Chapter Text
Kate Bishop was used to her life being crazy by now. In the twenty three years she’d been alive, she could quite confidently tell anyone that would listen that crazy shit to them was just another day at the office for her.
Take, for example, Kamala Khan showing up at her apartment and offering her a spot in her new team. Was it something she’d expected, no! But one doesn’t pass up the opportunity to be in a group called the ‘Young Avengers’, and if her past exploits of becoming the world’s new Hawkeye were anything to go by, Kate figured she’d do pretty well at this too. She was right, of course, so now she’d gotten used to all kinds of insanity in the name of living the dream she’d be working towards since the aliens attacked New York and changed her life forever.
So, if you asked Kate Bishop if she had gotten used to expecting the unexpected, she’d quite confidently say yes. And yet…some things in life cannot be prepared for, and Kate Bishop was about to walk straight into one of those moments.
—
Kate walks up the stairs to her apartment, tired and aching after a long day of training with her fellow teammates. It was hard, and she was sore, but every day brought something new and she was so grateful that this was her life now.
She exhales deeply as she reaches her front door, she’d kept her place just so she could have somewhere to go that was still her own when she needed to decompress and get out of the madness that was the Young Avengers HQ. She loved her team and her life, but she still cherished the nights where she could come back to an empty apartment and eat pizza in her pyjamas alone.
Exhausted as she was, and she’d kick herself for this later, Kate doesn’t notice the spots of blood that had made their way down the hall up to the spot she was currently standing in.
Unlocking the door, Kate moves to turn on the light, but is stopped dead in her tracks at the feeling of cold metal pressing against the back of her head. Fuck. Not good. She raises her hands slowly, mind already racing and tripping over the countless questions that this situation brought. One, how did she not realise someone had broken into her apartment? Two, who had broken into her apartment? Three, how could she get herself out of this before a bullet entered her brain and life as she knew it was over?
However, those questions, the possibilities of what she could do to save herself, what could she use as a weapon right now, what could she say to defuse the situation, how much of a fight could she put up, left as quickly as they had entered when two single words left her would-be killer’s mouth.
“Kate Bishop.”
Kate whirls around in shock, the gun in front of her forehead now, as the Russian accent she’s been longing to hear again enters her ears.
Kate’s eyes catch up with her brain until she registers what’s in front of her.
Gun. Yelena. Hospital gown. Blood.
It’s still dark, so she couldn’t make out a lot, but it was enough for her to know this night wouldn’t be what she thought it was.
Kate’s mouth drops in horror. Of all the ways she had dreamed she would see Yelena again, she couldn’t have expected it would be like this. Before she has a chance to say anything, Yelena speaks again.
“Are you real?” she whispers.
Kate stares at her. She almost sounded…scared? The absurdity of the question almost makes her laugh, if it wasn't for the whole gun to her head thing. When she doesn’t answer, Yelena speaks again, more frantic this time.
“I need to know, Kate Bishop,” she says, as she tightens her grip on the gun and presses it further into Kate’s forehead. Her eyes were bloodshot and wide, and she was looking at Kate with so much intensity it almost made her knees buckle, but she doesn’t dare look away, the gravity of this situation settling in as the shock of seeing Yelena standing in front of her again starts to subside, her brain scrambling to make sense of what was happening.
She doesn’t know why Yelena was pointing a gun at her, she doesn’t know why she was asking her these questions but something wasn’t right with her. Fear is not something that was associated with Yelena. And that’s all her eyes were full of right now. Add that to the hospital gown and the blood, Kate knew that she had to reassure her and fast. She’d work on understanding all this later.
Kate slowly moves her hands towards the gun, and she sees Yelena somehow tighten her grip even further, her finger hovered over the trigger, as a gulp slides down her throat. Kate doesn’t let that deter her, even with heart hammering against her chest, her eyes stay locked onto Yelena’s until she has her hands clasped over the gun and Yelena’s blood soaked hands.
“I’m real, Yelena,” Kate said, with as much conviction and reassurance as she could possibly muster.
She sees Yelena release her breath ever so slightly as their hands connect, but the gun stays positioned to her forehead, the cold metal contrasting with Kate’s now sweat soaked brow.
“Tell me something…only the real Kate Bishop would know,” Yelena says, her voice breathy and thick with desperation.
Kate’s mind is racing again, but she’s always been a quick thinker, and her mouth is open before her brain can even catch up.
“Okay…remember when you broke into my apartment? Kind of like this time but without all the blood. Well, I thought you were going to kill me…I guess that’s also like this time…but instead you made me mac and cheese! And you moaned at me for only having one fork, remember? Oh! And remember when we had that epic fight and I stopped you halfway through to say we should get drinks? It’s me, Yelena, I promise, you know there’s only one Kate Bishop and I’m right here in front of you.”
The words rush out of Kate so fast that she’s almost breathless by the end of it, but she’s desperate to convince Yelena it is actually her and not…whatever else Yelena thinks she could be.
Her rambling pays off, and relief floods through her as Yelena finally lowers the gun and the pressure against her forehead is lifted. But it’s short lived, because when Kate reaches behind her and flicks the light switch on, all the breath leaves her body as she finally sees Yelena in front of her.
She’s covered in blood, absolutely smothered in it, from her hair down to her feet, the hospital gown clinging to her body with how wet she is, but Kate also sees patches of dry blood, meaning some of whatever had happened to her hadn’t just happened if the blood had been there long enough to dry on her skin.
