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There is power in Death. A single hint of Death can spur a person to do great things. The prospect of Death can push a person beyond their normal limits and into the realm of greatness. A little Death makes life more sweet, letting every moment be a glorious point of light in a sea of darkness. Too much Death will stifle and choke even the heartiest soul. Some people have a brush with Death then spend a lifetime running from her. Some take their fleeting meeting as a sign and move on to grow, to learn and to live life to the fullest. Some people spend their whole lives dogged by Death; always running, but never escaping.
Everyone knows death; some more intimately than others. Very few people ever walk with Death. Steven Grant Rogers first met Death when he was just a babbling babe. It was only his mother’s fierce determination to not lose her son after so recently losing her husband that clawed tiny Steve’s soul away from Death. Death didn’t care. She would have Steve eventually, one way or another. Death was patient.
Once, twice, half a dozen times, Sarah Rogers challenged Death for Steve’s soul, winning every time. Steve came to know Death well. He came to know her aura. He could see when she dogged an old man’s steps or when a young stud was courting her.
Steve walked beside Death, but he never walked alone. First, his mother shared the path. Then, Death met Bucky Barnes when it was he, who with love and warmth and hope and light, clawed Steve back from her grasp. Steve and Bucky became close and Death became interested. Who was this mortal who fought so valiantly to take one more breath and escape her clutches for even a single, ephemeral moment? Who was it who lent strength of both body and soul with little regard for his own suffering? Who was it that willingly joined Steve Rogers in his walk with Death?
So, after being taunted a hundred times, Death roused and looked. She was already looking at the tiny ball of blue to watch the massacre and senseless slaughter of millions; turning to glance at two men was hardly difficult. They did not know it, but walking with Death for as long as they had, touched both of their souls. They were marked. Each meeting with Death tore at the soul, but somehow, both men managed to mend the wounds each time and come back stronger.
Eventually, Bucky joined the slaughter she had come to the blue planet to watch. Already an old friend of Death, he had long ago gained the same familiarity with her that Steve had. He could see where she walked. He could see which men would not see another sunrise. He could see which men lived only for the slaughter. He could not see when willful, belligerent little Stevie stepped forward and courted Death willingly.
Death watched when Steve Rogers nearly shattered his soul. The science and magic the men had cobbled together should not work, would not work. It altered the body, broke the tether to the soul. No soul was strong enough to survive that. No soul that hadn’t been tempered in a hundred fires. No soul but Steve’s. And so, he lived. Even if his soul was in tatters.
When Bucky courted Death for the first time, she took notice. She pulled together an intangible mortal form and took a walk on the blue ball. A little magic had her walking through dark and damp corridors surrounded by the screams of the dying. Finding the marked and dying soul was easy. And make no mistake, Bucky was dying. His body was failing but he was fighting. Death walked into the room, a laboratory where men brought impersonal death to others for transient reasons.
Bucky was restrained on a table surrounded by men in lab coats. His eyes were glassy and vacant, barely focusing on the men above him. Those cold eyes caught on Death though.
“What’s a dish like you doing in a shithole like this?” he asked with a wry grin as his bloodshot eyes barely focused on Death.
The men around the table looked up to where Bucky was looking, then back at Bucky after seeing nothing. “Hallucinations,” one of them said. “Mark it down.”
Death smiled at Bucky. Whatever these men were doing to him was tearing him apart, not unlike what had nearly happened to Steve.
Bucky saw the smile and let out a croak of laughter. “Trust me dame, there’s better gin joints than this. I’d ask you ta dance, but I’m a little tied up at the moment.”
“Shut him up,” another lab coat said and someone put a gag on Bucky.
Death walked closer to the table and stepped into a vacant spot left by one of the lab coat wearing men. She ran a cold but gentle finger up Bucky’s cheek. “A dance sounds lovely.”
She didn’t stay but a day turned into a week, turned into two and every day, she visited Bucky. Usually he didn’t see her, his grasp on life varied with each visit. At the end of two weeks, it was clear to Death that Bucky was going to survive. His mind and soul were wounded, though. His close rendezvous with Death had left him hollow.
