming as hell'. Still at the side of Wanda as they enjoy the lively setting at the Hay Maze, inside the Town Square where the talent show was held, the brother expresses his amazement in the town of Westview itself.

"Now, I know that you think that I have gone full soccer Mom." Wanda begins, her brother nodding in his Halloween costume.

Pietro's gray head is spray-painted to fling upward and he wears a blue shirt, "Yeah."

His sister in her retro costume takes a seat, crossing her red-gloved arms, "But it really is nice, right?"

"Yeah." He agrees, and after that, sighs heavily, "I think Mom and Dad would've loved it."

The mention of their past isn't the first one, as when Pietro retold a story about their first Halloween—Wanda didn't seem to remember it that way. 

Beyond that, they addressed his different-looking appearance, aka wearing someone else's face and body.

However, his personality—role as 'fun uncle'—seemed to be enough for Wanda to believe him, and agreeing with him, red lips turn up into a smile, "Yeah. I think they would have."

Children laugh and run by, but Wanda is surprised by the next question "Pietro" tosses at her.

He leans over, a sneaky smirk on his face—brows narrowed inward, "Where were you hiding these kids up till now?"

"What?" Wanda slips out of character.

Pietro continues, theorizing, "I assume they were sleeping peacefully in their beds. No need to traumatize beyond the occasional holiday episode cameo, right?"

Wanda stumbles, "No..."

"You were always the empathetic twin," Pietro tells her.

She is still flustered and confused, "I don't... I didn't..."

Her brother interrupts her again, speaking in a tone implementing fascination—analysis, "Don't get me wrong. You've handled the ethical considerations of this scenario as best you could. Families and couples stay together, most personalities aren't far off from what's underneath, people got better jobs, better haircuts, for sure."

"You don't think it's... wrong?" Wanda asks him, wanting to know his thought process.

And yet, it isn't his own.

Pietro shakes his tail-looking head, "What, are you kidding? I'm impressed! Seriously. It's a big leap from giving people nightmares and shooting red wiggly-woos out of your hands."

He leans closer, his tone dropping lower—still wanting to know more, "How'd you even do all this?"

Wanda, still wearing her red wimple, turns away, unsure of how to answer—if she should answer.

But her brother assures her, "... Hey, I'm not some stranger, and I'm not your husband. You can talk to me."

His sister then subtly nods and pauses before looking around, at laughing kids and parents dressed in costume.

Wanda's light green eyes glisten when she admits honestly, "I don't know h-how I did it."

"I..." She recalls, as much as she can, "I only remember feeling... completely alone. Empty."

She doesn't hold back, describing her emotional state, "I just... endless nothingness."

The woman reels back when needing to compose herself, feeling a lump form in her esophagus, and Wanda rushes to clear that. She sniffles, planting a red-gloved hand by her mouth, and upon releasing it—gasps.

When Wanda turns around she is met face-to-face with NOT her normal twin brother, but instead, her twin brother who has holes in his body.

His face is gray and dead looking, like a corpse—eyes muddy just as Vision's were that time Wanda saw him that way, and from the holes in his body, blood seeps out.

Wanda inhales a sharp breath, making a noise of dread.

She covers her face with her hands, peeling back a moment later when the normal—but still not—Pietro, asks her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Wanda replies as if it were obvious.

Pietro licks his lips, "Uh-huh."

He doesn't think so, and neither does anyone else. With that said, the two aren't able to enjoy their second Halloween together when coming from the other side of Town Square, is a blondie dressed as the Devil. Caitlyn has had enough.

Her stride is picked out by Wanda among the crowd, the sixteen-year-old with a scowl on her face seemingly in character, and with her appearance expected, Wanda stands up.

"Caitlyn!" she greets the teenager, a laugh that continues to sound more forced escaping her red lips, "I was wondering when you'd show up—,"

The sixteen-year-old cuts right to the chase, going off script.

Caitlyn never needed to follow one, "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" Wanda risks leaving her sitcom persona again, and her features quickly fill with concern when noticing—and sensing—the teen's undeniable instability.

Her tussle within. A battle...

And right now, not seeing any other alternative, Caitlyn redirects that right back to Wanda, asking her, "Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean?" the woman asks back, and that is when Caitlyn Elizabeth Strange explodes.

