Winter's Widow

Chapter 34: Damages

There were voices that were surfacing slowly out of the dark. I could hear people screaming. I could hear voices speaking but they were muffled, and I couldn't make out what they were saying. I frowned, trying to glance around but finding nothing but darkness.

"You left me there," A voice came from beside me. I spun instantly to see a familiar redhead, leaning against the wall, staring at me with a look that echoed disappointment. I frowned, staring after her. This wasn't possible.

"Natasha? What are you talking about?" The redhead stalked towards you angrily, her index finger poking repeatedly into your chest.

"Why did you make me do this alone, Kasey?" She frowned, her voice raising in volume as her green eyes flashed in anger. I attempted to back away to keep my chest from getting poked by her deceptively pointy index finger.

"Natasha, what are you talking about?" I held my hands up, trying to get through to her, but there was no talking to her when she was like this, and I knew it. I just couldn't figure out why she was mad at me.

"You got hurt, and you left me there, alone. I had to leave the planet. Alone. I had to die. Alone. And it's all your fault!" I felt my eyes brim with tears, and I couldn't prevent their escape as they made their way slowly down my cheeks as I stared into the eyes of my best friend. The one person that I was desperate to see more than anyone else.

"Natasha, I..." She rounded on me, gaining a second surge of energy.

"I mean, sure – you brought my body back. You buried it nicely, didn't you? Did it help you feel better for leaving me?" I blinked up at the Russian, a sob escaping my throat. I shook my head.

"No, this isn't you." I muttered, angrily wiping the tears from my cheeks. Forest green eyes flashed at me angrily.

"This isn't me? How the fuck would you know that? You have no idea who I am now because of what you did to me!" She spat at me. She reached for me quickly, and I shrunk away from her grasp, unsure of what was happening. Natasha had never spoken to me like that before. She would never. I tried to catch my breath, taking my eyes off of the imposter that looked identical to my best friend as I hunched over, trying to inhale steadily and failing.

"Natasha, I love you," I gasped, clutching my side against the immediate onset of pain. It felt like, whatever this was, was ripping me open from the inside out. The redhead scoffed beside me.

"Yeah, that's why you're hooking up with my sister," she huffed. Wait. I frowned, raising myself to full height, staring at the women in front of me knowingly. "What are you staring at, Winter?" She snarked up at me as I crossed my arms across my chest. I took a deep breath, clenching my fists.

"You're not my Natasha," I mumbled, stuttering over my words the first time. When the figure across from me scoffed again, I felt myself getting bolder. "You're not my Natasha." I said again, more forcefully this time. The figure across from me stared at me, eyes opening wide.

"What are you doing?" It asked as I advanced towards its position. I could feel my fingertips crackling with electricity.

"Get out of here," I ordered, shooting a bolt of electricity from both hands, knocking the figure back several paces.

"Don't do this," it warned, continuing to back away from my advance. I snarled and shot electricity again before everything around me went blank.

It was only a dream. Right?

...

(Yelena's POV):

"Kasey!" Wanda and I were both screaming at her now in panic. I'm not sure what we thought we were going to accomplish by yelling at the same time, but here we are. She wasn't waking up and she had used her powers, and I was going to go out on a limb and say that the combination wasn't great. Wanda was gently shaking her now, even tried to use her powers to get into Kasey's head and see what was going on but had little luck. I scrambled through Kasey's backpack for one of the burner phones she always kept with us in case we needed to get in touch with someone. My hands were shaking as I held the phone momentarily before passing it expectantly to Wanda. Wanda took the phone, looking up at me expectantly.

"Call Shuri...she may know..." my voice trailed off as I stared down at Kasey. Her face had gone pale, which stood out in stark contrast to her dark, curly hair, and all I wanted to see right now were her steel blue eyes staring up at me with that smirk she always had on her face. Last night had been one of the best nights of my life, and now...I shook my head. I couldn't think like that right now. I traced my fingers over Kasey's face as Wanda began to pace the room, holding the phone to her ear. I caught bits and pieces of the one-sided conversation, not liking the concerned look that was gradually creeping over Wanda's usually cheerful expression. She sighed when she ended the call, immediately reaching into her pocket for her own phone. "What are you doing?" I muttered, barely able to pull my attention away from Kasey to monitor the other woman's progress.

"She has to get out of here, Shuri thinks..." Wanda deliberately stopped herself from speaking.

"Thinks what?" I scowled at the other woman, not enjoying being kept in the dark. Wanda's green eyes caught mine, and from what I could tell by her expression, things were serious. Wanda began dialing on her phone before she was forced to answer me – or look at me any longer.

"We've got a situation here. At the cabin. We need evac." I glared a her as she began making plans, moving around the cabin, and gathering supplies together. When she approached the room, I grabbed her by the arm, finally pausing her movements.

"Wanda?" The woman sighed at me before stopping, looking me straight in the eye.

"They're coming in the jet to get her some help. Shuri doesn't know if she'll wake up." I sighed, looking towards the ceiling, noticing scorch marks from electricity similar to the burns I had first noticed on the ceiling of her room at the old Avengers tower. As Wanda began to pack our belongings as well, I sat on the edge of the bed, cradling Kasey's head in my lap, playing with her hair.

"You've got to wake up, Winter. They're coming for you, and I don't..." I paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I don't want to go anywhere without you."

a/n: hello to Wattpad's most wonderful minions. I am happy (and yet sad) to announce that the remaining chapters for Winter's Widow are written and ready to be posted. If you ask real nicely, maybe I'll dump the chapters tonight as well.

If you haven't yet checked out Avenger's Universe-ity, it's an alternate universe with all of your favorite marvel characters in college together, leading a normal (for them) life.

I will be starting regular updates on Fire and Ice again as well, and I'm happy to announce a new story, tentatively titled "Red Room: White Widow/White Room:Red Guard a Yelena/Natasha/O!cfem character. I hope to see you all there.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the reads, votes and comments so far. It means the world to me that something I've written has resonated with so many of you, and you're the best readers ever.