Death knew now that both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were indelibly marked by their association with her. So close was their relationship that Death could feel them. Both of them. Always. So, as she stood over Bucky, who slept fitfully after the men had injected him with something new, she felt Steve nearby.
She watched the reunion. Two wounded souls swelling with warmth and happiness at just being together. Steve and Bucky escaped Death once again, together. But still, they walked her path.
Death found herself enthralled with the insignificant, little lives of two mortals caught up in a vast and world-changing war. She started to shadow them and their little band of misfits as they brought Death to their enemies.
Whatever had been done to Steve, whatever science or magic had been wrought, had made him strong; made him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. His commanding presence spurred men to action and turned the tides of the war. Bucky had also been changed. But rather than embrace the change and stand tall beside Steve, he shrank back into the shadows and chose to walk closer to Death.
Steve only indulged Death when he had no other options. Bucky took the shot, plunged the knife, crushed the throat, from the shadows. Death was fairly certain Steve didn’t even know that he had stepped off her path while Bucky had never been more committed. It was interesting to watch how Steve tried to keep his hands from serving Death and how it was only through Bucky pledging his services to Death that Steve managed. Slowly, Death started to primarily shadow Bucky.
Bucky was in a tree. He was scouting a base, solo, with orders to take the shot if he saw it and return with information if he didn’t. The Howling Commandos were a few hours away, warm and fed around a fire, while Bucky was freezing on a tree branch, alone in the dark. Well, not alone. Death was perched on the branch above him.
“Sometimes, I think I feel you,” Bucky whispered absently. “I think I lost my marbles months ago. Maybe that’s why. Still, I know you’re here.”
Death looked down at the sniper crouched on the branch below her. Few people ever talked to her. To fewer still did she ever reply. The idea of what she was usually drove them mad. And contrary to what Bucky believed, he hadn’t gone mad yet. Still, Death was interested and conversation was a novel idea. She reached out with a little magic and raised a snowy wind that spun around the tree in the still night.
Bucky snorted at that. “I figured as much,” he said as he checked his scope. “Don’t know why I warrant some ghostly stalker.” There was a pause as Bucky’s rifle tracked something in the distance. “Or maybe I do.” The shot cemented Bucky as a servant of Death.
Death watched the rest of the war over the shoulder of Bucky Barnes. She watched the triumphs and the heartaches. She watched as Steve and Bucky used warmth and love to repair the tattered remnants of their souls. She watched as Steve struggled to avoid her path and as Bucky wholly embraced it.
She watched as Bucky, her devoted servant, set in motion a string of events that would only bring him closer to her. She watched him pick up Steve’s shield. She watched him draw enemy fire. She watched him when he clung to the side of the speeding train over the frozen ravine. She watched as Steve tried and failed to pull him up.
Death expected to find Bucky’s vacant body at the bottom of the ravine. She expected to embrace his soul and call him home to her side. Instead, she found him alive, if barely. His left arm was mangled, his body broken. Whatever had been done to him had kept him alive, for now. So, Death sat with him, to be there when he finally succumbed to her.
“It’s… you…” Bucky rasped through shivers after several hours in the cold. Death glanced down at him, not realizing he’d woken up. She smiled at him but he passed out again before she could speak.
Death nearly screamed in frustration when rescue came for Bucky. He seemed to relax as the soldiers dragged him though the snow. As he soon discovered, it was not a rescue. Bucky had been captured by the enemy. They stabilized him and then started the torture.
Even as a half-starved prisoner, with one arm and in constant pain, Bucky still served Death. All it took was a single slip and guards died.
She only left his side when she felt her other marked soul on this world step closer to her. Steve courted her once again, willingly. He plunged his plane into the cold arctic waters. But between his stalwart soul and his unnatural body, Death couldn’t claim him. So, he fell into slumber, deep within a mind filled with warmth from purpose and love.
Death disregarded him and returned to Bucky. Feral and terrible Bucky; writhing and spitting in defiance. Whatever they were doing to him was driving him closer and closer to Death. So close that when they dragged his bruised and bloody body back into the cold and empty cell, he met her eye and laughed.
