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Kate Bishop stared outside the train window as it trudged along the tracks. Her seat’s window was frosted over and small snowflakes landed on the seal. As far as the eye could see, there was white. Tall trees were covered in it, some slumping while others stood tall and bore the weight proudly. The white powder stacked high on the ground and lake under the tracks.
It was so beautiful.
Kate couldn’t bring her dull eyes to actually enjoy it.
She was headed towards her new residence.
It was just last week that Kate had bought the property. The sellers were eager to accept her offer of cash only. Kate didn’t need it, had no reason, no justification to have so much money when she wanted no possession. What she wanted, she could never have, never hold again. The thought of finding enjoyment in the things she had once cherished, collections of action figures, Friday night takeout, her endless archery arrows… It made Kate feel disgusted with herself. The people she loved, the people she lost would never be able to enjoy anything again and it was her fault. Kate brought death with her everywhere she went. To the ones who had only ever brought her love.
It had started when she was only twelve years old. In her bedroom, screaming for her parents. That damn screaming. Her mother had quickly found her staring out the gaping hole in their home. Her dad had come running too but he had missed them. Instead of being greeted by his wife and daughter, Derek Bishop was greeted by an alien craft crashing into his body at an unfathomable speed. He never knew that little Kate and his wife had got out, that they were okay. He never knew anything ever again.
Clint Barton. Kate's hero. The man she had looked up to ever since the night she had gotten her father murdered. She had aspired to be like him. Not to just be strong but to be able to protect the ones she loved the way he was able to. He was a good man. Kate had gotten him tangled in her mess when she had stolen his Ronin suit, dragging him along as she took on fights she should have never started. She was forced to watch him die. He had come to save her, tearing Kingpin away from her as he dragged her near lifeless body around the toy shop. She couldn't move, could barely breathe as she laid on the floor with a collapsed lung. Having hurried to Kate's aid, Clint had no bow as he faced Kingpin. The large man had easily bashed the archer’s skull open on the cashier's counter. His brains had splattered over her face.
That was when Lucky had come in. Oh, Lucky. The poor boy never stood a chance. Kate thinks he knew that too. That didn't stop the dog from standing protectively in front of a near-dead Kate, growling over her violently shivering body. Kingpin hadn't even wasted a thought on him. The large man had just nodded to one of his lackeys that had come in. The Russian man wasted no time in firing his gun on the animal. Kate had used all the air in her remaining lung to scream for the dog. They had just left her there, holding Lucky's body.
The cops had come, separating her from the lifeless dog and getting her to an ambulance. Her mom rushed to her, cooing over her wounds and gasping at the blood. The police had forced Eleanor to get out of the ambulance, handcuffing her. She called for Kate, fighting against the hands that dragged her away. Kate had let them take her. Her mom. The person she had dedicated her whole life to protecting. It was the last time Kate had ever seen her. Eleanor was stabbed barely a month into her sentence. She died. Her mom died. Kate would never hear her voice again, never be held in her arms or soothed through her pain. And Eleanor would never get to do anything ever again.
And that was it for Kate. She had no one left. She had brought death to them all.
Now she was going far, far away. She was going to be alone, as she should have been from the very start. Kate had gotten the idea from a travel agent that had come to her door. The offer of a two way trip to Russia, half off as a Halloween special. Kate had taken the more expensive one way option. It was that very night that she had bought her new house in cash. It was an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods. There wasn't a neighbor in sight, the closest thing being the train tracks which were a half an hour drive away. It would just be her, snow, and tall trees.
It wasn’t going to be a home. No, Kate would never have one of those again.
Kate Bishop stepped off the train's high step and her shoes sunk into powdery snow. It went past her ankles and she felt the cold seep into her skin. She took a deep breath and headed off towards the truck that will take her to her destination.
The frozen door would budge. Kate groaned. She took three big steps back, huffed, and slammed herself into the wood. Unlike her previous attempts, the door burst right open and Kate fell flat on her face. She miserably groaned from the floor. It was dusty. Kate sneezed.
She hauled herself to her feet, wiped away the blood leaking out of her nose, and took her single backpack, her last and only belonging, to her new bedroom. The whole place was dusty and smelled stale.
Kate set her bag at the end of the bed and crawled on top of the sheets. She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Fully dressed, she stayed in her slumber for a long time. She dreamt of a small blonde woman, dressed in black and surrounded by endless white.
Kate continued to dream of her, of that woman, for months. Every night she fell asleep, she would be greeted by limitless green eyes, a soft smile. Every night. Yet, every dream had felt different. Kate felt like each one had been a deep inhale to her starvation of air. Her mornings were dull and all the same. Kate couldn't tell them apart. She just waited for sleep to claim her. Kate didn't want to wait anymore.
She was near the end of her nonperishable food supply. That was really all she had been waiting for. She didn't care to eat the last of it, she decided. She wanted to sleep today.
Kate took off her thick, snow-appropriate clothing. She let her bra and underwear fall to the floor. She stood naked in front of her mirror. Kate stared into her dull eyes and easily let go of everything here. She turned around and left.
