AN: I have never written in an AU before, but this one wouldn't get out of my head.

Prologue

Outside the apartment building, a large squadron had appeared, made up of sobbing survivors, concerned neighbors, and a rescue team that was nearly ready for action.

Inside, Pietro was curled around his younger twin sister, Wanda, protectively. She held in a scream, terrified that any sound should shake the shell and cause it to go off, killing them instantly. She could feel her brother shaking, though (or maybe it was her own shaking). From outside, they could hear sirens and the sound of a loudspeaker that had been repeating the same message over and over for the past five minutes: "Remain where you are, we are sending in a rescue squad. If anyone is alive, we will have you out in just a moment."

After a moment passed and then another moment, Wanda dared to open her mouth and speak to her brother in a whisper. "Pietro?"

"Sister?" He spoke in a lower whisper.

"Will it go off?"

"I don't know. Don't move." As if to ensure her stillness, he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"I won't, but Pietro…" Her voice betrayed her own shakiness. "What about Mom and Dad?"

Pietro shuddered against her, though she could feel that he was trying not to. "I don't think they made it, Wanda."

She knew this was the truth, but she still felt the sting when the words were whispered out loud. She held back a sob, still worried that a sound too loud would set the shell off.

After a while, the announcement stopped and the sound of shifting rubble could be heard all around. Every stone that was moved caused the twins to inhale deeply with fear. Every time there was a shift in the ground, they could have sworn that they were about to join their parents in death. But after one agonizingly long day, they allowed themselves to hope, just a little, that maybe this would not be how they died.

…

Halfway through the first night, Wanda gently shoved Pietro awake with her free elbow. "Pietro?" She still spoke quietly.

"Huh, what?"

For a moment, she felt bad for waking him up to this cruel reality, but she didn't understand that he could even sleep at all. "If we get out, they'll put us in different orphanages. Boys and girls can't be together."

"I know."

"So what will we do?"

"I've been thinking about that. Give me three weeks, I'll get out and come find you."

"What if you can't get out?"

"Then you'll have to come get me. But it will be better if you don't try to get out right away. Give it time so they don't suspect you."

The orphanages in Sokovia were known well for the amount of children that ran away from them. In the recent few years, security had been enforced in them and it had become almost impossible to escape, though there had been stories and rumors of a few determined individuals who managed to get away.

"Do you promise to not leave me alone?" Wanda turned her head to look directly into her brother's eyes.

"I will never leave you alone. I promise to come find you." His eyes met her gaze knowing that the promise was for himself just as much as it was for his younger sibling. He was her older brother after all, even if it was only by twelve minutes, and it was his job to protect her and take care of her, especially now that their parents were gone.

…

What felt like years later, but was really only two days, a final piece of rubble was removed and the bed was lifted off of the twins by a large group of rescue workers. Once the bed had been moved, the trembling children were lifted up and moved away from the shell that had decided not to go off after all.

The Maximoff twins were only given a moment, though, before they were pulled away from each other and, to their horror, placed in separate cars and driven off in different directions.

"Pietro!" Wanda called as she realized the terrifying truth of what was happening. "He is my brother! I must be with him!"

A woman with a kind, but tired looking face turned around to face the little girl in the back seat. "You are orphans now. You must go to the orphanage and the boys and girls cannot be together. I know it is hard, but it will be for the best." She forced a smile to try to comfort Wanda.

"But I cannot be without him. He is all I have."

"Perhaps you will be adopted together." The woman had already turned back around to face the road. "It really is better this way." She repeated.

…

Once he realized what was going on, and that he and his sister were being separated far sooner than he though, Pietro took his first chance to get away. He jumped out of the car as soon as the car made its first stop to let another car pass in a different direction. But the men who had placed him in the car and sat in the passenger and driver's seats had seen this behavior many times before and they were ready for him.

"We need back-up on the boy!" One of the men barked into a walkie talkie that connected him to other members of the rescue squad.

Though Pietro had been the fastest boy in his class, he was not fast enough to elude the four men that gave chase almost immediately after he had achieved his freedom. They caught him up and began to carry him back to the waiting car.

"Wanda!" He called as though she could hear him. He struggled and kicked and even managed to bite one of the men that had a solid grasp on him. It was no good, the men were used to grief stricken and violent orphans. It was all to common in Sokovia.