“What the hell are you?” Bucky asked through panting breaths as he lay where his captors had dropped him.
“I am Death,” she replied. There was no point hiding it anymore. Bucky was well on his way to that madness he had been worried about months ago. “You are my servant.”
Bucky laughed. It was a manic and wild thing. “Explains a lot.”
After that, Bucky started talking to her a lot; seeing her more and more often. But it didn’t last. They started to break his mind. And then he didn’t speak. But Death knew from the look in his eyes, he still saw her.
They wanted a weapon. They molded Bucky into one. Crafted an arm made of metal and attached it. It was a crude thing. But Bucky was a servant of Death. And no instrument of Death would ever work in her name with such shoddy weapons. One touch of magic gave the metal life, and Bucky control over it.
They took control of his mind next, and with it, his body. Pushing him closer and closer to Death’s cold embrace. Then, when he would follow orders, they started to deploy him. And he served Death masterfully.
The first time they dragged Bucky into the frozen coffin, Death had laughed. Few people who dealt with Death ever did so from both sides. Few were ever the killer and the dying. But this Death dealer crafted from the remnants of her precious servant, he knew Death like no other.
And so, to show her love, her admiration for her precious servant, Death wrapped him in the cold embrace of Winter as he slept on the very edge of Death.
When they woke him up, months later, the chill of Death never left him. The men made comments.
“His body temperature is only 35 degrees.”
“Well, bring it up.”
“We can’t.”
“Fine. We’ll just go with it.”
The Winter Soldier took to the field and fulfilled Death’s desires. She stayed with him and watched him work. Watched his masterful art all done in her name.
Winter would always be returned to the cold. Inside the cryo unit, Death would snuggle up close.
“Hush now, my sweet Winter. Rest in my embrace.”
HYDRA woke Winter often. Death now knew that it was HYDRA who had him. She had come to appreciate her faithful Winter enough to care about the mundane goings on around him. Every time they woke him, he had embraced more of her power.
HYDRA didn’t understand it. But Winter eventually started radiating cold. They needed portable heaters in the space they had him. Most of them just thought it was a flaw with the cryo unit, since it went away a few hours after they thawed Winter, even if his body temperature never went above 35 degrees. Death knew better. Just like it took him time to regain his balance when they woke him up, it also took him time to get the cold under control. She knew that Winter pulled all that cold deep inside. Sometimes, she wondered just what he’d be capable of if he let it out.
Death rarely interfered. She never needed to. Death was inevitable. She just had to wait. But Winter was hers. When she found out a certain member of HYDRA wanted to end the Winter Soldier program, she found Winter after a session in the chair while he was still surrounded by scientists and technicians.
“Deadly Winter. That one,” Death pointed to the man with a smug expression in the back of the cavernous room. “Kill that one. He would see you decommissioned.”
HYDRA never knew why the Winter Soldier killed every single person in the room that day but they accepted their losses and moved on.
It became almost a game to Death. While he slept in the ice, she wrapped Winter in her power. When they woke him, she went along for the ride. She offered commentary, knowing Winter always heard her, even if he never said a word to her.
“That was a beautiful shot, my sweet. Few on this planet could match it.”
“One hundred and seventy-two men single handedly. A new record.”
“Always so clever, dear heart. Using your environment like that.”
“They need to give you better knives, my heart. These ones break too easily. Although there is something to be said for the symbolism of a broken blade left in the wound.”
“Why do they stop you? We both know you can do it.”
“I don’t like this man. He doubts my servant. Sabotages you. He will walk onto the field. Make sure he doesn’t walk away.”
Spending time with quiet Winter was a nice distraction from the sycophants of the universe who tried to curry her favor for personal gain.
When Death felt the other marked soul on the planet shift. She almost ignored it, so caught up in her infatuation with Winter. Then she remembered Steve and by association, Bucky.
She felt when Steve slipped away from her and stepped back into the world of the living. But she didn’t bother to go look. Steve had tried at every chance to turn away from her. She was happy with Winter.
