➢𝗔𝗬𝗨𝗗𝗔 ➢

『 No one calls you honey, when you're sitting on a throne
I'll be high up in that tower, he'll be down there getting stoned
Beware the patient woman, 'cause this much I know
No one calls you honey when, you're sitting on a throne 』
𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐃 ─ ♫ ! 𝐀 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝

⟶𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 4: 𝑳𝒂 𝑽𝒊𝒅𝒂 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒂⟵

𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣.

- 𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟔𝐓𝐇, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 -

𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐃, 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍

A gold hue settles over a bitter night, the breeze from the weather cutting through the outside of a small bar lined up a cobblestone street.

Outside the bar are a few small tables and chairs, dainty and a solid black color—and on one of those tables, are a colossal of different drinks.

Alcoholic beverages are being drunk by teens of age—in Europe—and these teens are not like the others. They are extraordinary. They are trying to get drunk.

One of the American visitors—technically, from London—makes her way swiftly to the counter inside the bar, situating herself on top of a barstool and awaiting assistance from the bartender. Her hair is a mid-length, dark-natural color, with no dye or highlights currently present in her look. She dawns a navy long-sleeved top, and dark-washed jeans, along with black boots.

This is Danielle Rogers.

Her recognizable face is paired with another, although this is their first meeting, and the bartender working there has eyes blue as the sky, dark skin—dark hair.

He asks Dani, in his native language, "¿Qué puedo traerte?" What can I get for you?

The almost nineteen-year-old answers him flatly, back in Spanish. "Algo fuerte." Something strong.

The two share a brief smile and a laugh before the girl changes positions, leaning forward as her hands come to cup her own face—elbows digging into the table of the bar. "¿Qué prefieres?" What do you prefer?

Martín, the bartender, clicks his tongue before turning around and appearing again with a bottle of Sangría. Dani's green eyes momentarily widen at the presence of the strongest drink in Spain. For sure, this could work.

Her enlarged gaze shortly falls back onto his blue eyes, and Martín is casual in the transaction of this alcoholic beverage, "Identificación, por favor." ID, please.

Dani is a few steps ahead of him, thrusting forth her driver's license she earned not even a few weeks ago—failing the first time on her test. She still carries the mentality that helped her through that time: if at first you don't succeed, second time's a charm.

The bartender accepts her card and winks at her, something hidden in his smile.

While ringing her up, he takes a look at her ID photo, fine, and then over to what he was actually supposed to be looking at—birthdate.

"Feliz cumpleaños."

He wishes her a happy birthday.

Dani's tense jaw loosens, and her lips make the shape of a genuine smile—replying, "Casi." Almost.

The man finishes completing the purchase and gives her back her ID and credit card, Dani stuffing them into her wallet next to some European currency. The eighteen-year-old has a tight grip on the hefty bottle of wine she just bought, and simply thanks the bartender before heading out.

"Gracias."

"De nada," the man replies, still behind the counter on her way out—and still with a conspicuous smile, "until the next time we meet."

Dani exits the bar and heads over to the table where more bottles of alcohol are displayed: bottles of tequila, vodka, and shots... and steadily she adds her Sangría to the mix.

She is met with happy gazes from both her boyfriend and friend. Two Efficients.

Two experiments, who proceed to experiment in the world of taking away pain, through a substance—in just a moment, a few hours... those bottles are empty.

The two of them feel light, not possessing as much of a sustainable energy source inside them as their friend, and they do all the tests: of sobriety.

Allison's dark hair and curvier figure walk in a wobbly line in front of Dani, who, after drinking nearly as much—is unaffected. Her walk is straight as an arrow.

Instead of being relieved about this, her self-control, the eighteen-year-old is not. Dani huffs a frustrated groan.

Dante, from sitting down in the chair, looks out onto the streets of Spain—where his girlfriend has her hands raised in dismay—and he, guzzled with a buzzing effect himself, asks her. "Anything?"

Dani's second sigh preemptively solidifies her response.

"Nada."

Nothing.

She still can't get drunk.

It was the aftermath of, well, everything, and all the losses that brought people to where they were today. Things were hard to get used to, for the Blip victims—accustoming to a world five years older than when they lived it, loved ones included—and for non-Blip victims, it was... them being back. People they grieved, loved, lost... all back, with a snap of two fingers. Literally.