She completely and effortlessly loses her cool, not able to hold anything back anymore.

She is hurt. She is lost. She is broken.

Most of all, she is angry with Wanda, regarding the casting of the REAL Paige and Ethan, "Did you HONESTLY think that bringing my dead parents back to life was gonna fix everything?! Are you completely psychotic?!"

Just how did she do it? Why would she do that? Did she think it'd make her feel... better? Well, Caitlyn bites the insides of her cheeks, laughing internally. Just because Wanda felt the need to break the laws of the universe and bring back her dead loves didn't mean Caitlyn wanted that, too. 

No, she had FINALLY moved on from the drowning grief of losing her mother and father. So... how dare Wanda.

She was disgusting.

She tries to calm the teenager, folks of Westview—including Pietro—turning their heads in the midst of this argument, "Caitlyn, you need to calm down."

But that doesn't work.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" The sixteen-year-old shouts back.

"No," Caitlyn is unhinged, her true emotions spilling out onto Wanda and they are irrational, she nears getting in the red-headed woman's face.

She points a finger, she has lost it, "All this time you NEVER had any control over me, yet I felt like I needed to bow down to you because I was afraid of what would happen if I did otherwise!"

"Because you're the strongest Avenger." She says.

Each step Caitlyn takes forward is wobbly, with overall jitteriness due to lack of sleep risking affecting her speech, but the teenager is steady when she talks—because it was important. Wanda was breaking the rules.

Caitlyn has never seen anything like it, like her, "You're a powerful sorcerer, who is wielding an insane amount of magic I've only read about before in books, back at Kamar-Taj!"

Her connection and reference to reality are dire as with each passing moment, Caitlyn feels herself slipping away—having trouble discerning whether or not she is actually trapped in a nightmare, and Wanda used to be famous for creating them.

"Caitlyn—"

She didn't mean for this to happen, though. To witness the sixteen-year-old niece of Doctor Strange breaking down right in front of her, yelling at her... and to some degree, she may be right to do so.

Caitlyn justifies, with her pain, in being trapped, in needing help. "But now I can never go back there. I can't see my best friend, my uncle... I NEED them. I need them because something is wrong with me!"

The girl is reminded of her current, haunting trauma and immediately shoves her hands into the side of her head, grabbing her blonde, curly locks.

"And my PARENTS—!" She screams.

"CAITLYN!" Wanda does, too.

The background noises do not fade this time, because it's not audience laughter, it's a show. A show with extras playing their part, being manipulated—being controlled, and the perpetrator was standing right across Caitlyn Strange.

Wanda Maximoff had hurt Caitlyn Strange just as much, even more.

She didn't mean to.

"What?!" the sixteen-year-old yells out, no presence inside her—however many there were—willing and/or interested in reconciling with Wanda, much less hearing her out, but instead, Caitlyn ends up doing so.

Wanda's tone lowers to how she was talking to Pietro. What she says is simple.

"I didn't do that."

Caitlyn doesn't remember what she is referring to, "Didn't do what?"

Wanda's revelation is one that shocks Caitlyn. It stuns her.

"It wasn't me." The woman tells her, then emphasizing, "I... didn't bring your parents back."

Wanda's expression, legitimately, is heartfelt—explaining with a heart in pieces, as of their conversation last night, part of her inferring, "I didn't even know they were... until later, until I saw into your mind, and I'm sorry—"

She begins to apologize, but an apology didn't hold enough weight to how Caitlyn was feeling. To fix things.

She couldn't. She tried... she shouldn't have.

"You're SORRY?!"

She messed up.

"Is that what you're gonna say to everybody in Westview, Wanda?" Caitlyn asks her, laced with venom—her tone turning nasty just like the fights she'd had with her uncle before they repaired their broken relationship.

She needs him.

But first, she confronts Wanda, about her wrongdoings, "To the government? That you're 'SORRY'?"

She is a hurt, shattered-bound teenager, "You think just because you're an Avenger you can get away with anything you want?! With torturing people!?"

"I'm NOT an Avenger." Wanda, to her surprise, denies her part in saving the world—as part of the elite, superhero group.

The one that, at the time, was her family. Now she had a new family.

Though in order to look at them, as a mother, she will have to live with what she has done.

Live... with what Caitlyn then calls her.

