Avenger's One-shots and Preferences

Coping with Loss- Wanda Maximoff

Another request by Sxarletwidow3014

It's Wanda with an eating disorder. I had struggled to come up with what kind of circumstances would Wanda do something like that but then I thought maybe it could be like a kind of coping mechanism after everything she's been through.

As I mentioned, this about eating disorders so advanced trigger warning.

"Wanda?" you call out, knocking on her bedroom door. You noticed she'd been locked in her room since this morning when she would normally be out already training or relaxing in the lounge area of the newly constructed compound. It wasn't like her to be hiding in her room right now, even with everything she's been through.

A few moments later, Wanda opened the door, looking rather disheveled and somewhat pale. "Wanda?" you ask with concern, "Is everything alright?" "Yeah," Wanda assures, "Everything is fine." "Are you sure?" you press, "It's not exactly like you to sleep in like this." "I've just been...I guess I've been tired recently," Wanda provides for an explanation, "with everything we've been through after Thanos, with rebuilding the team...it's all been exhausting."

You were still concerned for Wanda's well-being but decided not to push. "Well, we have a training session in an hour," you tell her, "you won't forget will you?" Wanda nodded in response.

You were worried about Wanda recently. Since the Avengers defeated Thanos, at the cost of losing some of their own, the team has been trying to rebuild. Although they managed to rebuild the compound, there still was a ways to go mentally. For certain individuals, that was more the case then others.

And the Scarlet Witch was no exception. Out of everyone on the team, Wanda probably had lost the most from this ordeal. Having lost the last her family, and then having lost the one person she cared and loved the most, Wanda hadn't quite found a healthy way to cope with all this loss. In fact, she's spent most of this time keeping her grief and loss bottled up, putting on this guise that everything was alright, that she was strong and nothing else was going to get in her way to focus on rebuilding and moving on.

Unfortunately, this strong girl act had begun to take its toll on Wanda, more so then she would care to admit, more so than anyone would've suspected, yourself included. And the same toll began to manifest itself in one of the most unhealthy ways possible.

It started with just the little things, from keeping track of every little calorie she consumed, to removing certain foods that Wanda used to love. Not just typical junk food but soon bread, meat, and anything high in starches, such as potatoes (which are considered a staple in Sokovian cuisine) were removed from her usual menu.
Wanda's "diet" wasn't the only thing that began to change. As time went by, Wanda found herself increasingly difficult to stay warm, even during hot weather. Something the team became suspicious of when the Sokovian woman walked into the kitchen one hot day wearing a wool sweater.

That wasn't the only thing you had noticed in particular. Even before today, you had begun to notice Wanda's pale complexion, her eyes looking sunk, and her clothes looking looser than usual on her. You've seen these symptoms before, having had someone in your family who went through this before, but you didn't want to believe Wanda was going through it too.

You've asked her multiple times already if everything was alright and each time she kept assuring you that it was, even though you didn't believe it.

Today, Wanda showed up for today's training session. Already there with you were Sam, Clint, and Bucky. The four of you were shocked to see Wanda in the state she was in with her loose fitting training attire and pale skin.
"Uh, Wanda," Clint speaks up, "You sure you're okay to do this, kid?" "I'm fine," Wanda assures, "I'm here aren't I? Let's do this."
It was barely five minutes into the session when Wanda began to experience dizzy spells. She didn't know why, as those same feelings didn't usually occur till much later in the session.

"Wanda?" Sam speaks up, as Wanda weakens at the knees, "You sure you're up for this? Maybe you need to take a water break?" "I'm fine," Wanda says with a little more annoyance, "How many times do I have to keep telling you I'm fine?" "Wanda-" "I'm not some helpless girl in need of saving," Wanda interrupts you, "I don't need anyone to give a hand up, or a way out. After everything, we've been through, I am still standing!"

In that moment, the room started spinning for Wanda as she began to fall. You were quick to catch her before she hit the floor. "Help me get her to the infirmary," you say to your teammates.

----------Sometime later-----------------

"How could this have happened? How could we-could I have let this happen?" You frantically ask as you pace back and forth outside the infirmary.

"Hey, hey," Bucky stands to stop your frantic pacing, "It's not your fault, you couldn't have known for sure." "But I did," you insist, "I knew what was happening, I knew the symptoms, I've seen them before. I should've done something, staged an intervention or something. If I did, this wouldn't have happened." "...you don't know that for sure," Bucky tells you, "Even if we did, who's to say she would listen? Sometimes you can't help someone who doesn't want help."

You sigh and look to Wanda's still image once more. "We still should've seen the signs," you say, "She's been through so much. First she lost her parents, then her brother...and then Vision, she had to watch me die twice over, that couldn't have been easy. She told me everything was fine, she kept acting like she was all strong and resilient, and she is...but this was too much for her. There was no way she could've handled this all on her own."

You knelt at Wanda's bedside, taking her hand in yours, "Why didn't you tell us how much you were hurting?" you ask, though you weren't sure if Wanda could hear you, "Why didn't tell us how badly you were suffering? You have to know you didn't need to go through this on your own. We love you, Wanda, we care for you. I know you think everything was taken from you...but you haven't lost everything. You have me and Clint and Bucky and everyone else on the team that are still standing. I don't know if you can hear this, but please, Wanda, please let us help you."

At this point, tears were already falling down from your eyes, "We still need you, Wanda, we can't lose you...I can't lose you. Not when we've already lost so much."

In this moment, you felt a light squeeze of your hand. Looking down, you can see Wanda's fingers moving slightly.
"I won't leave you," you hear Wanda's voice as you look to see her open her eyes, "I am not going anywhere."

You nod and lean over to hug her, hoping that Wanda would get help this time, that she would finally start to heal.