- CHAPTER FIVE -
"ROYALTY"

The next morning, Wanda spent mainly with Pietro in a corner. The night before, she hadn't had as much sleep as she ought to, her mind bustling with the idea that he was just back after all these years. Despite her urge to tell him everything he'd missed, every little detail of every event, he forced her to rest, assuring her they had all the time in the world.

Well clearly, considering how that went last time, they did not have all the time in the world. Although she'd surrendered, her night was spent restless, hands smoothening over the covers in an attempt to soothe her thoughts. Thoughts about Pietro, everything he'd missed, the team and how they'd become whole again, Nat, Tony, Vision-

And the infuriating prince blaming her for their deaths.

Banishing the thought of him, she redirected her focus onto anything and everything else. Even now, as she sat on the edge of a couch in the corner of the room, she refused to give him a second thought. Pietro's loud chuckle awoke her from yet another trance of staring at him, trying to gauge if he were real or not, despite knowing well that he was.

"It's like the rhyme they'd teach us in school, you know, with the bunny who-"

"-fell in a ditch, yes, I remember. Sounds a bit gruesome for children, no?" She replied thoughtfully, mind flashing back to all those days sat in school, singing along happily to rhymes her teachers fed her.

Snorting, Clint nodded in agreement, "In a country with so much war, you'd think they'd be teaching you army training."

"Children, we are stuck amongst a raging civil war, but you mustn't forget the rhyme about the bunny," Pietro drawled out, voice deepening in a mocking teacher voice. Shaking her head fondly, Wanda's eyes shot up to the door which had swung open, Thor entering and dragging his brother along.

Snapping her eyes down once again, she silently hoped no one had noticed. She didn't even want to mention their distasteful interaction, let alone have anyone else mention it to her. But as per usual, her hopes were left unsatisfied as the Valkeriye spoke up from where she sat scarfing down the remainder of her pancakes.

"Don't let him get too under your skin," she warned lightly, setting her plate aside onto the tea table. Swallowing down a scoff, Wanda felt annoyance creep into her. How was she to ignore him when he was so difficult? If he did not have a filter on what he said, she wasn't going to grant him the security of one either.

As soon as it had risen though, her annoyance fell. The woman was just trying to advise her, and to be honest, letting his words affect her and biting back was like prodding a bear, stupid.

Luckily, the conversation moved on rather smoothly after that, but it did not help in returning Wanda's appetite as she twirled her fork on the plate, a piece of uneaten egg at the bottom of it. With no interest in finishing the food, she took her plate and headed toward the dining area just behind them, fork scraping off the leftover bits of food into the bin.

"Not fond of Midgardian food? Me neither," a voice rung out from behind her, as she inhaled sharply.

"I've lost my appetite, unpleasant company often does that to a person," she snarked back, an obvious jab towards the God whom didn't flinch. Setting her plate down, she planned to make a beeline back to her previous position.

"Unfortunate, isn't it? How lucky are you to be in the presence of royalty so much," twisting on her heel, she narrowed her eyes at him slightly. Val's words rang in her head suddenly, and she quashed down the urge to drown out his words.

"Aren't I just? Thor is great to be around," she seethed, watching as the God in question sent her a smile despite her compliment clearly being a comeback. Well, it wasn't a complete lie, she found Thor to be entertaining.

"You know that wasn't what I-"

"We need to sort out this housing situation," Tony announced himself with as he waltzed into the room, and Wanda silently thanked him for the interruption. "This place is way too small for this many, and it is not fun to have to step over bodies to get water in the middle of the night."

Biting back a smile at his choice of wording, she watched as the avengers averted their attention to him as he began to brew a coffee before leaning against the counter and turning toward them.

"Yeah, sleeping on the floor wasn't fun either," Sam replied, rolling his eyes at Tony's dramatics.

"Well Wilson, you weren't the one who just died." Cringing at the statement, Wanda urged the conversation on, not wanting to deal with the awkward air which had sprung into the room at his words,

"Where do you suggest we stay?"

"I'm getting the compound rebuilt, til then there's a place down near New Jersey, much bigger than here," he told them, pouring his coffee carefully into a cup as he waved away steam emitting from it. "Shouldn't take too long to get there, so uh, pack up."

