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[redchaos]

Anya. [She repeats the name softly. She'll remember it. A sad tale of what could become of any child born with powers.]

Mine... [It's a little complicated, but at the end of the day, they're gone.] I had two boys. Twins. Billy and Tommy. They're beyond my reach, but--loved. I know they're in good hands.

[Her own, somewhere far away, but she can't have them.]

Everyone is where they belong.

[incogneto]

[ That's... a weird thing to say. ]

What do you mean?

[ But he does hang on to the thought of Billy and Tommy. He loves them already, just because they're hers. ]

[redchaos]

I made them with magic. [She hates that she feels the need to expand.] I carried them, gave birth to them, but the spell was flawed. They could only exist within the boundaries of the town we lived in.

[More or less. Wanda looks down at her hands, glad to see her fingertips are no longer stained black.]

I had to end it. But there are other universes where they exist. Born to different versions of me. I thought that I could... get to them, somehow, but it wasn't meant to be.

[She tries for some sort of silver lining.]

The multiverse is vast. My boys are living a thousand happy lives. It means that your Anya is, too.

[Just not with them, in this one.]

[incogneto]

Yeah, well. Good for all the other Erik Lehnsherrs out there, who have a child. I hope they take better care of her than I got the opportunity to.

[ And that's that, but hey, he isn't being influenced by the darkhold, so his reasonable is a lot more... reasonable, at the moment. ]

I'm sorry, about the twins. But you're right. Maybe somewhere out there, your boys are calling their aunt to say hello.

[redchaos]

[It's difficult not to be bitter, but after seeing the terror in Billy and Tommy's faces, she has to give up the ghost. She's quiet for a moment before speaking up again.]

I was a twin, too. I had a brother named Pietro.

[The past tense doesn't bode well, does it?]

He would have loved another sister to terrorize. So, it's another... good thought, I think. Anya looked after by a big brother.

[incogneto]

[ Yes, it seems like Wanda's entire life is as marked by death as his is. That brings a sadness to his heart, because he'd wanted better for her, the same way he'd wanted better for Anya. ]

Somewhere in the multiverse, you said?

[ There's a watery smile here. He hopes she's right, and they're all a happy family somewhere else. Three kids, at least two grandkids. The entire line blessed with twins. ]

[redchaos]

Somewhere in the multiverse.

[It's just unfortunate the universes they belong to aren't as bright.]

Do you dream of her?

[incogneto]

All the time. In my dreams, she's just as she was.

[ He doesn't know this about multiverses, so he'll be happy to find out. ]

[redchaos]

That's your reassurance that in another universe, she's alive and well. Sometimes dreams aren't just dreams.

[They're glimpses through windows.]

[incogneto]

Oh?

How do I know when it's a dream and when it's real?

[redchaos]

I think the more mundane, the more of a chance it's real.

[She had so many dreams of the boys. Baking cookies, playing tag, watching a movie together. Boring, to anyone else. But everything to her.]

[incogneto]

Oh.

[ He smiles into his glass, taking another sip. ]

I hope I get to visit you and the twins in them.

[redchaos]

Just like that, you accept them?

[It's not a complaint. She would have loved for the boys to have a big, happy family. Just like the ones on TV.]

[incogneto]

The dreams? Yes, I believe you.

[redchaos]

The boys. [The tips her head to the side.] ... and me.

[incogneto]

If I choose to believe that other universes exist, then reasonably, there is one where you are my daughter.

And I choose to believe.

[ It's as simple as that. ]

You may not want to accept me as family.

[ You know, considering. But they're in the same boat now, huh? ]

[redchaos]

I had a father.

[And she loved him dearly. Still does.]

... and you had a daughter. As long as we know such things can't be replaced, I'm...

[She frowns, not wanting to offend, but still hesitant all the same.]

I'm not going to push you away.

[incogneto]

[ He nods. ]

What was his name? Your father.

[ He doesn't want to replace him, any more than he wants to pretend that Wanda is Anya all grown-up. But he does want to know about him. ]

[redchaos]

Oleg.

[Time for another dose of depressing. Wanda is sure he's not surprised at this point.]

He and my mother were killed when Pietro and I were young.

[incogneto]

I'm sorry.

[ He doesn't really want to ask how. He knows he doesn't like discussing how his parents were killed. ]

But you and Pietro, you raised yourselves fine.

[redchaos]

We managed. It was never easy.

[She watches him in silence for a moment.]

I don't think our family has it easy in a lot of universes. Not all of them. We're simply unlucky we ended up in this one.

[incogneto]

Unlucky is putting it mildly.

[ But after a brief pause, he wonders: ]

Tell me about Pietro.

[ He'd never considered a son, so, he just wants to know what he was like. Maybe he was very much like Wanda. ]

[redchaos]

[The interest in the people she loves most draws out another small smile.]

I think he would test your patience.

[incogneto]

Oh?

[ He arches a brow, but he's curious. ]

How so?

[redchaos]

Talked a lot. Fast. Always moving, always doing something. Liked being the smartass. But... he was good. Funny. Wanted to help people.

[Wanda was the angrier one that tended to brood. Twins, similar enough, but different, too.]