As The World Caves In

ch. 23

After the walk from the park, the two lovers returned back to the compound. Wanda held the brunette's hand as tight as she could knowing that she's still blaming herself for her breakdown. Even after reassuring her plenty of times, Raven still managed to find a way to blame herself.

They separated themselves from the team as Wanda made a decision to let the news sink in before she could say anything to anyone about it. The two couples remained inside the younger woman's bedroom, cuddled up together. The Office played in the background as they stared obliviously to the screen.

"You need to ease up on yourself." Wanda said sternly as she could still feel the brunette tense up. "I'm okay now."

Raven clears her throat, "I'm sorry, it's just my emotions sometimes get the best of me even when I don't want them to."

"Have you ever done that before? You know, 'feel' someone?"

Raven shrugged, "In a way yes, just like what I did back on our first mission. But, this one was different. It felt like he's somewhere that's not here."

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever I use my powers to get a vibe off of objects, I get the same feeling every time because they are always located on Earth." Raven began to explain. "But this time, it felt different. It felt uncanny like he's at a place where time doesn't exists."

"How did he look? Is he okay?" Wanda couldn't help but pry.

"He didn't look like he was having the time of his life." Raven tried to lighten the mood. "He's locked inside a cage and he's hobbled up in a corner."

Wanda recalled the memory of him getting shot once again as she tried to picture the situation.

"I just don't know how I didn't get a feel of him like I always do." Wanda lowered her gaze to her feet. "I just hope he's safe and that he's okay."

"He is." Raven said confidently. "I can still feel him. Whatever I did, I feel connected to him now and I can promise you that he's alive and well."

Wanda smiled in return as a wave of relief washes over her. The thought of her brother alive after all these years sparked something in her. Hope. For all the times she lost with him, there's a chance she could finally get all of those back.

—

It took quite a bit of explaining to do before the rest of the avengers team caught on. They couldn't believe it themselves, especially Clint who witnessed it firsthand.

"You didn't see that coming." Clint remembered the memory as he watched his body fall to the ground.

"There's a chance he could be in space." Thor suggested.

Everyone talked over the other as they tried to brainstorm where he could be.

"Space pans out indefinitely so that's not certain." Tony uttered condescendingly. "Anyone else?"

"We just have to think of a place where time doesn't exist." Bruce interjected causing heads to look at him.

"You say that like it's the easiest thing to think about." Nat rolled her eyes. "There couldn't possibly be a place where time doesn't exist."

"There has to be a way to know where this place is." Tony groaned in frustration. "It almost seems like this place doesn't exist."

Raven squeezed Wanda's hand, offering her comfort. She must feel pretty helpless not being able to do anything but watch her team talk about it.