"That should be fairly easy, I do not bear many belongings," Vision spoke, sending a smile directed to Wanda whom returned the motion. Honestly, she wasn't sure when watching Sitcoms had turned into teaching the synthezoid to develop a sense of humour, but she was not complaining in the slightest.

Snickering, Tony clapped a hand on Vis' back, sending him an affirming nod.

"Oh Heavens, the robot speaks," Loki spat, an unpleasant curl in his lip as he inspected Vision as if he were nothing more than a servant. It brewed a rage in Wanda she didn't think she was capable of as she narrowed her eyes at the trickster.

"Are we bringing him with us?" She couldn't help but sneer, his words seeping under her skin, until she wanted nothing more than to shed it, just like a snake. A snake. Ha, that sounded like an accurate description of someo-

"Aw, I thought you liked the royal company."

"I find it about as enjoyable as that of a rock," she snapped back.

He tutted teasingly, placing one foot over the other as he leaned against the desk, arms crossed.

"Don't be so harsh on Thor, you said you found him enjoyable to be around."

"He's not the pompous prince you are," she seethed.

Eyes darkening, he shot back, "No of course not," his narrowed eyes never shifting from hers, "He is far too proper for that."

"I second that," a voice interrupted warily, "Are we really bringing him?"

Loki simply shone a dazzling smile, gaze not once shifting as he spoke, "Oh, haven't we been over this?"

"Loki will be coming with us," Thor declared, gaze lingering on his defiant brother as the trickster finally tore his eyes from the witch and scanned the room instead. "And he will behave."

"Behave? Am I a child to you?"

"You certainly act like one," Wanda scoffed under her breath.

"Says the woman who was sobbing yesterday."

"Oh I'm sorry, did your dead brother just come back to life? No?"

"Trust me, I wouldn't cry if he did."

"Serpents don't have emotions."

"Really? Big shocker that you do then. Honestly, I am constantly taken aback by your separation from crowds." Wanda almost rolled her eyes at his ability to speak for so long, and yet be so annoying.

"Yes, I would imagine. You just tend to fit in so well."

"Aye, I do. It comes to me naturally as a God and all."

"Its funny, how you think you are SO-"

"Oh my God, are you done?" Bucky finally snapped out, exasperated. It seemed he spoke for the rest of the team, as they nodded their heads furiously in agreement, clearly having long grown tired of the sorcerers arguing.

Inhaling sharply, she jutted out her chin defiantly, twisting on her heel as she made a beeline back towards her brother. Biting back a smile, Pietro looked fondly at her, but the gleeful look painted on his face fell almost instantly into a more hostile expression as his gaze drifted to Loki.

"Anyyways, as I was saying," Tony continued, voice drenched with annoyance, "Pack your stuff, we head off in three hours. All of us." He said, sending Wanda a pointed look.

Huffing, she turned her head to escape his judgemental gaze, it wasn't her fault Loki was so irritating. Instead of dwelling on the conversation which buzzed on above, she resorted to inspecting her nail beds.

In all honesty, she would rather stay in this small, cramped cottage, she had done enough moving in the last couple of days, wasted enough energy. Trust Tony Stark to make the most extra decisions ever. Rationally, she knew it was the better choice for all of them, but the inner brat in her seemed extra flared up today. She wondered why.

Stubbornly, she lifted to her feet, before twisting her head at Pietro's tug on her sleeve. His gaze clouded with concern, and as grateful as she was, the witch had to quench the desire to roll her eyes. But it made the warmth in her heart flourish, the fact that she finally, finally had the feeling of exasperation of her annoying, over-protective brother again. It drained all trace of annoyance from her bones, as she flashed him a reassuring smile.

Walking towards the door, she inwardly prepared herself for the inevitable conversation awaiting to happen. She lingered by the door, hands wrapping around the knob, teeth scraping against her bottom lip and then-

Nothing. She furrowed her brow slyly, but accepted it nonetheless, twisting the door open and taking a single step through it until-

"Waiting for something?"

"Of course not, your majesty," she drawled out, her back turned, but she had stopped moving.

Scoffing, he continued on, "Ah, did the servant not come get the door for you, my sincerest apologies."

