WANDA STIRRED awake due to the sounds of the TV coming from downstairs. She let out a tired huff and wiped her eyes before reaching her arm out to the side to lay on Carson's chest. But instead it was met with the mattress.

Her head lifted up from the pillow and she looked at the empty space next to her with a frown. She didn't like waking up without him. For a second, Wanda started to wonder where he was. Maybe he was downstairs with the boys, or had gone for a walk.

But that's when all the memories from yesterday hit her.

From their little spat in the morning, to how she'd been mad at him all day for missing the boy's first Halloween, to how he lied about where he was going.

And of course, she couldn't forget about how she, y'know, intentionally expanded the border of the false world she created in order to stop her husband from falling back into his seemingly unbreakable coma.

Yeah... that.

But hey! We've all been there right?

Wanda still hadn't heard from him. And even though she could still feel Carson and know that he was safe, she couldn't help but be a little worried at first. Why hadn't he come back? Or reached out?

Then again, I did say at first. Her mood switched pretty quickly and now she was just ticked off at the fact that he hadn't come back or reached out.

The sound of two pairs of hurried footsteps running up the stairs caused Wanda to let out a quiet huff and she pulled the covers over her face, as if that would make her invisible or something.

Which it didn't of course.

"Mom, our game is freaking out." Billy complained.

Tommy nodded along. "Where's dad? Can you get him to come and fix it, please?"

The lack of response from Wanda made the twins share a look of confusion. The twins both took a step closer and looked down at the bed, their faces scrunching when they saw how Wanda was completely under the covers.

"Is she asleep?" Tommy whispered to Billy.

"Mommy's not sleeping, honey." Wanda's voice was muffled by the covers. "She's just, resting her eyes."

"Mom." Billy poked Wanda over the covers. "My head feels weird... it's really noisy. I don't like it."

Wanda's head emerged from the covers and she kept her eyes closed. "Resting... her... eyes."

~~ ᗢ ~~

CARSON'S eyes opened slowly, his face scrunching up when he felt the grass against his face and the coldness of the air against his skin. The sound of talking amongst multiple people along with music playing caught his attention and he got to his feet, wincing a little as his head began to throb.

He gripped the bridge of his nose as he waited for it to die down and once it did he looked around at everyone, only to grow confused as to why there was a carnival being set up.

A man in a strange costume approached him and scoffed. "You're the new clown?"

"Uh..."

"Well, I suppose you'll have to do." He sighed. "You're late for rehearsal with the escape artist. Come on."

The man motioned for Carson to follow him but he stayed put. Instead Carson looked ahead to see who the man was talking about, his eyes landing on a brunette woman with red lipstick in a blue costume, chains wrapped around her.

Upon locking eyes, Carson started to walk towards the woman and pointed at her with furrowed brows. He recognized her from last night.

"Can I help you, creeper?" The woman quipped.

"You don't remember me from last night?" Carson questioned. "We locked eyes. It was like we had some mutual understanding, or something."

She nodded slowly. "Look, I think you're cute don't get me wrong. But I'm going to have to pass."

With that, the brunette woman unclipped the chains from around her and waltzed off. Carson blinked a few times as he processed what just happened before turning to follow behind her.

Carson walked at her side. "No, no, that's not what I—"

"Mhm, sure."

"I wasn't trying to ask you out, lady. I'm married."

"Riiight."

He stopped in his tracks and ran a hand over his face in annoyance before jogging lightly to catch up with her. "I'm literally wearing my ring!"

~~ ᗢ ~~

BACK AT THE HOUSE, Wanda walked into the living room where the twins were sat playing their game. She took another spoonful of her cereal and looked around the house, wondering if Carson had come back yet.

"Have you seen your dad?" Wanda asked.

"Um, no." Tommy replied, keeping his attention on the screen.

"Do you wanna go look for him?" Billy stopped playing and looked at his mother.

Wanda's jaw clenched momentarily at the fact he still hadn't come back. She took a deep breath before looking back at Billy with a smile.

"Well, if he doesn't want to be there there's nothing I can do about it." Wanda tried to say calmly, but a hint of annoyance still came though in her tone. "He's clearly having fun with whoever he's out with so who am I to ruin that, hm? Who am I, to be worried about my husbands wellbeing?"

