alright, now, this part, wanda wasn’t sure what to do with. there was no simple way to explain it. strange had likely walked through everything already with them, but had she bothered to mention wanda? did he even know about the history of anyone here, was there any way of telling that the other woman even knew who she was? wanda’s theories were confirmed when she turned around to look at her, eyebrows furrowed, addressing her as though she was a stranger. which, truthfully, she was.
but wanda remembered it. she remembered the dreams, she remembered the names in the dreams. how her variant had been named differently than her, how she had fallen in love with a different man, had a child of a different name. the memories in her mind weren’t her own. so many variants mixed in, and although wanda had latched onto 838 wanda’s mind, she still remembered snippets of troye’s universe. when she had been searching for her boys, she had come across a ton of different wandas. the darkhold had influenced her dreams but not completely. she remembered her.
she could feel strange’s eyes on her as she spoke, probably wondering if she was going to snap again. she tried her best to ignore him. “i’m wanda,” she replied, holding her hand out for a greeting, only realizing at the last moment how awkward that was. like she said, she didn’t know the protocol for this sort of situation. she retracted her hand. “i’m…” your mother’s variant? a woman from a different universe who doesn’t know you, but sort of does? a woman who almost tore apart the multiverse to get back her children and now doesn’t even know how to speak to one of them?
wanda didn’t know her husband in that universe, but she vaguely recognized his eyes, in leslie’s. she vaguely remembered the occasional dream of a younger leslie, running around and laughing at whatever she was running from. the multiverse was weird, confusing, and full of complex timelines, but wanda knew one thing for certain: she was hers.
“i’m the troye of this universe,” she said, deciding against using the word mother, not wanting to scare the poor girl off. she was already overwhelmed, no doubt. “i know you don’t know me. i don’t expect you to trust me. i just… i’ve had dreams, and when i saw you on the news, i knew i needed to see you.” as she concluded her little speech, wanda’s voice got softer, her hands clasped in front of her. “i hope you’re settling in okay.”
there was a familiar air around the woman the moment that leslie had finally laid eyes on her. even if she had dreamt about someone like her before, she never had the luxury of any real memories of this woman. just fragments of other lives that weren’t really hers. still, though, it was a shock to see the face that she only saw in a picture and in her head. it was a shock to see that this face was attached to a living, breathing body and not some corpse that was buried away in a different universe. however, it all felt weirdly relieving, as if she could start a new life here if she wanted to. and maybe things would be different.
“hello,” she greets with a small smile.
so in this universe, her mother has a different name. leslie wondered in how many other universes did she have a different name, a different life. she wondered if there was a sort of leslie that roamed this universe. but then again, there were probably a plethora of universes where she didn’t exist at all. the thought of infinite spaces was calming, knowing that somewhere out there, she was hopefully living a happier life.
“i don’t technically... know you, no,” leslie states. “but i’ve seen you before. in dreams also.”
everything felt very surreal. wanda’s face was one that had haunted her for so long. she felt a hundred different emotions when she saw it. anger, sadness, longing, love. it was confusing, despite the calm exterior she was putting on. secretly, leslie was freaking out. this was a stranger from a completely other world who was her mother in others. did wanda have her own leslie already? was she just visiting out of pity?
“i’m doing okay,” she says in the simplest terms. “i’m... flattered that you came to uh, see me.” leslie has to remember that wanda isn’t actually her mother, but it’s hard when she’s standing right in front of her. “is there anything i could... do..? for you?”