The sixteen-year-old screeches to the top of her lungs in declaring with conviction, in reference to Wanda Maximoff, "YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

The redheaded woman stops for a moment. Things around Wanda do, too.

Because of what Caitlyn had called her.

She was a monster.

At the same time, she was a mother. But definitely NOT to Caitlyn Strange.

She breathes heavily, taking a few seconds to compose herself, and after that, cross-examines Wanda one more time.

Targets her. "Can I ask you one more thing?"

Caitlyn takes a breath, "I think it's common knowledge by now that me, your 'friend', the... one who is more like family, the 'mother's helper' sounds a lot like a role meant for someone else."

"So tell me... why did you cast me?"

Caitlyn, lastly, raises her hands in question, "Why are... you doing this to me?"

For once, Wanda elicits a full response. As if she knows more, can FEEL more.

"To protect you."

Wanda intercepts the signals that come off of Caitlyn, internally. The effects of being hit by the reality stone.

Clearly, it is making her fall apart.

Hands come up to hold her blonde locks again, and almost collapsing, Caitlyn cups her head—she is manic.

She becomes madness.

Her emotions escalate, "No. No, no, NO!"

"You're a damn liar!" Caitlyn spouts, her words physically making Wanda flinch, and just as the woman opens her mouth, the sixteen-year-old name-calls her one last time.

She doesn't call Wanda a bitch. Instead, something more fitting.

"And you're a witch."

It would soon make more sense with another title in front of it.

Caitlyn is just mad, "I mean that literally, by the way."

"A witch." She says, then glances around at the audience that has gathered and right when they sense the argument to be over, go back to their regular activities.

Caitlyn holds a hand up when Wanda opens her mouth.

She refuses her, "Stay away from me, Wanda."

"Don't you ever come near me again!" she threatens.

The 'not' Avenger tries to call after her.

"Caitlyn—"

But Wanda is unsuccessful.

"Caitlyn, wait!"

She experiences pain in registering the sixteen year old's extremely hurt gaze, and because of her.

All the bad things that were to happen, were because of her... Done to her, first.

Wanda always lost everything. Now, she just lost a friend.

"I..." She begins, eyes teary, but that is when her sons approach her.

✦✦✦

WANDA MAXIMOFF ISN'T ABLE TO LEARN FROM HER MISTAKES. An inquisitive Billy Maximoff stops trick-or-treating when he hears voices inside his head. He hears Director Tyler Hayward mention Vision wants out. Tommy asks if he is okay.

But his brother somehow sees his Dad's figure fall apart when trying to escape the barrier outside of Westview, locking eyes with Dr. Darcy Lewis—who is the only one who wants to help him.

He is breaking.

Billy runs to find his mother.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!"

Wanda turns and stands up, concerned upon hearing her son's voice.

"What? What is it, Billy?"

"I hear Daddy." He tells her, whimpering, "In my head. He's in trouble."

He later expresses confusion in not knowing what is going on with him.

Wanda tells him to focus.

Before that, Pietro chimed in, "Hey, don't sweat it, sis. It's not like your dead husband can die twice."

Wanda, rage-filled, gives him a harsh shove with her red aura. He falls backward into the haystack.

Back outside Westview, Vision is coming apart, going past Ellis Avenue after taking Agnes out of her trance. She said Wanda wouldn't let them think about leaving.

Though he was torn apart from the inside, he managed to say one thing, his broken hand reaching out.

"Help!" He said, "The people need help."

Billy sees soldiers who hold guns, and men who talk about his impending death. Vision lies down in the grass.

"They think he's dying."

The chatter stops and Wanda expands the Hex.

Her eyes glow a heart-stopping red.

Still outside, Monica notices the shape of the Hex altering.

She sits up at the wheel, "Jimmy. Jimmy, do you see that? Something's happening!"

"It's moving! Go, go!"

The sudden acceleration of speed in the vehicle startles a previously sleeping Dani Rogers awake, her leaning against the window—and upon looking outside it, she is in shock.

She still didn't think things could get any worse.

But, they did, and Dani only fills with more guilt.

Bexley looks back and her heart breaks in two, the barrier was expanding.

How could she leave Caitlyn?

She needed to break in there.

✦✦✦

Told you Wanda + Caitlyn's bond was shortlived  :(