lonely heart - k.bishop

t w e n t y - o n e

Eden's boots sank slightly into the soft earth as she walked through the fields surrounding the small Romanian farmhouse. The early morning light cast long shadows over the landscape, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold. Birds sang in the distance, their songs carried on the crisp spring air. The scenery was beautiful, serene even, but Eden barely noticed it. Her mind was far away, trapped in the endless loop of the past few months.

It had been four months since Fisk had conditioned her, turning her into the Crimson Reaper once again, and four months since she had nearly killed Kate. That night, the look of betrayal and confusion on Kate's face had haunted her ever since. It was the face she saw every time she closed her eyes, the face that reminded her of just how far she had fallen. And the face that drove her to fight through the haze of mind control and reclaim what little remained of herself.

She had fled after regaining enough consciousness to break away from the mission Fisk had planted in her mind. It was a battle, a constant war within herself, but she had managed to escape. Yelena had found her and taken her away, driven her out to safety. Eden could still remember the sensation of waking up in the passenger seat of the stolen car, her mind fuzzy, but the overwhelming compulsion to kill Eleanor Bishop and her daughter had weakened. The pull was still there, lurking at the back of her mind, but it wasn't as overpowering as before.

Yelena had been there beside her, grumbling in her usual dry manner about how maybe bumping Eden's head into a few things had actually helped shake something loose. Eden hadn't responded much at the time, but now, thinking back, she knew it had been Yelena's way of comforting her.

Those first few days had been a blur. They'd hidden in a small, abandoned cabin, deep in the countryside. Yelena had made contact with someone, a person Eden didn't know but who had apparently been keeping tabs on their situation. When Yelena finally told her they would be going to see Melina and Alexei, Eden had felt the old hesitation clawing at her insides. She didn't trust herself. She didn't trust what she could do if the conditioning overtook her again. But Yelena had convinced her, in her usual blunt and stubborn way, that Melina could help. That if anyone could break the chains Fisk had wrapped around her mind, it was her.

So, Eden had agreed.

The flight to Romania had been tense, but Yelena had kept her talking, distracting her from the gnawing anxiety that simmered just beneath the surface. When they finally arrived at the farmhouse, Melina and Alexei had welcomed them with open arms. Eden had met them before, back when she and Natasha had been on the run after the Civil War, but this time was different. This time, she was the one running. She was the one in need of saving.

Melina had taken one look at her and immediately understood. There were no words needed. Just a firm nod and a quiet promise to help, to fix what had been broken.

Over the next few weeks, they had worked tirelessly to find a way to break the conditioning. It wasn't easy. The methods Hydra had used to control Eden had been deeply ingrained in her psyche, and Fisk had somehow found a way to tap into that old programming, twisting it to his own ends. Melina had dug into her research, experimenting with a combination of neuro-blockers, hypnosis, and even meditation techniques to try and weaken the hold that the conditioning had on Eden's mind.

Eden had known from the start that it would be hard. She had known that it would push her to her limits and beyond. But she also knew that it was necessary. She couldn't live like this, constantly afraid that someone could snap their fingers and turn her into a weapon again. She couldn't go back to that life, not after everything she'd fought to escape. And so, she endured the pain, the frustration, and the endless sessions that seemed to blur together as she clawed her way back to herself.