And then there were those who didn't make it out, regardless. Danielle huffs another sigh.

Placing a social science novel down and moving off her bed, the eighteen-year-old tries to distract herself while simultaneously already doing so in a hotel room in Madrid, Spain. What was she doing here? Oh, yeah, living.

Post-Blip life wasn't all that glamorous.

Between a heavy amount of guilt and pain, there was the question of what was next now with everything being so different, and people being gone. I mean, most if not all Dani's main bonds are gone. The relationships she fostered with people, that gave her hope, and a home... gone, and just—

Orange flurries swirl into existence as a portal opens suddenly across from her, and jolting, Dani inhales. "Sweet Lord have mercy!"

She lifts a hand over her heart, adding, "You know, I could have been naked."

Stepping out of the conjured and circular space—one clearly identifiable as being part of a mystic artist's power—is someone, that despite all, Dani recognizes. Although, there are streaks of purple in her dark hair now.

Bexley Nightingale's locks are still soft and long, though are now more pronounced with a bit of a wave, a curve to the end of them. That, and her overall look is tougher, older-looking—although she stayed the same age.

Now officially younger than Dani, the seventeen-year-old is frantic in her wide chocolate-colored eye delivery, "Dani Rockland!?"

"-Rogers now," the eighteen-year-old corrects, eyeing her skeptically. "Bexley, right?"

The other girl does not have time to nod.

Her acknowledgment of her name, however, has Bexley inviting herself further inside the space, black, combat boots and fishnet tights entering the carpeted floor of the room as the orange portal leading back to Kamar-Taj closes behind her. Dani's brows quirk at this.

"Come on in." She says in a delayed manner, her words following the action—sarcastically.

Bexley doesn't have time for sarcasm.

"I need your help."

Dani pauses before crossing her arms, leaning back on her heels, and somewhat breathing through an annoyed laugh.

"With what?" She asks.

Before Bexley can respond, Dani interrupts or—or, rather, precedes her—in asking a flood of curious questions, relevant ones, "Wait, how did you find me? Have you been spying on me? Gosh, with you sorcerers it's like never a moment of privacy. Again, I could have been nude."

The other girl is candid in her previous observations, but Dani cuts her off, "If you think getting wasted is going to solve your problems—"

She is offended. "Are you kidding me? I've never been drunk in my life!"

"And," also reserved, "that... is not what I'm doing."

Bexley's worries and concern come out at Danielle, "Then what are you doing? Why are you so hard to reach?"

The eighteen-year-old replies while having uncrossed her arms, providing an explanation though her tone suggests she doesn't need one. "I'm living my life."

Bexley is still concerned, "What about others?"

"Look, Bexley," Dani begins, breathing in another sigh, and exhaling out—she pauses before beginning to relay, in a strained tone of voice. "I'm not sure if you entirely remember the battle of the Earth—I mean, I remember it, and I died and came back to life... but anyway, there is more than one Avenger."

Her stance seems disinterested, exhausted, and off-putting in whatever she is currently dealing with. Loss, sadness, regret—anxiety. All because of the goddamn forsaken Blip.

"A whole... universe, actually," she maintains, her willingness to just 'hand' this problem off to someone else, another Avenger. "Lots of people."

Little did she know this one revolved around someone close to her.

She is focused on herself, that being Dani's previous and main goal, since everything, "Lots of people doing their own things, and also being heroes. That are better, that you could ask for help."

"So," she circles back, with this in mind. "Why. Why me?"

The demeanor of Bexley Nightingale takes a cold turn when she is unable to contain herself, contain her fear—anguish.

The anguish she felt to hear her best friend in a state of so much dishevelment and disarray.

And so she doesn't hold back.

Brown eyes tighten, "Because... Someone I care about is in danger. And... someone you care about might be too."

Her last words have Dani's features faltering.

The eighteen-year-old frowns.

"What are you talking about?"

✦✦✦

https://youtu.be/Axka2207o6w

Monica Rambeau comes back from being blipped.

Re-materializing in a chair on the side of her mother's hospital bed is anything but tranquil, especially with the visual of her own hands coming back together in front of her. Transforming back into flesh, from dust.