Once he had been returned to the car, he was placed in the backseat, in-between two men this time who squished his arms down with their large bodies. A kinder one took pity on him. "Maybe you will both be adopted and you will see her again. I know it's hard, but this is what is for the best. She will be fine."

"You do not understand, she is my twin. We must be together." Pietro wriggled uselessly.

"We will inform the adoption agencies of this, but we cannot guarantee anything. Do not worry. Your sister will be fine."

…

The car ride seemed to take forever. They traveled down so many twisting roads and made made so many turns that Wanda wasn't able to keep track of where they had gone or even how far from her destroyed home they were. The woman in the front seat often turned around to offer condolences and check on the girl in the backseat.

Wanda didn't want to cry, but it was impossible to keep the tears from silently streaming down her face. She had lost her home, her parents, and she was so afraid that she might loose her brother now, too. Then she would have lost everything she had ever had.

They finally arrived at a large building that seemed to stand on its own. It was so far away from the city where the twins had lived, that it had no other buildings in sight. A worn sign on the front proclaimed that it was the "Sokovian Girl's Orphanage." Creative names were not wasted on such a hopeless institution. It was not quite run-down, but it had a definite look of over-use about it. The paint had long ago chipped off in many places and the front porch had a significant hole in its middle that had never been fixed. But all in all, it was not the horrific desolate place that Wanda had always imagined it must be.

The young girl's door was opened by a new person and she was guided out by the woman who had sat in the passenger seat. She had the compassion to hold Wanda's hand and give it a comforting squeeze. A middle-aged man smiled sympathetically at her as he shut her door and led the two and the driver into the building.

The door to the orphanage slammed shut with a sort of finality that scared Wanda. She gripped the woman's hand tighter. Her dirty face had not been cleaned since she and her brother had dove under the bed and the ruble and ash that covered her face betrayed her tears which had left tracks in the dirt. When this was combined with her nearly completely ruined dress, her bare feet, and her tight grip on the woman's hand she made quite a pitiful picture.

"Mrs. Whischult!" The man called out. "Miss Wanda Maximoff has arrived!"

A woman about the same age as the man shuffled out from the back of the house. She was tall and well-built with a face that had seen too much tragedy. "So she made it out after all, did she?" She gave Wanda a small smile. "We are all glad that you survived, Wanda, we were waiting with much worry to see if you and your brother would be freed."

She reached for a camera that sat on a table by the door. "We'll need to take your picture for the website." Without giving Wanda a chance to protest or make herself look any better, the woman snapped the picture. "There we go. Now we can take her from here Ana. Thank you for bringing her."

The woman who had been holding Wanda's hand, Ana, gave one final squeeze and let her fingers loose. She knelt down next to the little girl. "It was nice to meet you, Wanda. Good luck." And just as she had arrived, she and her driver were instantly gone. And Wanda felt the feelings of being lost and alone fall down upon her with completeness. She was tempted to run after Ana, but her brother had told her not to make trouble and she knew that grabbing onto Ana's knee like she wanted to would not help her situation at all.

"Now then, Miss Maximoff, let's get you some new clothes. I am afraid we do not have much to spare, but we will take care of you as much as we can until we can find you a new home. Don't worry, a little girl like you will be adopted in an instant." As she walked ahead waiting for Wanda to follow she muttered under her breath. "All the Americans are looking to take in a tragedy like you."

…

Pietro was not so quiet and the boy's orphanage was not so quaint and run-down as the home his sister was taken to. The men who had held him in the back seat took a tight grip on him and walked him into the newer looking building. After many attempted escapes, a generous donor gave money to rebuild the boy's orphanage located in the center of the city. It had high walls and radiated hopelessness for any boy that was taken into its hold.

Pietro struggled, but the men holding him were much stronger and he had no hope of escape. When two men greeted them at the door, he was handed off to them. "Careful with this one. He's a runner." And just like that, the men walked away and Pietro was taken inside by the two new men.

"We know your type. You will settle down after you realize that there is nowhere to go." One of the men said with unexpected gentleness. "I heard about you and your sister. You will probably want to be with her, but you have to know that she will probably be adopted and you will probably stay here and you just have to let her go. She will be happier when she can put all of this behind her. For the sake of your sister, let her go."

Pietro took in his words like a blow to the chest. "She will not be happy if we are not together. She is not just my sister she is my twin. We have to be together!" He struggled again, but it was still useless.

The man who had spoken sighed and said nothing more before leading Pietro further into the orphanage to his room.