Kate stepped into the snow, the coldness frigid against her bare skin. Her pale color quickly turned a bright pink. Kate continued on, she knew where she wanted her resting place to be.
Past the tall trees, bushes hidden by fallen snow, she arrived at the cusp of a frozen over lake. It was so beautiful. Kate still couldn't appreciate it. Her entire body was a mix of newborn red and deathly white. She laid down in the snow, her naked skin becoming surrounded in it. She stared up at the sky that was lit in warm, sunset tones and closed her eyes. Her fingers touched the frozen edge of the pond and she relaxed. She was ready.
“A bit cold to be doing that, no?”
Kate's eyes popped open and gasped as she saw a woman standing above her. Her arm flew up and covered her breasts while her legs squished together to cover her lower area.
“W-what are you–” Kate stuttered, fumbling to form proper thoughts. The woman above her seems so familiar to Kate. She wore a long, flowy black dress, sleeves reaching down to her pale wrists. Her hair was a beautiful blonde and a red shal sat loosely atop, covering the shoulders of her dress. The blonde was also carrying a freaking sickle. And she was softly smiling at Kate. A naked Kate. The brunette gulped.
“You're tresspassing!” Kate yipped, flustered for the first time in– she didn't even know how long. The woman above her just chuckled and shook her head humorously.
“Oh, Kate Bishop.” The woman laughed. What the fuck. “You are funnier than I had imagined.”
Kate sprang into a sitting position and scooted away from the woman, making sure to protect her decency as she did so (whatever decency she has left). “How do you know my name? Who the hell are you?”
The woman's hand fell to her waist and she pursed her lips. She hummed in thought. “Well,” she started. “I am called many things. Some call me Mara. Others call me Marena or Marzanna. Most recent? Morena.” The woman paused, smirking. “Though, they all call me the goddess of winter, pestilence, and death.”
The goddess of death. Huh. Kate raised one of her furrowed eyebrows.
“And you? What do you call yourself?”
A look of surprise crossed the woman's face. She looked conflicted for a second before softly smiling at Kate. “Yelena.”
“Yelena,” Kate whispered to herself. She looked down at the snow licking at her skin. “Are you here for me, Yelena?”
The woman, Yelena, got on her knees and became eye level with Kate. “Yes, I am.” She looked down at Kate's naked and numb body. “Though I do not believe it is the same reason you came to me.”
Kate reddened from the attention. “I came to you?” She looked up at the blonde.
Yelena just gave her a look.
“Oh,” Kate murmured. She came looking for Yelena, for death. Kate swallowed. “I guess I did.” She frowned. “If you're not here for that, then why are you here for me?”
Yelena seemed to contemplate with herself for a second. She looked back up. “I wanted to finally meet you. In person, that is.”
“Finally?”
Yelena smiled at her. “In a way, I have known about you your whole life.” Kate looked more confused. “I have taken much from you, Kate Bishop.”
Kate quietly gasped in realization. She looked away from Yelena. Her eyes stung as she stared at the frozen lake. She flinched when soft hands caressed her cheek, gently guiding her back to face the goddess. Yelena's eyes held remorse and an emotion Kate couldn't possibly name, even if she spoke Yelena's mother tongue. The sickle lay discarded in the snow.
“I am sorry,” Yelena whispered. Her thumbs wiped at Kate's falling tears. Kate sniffed and slightly shook her head, as much as she could with the small hands framing her face.
“It wasn't your fault.” Kate didn't think Yelena had much of a choice of what died in this world, least of all random Americans.
“It wasn't yours either.” The quiet words pierced Kate's heart deeper than any sickle could. She felt so raw as she gasped in Yelena's soft hold.
Kate shook her head, fiercer this time, and cried hard.
“It is,” Kate gasped out. Her eyes were firmly shut and she refused to open them, even at Yelena soft touches.
“I do not think it is.” Yelena's voice was soothing against Kate's shuddering form. “I do not believe you are at fault for what others have done.”
Kate felt her hair being pushed back and her forehead being brushed. “From what I know, you are kind,” Yelena pulled her into an embrace. “You love so hard,” Yelena ran her hand over Kate's freezing, naked back. Kate would have never expected death's embrace tk feel so warm. “And you have tried so hard to protect the ones you love. You have spent your whole life doing so.”
Kate shuddered and choked on her sobs. “But I couldn't. I failed. Each and every single time, I have failed to save them. They all died because of me.”
Yelena hushed her and started to gently rock them, disturbing the snow they were surrounded by. “You, my kind archer, have never been at fault for the cruelty in this world. You cannot control others just as the leaf cannot control the actions of the wind that carries it.”
Kate looked at Yelena with a raw expression, pleading. “Then what can I do? I have nothing left.” Kate could barely speak above a whisper.
Yelena kissed her, gently and with love. She kissed her cheek next and whispered in Kate's pink ear. “You can choose.”
Kate gripped the black dress. “What can I choose?”
“You can live. You can die. Either way, I will accompany you, if you wish it.”
Kate's weeping eyes asked a question Yelena's green ones readily answered. Kate saw the beauty in those eyes. It was the first time in a long time that she had seen beauty in anything. Kate finally let her body relax in death's arms and whispered, “I want to live.”