After Yelena attacks Natasha, she realizes that it's actually her sister.
Cue tears..
⚠
Talk about character death.
This was, as Yelena had talked about, bullshit.
Natasha thought that after everything they went with the Red Room — and after — there'd be a little trust. But no. Yelena had to do everything the hard way, and that ended with the pair of them with bruises, cuts, and limping. Natasha had to hold back the entire time, but some of the punches might have been a little harder than she realized. She hadn't exactly been able to test her newfound superpowers on a regular human being yet.
Eventually, they called another truce before one of them killed the other.
Natasha rolled over onto her back, panting and glaring up at the white void beyond the trees. She had to admit: having someone to fight again had been good. Not the part where she could see Yelena struggling for breath, but the improv, the skills. Natasha missed a good fight.
"Now do you believe I'm me?"
What Yelena lacked in powers she made up in a total willingness to fight dirty. If it hadn’t been for the tiny voice of reason Yelena normally liked to ignore, she would have tried sniping Natasha’s kneecaps first. Somehow, thankfully, a cooler head prevailed. Yelena had been stalking much of the campus for nearly a day before revealing herself in the surprise attack.
“Something is different about you,” Yelena said. Mostly out of petulance. “So it’s hardly my fault. You’re still a poser.”
But that only proved it was her sister. She felt a small amount of blood drying in the crack of her lip. She was still panting, catching her breath. They could do hugs later. It still hasn’t quite occurred to Yelena on an emotional level that she was reunited with her sister. There had to be a cost, right?
“So you really don’t know how I died? That’s the only way we could be together again. I was on holiday. I had a job and I get holiday now and I had a dog named Fanny and a truck.”
"I don't think you died," Natasha told her, pressing forward to sit up. She propped her upper body with her elbows and looked to Yelena. "Not everyone here died before they got here. Strange, Wanda, Carol. None of them are dead. I think you just got drug into whatever this experiment is."
Natasha hadn't been focused on finding out the whos or whys of their situation. Figuring all of that out meant that there was a chance she'd end up back where she came from. She had nowhere to go.
"If you did die, then it took you by surprise. It was probably something cool." It was, however, nice to hear that Yelena had gotten the dog she wanted, a job with holidays, and her very own vehicle. Natasha couldn't have been prouder. "Or so incredibly lame that you weren't paying attention." She jerked her chin toward her. "What's the last thing you remember?"
“I was on holiday,” Yelena said. Her breathing finally started to slow and her heart no longer beat viciously in her chest, “and Val found me, despite telling her no jobs on holiday, to give me my new assignment.”
Yelena rolled her eyes. To say she found Val annoying was not a great accomplishment. Yelena was easily frustrated and annoyed with most people. But the eye rolling was also meant to downplay the assignment and discourage questions.
She had a feeling her sister would disapprove of her newest assignment.
Also left out: that Yelena visited Natasha’s grave regularly. It probably didn’t seem like a very cool holiday. The assassin wondered if she should make up what she was doing in case she was asked.
"Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine?" That was the only Val in their business Natasha could think of. The woman had been a fixture behind the scenes for some time. What was she doing hiring her sister? "She cut your vacation short, and you let her live?"
Natasha didn't know, but she hoped that they had buried her somewhere quiet, under a tree. Maybe one with pink blossoms, like your mother. Only she would have her name on her grave. Maybe Ohio.
Well, if there was a body there to bury. From what she gathered, no one had brought her back. So it would be a tombstone then, and hopefully not some gaudy, over the top monument in DC or some garbage.
“Mhm,” Yelena said. But that was all she said about her new boss. “I think killing your boss is probably frowned upon, even if they are kind of a douchebag.” She groaned slightly as she shifted positions and more acutely felt some of bruises starting to turn a variety of interesting colors on her skin.
Yelena was supposedly one of the good guys now. Perhaps her actions as a contract killer for a shadowy government weren’t exactly saint-like, but it was a major improvement from the assignments she had in The Red Room. Most importantly? Yelena could say yes or no.