Even still, she felt the fickle hand of Fate guiding her dutiful servant.
“My heart. My sweet. My knife. My darling. Someone claimed you long before me, but as you have always walked with me, so too shall I always walk with you.”
Death watched as Winter was sent to kill Steve Rogers. She watched him struggle against what he had become and eventually retreat in failure. She wrapped him in her cold embrace, trying to comfort him as he grappled with his own mind.
Steve and Winter fought again. This time, Steve reached out with his own wounded soul, searching desperately for his other half. Searching for the only thing in the world that had ever soothed his pain. Winter tried, but there was so little left of Bucky. In the end, there was only enough of him left to stop Winter. To let him ask the question, why? And without an answer, he dove into the water and pulled Steve Rogers from Death’s embrace once again.
Winter fled. Terrified, confused, and in agony. When he finally stopped to sleep, almost a week after the miserable reunion, Death stepped into the room and made herself known. Winter, or maybe Bucky, startled badly.
“Calm, my sweet. You know me.” Death watched recognition flash in her servant’s eyes. Recognition, curiosity and understanding.
“Death,” he finally rasped. “My constant companion.”
“My faithful, dutiful servant. My knife in the dark. My heart.” Death knelt down before her wallowing servant. She reached out a hand and brushed icy fingers along his jaw. Her servant didn’t turn away. “The question, dear heart, is what will you do now? You know you have my heart, my support, my power. I walk with you. Will you walk with me?”
Her Winter turned away. “They're too powerful. I—”
Death laughed. “You are stronger than any of them realize. I have given you strength over years. Over decades. All you need to do is tap into it.”
Winter came to HYDRA. Even Death was surprised at how much of her power had leached into her servant over the years. He became a walking blizzard, radiating cold, drawing wind and snow at his command. His touch stole heat. His grasp of ice magic was masterful but he only rarely reached for Death’s magic.
Winter raged for months. HYDRA never stood a chance. Bucky emerged slowly and while he was a far better conversationalist, Death still preferred the cold detachment and quiet company of Winter. Bucky and Winter were not exactly separate people, more like mindsets. It took energy to be Bucky. It took effort to pull that personality to the surface. It was often exhausting for Bucky to banter and chat with the people he came across as he drifted around the world; moving from HYDRA base to HYDRA base. Eventually, he would fall back on Winter, especially when he was covered in blood in the depths of HYDRA’s most recent base turned slaughterhouse.
Winter could not be stopped. At least, not by HYDRA. They had nothing that could stand against him. With guns and knives, ice and sleet, he worked in Death’s name.
In the lowest level of the most recent HYDRA base, Death stepped forward from her usual spot a few paces behind Winter and rested a frigid hand on his shoulder. “Sweetheart, draw in your ice. You would be upset to hurt one who walks in it.”
Winter killed the last man in his hands before he turned to look at her and Bucky responded. “There’s no one…” He paused. “The Avengers.” Bucky shook himself briskly, shaking bloody icicles from his armor. “I guess we should go meet them, doll.”
Bucky couldn’t escape before the Avengers arrived. So he perched atop an armored personnel carrier that was in the massive entryway of the now eerily quiet base and waited. Since he had just tore through, the APC still had lances of ice piercing it like a pin cushion. Death sat beside him, as regal as a queen on the frozen throne her servant had made for her.
Steve was the first one through the massive steel door that Winter had shattered when he’d begun his assault. Death watched Bucky’s eyes soften as Steve charged in, eager and ready. She saw the exact moment when Steve’s eyes landed on the Winter Soldier.
“Bucky!” Steve called. As excited as he appeared, Steve kept his shield up.
“Heya, Stevie,” Bucky said from where he sat.
Steve smiled at the nickname before taking in Bucky’s Winter Soldier armor, the slaughtered HYDRA agents and the deadly ice that pierced every surface, including the corpses. Steve’s eyes bugged out in realization. “The ice is you?!”
“The moniker Winter Soldier has never been more appropriate.” Death could hear the amusement in her servant's voice.