She picked up the remote to change it over to the TV channels and started to flick through them. Tommy and Billy shared a look before each setting down their controllers on the table.

"Uh, mom.." Billy started. "Last night Uncle P said something about dad dying again? What was he—"

"Don't believe anything that man said." Wanda cut him off. "He is not your uncle."

"Who is he?" Tommy questioned.

Wanda let out a nervous chuckle and put down her bowl and remote. "Here's the thing boys. I'm your mom. And as such, you were counting on me to have all the answers, right?"

Billy and Tommy both nodded along.

"Well, I don't." Wanda clapped her hands together and shrugged. "I have... no answers!" She laughed. "Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Niente."

"Okay..." Billy mumbled.

"Are you sure you don't want us to get dad..." Tommy said.

"I'm starting to believe that everything is... meaningless." Wanda looked between the boys, noticing the confused looks on their faces. "I mean, you're welcome to draw your own conclusions of course. But that's just where I'm at."

"Okay, so maybe I went a little too dark there." Wanda shrugged. "But Carson has super healing, they literally inherited tough skin."

[idk how else to write the little interview things but yk what they are so we're good]

Wanda sat down on the couch in-between Billy and Tommy and put her feet up on the coffee table, continuing to flick between TV channels.

There was a knock at the door and Wanda waved her hand to open it with her powers, not having the energy to get up again. She didn't even need to look over her shoulder to know who it was.

"Hi, Agnes. Come on in." Wanda greeted. "I'd get up but I just, I just don't want to."

"Oh, uh..." Agnes looked at Wanda.

"I think I got there in the nick of time." Agnes nodded. "Cause she was one split end away from cutting her own bangs."

"Hey, boys." Agnes smiled. "Why don't we give your mom some me time?"

Wanda leant forwards to look at the woman. "Agnes, are you sure?"

"Oh! Abso-positively!" She motioned for the boys to get up. "Come on, let's go guys."

Tommy sighed. "Do we have to?"

Wanda nodded quickly. "Mhm. Yep. Yup."

"Someone needs to be here to take care of you while dad isn't here." Billy told her.

"Boys, I'll be fine." Wanda waved them away. "Just go with Agnes."

The brunette woman chuckled and wrapped her arms around the boys. "I promise I won't bite."

Agnes looked directly at the camera. "I actually did bite a kid once."

"Agnes, you are a lifesaver." Wanda said. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"You know what?" Agnes nodded and untucked the jumper she was wearing from her pants. "I do have a suspicious mole on my back that I just can't see..." She noticed the look on Wanda's face and let go of her top. "Ah, boundaries. I get it. Say no more."

Agnes gave Wanda a quick smile before walking towards the front door, brining the boys along with her.

"Actually, If one of you could take a quick look—"

She was cut off by the door closing behind her and Wanda let out a relived breath, enjoying the silence already. Wanda found a TV channel that she liked and picked up her cereal bowl again, resting her feet back on the coffee table.

Just as Wanda got comfortable, the sound of rustling was heard coming from beside her. Her brows came together and she turned her head, slowly putting the spoonful of her cereal into her mouth as she tried to see what it was.

And to her surprise, objects around the house started to glitch. They all transformed into different versions of themselves. Starting with a plant pot near the door, then the fireplace, then the armchair and finally the TV.

Wanda sat up and waved her hands to revert them back to their normal form and slowly sunk back into the couch, her eyes darting around the room in case it happened again.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Wanda chuckled. "I'm fine! I'm fine... I'm fine. I'm fine?"

~~ ᗢ ~~

CARSON LET out an annoyed huff as he manoeuvred his way through the oncoming traffic of people who were taking part in the carnival, trying to catch up with the woman from earlier.

"Jesus lady would you just hold on a minute—" Carson bumped into one of the clowns and he rolled his eyes before moving out the way to let him past. He picked up a light jog to get closer to the brunette woman. "Listen, last night you tried to help me."

"Doubtful." The woman replied. "I'm notoriously self-involved."

