The giggle of a little girl rang out in the tiny room as she cupped her tiny hands over her mouth to quiet herself. She didn't want to be found after all. That was the whole point, she peeked over the side of the couch she was hiding behind, wisps of her rust-red hair falling over her eye. She didn't see her seekers and turned back to behind the couch with a smile on her face thinking she was safe. They hadn't found her yet so she was going to win. She smiled widely. Suddenly she felt two pairs of hands on her lifting her up from behind and heard two voices yell "Gotcha!"

One pair of hands disappeared as the other turned her around and placed her on their hip. "We found you!" Her older siblings yelled with wide cheesy grins on their faces. The little girl pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. Her older brother and sister just snickered at her antics. The little girl cracked a small smile seeing her siblings laughing and soon joined in. "You have the most adorable pout little sister." the girl's older brother, Pietro said.

The girl's older sister, Wanda, smiled and nodded agreeing with her twin's words. "Yes and you are an absolute champion at hide and seek Svetti!" Wanda said and began tickling little Svetti, who was still in Pietro's arms. 

She started laughing loudly and squirming in Pietros arms trying to escape the tickles. "Wandy! Stop! Pwease?" Svetti yelled, still laughing.

"Alright alright! I stop! What do you two want to do now? Мама and Папа won't be back for a few more hours." Wanda asked them accidentally, letting some Sokovian slip. They were supposed to be practicing their English today because it was TV night, so no Sokovian.

Pietro sighed dramatically and flopped back on the couch letting Svetti go so she plopped right beside him. "I am down for anything as long as it is nothing girly like hair or something." He said while brushing a lock of his dark brown hair that had fallen in his face, aside.

Wanda scoffed. "It is not girly! It is fun! Besides, we made you look beautiful last time, right Svetti?" she said grinning as she looked at her sister whose face lit up with a wide smile so bright it could rival the sun and make even the coldest hearts melt.

"Yes! You ooked vewy pweety! Pwease do again? Pweety pwease Peto?" She asked, giving him the puppy face.

Pietro looked terrified. "No!" He shouted his eyes wide as he took off to the other side of the room to escape his sisters.

They chased after him laughing. It quickly turned into a game of tag that soon left all 3 of them breathless and giggling. They collapsed onto the couch exhausted but happy. "Well that was fun," Wanda said with a smile, looking over to her siblings.

"Vewy fun," Svetti said, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

Pietro chuckled "Are you sleepy сестра?"

"No I not," she let out another yawn as her eyes started to droop.

The twins looked at each other and smiled. "It's ok Svetti. Just sleep now," Wanda whispered in her ear.

"But I not sleepy..." Svetti trailed off sleep, finally claiming her as her head drooped onto Pietro's arm. They just smiled at her and how adorable she looked while sleeping.

Pietro gently put his arm around Svetti and closes his eyes and Wanda does the same. Soon all three Maximoff siblings were fast asleep in each other's arms.

They were awoken a few hours later to their parents coming through the door. Svet awoke first and groggily sat up rubbing her eyes. When she saw her parents she squealed and ran into their arms, "Мама! Папа!"

Her father smiled as he picked her up and spun her in the air while her mother put the dinner she brought home on the table. 

Svetti's squeals woke her siblings with a start. They jumped awake but when they saw their parents and not an intruder they scrambled to greet them.

"Mama papa!" They yelled and ran to their parents and tackled them in hugs. Pietro nearly tripping over his fathers briefcase because he was running so fast.    

"Привет мои любимые!" Their mother Iryna said in sokovian, giving each of them a hug and a kiss on their cheeks.

"How was your day?" Wanda asked her father Olek

He and Iryna share a look, He didn't really sell anything today, that fact was a given. It had been like that for a while now. He didn't have the heart to tell his kids. "It was good! I got lots of work done today. Mama is dinner still warm," he quickly redirected the conversation.

Svetti walked over to Wanda and tugged on her shirt, getting her attention. "Wandy? Cold." Svetti said, shivering and clutching her arms to her chest.

