'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
(Word Count: 2,315)
~ With Fury and Natasha ~
Fury was still struggling to comprehend the deeper meaning within Luke's statements. Is it truly not safe in S.H.I.E.L.D., with only a handful of trustworthy members? Thinking of this, Fury's gut was telling him that something was very, very wrong in S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury's gut has not failed him yet.
"As of this moment, whatever that has been written in this diary shall be treated as potentially useful knowledge and will be classified as a need-to-know basis. I don't know what is wrong with the S.H.I.E.L.D. in our world, but it seems pretty obvious what happened to the S.H.I.E.L.D. in this parallel world. We will carry on reading this diary, and only when the update ends will we consolidate and organize our findings." Fury ordered. Although Natasha too had raising doubts in her heart, she followed the order anyways as she believed that as the diary had stated, Fury could be trusted.
~ With Wanda ~
[While I wait for the major events to take place, I think I will spend my time relaxing in my café. Being a trained agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. for over ten years has given me some basic know-how on how to make money appear, 'legally' of course since these are money that won't be missed. I bought an ice cream shop opposite Stark Industries down in Los Angeles. Why LA and not in NY? Well, I needed a way to get close to Tony without being too obvious, although my primary residence will still be in NY.]
As Wanda read the diary, she had absolutely no idea what Luke was writing about initially, only that she was told by someone of how terrible S.H.I.E.L.D. was. If there was one thing that she did not like about Luke currently, it would be his wanting to get close to Tony Stark, the murderer of her parents. She had sworn to herself that she would avenge her parents, and the people currently 'overlooking her living arrangements' had promised to take care of her and her brother, and to give her the powers to do take her revenge when they were picked up after her parents' funeral. How naïve she was back then.
[This café was the culmination of my dreams. I named the café the "Peach Blossom Café" to honour Wanda's memories and to keep a reminder of her with me in this world, as when Wanda and I had first met, we were in a peach blossom forest. At that time, Wanda and Pietro had been deceived into helping Ultron as he too shared their hatred towards Tony Stark. It was only after she had discovered his true plans for the world at large did she and Pietro decide to stop Ultron. With their help, we Avengers were finally able to defeat Ultron. Unfortunately, the cost of this victory came at a much too heavy price for my wife, the death of Pietro at the hands of Ultron.]
'No, NO! This can't be true! Pietro, he's really…' Unbeknownst to Wanda's current plight, Luke continued writing.
[It took a while, but I was finally able to help Wanda through her grief. In that time that we spent together, we shared many beautiful moments. I had discovered that Wanda was in the peach blossom forest because she found the place to be calming and soothing for her. She had shared why she was so hell-bent on taking her revenge onto Tony Stark, and while she had not yet forgiven him, she had promised Pietro in his dying moments that she would not seek revenge and live her life free from vengeance. In return, I shared to her my dream to own and run a café. It might have seemed cliché, but growing up, my parents had worked at a café together. As the only child, they would always bring me along with them and while they worked, I got to enjoy speaking to the customers and learn new and fascinatingly mundane titbits about the world through them, all while soaking in the warm atmosphere of the café.]
Wanda, who was slowly regaining her bearings, had a hint of a smile tugged on her lips as she read this. She was reminded of the fun and loving times she had shared with her own family once upon a time. However, she would not have expected the next thing to be written to be similar to her own experience.
[Life was great for me as a child, that was until my parents had one night been killed at an alleyway, unknown to the rest of the world. Since then, I was raised by my uncle and his wife, Ben and May. I was a couple years older but growing up with Peter – who was their adopted son, had instilled in me the values of protecting those who were unable to protect themselves. Peter had always been bullied at a young age due to his unrivalled genius in his academics. But he was always too timid to fight back or speak up. But he never failed to smile in the face of adversity, and he always seemed to bounce back stronger than before. Growing up with the Parkers, I had thought I could have moved on from the death of my parents. Sadly when uncle Ben died, it reminded me too much of my parent's death. And so my hunger for vengeance towards my parents' killer grew. I had done my best and tried everything to find the culprit. I even went to study criminology in university and even joined the Police Academy in the hopes of catching the culprit one day. And I did. When I caught the b*stard, I had never been so tempted to take another man's life. It would have been so easy to do so, I already had my duty issued pistol aimed at where his heart would be. In that moment, I had the power to decide whether a man would live or die.]
'So, he too had lost his parents at a young age like me. But it seemed that he was able to find a new family and a new place he could call home. But faced with this decision, what would he do? Would he leave his past behind and look towards the future, or would let his past determine the type of person he wanted to be? In his situation, what would I do?' Wanda pondered. Surprisingly, reading about Luke's life had caused Wanda to start doubting her convictions, if only a little. Would she be able to make a decision when push comes to shove? Only time will tell.