He moved in front of her and started to walk backwards as he faced her. "Just hear me out, alright? I think that you were on the outside of whatever this is, a part of a team who were studying it. And now... well, now you're in it."

The woman stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, letting out a sigh. "Fine. I'll go out with you, but I'm ordering the lobster."

Carson gripped the bridge of his nose and groaned. "Lady, for the second time I'm married."

"Well why do you keep trying to ask me out?" She shrugged.

"For the love of god I'm not trying to— nope, no, I can't take this anymore." Carson reached forwards and placed his fingers against the woman's temples, brining her out of Wanda's control.

The woman stumbled slightly. "Whoa... okay... whew."

"Awake?" Carson asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Hello self." She cleared her throat. "Y'know part of me secretly wanted a guest spot on the show, but seriously that sucked."

"Yeah, great, sounds lovely. Mind control's a treat." Carson dismissed her, wanting to get answers. "Now, you got a name lady? Your real name?"

"Darcy Lewis."

Carson's brows raised as he looked at her. "I know you. Dr. Darcy Lewis. Your research came onto the computers at work."

"Hey! The lions just got off stage. You're up." The man from earlier approached them.

Carson ignored the man and turned back to Darcy. "Listen, I have questions."

"I have answers." Darcy told him. She looked around, her eyes coming to a stop when she noticed an ice cream van parked near them. "Should we take this convo on the road?"

"I'd love to."

"I said you two are up." The man repeated.

"Yeah, about that." Carson scratched the back of his head. "We kinda already have plans so..."

The man grabbed Darcy's arm. "She's not going anywhere—"

Darcy cut him off by punching him square in the face, making him fall to the ground. Caron's brows raised in surprise and he let out a whistle, pretty impressed as to what she just did.

He looked at Darcy and chuckled. "Almost broke the poor fella's nose. Nice job, doctor."

"Why thank you." Darcy smiled proudly at him.

The man let out a huff and started to get up. Darcy and Carson both shared a look before she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the van.

Carson opened the door and ushered Darcy inside, letting her be the one to get in first in case the carnival worker tried anything else with her. Once she was seated in the drivers seat, Carson got in and closed the door.

"To your house, I assume?" Darcy looked over at him.

"First question." Carson spoke. "Are my boys safe?"

"That I don't know." Darcy answered. "Sorry."

"Who's that imposter Pietro?"

"Beats me."

Carson sighed. "You really don't seem to have many answers here."

"Well I don't know everything— Ah ha!" Darcy found the keys to the van and lifted them up. "Let's roll."

The man in the leotard started to bang on the window of the van making Darcy jump and let out a scream. Carson didn't flinch considering his hearing already picked up the man walking over a few seconds prior. Instead he rolled his eyes and took hold of the shutter for the window to block him out.

"Sorry, I can't hear you." Carson mouthed as he pulled the shutter down. He looked back at Darcy. "Before Christmas would be nice Darc."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Darcy huffed.

~~ ᗢ ~~

WANDA LOOKED down at her empty bowl and smiled to herself, already deciding she was going to go get another. She got up from the couch and started to make her way over to the kitchen. But just like before, everything in the house started to glitch and she came to a sudden stop.

She watched as even more things started to change over. From the dining table, to the lights, to the curtains, the wallpaper, the stairs. Hell even the foundations of the house started to glitch.

Her eyes darted over to a picture of her and Carson that was stuck to the fridge. Her breath hitched in her throat as it started to disappear while the fridge morphed into another form.

"No, no, no!" She rushed over and snatched the picture from the fridge, her gaze darting down to the photo to make sure it wasn't ruined or lost.

Sure, the fact that their house was freaking out wasn't exactly the best thing in the world. But this was her favourite photo of the two of them and unlike all the other objects in the house, in the whole town. This was real. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost it.

Once she noticed that nothing had happened to it, Wanda pressed it against her chest and closed her eyes, letting out a relieved sigh.

"I don't understand what's happening." Wanda crossed her legs on the couch and fiddled with her fingers. "Why it's... why it's all falling apart and why... I can't fix it."

"Do you think maybe this is what you deserve?" The interviewer asked.

Wanda's brows stitched together in confusion and she looked up. "What? You're not supposed to talk..."