"You're cold? Do you want the sweater," She asked, bending down to Svettis' level. Svetti nodded her head. "Ok let's go get it. It's in mama and papas' room," Wanda said, standing back up and taking Svettis' hand and leading her to their bedroom. She went to the closet and started rummaging through it looking for the sweater while listening to the conversation continue between her parents and Pietro in the other room.

"Yes it is. I'll get out the plates and then we can get started with TV night," Iryna said

"Excellent," Olek smiled

"Ah ha! I found it," Wanda exclaimed with a grin, pulling out a well worn and faded blue sweater that was just Svetti's size, with a dramatic swish. The sweater had once belonged to Wanda but once she outgrew it she gave it to Svetti. "Here I'll help you put it on." She spoke, carefully helping her sister put on the sweater when Pietro's loud voice caught both of their attention. He didn't realize just how loud he could get sometimes. 

"In English Papa!" Pietro said loudly just a hair away from yelling. "You said the only rule of Tv night is we try to practice our English. We've been practicing all day!"

"Yeah. Yes, he is right," Iryna laughed. "We were just making rid of the last little bit of Sokovian. Now where did your sisters wander off to?" Wanda and Svetti shared a smile 

"WANDA? SVETTI?" Pietro yelled looking around for his sisters that were right beside him just a minute ago.

"Wanda? Svetti? He called a little quieter looking towards the door of the small bedroom their parents shared. The door opened and Wanda and Svetti walked out, Svetti no longer shivering. 

"There they are. Now we can begin. Wanda you pick." Olek said, opening his briefcase revealing a dozen dvds.

"My pick isn't here."

"Ah, I forgot. I put it in the special place for extra safekeeping," Olek told his oldest daughter with a smile. 

Pietro grabbed Svettis' hand and took her over to the curtain on the wall with Olek right behind them.

"Don't look." Iryna said with a small laugh covering Wanda's eyes with one hand while the other held a plate of food. She smiled and gave her a kiss on the head as Wanda giggled.

Olek pushed the curtain aside revealing a hole in the wall that had a shoebox in it he opened it up and and pulled out a box set of dvds "This is your pick, yes?" he asked Wanda with a knowing grin showing her the box set.

"Season 2, episode 21," Wanda said, referring to the episode she wanted to watch.

"Dick van Dyke again? Always sitcom sitcom sitcom," Pietro exclaimed with slight comedic annoyance at his twins' constant choice.

"The walnut episode" Olek said

"Rob and Laura have lots of fun in this episode if I remember correctly" Olek said to his wife.

"Yes, Rob and Laura have the most fun shenanigans," Iryna spoke as she handed a plate to Pietro and Wanda and a smaller plate to Svetti.

"What is shenanigan again?" Pietro asked his family as he and Wanda got situated comfortably on the floor with their plates, Svetti beside him and his parents on the couch.

"She-she-non-aga," Svetti scrunched up her brow and pouted as she spoke the word with a great deal of difficulty, she was still so young and learning parts of Sokovian and learning another language on top of that was confusing at times. The strange word from the foreign language felt odd on her tongue. She ultimately gave up and shoved a green bean in her mouth. 

"Shenanigan is like a problem but more silly than scary but can sometimes be a little scary," Wanda explained as her father put in the dvd and closed "Svetti very close but you say it like she-NAN-i-gan. But very good try." Svetti gave her a wide lopsided smile, her missing front tooth that had yet to come in on full display.

"Yeah like uh mischief," said Iryna thinking of the right words and settling onto the couch with Olek following suit.

"But a silly mischief that always becomes fine," Olek added, dragging out the word always for emphasis and finishing the shenanigan explanation with a kind smile at his family. He loved times like this. They were all together and happy. For a few moments the rest of the world could just fade away. He could forget about all the violence and death plaguing Sokovia. He could just enjoy a show with his wife and children. For a moment everything was perfect. He should have known, it wouldn't last, this was the real world and the world around them was scary and dangerous. Nothing happy lasts and nothing perfect survives.

"Okay, Papa start it for us," Iryna said, her voice as Pietro began shoveling food into his mouth like a pig. Wanda just gave him a look that basically said 'seriously' while Svetti just giggled imagining Pietro with a snout and curly pig tail.