Before they could continue the conversation, a red and gold robot burst into the base behind Steve.
“Shit,” the robot began. “These bases are always hella creepy before the ice melts.”
“Iron Man,” Bucky said flatly.
Iron Man startled and raised his hands in Bucky’s direction. Steve jerked to put his shield between Bucky and Iron Man. “Tony!”
Bucky didn’t hesitate. Ice lances burst forth from the ground between the Winter Soldier and Iron Man. They were massive things that formed a spiky ridge with every point aimed at Iron Man in return. Some were less than a foot away from him. The ice manifested in a single second. It was crystal clear and deadly sharp. The temperature around them dropped several degrees.
“Glorious, dear heart,” Death cooed from beside Bucky.
Bucky didn’t answer. He just flicked his eyes over to her for a moment. They both knew no one but him could see her. “Are we fighting?” Bucky asked. “I was just here for HYDRA.”
“We’re not fighting,” Steve said placatingly. “Right, Tony?”
Iron Man slowly lowered his hands. “That does not obey the laws of thermodynamics, Winter Wonderland.”
“I’m on my way out,” Bucky said. “Base is clear.”
“By clear, you mean a fucking slaughterhouse,” Iron Man said with a shiver that showed through the armor.
Bucky shrugged. “It’s no more than they deserve. Trust me on that.”
“Bucky—” Steve began.
Bucky shook his head. “Can it, Stevie. I ain’t gonna stop. Not when I know a hundred more people with my blood on their hands.”
Steve looked positively torn. After several heartbeats, he nodded gravely. “Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. Then I’m going with you.”
“What?!” Iron Man and Bucky said at the same time while Death cackled in the background.
“I’m going with you, Buck. I’ll help you fight HYDRA; the way we did during the war.”
“Steve! You can’t—” Bucky tried.
“No! I left you behind once before. I will not do it again!” Steve shouted.
Death watched as the mantle of Captain America was passed on to a very confused man with mechanical wings. She watched as Steve handed over the shield to him while he and all the other Avengers tried to stop him. Steve just shook his head.
“Twin souls reunited at last,” Death said with a sigh from where she stood with Bucky away from the group. “Fate does fine work.”
“You sound happy, doll,” Bucky said as he watched Steve say his goodbyes.
“I only want my servant to be happy.”
Nomad took up arms beside the Winter Soldier. As much as Bucky tried to hide it, he’d gotten used to speaking with Death and after a dozen awkward glances from Steve, he finally relented and told him the story.
“So,” Steve began. He and Bucky were camping in the woods in the middle of nowhere. The Winter Soldier’s stolen quinjet was parked nearby. Death had joined them, even for the mundane task of camping since she wanted to see Steve’s reaction. “You’re telling me you’ve been haunted by the personification of Death since the war.”
“I first saw her in Azzano then after I fell,” Bucky said with a shrug. “After the first time in cryo, I started seeing her all the time.”
“And she’s here, now?”
“Yup,” Bucky said as Death snuggled against his side. “I don’t expect you to believe me, Stevie. I’m pretty sure I’m insane, but I thought you should know.”
Steve looked up from the campfire. “Actually, I do believe you.”
“You do?” Bucky asked skeptically.
“She wasn’t here on the flight over, right?” Steve asked.
“No.”
“But she was when the Avengers found you?”
“Yeah.”
Steve nodded. “I think I can feel it; when she’s here.”
Beside Bucky, Death cackled in delight. “What so funny, doll? Thought you’d be glad he believes me.”
“Dear heart,” Death cooed as she wrapped tighter around Bucky. “I am overjoyed! Tell him he and I first met when he was only a few days old and his mother tore his soul back from my embrace.”
Bucky squinted at her but relayed the message.
“I guess that explains a few things,” Steve said pensively.
When Nomad and the Winter Soldier contacted the Avengers to pass on information that the two vigilantes could not act upon, Death was surprised by how the encounter went.
“Captain America!” Steve greeted when the Avengers’ jet landed where Steve and Bucky had been waiting in a wide open field.
