◤ chapter four, WORDS FAIL ◢

With her laptop open on her lap, the movie played in the background. Brinley sat beside her grading essays about Antigone which she often stopped to look up at Davina and complain about how idiotic her classes were. "Come on – this person used first person! You learn not to do that in, like, middle school! Fucking amateurs..." But Davina didn't mind, finding the outbursts hilarious.

The sound of Brinley's pen hitting another paper, probably circling and pointing out mistakes, filled the air along with whatever was actually happening in the romcom they were re-watching for the millionth time. But re-watching was a stretch; more like putting it on for background music so that it wouldn't be so quiet.

Davina groaned, "Why is college so hard? I don't understand!"

"It's college, V," Brinley deadpanned, "It's supposed to be hard. And look at this, they used a fucking contraction and said 'gonna' like what the fuck is wrong with these kids?"

"Obviously they don't know how to properly write an essay or just submitted their rough draft," Davina played back, eyes flickering to the television for a second before back to her laptop, knowing that she shouldn't allow herself to get distracted.

"God, I fucking hate grading essays. You're so lucky you wanna be a kindergarten teacher. All you have to do is teach them how to spell and write and that shit while I have to suffer under their moodiness and grammar errors. I fucking hate my job," Brinley continued to complain.

Davina hummed, "That's how I don't wanna teach high school."

Brinley shot her a look, "Oh, you know I didn't wanna teach those fuckers. All I wanted was to teach my elementary school kids but no, I become a high school teacher instead and now I'm stuck for the rest of my days."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Davina tried, writing another sentence of her own essay she was supposed to actively be writing.

"One of my old students thought Juliet was marrying Mercutio," Brinley deadpanned.

"Oh," was all that Davina could reply with, "Well, that's...something."

"Yeah, I know," Brinley nodded, bringing down her pen again to mark the essay again.

There was silence between them again as they continued to work on their respective essays. Occasionally, Davina would lift her head up to watch bits of the movie before scolding herself and getting back to work. Brinley did the same as she looked up and stared Davina's straight in the eyes, "And you wanna know what the worst part of all of this is?"

"What?" Davina asked, deciding to entertain her friend that night.

"I still have to grade vocab quizzes tonight and annotations for this fucking play. Why would I do this to myself?" Asher questioned, groaning to herself as she thought about how much work she still had to get through.

"Because you're a good teacher who wants her students to have a lot of grades in case they bomb one quiz or test?" Davina asked, voice going higher as she attempted a smile.

"Sure," Brinley agreed sarcastically, "But it always seem fine when I assign everything. Like yeah, all of these things are due around the same time but everything's easy, right? I can get through all the vocab quizzes in one night but then I also can't just ignore essays or annotations and there's not enough time to finish everything and fucking hate my job, Davina."

"That's nice," Davina commented lightly, "And I'm sure your students don't like all the assignments either."

"Fuck them. They never listen to me and always complain about other classes and teachers when they get to my class and don't shut the fuck up no matter how hard I try. I mean, some of them are nice, but there are just some assholes I have to pretend to like and can't just fail because I wanna. You know, like Caden," Brinley continued.

Davina visibly became disgusted at the mention of that boy, wrinkling up her nose, "Ew. Him."

"Exactly. God, I need to get laid."

"Where did that come from?" Davina asked, confusion replacing her features as she looked at her friend.

"Because I'm angry and full of fucking passion. Also, I've been dry for way too long now. I just wanna get fucked," Brinley said, not toning down her vulgarness at all. Davina didn't expect anything less.

"Then go to a bar? I don't know, Brinley, you know I'm clueless about these things," Davina tried to be helpful before sighing.

Brinley nodded, agreeing, "You're right. But I think you need to get laid, too."

Davina wrinkled up her nose again and shook her head, declining, "No thanks. That's more your thing than mine. I'm perfectly fine working while you go out and do your thing."

"What if I come back here with my boy toy? Will you be fine then?" Brinley pushed, grinning.

"Well," Davina frowned, "I won't be happy about it, but if you think you need to get laid, try and be a little quiet please. I actually wanna go to sleep at a decent time and not hear my best friend moaning from across the apartment."

"You're such a prude, Davina."

"I don't think not wanting to hear my best friend get laid counts as a prude," Davina rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "And make sure you actually get to your bedroom this time. I seriously don't wanna see another stain on this couch – Finn slept here."

It became momentarily quiet at the mention of her brother but Brinley inhaled and smiled. "Of course, but I still think getting laid would do you good," she changed the conversation back to the original topic, "It's a good stress reliever."

"So is lavender, or that's what I've heard. And a massage. I don't need to get laid," Davina countered.

"Now you're being a prude," Brinley labeled her, "Come on, if you're not gonna get laid, at least come to the bar with now."

"Ew, bars."

Brinley scoffed, "You are officially banned from saying that now you've actually been to one."

