AVENGERS: Fate.

PART 3

2002:
WINTER SOLDIER POV:
I'm in the training room, waiting for my daughter to arrive for her training session. She's late. She's never late. I want to ask if she's okay, if something's happened to her, but I can't get away with asking questions like she can, they love her here. After a little longer of me pacing around, the door opens and I spin round to face it to see Fate, she charges at me, I think she's jumping straight into the fighting, but instead she hugs me. I give her a minute, before grabbing her shoulders as gently as I can and pushing her back so I can see her face. She looks miserable and is blinking a lot, I get down on one knee "What happened?" She looks me in the eye, I can see that her eyes are a bit wet.

Something bad must've happened, I've never seen her like this before, she's always smiling.

"Fate? Talk to me." She sniffs "Mom's dead, she didn't come back from her mission yesterday, so they sent someone out this morning and they brought back the team's bodies." "I'm sorry." "Mr Goodall said I won't ever see her again, that's what he said dead means. But I don't really understand." "Well, when someone dies it means they aren't around anymore, but they're always with you, if you think about them. Just remember her, think about things she's said to you and you'll see her. But she won't be around here anymore."

If only I could remember her, if only I could remember anyone. It's annoying only remembering Fate, but at least I never forget her.

"Dad, all the people who die, does no one ever see them again either?"

She called me dad…

"I'm afraid not." "So, death's bad?" I hesitate "Depends who it is, what sort of a person they are. But for your mother, yes, it was bad." She nods and clenches her fists "How do people die? Is there any way to stop it?" "There are lots of different ways death occurs, if your mother was on a mission, then she was most likely killed." "Killed? Like the Agents do?" I nod and she nods "Can I kill them?" "Who?" "Whoever killed my mom." "I don't think you're ready yet. Maybe when you're older." "Can you do it for me then?" "I'll talk to Goodall." "Thank you." I kiss her forehead "Let's train and when he collects you, I'll talk to him." "Okay, dad."

I'm sitting in front of my dad's pod, he's sleeping. I hear someone walk into the room behind me, but they don't say anything, so I don't either. After about five minutes, the man speaks "What are you doing here, Fate?" It's Mr Goodall "I'm just sitting here." He walks over and sits beside me "How about playing with something, haven't you got something in your room? Didn't we buy you some dolls a few years ago?" I glare at him "Yeah, you got them for me about 7 years ago, I haven't played with them. Dolls aren't really my thing." "Of course not. Why don't you pick up dancing or something?" "Dancing? Isn't that boring?" "Doesn't have to be. You should try ballet, I'll get you an instructor." He gets up and leaves me and dad alone "What do you think, dad? Should I try ballet?"

A week later I'm handed a box and told to get ready, so I place it on my bed and pull out a piece of clothing, it's black and just one piece of material. I pull it on, then looking in the mirror I admire it, it covers from my crotch to chest. I find a pair of pale pink shoes and put them on, I then brush my hair and throw it up in a bun. I'm escorted to a training room, where mirrors are covering every wall and right in front of them are bars around the room. Standing in the centre is a tall woman "Fate, this is your instructor." After following her instructions for a few hours, my instructor says "You're heavy footed, don't have great balance and need to be more ladylike." "You'd better teach me then." I smile up at her. I end up taking on a ballet lesson once a week, in place of one of my training sessions with dad.