“Dammit! It sounds even weirder coming from you, Steve!” the black man said with a laugh.
“Mistress Death.”
Steve and Bucky’s heads snapped toward the massive blond man who had spoken.
For just a moment, Death was furious. She tore herself from her servant’s side and stood before him protectively. Then she filled the air with biting cold as she glared at he who had dared to address her.
“You can see her, Thor?” Steve asked with wide eyes.
“See who?” Sam asked.
Nobody answered him as Death roared. “This one is mine, Asgardian! Do you understand?!”
Thor looked between Bucky and Death. “I understand completely, mistress. He has nothing to fear from me.”
“Doll,” Bucky said as he took a step to stand beside her and lean against her.
Death glanced between her loyal servant and the Asgardian. Then she pointed at Steve. “I like this one, too.”
Thor’s eyes flicked between Steve and Death.
“Uh, Bucky?” Steve asked.
Bucky chuckled. “I think she just threatened Thor.”
“Who threatened Thor?!” Sam growled.
Thor tried to explain. “The Soldier of Winter walks with Death.”
Sam looked at everyone in confusion.
Steve took pity on him. “He means that literally, Sam.”
“Literally?” Sam asked. “Like someone called Death is here?”
“Yep,” Steve said.
“Why can’t I see her?” Sam asked.
“I can’t see her either,” Steve said with a shrug. “But I can sense her. Bucky can see her and I guess Thor can too.”
“It is both with honor and a fair bit of fear that I greet you, Soldier of Winter,” Thor said with a respectful nod.
“I’m not going to understand this, am I?” Sam asked.
Death had no time for the servants of Life. This new Captain America was beneath her and she didn’t even acknowledge him when he spoke.
“Damn, doll,” Bucky cooed. “That’s cold, even for you.”
“This one serves Life,” Death hissed as she leaned into her servant’s side.
“Uhh…” Sam tried.
“Best you don’t say anything else, New Cap,” Bucky said. “You might get on her bad side.”
Death knew that Fate had claimed her servant in the past, but she didn't know how many threads she’d wrapped around him until they all started to pull tight. And then Death knew the time was drawing near.
She approached Bucky when Steve was out of the hotel room.
“Dear heart, we must speak.”
“I always listen, doll.”
Her servant was sitting on the couch in a run down motel, so Death curled up around him. “Within this universe there are a great many who seek to curry my favor. Some commit genocide, some shatter planets, some unleash plagues. All do so to earn even a moment of my gaze. And they do earn it. But rarely as thoroughly as you, my heart.
“One of these sycophants drew my gaze in his youth. We flirted but he became boring. Apparently, he seeks to earn my favor once again. He is seeking out powerful magical items, called infinity stones, in order to use them to offer the greatest sacrifice in my name. When he brings all six stones together, he will use them to kill half the universe in the blink of an eye.”
Bucky stiffened where she was laying against him. “But you don’t want this?” he asked.
“No, dear heart. I am not so boring. That removes all the struggle, all the story, all the purpose, from a valiant or sorrowful Death. I would propose that my loyal servant should stand against this pretender and it would seem Fate agrees.”
“So, what do we do? Has Fate already decided this?”
“No, Fate likes to set the stage but leaves the situation in balance, allowing mortals to tip the scales. She has drawn the stones here. You yourself have touched one.”
“I think I’d remember touching some magical, glowing—” Bucky stopped himself suddenly. “Fuck, the tesseract.”
“The space stone resided within. A battle is coming. Fate has set the stage. I have chosen the cast. Will you play the part, dear heart?”
“To save half the universe as Death’s champion? That’s something I can’t refuse. Just tell me what to do.”
Bucky passed the information Death had shared with him to Steve, who in turn passed it to the Avengers. It filled in the gaps and the Winter Soldier and Nomad were called to Wakanda to help defend one of the last stones and keep it from Thanos.
“Dear heart! Look at you! Standing at the head of an army! Leading the charge!”
“Com’on doll, I can’t exactly chat with you with an army behind me. They’re all going to think I’m crazy.”