"Well, I think I should be even more verified when I say that because I've been to one," Davina began to debate her.

"No, you can't speak because your experience wasn't terrible. It was good and I think would've been so much better if you actually got in Wendy's pants – that was her name, right?" Brinley stopped to clarify.

Davina nodded, "Still, doesn't mean I wanna go to one again."

Brinley began to pout, giving her the full puppy dog eyes and everything, "Please, for me?"

The Royce woman stared at her friend, determined not to be swayed but the longer she stared into her eyes and saw her quivering lip the more she broke. But, in her defense, she was weak for the eyes and her heart broke to see how sad her friend was projecting herself to be. Sighing, she shut her eyes, "You are such a bad influence."

Brinley broke out into a grin, "Don't I know it. Get dressed in something sexy, okay?"

Davina rolled her eyes as Brinley got up, leaving her stack of papers sprawled around on the couch and coffee table from where she was last working on them. She shook her head, already regretting agreeing to join Brinley as she saved the document onto her desktop and closing her laptop, setting it aside gently. She stood up and went to her own room, staring at her closet and blanking out, realizing that she didn't have anything that would classify as club wear.

Groaning to herself, she left her room to go to Brinley's, telling her about the problem she had encountered and half-heartedly hoping that maybe her friend would leave it allow her to stay home. But that was not Asher Brinley's style and she most definitely dragged Davina inside her room and threw one of her own dresses into her friend's arms to borrow for the night.

She was really regretting agreeing to this.

♡

The girl stood in front of the grave. It was not a place where he would want to be buried, she knew that, but it was the place that was chosen for him. His resting place of choice didn't exist anymore, gone with the battle in which he lost his life. She stood guiltily in front of his grave, seeing the flowers she had gotten for the third time resting on top of the grass above where his coffin laid underground.

Words failed her as she tried not to cry. He was never supposed to die, that was never the plan. It was never the fantasy the two dreamed of before everything happened to them, before when they were just a boy and girl stuck in an impoverish area where everyone was struck with hunger and desperation. The dreams were always so vivid, filled with one day and promises of tomorrow.

He didn't get to see that tomorrow.

They dreamed of being better, of pockets filled with riches they would use to help their people when the time came. The dreams led them to darker places that promised so much good, that seemed so good to them. She remembered how hard it had been, adjusting to life there, but he always told her it would get better eventually. Because one day they wouldn't have to endure this pain, they would be better, and they would help people – like those who inflicted pain upon them. For the greater good, of course. For a new world.

She remembered wanting to be apart of something great that would help people. She remembered thinking she was doing the right thing when she hurt people, thought taking vengeance on the man who manufactured the weapon that killed her parents was good and right. Justified. Helping an artificial intelligence take over the world and defeat that man and his friends was good, and her brother supported it.

But it wasn't good and he paid the price for the both of them. No, she paid it now, paid it in her own way. He died but at least he died a hero, now she was labeled a war criminal. Now she was to be hunted. She didn't know which was better.

She shouldn't have even been standing there, it was much too dangerous to stay in a place so openly against her. Full of people who could take her down in seconds, but she had to see the grave, had to be with her brother. While safety was nice, it didn't bring happiness. She knew it could all be over in a second if anyone recognized her, but she would take the chance to stay even when she should leave. Should hide there with her group.

They weren't a team anymore.

But it always felt like they never were to begin with.

♡

Davina felt terribly uncomfortable in the skin-tight dress Brinley gave to her. She kept tugging it down and trying to hide under her arms that didn't cover nearly enough and all Brinley when she saw this was roll her eyes and slap her hands away, saying she should be showing off what God had given her.

"I still don't see why I have to be here," Davina brought up as they got close to the bar.

"Because you're my wingwoman for the night and you could potentially get laid, duh," Brinley rolled her eyes.

"Like I said; that is not happening in a million years. I am perfectly fine staying home and watching Netflix while working on my essays even if you wanna go clubbing," Davina said.

In retaliation, Brinley jabbed her side, causing her to yelp. Brinley grinned. They then entered the bar and immediately her eyes snapped to the familiar brunette who she had seen twice before. Blinking, Davina left her friend's side to go over to the woman.

"I thought you said you were just visiting," Davina started up a conversation as she sat down, not missing the way the woman jumping slightly.

"Decided to stay a little longer. I don't really have anything to go back to when I leave, so why not stay?" Wendy answered, finishing in a question.

"I like the way you think. So, where are you from anyway? Or, where are you staying?" Davina asked, smiling at Wendy.

The woman shrugged, "I'm just traveling at the moment. Think I might stay in New York for another month but I'm not sure if that's actually a good idea."

"Oh, why not? I mean, yeah, around some corners New York doesn't smell the nicest or have the greatest of people, but as a whole it's wonderful," Davina tried to convince her, "Like you said, nothing's holding you back."