Monica attempts to find her mother, only to learn she is dead... dying years after half the universe faded away. And now, they were all coming back.

It was chaos, people running into each other, those people not previously being alive... and the hospital is over capacity as—aptly—the third out of four snaps of the Infinity Gauntlet brings the other half of the sea back. It is chaotic.

A week or two later, Captain Monica Rambeau reports back to work, a facility Maria Rambeau built from the ground up: S.W.O.R.D.

There, she meets with the current director—taking her predicted job if she hadn't blipped away—and he, by the order of Monica's mother, grounds her with fieldwork. No space jobs. Monica is aware of the allies they have above the sun and moon. When a case sparks her interest in Westview, New Jersey, the number of missing people has her traveling there, where she connects with F.B.I. Agent, James E. Woo.

Jimmy tells Monica this is a 'missing town's case' with Westview, as everyone on the outside has some sort of temporary amnesia of its existence, as well as the residents who live there. The only reason why Bexley was able to remember Caitlyn was through the phone call the two had, at the end of episode three.

After getting too close to the energy field surrounding the suburban town, Monica is sucked in... causing Jimmy Woo to shout her name in the un-hopeful way it will bring her back. Monica is trapped in Westview and is given a new identity, Geraldine.

Back at the Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division, Dr. Darcy Lewis—an astrophysicist—arrives at a headquarters just outside the perimeters of the Westview barrier. The dome-like structure is made with some sort of cosmic energy, Dr. Lewis later making her assessment and claiming it as a whole lot of CMBR... Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Darcy also requests an old, retro TV.

Days go by and there are no results, the temporary amnesia during that time still in effect, but at S.W.O.R.D.'s setup, sounds of audience laughter echo throughout.

Dr. Darcy Lewis informs Director Tyler Hayward of what she knows regarding this visual. Spoiler alert, it isn't a lot.

All the astrophysicist sees is a 1950s sitcom, starring two Avengers... Wanda Maximoff, and Vision.

Vision... who was dead.

And then, coming from offscreen is a curly-haired, bubbly teenager. One who also looks like an Avenger.

Only as of recently, was she.

The search to figure out why WandaVision exists begins. More days are spent gathering research, including facial scans, to attach names to faces of real-life people who have been kidnapped. Trapped, rather, in their own town—and forced to play characters on camera. On a sitcom... about Wanda and Vision's life.

Jimmy and Darcy follow their lives, from their awkward first dinner party to performing at the Westview talent show... and in between, they spot Monica. 'Geraldine' does not seem harmed as she reads the newspaper, while in the background, Wanda talks to another character. This character, 'Agnes', has not been identified.

After that, episode three finally rolls around, the decades continuing to differ. From the 50s to the 60s, and now the 70s... the constant switching couldn't be just for Darcy's enjoyment. Not to mention, an episode before, she attempted to get in contact with Wanda, through the radio while she was cleaning dishes... Jimmy asked Wanda who was doing this to her.

The screen skipped and went straight to the commercial.

Something else Dr. Lewis noticed when identifying Caitlyn Strange to be... THE Caitlyn Strange... was how uncomfortable she looked during later episodes. With episode one, she fell into character—one opposing her own. However, by the end of episode wo, Caitlyn looked worried... stressed. Tired.

She believes that is the reason why Caitlyn did not appear in episode three. Though the person who took her place made Darcy drop her second cup of noodles.

Dani Rogers laughs happily along with Wanda and Vision, helping Wanda through her labor and delivery, and assuring her, that she would never leave her. The two were like sisters.

The two had a lot more chemistry than Wanda and Caitlyn.

Only, there was one thing... How could another Avenger get roped into this? One... not that she ever met her, Darcy thought... who is in college? What is she doing there?

The unexplained departure of Dani at the end of the episode remains unanswered as of now, skeptical... however, nothing could replace the skepticism in the scene that followed next.

Dani didn't come when Wanda called for her and following that... more weirdness ensued in the scene that played. With 'Geraldine'... With Monica, and Wanda.

✦✦✦

https://youtu.be/58owka2Lcak

Back in Westview, Wanda has Geraldine backed.

With the further Wanda walks, the more Geraldine has to—and Monica is growing nervous.

After all, Wanda is the one who holds the power.