"No, they certainly should have," the witch shot back, deciding to play into whatever childish game he had chosen to play. Gambling with fire. Irnya Maximoff, mama, always said it was the best way to get burnt, but fire was always so tempting to little, naive Wanda. She supposed she had never grown out of her fascination for it.

"And here I was thinking I was the prince."

"How wrong you were," she grumbled, before striding away, making a point not to stutter in her steps, a fear of being perceived as weak screaming in her bones. Any emotion shown would clearly be drunken up greedily by this God, judging by the way he criticized her crying, it would be ticked off on his record and filed into the back of his mind along with his other snarky, mischievous agendas.

As soon as she reached her room, she tugged open the door, scarlet energy clicking it shut behind her as she all but collapsed on her bed. The soft fabric beneath her indented, and she let her fingers trace over its edges, caressing the soft material between her fingers. Nuzzling her face into the pillow, she tried to do anything but contemplate the events that had just happened, tried to ignore the way it made her blood boil. How dare he?

All the comments insinuating about her brother, now their reunion too, he just had the nerve to be so- so.. she couldn't find the word for it. It circled somewhere around bitchy and dangerous. He would never understand, never feel the pain that she had. Her knuckles faded white from where her gentle brushes against the blanket had formed into gripping them fiercely. Stubbornly, she released the covers from her death grip, letting them flop down beside her.

Eyes scanning over the room, she spotted an odd few little items scattered around which she needed to pack away, but other than that, she was fairly prepared to leave. But she had time to kill, and the next three hours she wasn't in the mood to hang around with the team. All she wanted was to be around her brother, but she couldn't glue to his hip, she was no longer the child who needed her brothers guidance. Who would only eat food if he approved of it, who would only do the experiments because he had begged her to.

That little girl had grown now, and she wasn't weak. Never again.

Wanda bristled, shaking like a leaf as she forced herself up. She supposed busying herself would distract her from the urge to cave into her racing thoughts. With a sigh, she brushed her knuckles across the vanity on which she had strewn on a few pieces of jewellery. Gathering them into her hands, she clipped on a bracelet and slid the rings onto her fingers, flicking her wrist slightly to adjust the bracelet.

She was caught slightly off guard at her now fully healed wrist, had dying cleared away all her scars? Certainly that was to be a good thing, but a part of her felt its loss. Disgusted, she tore her eyes away, why would she want to keep them anyways. She continued venturing across the room, tucking away a scarf, her old clothes from the previous day.

She was interrupted by knocking on her door, and opted to ignore it. Whomever it was, they could wait, what could possibly be so important then anyways. Didn't she have another two hours? Despite that fact, they seemed adamant on the door being opened, as they seemed to pound harder.

Cursing under her breath, she stormed over to the door stubbornly, tugging it open as she leaned her head against the door frame. At the sight of who seemed to be abusing her door, she rolled her eyes, surpressing a groan.

"What do you want?" She snarked, an unpleasant curl in her lip.

"Well, thats not a very warm welcome, princess," he teased, and her skin crawled at the false term of endearment. Debating whether she should shut the door on his face, her contemplating was cut short as he barged in besides her, shoulder nudging hers as he went.

Scoffing, she narrowed her eyes at him, "What are you doing here? And why have you invited yourself into my room?"

Her hands went to her hips as she looked impatiently at him, a brow raised. Chuckling, he looked down on her in a rather condescending manner, "I'm just here to be the gracious messenger."

"Go on then," she seethed through clenched teeth, attempting (and failing) to mask her ever-growing annoyance at his pure presence. Get out, get out, get out-

Taking a step towards her, then another, she felt the air become uncomfortably warm. A strand of black hair fell away from his ear and into his face, he didn't move it. He shifted his face closer to hers, was he trying to be intimidating? The witch refused to give him the satisfaction of scaring her, so she stood rooted in place, face steeled. Looking down at her, his face was just a few inches away as he whispered,

"Time to go."

a/n: im so excited for the plot of this book, enemies to lovers is my favourite trope, especially with scarletfrost bc it fits so well with how i write them, even if that means theyre a lil ooc

anyways, thank you for reading <3