~~ ᗢ ~~

THE NEWLY formed duo drove down the street in the van from the carnival. Throughout the journey, Darcy had been telling Carson about his life, well what she knew anyway. Carson hadn't spoken in a while. He was too busy trying to process all the information he had been told.

"So..." Carson leant his head back against the seat. "What you're saying, is that I got killed by six glowing rocks?"

"Yes— no. It's complicated." Darcy shook her head. "They're called infinity stones. And they didn't kill you, the power that was used put you into some sort of coma."

"Why was I using them in the first place?" Carson questioned.

"To save the universe." Darcy deadpanned. "Well, half of it."

Carson looked over at her. "Did it work?"

"It did actually." Darcy nodded. "Because of what you did, half of the population came back. You undid what Thanos had done five years ago and wiped him out in the process. There are a few extra things that happened in the time everyone was gone, but I can't answer about those because I was blipped too. But to set up the context..."

"I had to sacrifice myself." Carson finished her sentence and Darcy hummed in agreement.

"And uh..." Darcy glanced at him. "Wanda had to watch."

Carson's facial expressions softened at her words. "She did?"

"Yeah... you practically died in her arms." Darcy added. "Of course, you weren't actually dead. But in the moment no one knew that. Coma or not, Wanda still lost you."

Carson didn't reply, instead his mind started to wander. He couldn't imagine what she felt, having to go through that. Having to see the life practically drain from his body and not be able to do anything about it.

The sound of Darcy groaning caught his attention. "Oh, man, another red light? It's kinda overkill out in the sticks here, don't you think?"

Carson looked around at the roads, noticing there was no traffic whatsoever. They were completely clear. His gaze landed back on the traffic light and he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah." Carson mumbled, having an idea as to who was doing it.

"I believe... I think that Wanda is creating all these obstacles to stop me from going home." Carson said as he sat in the interview chair, running a hand though his hair as he thought. "I mean, I have no clue as to why. It's not like I've done anything."

The light turned to green and Darcy started to drive forwards.

"Also, it never rains in Westview, right?" Darcy asked Carson.

"Are you sure its..." He looked out the window, noticing the rain droplets on the glass. "Huh. It really is raining."

Darcy suddenly slammed on the brakes as a construction truck pulled out in front of them. Multiple builders practically appeared from nowhere and placed barriers in front of the car so they couldn't move.

The small crane on the back of the truck activated and lifted a builder up towards the traffic light and the man proceeded to fix it. Not that anything seemed wrong with it anyway.

Carson rolled his eyes. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"Yeah, I've definitely done something." Carson scratched the back of his head and looked into the camera guiltily. "Maybe she's mad at me because I tried to... y'know... leave. But I mean come on! In my defence, I just wanted to figure out what was going on. Is it really that bad?"

"What about when you lied to her on Halloween?" The interviewer asked him.

"I didn't lie to her! I simply... exaggerated the truth. Did Herb ask me to help with the neighbourhood watch? Yes. Did I go? No. So technically I didn't lie I just—" Carson stopped mid sentence and looked behind the camera. "Wait, you can talk?"

"Yeah, great." Darcy scoffed. "Just take your time fellas."

"So let me just run over this again." Carson spoke up. "I snapped my fingers, saved the universe, fell into a coma and was passed over to an organization called Sword by my father figure because they said that they could help me?"

"Correct." Darcy nodded. "But Wanda kinda... stole you?"

Carson looked down at his hands. "So what am I now?"

"Honestly I'm a STEM type of lady, so I thought she used her red wiggly woos to break out of out of the coma completely. But when you left... you fell back into it? I still don't understand why you can't leave the hex." Darcy explained.

"I just..." Carson let out a sigh. "I can't believe she kept all this from me for so long. She let me think that all of this was real... but it wasn't? I..." He stopped talking and looked out the window.

Darcy frowned at his words. She knew this was hard for him despite him trying to keep up a tough front. Wanda had been lying to him non stop to the point where he didn't understand what was real and what was fake. And when he finally found out about the truth it wasn't even from Wanda, it was from her.

"What I do know," Darcy said softly. "Is that I've been watching you and Wanda's show for the past week. And the love you two have... that's real."