Death waved away his concerns and separated herself from her position of being draped over his shoulder. She looked over the gathered group. Wakandans, Steve, the servant of Life, and many more. “You discount these soldiers too quickly, my love. Some of them can see me.” She watched as her champion scanned the group and saw the faces of the Wakandans who were trying to pretend they didn’t see her. “And we need support.” Death stepped out ahead of the army and shouted, “All who can see me, step forward! I will grant you my favor in the fight to come!”
The nervousness of the few soldiers in the Wakandan line grew. Bucky sighed and then spoke, “No, you aren’t crazy. Yes, that is Death and we are going to need every advantage in this fight.”
“Bucky?” Steve asked from over where he was talking to the man who was technically the head of the army, the country's king.
Bucky just waved away the concern. “Death wants to help.”
Tentatively, several of the Wakandans stepped forward and bowed their heads while she blessed them.
“When they show up, do not engage until after I give the word,” Bucky said to the gathered generals and king.
“Why not, Buck?” Steve asked.
“I’m going to unleash a hell of a lot of power onto the field. I can either go with power or control. Not both. If your people are in the fray, they might get caught.”
When the alien spacecraft finally landed, the Wakandan army held and waited. Bucky’s instructions were followed. When the aliens broke the barrier, Death waited with bated breath. She was eager to see just how masterfully her glorious Winter could control her magic. It was beautiful to watch. Shadow tendrils surged out of Winter, snaking across the ground toward where the aliens had breached the barrier and forming a black line in a ring around the breach. Anything that crossed that line died instantly. The charging soldiers died mid-step, their bodies falling and sliding along the ground. The flying beasts died mid-flap and crashed to the ground a distance away. Death continued; corpses piled up. Eventually the alien soldiers had to push their fellows out of the way or climb over the bodies but still, they charged. Still, they died. And there were always more of them.
Winter’s grasp of Death’s magic was elegant, but even he had his limits and after significant slaughter in her name, he started to flag. A soldier made it past his line alive. Then another. Winter collapsed to his knee and gave a gesture with his metal hand. The king heeded the sign and the Wakandan army charged.
Steve did not charge, however. “Bucky!”
“I’m fine Steve. Just a little winded,” Bucky said with a grin. “Go be a hero.”
Steve gave a brisk nod then glanced around. “Look after him, Death.”
“He doesn’t know me at all,” Death lamented as he ran off.
Before Bucky could get back onto his feet, Death felt another piece of Fate’s puzzle slip into place. “Dear heart, leave the battle to the others. The stone must be the priority.”
Death led the way and Bucky followed. They skirted the edge of the battlefield and found the synthetic being who was powered by the mind stone held in the arms of his love within the forest. They were not in the city where they were supposed to be.
“Destroy it,” the android said to the woman who held him.
“That would be a very bad idea,” Death growled.
The android looked up in confusion. His eyes flicked between Death and Bucky. “It is our last resort,” he said.
Death scoffed. “Not my last resort.”
“Well, well,” a deep voice came from the trees. “I did not expect you to come to watch my victory in person, my love.”
“Thanos,” Death said with a loud sigh. “Cease this pointless game now and I will take pity on you and draw you to my side.”
Thanos stepped out of the trees, his golden gauntlet filled with five stones. The sixth stone stood behind her and her champion. “No. You don’t think I can do this. But I will prove my worth to you. One snap and I will make the largest offering in your name the universe has ever seen.”
Death snorted at the shortsighted man before her. “Boring. Besides, I have a champion. Dear heart,” she said as she glanced over at Bucky. “Ready to end this?”
“Say the word, doll.”
“Android! Lend me the power of the mind stone!”
“I don’t… exactly know how—”
Mortals! No one ever impressed her like deadly Winter. “Just don’t resist.” Death wrapped her power around the mind stone. “Allow me to level the playing field. Go, dear heart. I will pull the stones out of play. It will just be you against him. Show me the Winter I fell in love with.” Death locked eyes with Bucky for just a moment before he charged and she pulled up an opaque, black barrier formed from her magic.