And she holds it dangerously.

"Who... are you?" she demands.

A blue-eyeshadow and vest-wearing woman responds nervously, Monica still trying to get through to her, "I don't..."

Before her fear takes over. Rightfully so.

"Wanda," Geraldine says, "I'm just your neighbor."

The strawberry-blonde-haired woman does not believe her, recalling her earlier words, during a moment of Wanda's vulnerability—about her brother. Pietro.

So with the little trust she has left—none—Wanda cross-examines her, "Then how did you know about Ultron?"

Geraldine's breath becomes heavy. The babies do not cry.

And Wanda... doesn't hold back, her dominance, "You're not my neighbor. And you're definitely not my friend."

"You are a stranger," she depicts Monica, feelings heightening as she begins to raise her palms—and this time, red aura seeps from them, "and an outsider."

The stronger Wanda's tone gets, the stronger she both appears and has become. Her powers, oddly enough, look a little different. The tinted red in her hands is brighter at the front, and it is clear the usual energy balls she normally uses to fight, have grown into so much more. No, Wanda was way more powerful now.

Continuing to make Geraldine feel inferior, Monica follows her gaze.

Wanda's lip trembles in anger, "And right now, you are trespassing here."

Her words are tense and slow as are her hands, but they are with meaning. Demand.

"And I... want you... to leave."

Wanda blasts Geraldine out of Westview.

Through the wood in her house and all the way to the other side of town, it is made with force when Wanda kicks Monica out... not approving of her mention of their actual reality. To real life. That the people Wanda loved most in this world, were dead. Not all of them.

Gulping in shock at the mess in front of her, Wanda's gaze is cast inwards—at herself, at what she had just done, "I... I..."

Her eyes are teary and her lip still trembles, though now in sorrow. Wanda quickly replaces that by fixing the side of her home... again using her powers. Wanda is in control.

And at the moment where the broadcast goes off the air, is when Caitlyn Elizabeth Strange makes her attempt to call Bexley Nightingale. It works. Bexley knew who she needed to find now. Bexley remembered Caitlyn.

And now, Wanda remembers where she was.

"Rumor has it, I'd make an excellent aunt." Her sister figure is back at her side, Dani's smile warm, and comforting, as she comes from the kitchen.

Wait, wasn't she just in the nursery?

An audience laughs at her continued personality trait being portrayed by this character, one of a longing for love, boy crazy.

"So, any groovy men here in Westview? Preferably a little older than me. I have a type."

Wanda's eyes are still watery as she turns to face her friend, bothered by her friend's unbothered demeanor. Like nothing happened. She wasn't telling her to do that.

She takes a step toward the cribs housing Wanda's two newborns, though who knows how long they would stay that way, and proceeds to make another comedic remark.

One about herself, "I sure am a catch, though."

Wanda has had enough.

She walks up to Dani, sensing some discrepancy within her mind control, and puts both her fingers on Dani's temple, presumably bringing the girl out of her brain-washed state... but instead, it does something different.

Dani's figure dissipates into red flurries, and she disappears completely.

Answer solved: It wasn't the real Dani.

It wasn't Dani at all.

Wanda lightly gasps.

Who did this?

She glances upward.

"Find her. For the love of God, Bex, you need to find her."

"Wanda?" Her husband dashes back inside, tone urgent and synthezoid form on—only to find his wife aside the wooden cribs of their two new baby boys... born and conceived on the same day.

The tone of the scene is off as Wanda wears an auspicious smile on her face. Her back is turned from her husband, but there is contempt in her eyes... all as she stares down at her children.

Vision poses a relevant question, "Where is Geraldine?"

Wanda's response is ominous, "Oh, she left, honey. She had to rush home."

Her lips fold and she smiles endearingly at Billy and Tommy who make cooing noises.

"Hmm." She hums in contentment, appearing unbothered... only for a second.

For Vision's next question unmistakably takes her off guard. It bothers her. 

"And Dani?"

Wanda struggles to contain the pinches of skin that form near her brow, and folding her lip once more and swallowing dryly, the woman confesses—makes up another excuse, "Had to leave, too."

However, upon being with her babies, her frown turns upside down.

Only for it to break apart when turning to look at her dead husband.