Carson looked over at Darcy and the woman gave him a small smile to reassure him.

"You belong together."

~~ ᗢ ~~

AFTER EVERYTHING that had been happening around the house all day, it was safe to say that Wanda's relaxing day to herself was pretty much ruined.

With a sigh, Wanda reached into one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a bottle of pills that would help with her headache and took a few with a glass of water.

The front door suddenly burst open and her head shot up, wanting to see if it was Carson or not.

"Wanda? Wanda!"

But oh was she disappointed.

She watched as Geraldine, well actually Monica, ran through the house, stopping at the stairs when she saw Wanda stood in the kitchen looking at her in shock.

"Wanda I—"

"What are you doing?" Wanda glared at her. "How did you get in here?"

"You have to listen to me." Monica panted. "This whole thing is about Carson—"

"Get out of my house!" Wanda shouted at her.

Monica ignored her and continued. "Hayward was trying to find a way to—"

"DON'T talk to me about that. I don't wanna hear about it." Wanda lifted Monica into the air with her powers and pushed her outside. Her jaw clenched tightly as she stormed down the steps, her hold on Monica still strong. "The drones, the missiles! Pietro?!"

"No, wait!" Monica tried to reason with her. "Pietro, no, no, no, that wasn't us!"

Wanda's blood was practically boiling at this point. "All you do is lie!"

Wanda moved her hand down and attempted to slam Monica against the ground. But it didn't have to effect she wanted to. Monica landed on her knees and a burst of blue energy broke her fall.

The woman looked up at Wanda, her eyes glowing the same colour of the energy. Wanda let out a small gasp at the sight and took a step back.

Monica slowly got to her feet. "The only lies I've told are the ones you put in my mouth."

Wanda scoffed and started to form her energy around her hands once more. "Careful what you say to me."

"Do it then." Monica opened up her arms. "Take me out."

Wanda lifted up her hand but seemed to hesitate for a moment, inhaling sharply as she thought of what to do. She didn't want to hurt her. And Monica knew that.

"See, see? That's where you and Hayward differ." Monica took a step closer. "He's gonna burn Westview to the ground just to get what he wants. Don't let him make you the villain, Wanda."

Wanda chuckled dryly and cocked her head to the side. "Maybe I already am."

"I'm not afraid of you Wanda." Monica told her. "Listen I understand why you did this. Okay? I understand. You lost Carson before you had the chance to truly start your future together. And that's what all of this is, isn't it? The marriage, the house, your children. It was supposed to be your dream life." She smiled sadly at Wanda and shook her head. "But this... this isn't real Wanda. A dream is not reality."

Wanda's eyes narrowed making Monica gulp subtly. "Who's to say which is which."

Monica let out a sigh. "I lost the person closest to me too. The worst thing I can think of has already happened to me... and I can't change it, I can't undo it. I can't control this pain anymore. And I don't think I want to."

"And why's that?" Wanda raised a brow.

"Because it's my truth."

Wanda took in what Monica was saying, her powers starting to flicker away again. She looked around at the town. The houses, the cars, the people. And just for a moment, Monica could see on her face that she had managed to get through to the redheaded woman. That it had seemed to sink in.

Monica reached out for her but was interrupted. "Wanda, you have to—"

"Young lady." Agnes approached them, taking a spot at Wanda's side. "I think you've overstayed your welcome. Poor Wanda's been through enough."

"This doesn't concern you." Monica told Agnes. She turned her attention back to Wanda. "Wanda..."

Agnes put her hands on Wanda's shoulders and started to lead her to her house, her eyes never leaving Monica. "Run along, dear."

Monica huffed and watched as Agnes pulled Wanda along with her. "Wanda, you have to take it down."

"No!" Wanda turned around and pointed at her. "Don't make me hurt you."

And with that, Agnes lead Wanda into her house and took one last look at Monica from over her shoulder before closing the door behind her. Leaving Monica stood alone on Wanda's driveway.

~~ ᗢ ~~

i fell asleep in psychology today so my teacher decided to RUDELY wake me up by slamming the door shut on purpose and the old hag nearly made me fall off my chair ffs

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