"Vhat?" Pietro asked with his mouth full when he caught them staring. 

"Nothing, just you eat like a pig." Wanda teased with a grin.

"I fu ot" Pietro huffed, or tried to but ended up choking slightly on his food, he was fine after a couple seconds, then swallowed. "I vas just hungry."

They all just laughed at Pietro's expense as Olek pressed play and the theme song began.

Svet and Wanda watched enraptured by the silly situations and laughed at the mishaps. Though in Svettis' little 3 year old mind everything that they did and said was funny.

Everyone enjoyed family time. To the children it was the best time of all. They were all together. Laughing, smiling and enjoying a meal. Svetti couldn't be happier. But as I said before nothing lasts forever. Not even happiness.

BOOM

The world around them shook. Rubble and dust clouding their vision, unbearable pain making itself known through every inch of the children's being. The world spun and all they could hear was a deafening ringing. The three children were plunged into darkness and their parents were nowhere to be seen.

Svetti was the first one to regain consciousness. She didn't know what had happened. All she knew was there was a loud boom and now everything hurt. She tried to sit up but could barely lift her arms. The simple movement sent shocks of pain coursing through her little body and she cried out as tears began running down her now dirty cheeks. She was very disoriented from the blast and could barely move without sending jolts of pain through her body.

She managed to lift her head slightly without the pain being too unbearable and she looked around and saw her brother and sister still unconscious a few feet in front of her. Tears turned to sobs seeing them scraped and bleeding slightly from a few cuts and covered in a thin layer of dust, ash and rubble. She tried calling out for them but they didn't move.

She looked around still disoriented, and saw part of the wall gone giving her a perfect view of all the fire and destruction outside. Everything deathly silent except for the distant sounds of engines humming and distant explosions. She turned her head to look the other way and saw the place where her mama and papa had been, not moments before gone. All that remained was a giant hole in the wall and floor. She began sobbing harder, calling out for her mama and papa hoping they would hear her and answer her. Hoping they would come to her and free her. Tell her everything would be ok. 

There was no reply, all that rang around her was the deafening sound of gunfire and explosions pouring in from outside. She was alone. That was a thought that would plague her mind for many years to come every time she closed her eyes. To a child everything is so much bigger than it seems, and this was already very big.

She continued to cry trying to move but her leg was still caught under a now broken and splintered table after afew minutes, which felt like hours, Wanda and Pietro began to regain consciousness. They were both extremely disoriented from the blast and didn't seem to hear her now muffled sobs.

Wanda was looking around and she saw the same hole in the floor Svetti did. She looked like she was about to cry too. All of a sudden a sound could be heard. It sounded like another bomb falling. And it was heading straight for them. That snapped both Pietro and Wanda out of their disoriented states, Pietro yelled Wanda's name and grabbed her trying to drag her away. 

Svetti tried calling out for them again but she couldn't through her tears and hiccups. 

Just as the twins were about to take cover they heard crying and immediately knew it was Svetti. They began frantically looking around for her and Wanda finally spotted her trapped under a broken table. "SVETTI!" Both the twins yelled and ran to her. The bombs whisteling was getting louder signaling its was getting closer and closer. 

"Помогите мне поднять это! Торопиться!" yelled Pietro to Wanda. She nodded and they tried to lift the table off their baby sister. The table itself was not heavy. Not by any means. It was the rubble on top of the broken table that was making it impossible to lift.

"Помогите мне убрать завалы! ТЕПЕРЬ!" cried Wanda as she began frantically trying to shove the rubble off the table, Pietro doing the same while trying to reassure Svetti that she'd be ok. That they'd get her out of there, but these promises were drowned out by the now extremely close sounds of the bomb.

They finally pushed the last chunk of rubble off the table and practically threw it off Svetti. Pietro reached down and picked her up in one of his arms and with his other he grabbed Wanda and he ran taking them to the bedroom to get under the bed where he thought they'd be safest. They all got down on the floor, scrambled beneath the bed. Well Wanda and Pietro did. Pietro was still clutching a crying Svetti in his arms as he got under the bed and shuffled closer to Wanda still clutching Svetti to him in a death grip. As if him loosening his grip would cause her to disappear.