The battle raged around them. The android stood at her back. The witch protected them. The dome Death erected was large and impassible. Everything was blocked out and she could not see the fight. She would not know who won until she felt only one life left within.
Finally, the end came. Only one life remained within the barrier. As weak as it was, it was clinging to life. When she dropped the barrier, she looked and hoped. At first, even for her it was impossible to tell who survived. Both bodies had been brutalized. Winter had used his knives to great effect. When her powers returned to her after the barrier was fully down, she could finally feel him. Deadly Winter was the victor, but at what cost?
“Bucky!” Steve yelled as he ran by where the android and the witch were still standing behind Death. She watched as Steve knelt beside her champion and began patting him down, looking over his many serious wounds and trying to listen for breath. Death approached and knelt beside him. Frantically, Steve looked up and yelled, “Medic!” then startled badly when he noticed her. “Death?!” he choked out. “Is he…?”
“He is dying,” she explained. “The only reason he hasn’t died yet is because I haven’t taken his soul.”
“Can you save him?”
“I can. I will offer you a deal Steve; you complete a task for me, and I will see that he lives to recover.”
“What kind of task?”
Death shook her head. “The offer has been made. Your answer?”
“I thought you loved him!”
“I do. If he dies, he would spend eternity at my side. That is all I want. But I am patient. I will wait, if you love him too.”
Steve looked pensive for a moment as he looked down at the mangled form of his childhood friend. “Yes. Whatever you want.”
“Good.”
The battlefield was seething with Death’s magic. So much of it that everyone could see her. She stood and gave Steve his orders. “Tend to my love. Guard where the stones have fallen. Do not touch them. The pieces are in play and make their way here. We must wait.” The Wakandans and the android took Bucky off the field.
Death and Steve stood guard while the clean up for the battle began. With Steve’s help, Death found homes for all the stones. The mind stone was left with the only guardian who had managed to keep his stone safe, the Vision. The time stone was returned to the undeserving sorcerer supreme. The Asgardian prince was entrusted with the reality stone, like his father before him. Death conscripted a band of galactic mercenaries to deliver the power stone to the collector. The space stone went to the one who bore its power. She was tasked with putting it somewhere far, far away. Lastly, Death personally threw the soul stone into a dying star. Sure, it would probably destroy the star, eventually. But for a few centuries, it would be very hard to get to.
As much as she wanted to stay and wait for her love to awaken, Death had an obligation. Fate had set up the conflict well and given her champion a chance to win. When Fate reached out to invite Death to tea, she owed it to Fate to attend. Tea became a week-long affair.
When Death felt her champion stir, she was instantly distracted. Death's connection to Bucky was stronger than ever and she felt his pain and confusion. She moved to blink to his side and only stopped to look at Fate.
“Go,” Fate said with a dismissive wave. “But one day, I want to meet him.”
Death smiled at Fate and then blinked to her love’s side. Bucky was awake, lying on the plush bed and highly agitated. Steve was trying to calm him down but it was just making things worse.
“There you are!” Bucky shouted when he saw her. “I thought…”
“Hush, dear heart,” Death said as she sat on the bed beside him. “I would never abandon you. Fate demanded tea and I could hardly refuse after my champion’s incredible victory.”
“Is it over?” he asked.
“It is.”
“What happens now?”
Death was pensive for a moment. “What do you want to happen, my love?”
Bucky flicked his eyes off of Death to look at Steve. “I was thinking… about a vacation. But just a short one! I know I serve you. I know I have to—”
“Have to what, my sweet?” Death cut in. “Work in my name?”
Bucky looked back at her. “Yes.”
Death laughed. “James Buchanan Barnes. The Winter Soldier. The Champion of Death. You have walked with me since you were seven years old. And you were not cutting a bloody swath through Brooklyn, were you?”
“I… what?”
“Serving me can be done in many ways. All I ask is that you keep your skills and work in my name when necessary. But your life is yours to live. With whomever you choose. I will always be there when you call, dear heart. And when the time comes, we shall be together. I am patient because I am inevitable.”