emmylou | natasha romanoff

vormir #1

2023
Vormir

When they reach Vormir, Kennedy instantly notices how pretty the planet is. There were gray skies and water and it almost looked like it was snowing. Kennedy stepped out of the ship and looked around with a smile on her lips before looking over at Natasha.

Natasha was less excited, but still looked around in awe of the planet, "I don't think anyone's here."

"It's kind of pretty for a planet that the dominion of death," Kennedy states.

"Come on," Natasha says as she begins to climb the rocky mountain. Kennedy sighs as she follows Natasha up the mountain which was a lot taller than it had originally appeared. When Kennedy and Natasha reach the top, Kennedy is instantly enamored by the view.

"Someone's here," Natasha mutters and Kennedy tears her gaze away and looks over.

"Welcome," a voice speaks. Natasha doesn't hesitate as he pulls out her gun, Kennedy doing the same. A cloaked figure stands before them and Kennedy wonders if she's setting her eyes on death itself.

"Natasha. Daughter of Ivan," he speaks, causing Kennedy's brows to furrow. Out of the corner of her eyes, she can see the way that Natasha's hold on the gun loosens a little.

"Kennedy. Daughter of Franklin," he speaks, and Kennedy lowers her gun entirely. She didn't understand how he knew her father's name.

"Who are you?" Natasha asks.

"Consider me a guide to you and to all who see the Soul Stone," the voice replies.

"Good," Natasha says, "You tell us where it is, then we'll be on our way."

"Oh, Liebchen if only it were that easy," the man says as he steps into the light. Kennedy's eyes go wide as she looks at the Red Skull. She'd learned about him during her years at SHIELD, looking at cases of the past.

"You're the Red Skull," Kennedy states, "You fought against Captain America. You died in 1945 when Steve went under the ice. How did you get here?"

"The Tesseract brought me here," he answers, "Punishment for my endeavor to master all six stones."

"So you've been here since 1945?" Kennedy asks.

"I have."

Natasha lowers her gun, brows furrowing as she looks at him, "Where is the stone?"

He moves past them, floating toward a cliff, "What you seek lies in front of you. As does what you fear."

Kennedy steps over toward the end of the cliff and feels sick to her stomach as she looks over it. The drop below was so far, further than any height that she'd been on.

"It's down there?" Kennedy asks.

"For one of you," the Red Skull answers and Kennedy looks over at him, "In order to take the stone you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul for a soul."

Kennedy's breath stops and her heart nearly stops beating at the words. In order to receive the stone, one of them had to jump, one of them had to die. Kennedy takes a seat on a rock as she tries to think. It was just her and Natasha. It was just the two of them.

"The dominion of death," Kennedy mutters as she shakes her head, "Makes sense."

Kennedy looked over at Red Skull, wondering if he was lying to them. It seemed plausible and yet Kennedy couldn't understand why he would do that. He was – or had been – a power-hungry man, but she believed that even he wouldn't enjoy watching people lose the one they love time and time again for the stone.