Wendy nodded, though seemed to remain unconvinced. "Right..." she trailed off, not giving away anything else like the fact that there was a very good reason why she should never have even stepped foot in New York to begin with, much less stay.

"Well," Davina said, moving the conversation along, "If you do decide to stay, make sure that you have my number because we have seen each other on accident three times now which means we have to be friends now. It's just the rules."

"Oh, yeah? Who says?" Wendy teased lightly, smiling even though she still remained tense and kept glancing at everyone passing through the doors.

"Me. I make the rules and I have decided that you are going to be great friends and there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise," Davina stared at her.

"Well, if it's the rule, I guess I have to break it," Wendy smiled and Davina's jaw dropped slightly.

Scoffing to herself, Davina shook her head, "Well, now that's just rude. Really, here I thought you a nice person and then you go and say something like that and I am left here questioning everything I ever believed about you."

Wendy shrugged, forcing laughter but Davina didn't seem to notice just how fake it was. Or, if she did, didn't show it. "You have no idea," Wendy muttered to herself but Davina didn't hear.

"But really, I think you should stay in New York if you want. I'm not trying to force you or anything," Davina clarified, "It's not for everyone."

"I think you can say that about any place in the world," Wanda said.

"Yeah," Davina admitted, "But it's true, isn't it? Sometimes city life isn't for some people and others love it. I've just been exposed to it for so long that I'm used to the city and, well, I've never experienced a place without skyscrapers and everything."

"Would you ever consider moving?" Wendy asked.

Davina shook her head, "I don't think so. I like it here and I've lived here my whole life. Everything for me is here. All the people I love, my job, college...it's all here."

Wendy nodded, accepting that answer. Before the conversation could continue, Brinley appeared before Davina's eyes. "There are you! I've been looking for you since you left my side – without even telling me, mind you! What the hell, V?" Brinley ranted on.

"Oh, sorry, Brin," Davina apologized honestly, "It's just that I saw Wendy here. You know, the girl I told you about it."

Brinley's eyes wandered away from her friend as she turned to look at Wendy, eyes widening as she looked back at Davina. "You said her name's Wendy?"

Davina nodded, frowning, "Yeah? Why?"

Brinley rolled her eyes, "Davina, I want you to take a hard, long look at this girl and tell me who she looks exactly like."

Her friend deepened as she looked at the rigid Wendy, taking a look before her gaze turned back to Brinley. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Do I have to spell out everything for you? Geez! This is Wanda Maximoff! You know, Scarlet Witch, aka the war criminal," Brinley clarified, seeing the realization flood onto Davina's face and missing how Wanda – Wendy – had gotten.

"Oh my God," Davina breathed, looking between Wendy – Wanda, really – and her friend, "Oh my God, you're – what?"

Wanda gulped. "Please, don't tell anyone," her accent draining through, "I'm begging you."

Davina continued to stare at her in shock as Brinley said, "Dude, you're fucking banned from the US and yet you're here? How stupid are you?"

"It's my home. It's become my home for the past couple years, I didn't want to leave," Wanda said, not informing them of the real reason. That was much to private.

"I am such an idiot," Davina breathed again, "It was so obvious – I've seen your face a million times – but I just never put it together. Wow, I am so stupid."

Brinley patted her shoulder, "It's okay, V, but really? You had to attract the criminal? Good going."

Wanda, still tense, said, "I'll leave the country tonight if you just promise you won't tell anyone you saw me here."

In Asher Brinley style, she rolled her eyes, "Please, I don't actually give a shit that you're here. That would be a bit hypocritical – don't ask. Just get a better disguise or something because I recognized you immediately. Maybe dye your hair or blonde or something, get plastic surgery, I don't know."

Wanda began to realize, looking then at Davina, "And you? Please don't tell anyone?"

Davina swallowed, knowing that she should say no and turn the woman in – she was a criminal – but couldn't do it. Wanda seemed so nice and she was just so scared all the time, Davina didn't want her to be locked away. She nodded, "Yeah. I won't tell anyone."

And Wanda sighed. "Thank you," she told them earnestly.

"No problem," Brinley waved the gratitude off while Davina still sat there in shock.

She had become friends with an ex-superhero (or still superhero, depending on who she asked) without even knowing it. She had practically flirted with a war criminal and decided that she would be friends with one and now she was protecting Wanda's identity. It was definitely illegal and she could be found so easily guilty because of it, yet she still decided to help the girl.

And it seemed so unlike her. Davina Royce was usually the person who did no wrong – couldn't. She was usually the person telling Finn to constantly stop selling drugs (even if she never turned him in because that was her brother and she couldn't) and badgering him about homework. But now she was Davina Royce who wasn't going to tell any authority about the fact she knew a war criminal and agreed to keep their identity and trip to New York a secret.

She definitely regretted agreeing to Brinley and most definitely needed a drink.