[Finally, I had the man who had killed my parents right before my eyes, under my mercy. As he begged for his life saying he was not sure what he did wrong, I had to grit my teeth as I reminded him of the two unsuspecting people he had killed years ago. As if realizing who I was talking about, the killer had made the connection that I was the child of the couple he had killed. Wanting to finally get closure, I demanded from him why he did what he did. And his answer only infuriated me further. He had been robbing a convenience store, when my father had seen him and chased after him into the alleyway. My mother, who had been beside my father at the time, got worried and soon followed suit after my father. The killer, not wanting to be caught, had faught against my father before fatally wounding him, which my mother had seen. Still in the adrenaline high of killing a person, the killer soon set his sights on my mother before ensuring that there were no 'loose ends'.]
[Gripping the handle of my pistol tighter, my finger slowly moved to the trigger. All this time I had no idea why my parents were killed, and now that I have found out, I felt an anger within me that I had never felt before. For that?! My parents lost their lives for something as flimsy as that?! How could I accept that?! No! Just as how my parents lost their lives, their killer will lose his too! Just as my finger was about to squeeze the trigger, a memory was brought to the front of my mind. It was the memory of uncle Ben as he was on his deathbed due to an incurable illness he had.]
[Myself, Peter and aunt May were inside his hospital ward surrounding his bed, trying our best not to send off uncle Ben in tears. Suddenly, uncle Ben glanced towards aunt May, and aunt May gave a nod in return as she took Peter's hand and guided him out of the hospital ward. Alone with him, uncle Ben gestured for me to sit by his bedside, to which I did. As he looked me in eyes, uncle Ben told me the words I never thought I needed to hear. "Luke, my boy. I can see it in your eyes. All the pain and hurt you are in. I know you want to look for your parent's killer, but I need you to promise me Luke. Promise me that if you ever meet the killer one day, that you will think of the consequences. You are not alone now my boy. When I'm gone, aunt May and Peter will depend on you. Especially Peter. He looks up to you as his role model." Noticing him breathing with more difficulties, I had wanted to rush to get the nurse. But before I could, uncle Ben had grabbed my arm to stop me from doing so before he continued, "Promise me Luke. Promise me that you will take care of aunt May and Peter." I did not know why or how, but I somehow knew that uncle Ben's time was drawing near. As tears started forming in my eyes, I made that promise to him. After I had done so, uncle Ben imparted to me his dying words, "Remember Luke. With great Power, comes great Responsibilities."]
['With great Power, comes great Responsibilities'. That phrase stuck to my mind as I was trying my best to stop myself from squeezing the trigger any further. Memories of the time's I've spent with my new family kept replaying in my mind as I battled the raging anger burning within me.]
[After what felt like an eternity, with a steady hand, I lowered my pistol and ordered him to lie flat on the ground facing downward. I had spent years thinking about how I would make the b*stard suffer, but in the end, I chose to arrest him and let him live. I chose to honour my promise to uncle Ben. And in return, I had found peace. True peace.]
'I see. True peace huh. I wonder if I will ever find that in my life.' Wanda mused, with a trace of tears running down the side of her cheeks.
[My Wanda never got to find her true peace because she had always feared that if she had met Tony Stark again, she would be reminded of her parents' death. I don't know where this world's Wanda is currently, but at the very least her last remaining anchor, Pietro, should still be alive too. They will need to awaken their innate abilities if they choose to face the future challenges ahead of them. I will not decide for them, but I will help them, to guide them so that they would stand with the best odds possible of coming out alive in the future battles. In order to do so, I will first need to gather information about the Mind Stone, the catalyst in awakening their dormant abilities.]
[I may have failed Wanda and Pietro in my world, but I will not fail them this time. And while she may not be my Wanda, this world's Wanda is still alive. And that is enough for me.]
- End of chapter 06 -
*IMPORTANT STORY NOTE*
First of all, I would like to say that this entire chapter has been completely re-worked from the original MTL. The direction and story writing in the MTL was so plain, boring, and full of gaps. So much so that I decided to use the general template of the MTL chapter and write my own. And if you've read the entirety of the chapter, you will know that I decided to include a certain family in my chapter and the reason why is because I had wanted to flesh out the background story of Luke and give him additional character depth. I used the Parkers because I wanted to keep myself open to any future possibilities :D Besides, this whole thing is an AU isn't it fufu. But then again, I may end up not using the Parkers as much in this translation since I don't quite know how they would be written in future chapters by the original author. I'm just an editor trying to make this story a more enjoyable read. I also attempted to establish a connection with Wanda in a more realistic way. The original MTL was just "hehe this is my wife, I love my wife, she is my wife." And Wanda being like "Who is your wife?! Ba- Baka *blush blush*". Please let me know how I did with this chapter, especially those who have read the original MTL. Do you prefer if I keep going with the direction that I'm going, or do you prefer that I stick to the original MTL direction, Let me know please!