Vision's face lacks its maroon color as in Wanda's mind, she sees how he looked the last time she saw him. When she killed him.

Her taken-aback look alerts her husband, "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

Wanda's gaze lifts as her hand drops, mouth stammering to fill the empty space with words, "Uh..."

She isn't able to. She is traumatized.

"We don't have to stay here." Vision steps down to her, away from their door—and beginning to question if all was as it seems, he suggests, "We could go wherever we want."

"No, we can't," Wanda whispers back, her swallowing thick.

Vision doesn't look like he understands.

So Wanda puts her hand on his face and reassures him, firmly, "This is our home."

"Are you sure?" he asks her, tone seconding that.

His own skepticism of their perfect life now brews. Now... not so perfect. Wrong.

"Oh, don't worry, darling." Wanda insists, smiling—gaze still a little teary-eyed, but she persists.

She solidifies, "I have everything under control."

Monica's breaths are choppy being outside of Westview. She is not the only one being welcomed to the headquarters.

✦✦✦

https://youtu.be/zdoOyyUswIQ

Bexley Nightingale tells a speed-walking Danielle Rogers, "I tried to intervene but they said I didn't have jurisdiction."

"Jurisdiction?" the eighteen-year-old frowns, expression twisting as she practically waltzes through several doors attached to the white tents outside Westview—she is pushing through another door leading to the main area, "Jurisdiction my—,"

The sight in front of her causes her to momentarily halt her speech, picking it back up again when adjusting to the whiteboard with several things written on it, a board with different persons' faces on it... Including hers.

Digesting it all, Dani heavily sighs, "You sure know it's end times when I'm the Avenger you call for help."

Bexley, a piece of her hair colored a light purple, remains next to the other young woman, the Avenger. One who Caitlyn told her to call for help. One who also has someone important to them involved here.

And it's only a matter of time before she finds out.

"Dani?" a voice gawks out in surprise, and it belongs to Darcy Lewis, "You got out?"

The young woman immediately turns in her black longsleeved shirt and dark-washed jeans, mid-length, dark hair turning along with her—and she faces the glasses-wearing doctor wearing a look of much confusion.

"Got out of what? I've never been arrested." Is her instant thought.

Luckily, Agent Woo clears things up for her.

"No, out of the TV. Out of... WandaVision."

Dani asks back, "What's WandaVision?"

Before finding out herself.

"Oh..."

The small, oddly-shaped retro TVs sit atop Darcy's desk, and with a notepad of scribbled information, it currently is paused on a spot in episode three—the most recent episode.

Dani, while putting two-and-two together, takes a step further down toward the screen, "Well, this is certainly above my paygrade."

"Only one thing..." the eighteen-year-old points at the screencap of herself.

"That's not me."

✦✦✦

*exhales* a cliffhanger, exciting stuff though! 

DISSECTING THIS CHAPTER: Yep, told you our girl couldn't stay away for too long, and you will see more of Dani throughout this first part of Troubled Mind, however, I am aware the story is not about her. She was simply requested by Caitlyn for Bexley to find her, due to SOME level of trust between the two, aka... saving the world together. Trust me, Caitlyn and Dani still aren't each other's biggest fans. I hope you liked seeing her though. This chapter was shorter than all the others so far, and for that, I think it made sense. This was pretty much just a recap chapter (episode 4) basically bringing us up to speed with what is going on outside of Westview, and from my end, I feel like we've done that. Also, Jimmy, Monica, and Darcy trio supremacy.

WHAT IS NEXT: Next chapter we will be back in the sitcom world, however, will rotate back and forth between the main reality as the show does, and you will continue to find out more as the story unravels. What we know so far, however, is simple: Wanda is in control, but not of everything. Caitlyn's inclusion (and history from the other FORCES novels) will come in handy in understanding the next few chapters, as the further we go on in this story, the more you will learn about what is going on with Caitlyn Strange. We are still peeling some layers. For now, know the Dani Rogers we saw in episode three of WandaVision... Was NOT the real Dani Rogers. And that's all I'll say about that. I wonder who was behind that?

Anyway, sorry for taking a while to update, I am currently getting over the flu, and college classes are a lot. All my love, though, peace.

xoxo, Alessandra

dreamkept

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