She feels bile rise up in her throat as she takes her in, sees wounds littered up and down the parts of her body that aren’t covered by the gown. Cuts that range from superficial to deep ones still oozing blood, bruises going from yellow to purple to black, and she has to force herself to swallow the acid in her throat as she realises that some of the marks on her are burns, the flesh red raw and blistering.
Yelena stands in front of her, looking so small, nothing like the commanding presence Kate had always known her to be, and Kate feels white-hot anger burn through her veins at whoever had done this.
Whatever adrenaline that had kept Yelena going up until the point that she had made sure that Kate was real must’ve left her body at that point because she sways, releasing the gun from her hand, and then falls forward into Kate’s arms.
Kate catches her in a heartbeat, and she lowers her down until she’s on her knees and Yelena is lying against her, looking up with eyes so vulnerable that Kate actually has to look away to stop the tears coming.
“They…put something…in me…” Yelena manages to croak out, and that’s when Kate realises that the biggest, wettest patch of blood is on the side where her stomach is.
Kate’s own stomach flips at this revelation and she’s panicking now, because they’re here in her apartment and Yelena needs medical attention, fast. It wasn’t enough for her to call for a SHIELD evac, they wouldn’t get here quick enough; Kate doesn’t even know how Yelena made it here in one piece or where she had even come from, but she was fading right in front of her eyes.
“It’s okay, Yelena, it’s okay, just hold on!” Kate pleads, going through every possible solution that would actually get there in time to help her.
“Mm, but it is not okay, Kate Bishop…” Yelena says, flicking her eyes to something over Kate’s shoulder.
Kate whips her head round but all she sees is her empty apartment staring back at her. She feels her head being turned back as wet fingers grip her chin, Yelena and her eyes meeting again.
Yelena looks up at her, brows slightly furrowed as she slowly, weakly traces her finger up Kate’s cheek, over her eyebrows, down her nose and then over her lips. Kate freezes as she does this, her mind and body completely overwhelmed with what was happening.
“I would have liked to get that drink with you,” Yelena whispers.
Kate wants to scream, the urge making her chest physically hurt, but she has to stay strong, she has to think of something, anything!
“We will, okay, after you get better, you owe me okay?” Kate breathes back, it’s hard to even talk with the panic that’s lodged inside her chest right now.
Yelena closes her eyes and winces, and then it hits Kate that she might actually know what to do.
Her phone’s out of her pocket in a flash as Yelena still lays against her, and she dials the number as quickly as she’s able to with all the blood on her hands, and prays to anyone that will listen that this won’t end with her dead in her arms. No. She can’t even fathom the possibility.
The call can’t have lasted even fifteen seconds, but all Kate can think is that it’s fifteen seconds too long, fifteen seconds that Yelena has still been bleeding out in her arms.
Yelena is shaking now, gripping Kate’s arms as her eyes dart around the room wildly. Her breath starts to quicken and her fingers dig so deep it hurts and all Kate can do is hold her, tell her it’s going to be okay, that she’s here and help is coming, and she hopes it’s believable enough even though deep down she doesn’t really believe it herself.
Kate was smart enough to realise by now that whatever had been put inside her (she shudders at that thought alone) was making Yelena question her reality. That’s why she asked if she was real, that’s why she was looking over her shoulder, that’s why whatever she was seeing right now was causing her body to deteriorate even further, though Kate didn’t even know how that was possible considering how bad things were already.
The blood was pooling around them both now, and it felt like they had been here for hours, when in fact it had probably only been minutes.
Yelena is still shaking, but her eyes are on Kate’s again, which she took as a good sign, until Yelena spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper this time, the action clearly taking the little strength she had left.
“I didn’t know…where else to go. I did not want to be alone when I…,” she pauses, exhaling with a cough before continuing.
“I have my own Hawkeye,” she says with the smallest hint of a smile, all her energy going into speaking.
“I will tell Natasha you were kind to me” she breathes, before her eyes flutter closed.
Blood had started to leak from Yelena’s nose and the sides of her mouth and a sob escapes Kate throat before she can even help it, hot tears dripping down her cheeks at the weight of those words as she looks down at the broken girl in her arms.
Time stands still in that moment and Kate doesn’t even know how this can be real life. She’d felt hopeless many times in her life, but this feeling right now, complete and utter despair, was gnawing its way into every possible crevice of her being, smothering her senses the way Yelena’s blood was covering her skin.
It couldn’t end like this. She’d been enamoured with Yelena since that fateful first meeting on the rooftop, which felt like a lifetime ago now. She’d thought of her often since she left, hoping she’d come back, even if it was just to fight her again. That instant connection she’d felt when they’d locked eyes on the roof and their chemistry in all of their other interactions kept Kate hoping just enough that Yelena wouldn’t be lost to her forever, that they could one day maybe get that drink together.
But now, on her knees in her apartment, feeling like the walls are closing in on her, all Kate can do is hold her and cry. Not just for what had happened to Yelena, but for what could have been, because all that was gone now.
All that was left was the blood clinging to her clothes and the tears falling down her face and Yelena, beautiful Yelena, her pulse and breathing getting slower by the second.
Kate begs and pleads, over and over, just hold on a little longer, please, God, please-
The glow of orange sparks light up the room around them and if she wasn’t crying already, Kate would have burst into tears from the relief that floods through her as the portal opens up in front of her, a literal light bursting its way into the darkness of her despair as she picks up Yelena’s fragile body and steps through.