"шш. ты слышал это?" Pietro whispered, "Может быть, они здесь, чтобы помочь."

"Может быть, это они его послали." Wanda whispered back.

Wanda and Pietro were looking up waiting for the bomb to drop and praying that they'd live. "Я так люблю вас обоих, мои драгоценные сестры." Pietro whispered for what he feared would be the final time, a pain no child should ever face. No child should fear that was this was their last day. This was the harsh reality of their world. War and violence; the only world these children knew. Tears streaked down his dirty ashen face, waiting for the bomb. "You must know that."

Wanda and Svetti nodded " I love you both too," Wanda whispered as she threw her arms around them both, embracing them for what could've been the last time.

The bomb crashed through the ceiling with a loud bang  and landed, not five meters from them. It was big and ugly with a blood red light blinking, taunting them while counting down the seconds till it exploded. Two words were printed on the side in big bold letters that read STARK INDUSTRIES.

"Wanda? Мы должны выбраться отсюда." Pietro whispered quickly his eyes wide and staying glued to the bomb terriefied.

"Мы не можем." Wanda whispered back dejectedly.  "Нет времени. До свидания, мои дорогие брат и сестра." She said tears streaming down her face making Svet look over to her and cry harder.

Though only 3 years old and not fully understanding what was happening Svetti knew she was about to die. She knew her parents were already dead. She knew she and her brother and sister were not far behind. Her tears didn't stop but her sobs quieted and turned into small hiccups. She didn't want to die but since there was no escape she found comfort in her brother and sister. If she was to die then and there at least she wouldn't be alone. She could be thankful for that at least. She wished her parents could be with her in what could be her final moments. Though it was probably a good thing that she never saw them. The image of their mangled bodies would have destroyed her fragile mind.

Svet and the twins laid there taking comfort in each other's arms, Svet still burrowed in Pietros for their final seconds and waited. But nothing happened. No pain. No fire. No smoke. No explosion. They dared not open their eyes to check for they feared the smallest action would trigger it so they kept waiting and waiting and waiting. They waited for another 20 minutes before they dared to look.

Pietro gathering all his courage risked a peek. The blood red light was no longer blinking. The beeping had also stopped, but the bomb was still there. It hadn't exploded. Was it possible he thought? Was it broken? Were they safe for now?

"Wanda? Svetti?" Pietro whispered softly, nudging his twin and gently shaking the younger to get their attention. 

"Vhat?" Wanda whispered back

"It stopped."

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Translations

Мама! Папа! - Mama! Papa!

Привет мои любимые! - Hello my loves!

Помогите мне поднять это! Торопиться! - Help me lift this! Hurry!

Помогите мне убрать завалы! ТЕПЕРЬ! - Help me move the rubble! NOW!

шш. ты слышал это? - Shh. Do you hear that?

Может быть, они здесь, чтобы помочь. - Maybe they're here to help.

Может быть, это они его послали - Maybe they're the ones who sent it

Я так люблю вас обоих, мои драгоценные сестры - I love you both so much my precious sisters

Мы должны выбраться отсюда - We have to get out of here

Мы не можем - We can't

Нет времени. До свидания, мои дорогие брат и сестра - There's no time. Goodbye my brother and sister
‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

... Soooo

THE PROLOGUE IS FINALLY DONE PEOPLE!!! IT TOOK ME FOR-FREAKING-EVER BUT ITS FINALLY DONE!!!

And I have my absolutely amazing friend darkvixen14 whom this chapter is dedicated to, to thank!

Y'all should definitely go check out her books and give her a follow!!

She has Descendants fics, Percy Jackson fics, Marvel fics, and Harry Potter fics! Your bound to find something you'll like! So what are you waiting for? Go check her out and give her a follow!

And don't forget to comment and vote! I literally LIVE off comments! So don't be afraid the let me know what you think!

I hope y'all are having a good day/night! Remember to drink lots of water!

I love you guys!

~𝙻𝚊𝚛𝚔