“It’s not like The Avengers are exactly hiring,” Yelena said.
It occurred to Natasha that with Steve, Tony, and Natasha gone, the Avengers were… Well, they were already down by half before. From what it sounded like, a whole bunch had taken up the mantle against Thanos. But after that? She had no clue.
"Well, if you need a recommendation, I think they could use a new Widow." Natasha brushed her hands together, pushing herself to her feet. Then she reached a hand down to Yelena. "You'll have to learn to pose. A little."
“Not happening,” Yelena said. Her hand clapped against Natasha’s as she took hers and pulled herself up. She meant the poses but if either of them were being honest, the recommendation, too. None of Natasha’s hero friends seemed to know who Yelena was, and suggesting Yelena do big hero shit?
Probably not a good fit. For better or for worse, the job with Val was a better fit. And if the rumors were true it actually paid money and benefits.
Yelena didn’t need to be told she wasn’t hero material. She knew. Working for the US Government was the closest she would probably get to filling her sister’s shoes. At least it was something.
“So what now?” Yelena said. What she wanted to ask was how would she get to keep her sister, bring her back with her. Anything else seemed deeply unfair.
"Now we bounce around from place to place in this time bubble that resets weekly." Natasha knew it was a lot to take in. Yelena hadn't been around for everything with Thanos, even if she'd disappeared during it. Then when she came back, it was magically five years later and down a sister. It made sense that Yelena would think she was dead.
She plucked a leaf from Yelena's hair and handed it to her.
As glad as Natasha was to see her, there was a part of her that wanted her back in the real world, not stuck in this never-ending loop. You could be here one day and not the next at the whim of some experimenters. "Things are weird here. Last week, we were in Disney World — and that was nice. But before then, we all lost our memories while someone was killing us off. It turned out to be this really nice guy who was actually a monster — like horror movie kind of monster."
“Did you kill him?” Yelena asked. It was clear she was expecting a yes. As much as Yelena hated the Red Room, she would always be a product of it.
"I helped but it was a group effort. Seems that every time this thing took a life, it got bigger and stronger and smarter." To be honest, Natasha was only just now finding her way out of the depressive funk she'd been in. While she'd fought the Winter Soldier when there were mirror versions of themselves out there, and helped in some other situation, her heart had not really been in it.
She reached over and grabbed Yelena's sleeve, then her arm and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you came back."
Yelena stiffened. It took her a moment before her arms went around her sister and squeezed back. Her eyes squeezed shut but she tried to will herself not to cry. If Yelena cried, her sister would cry and then neither of them would be able to pretend they had an emotional handle on the situation.
“Yeah, really rude,” Yelena said instead, her response muffled into her sister’s shoulder.
"So rude," Natasha whispered back in a playful tone, but the truth was that she was going to cry. Maybe not now while Yelena was here in front of her, but she at some point. Her sister had been gone for five long years, along with the bulk of her family, and it had taken its toll on her.
Natasha held her a little tighter, leaning her head against Yelena's for a moment. "I missed you."
Yelena pulled away and decked her sister in the shoulder. It was more like punching a wall, there was something off about the fight, too. Yelena could tell from the last time they fought-- because like any sisters they did fight but Yelena and Natasha held nothing back when they did-- that her sister was different.
It didn’t seem like the right time to ask. Maybe it was death, or the infinity stone, or something else that happened.
But despite decking her sister, Yelena had tears streaked down her face. “I’m still pissed at you,” she inisted.
"That's fair," Natasha answered. She reached out to touch Yelena's face, wiping the tears away the best she could when her own eyes were watery.
Natasha remembered Cuba like it was yesterday. She'd disarmed one of the men who had come from Yelena and had threatened to kill anyone who touched her. If Alexei hadn't disarmed her by playing the father, they both might have died there due to Natasha's stubbornness. Dreykov liked his Widow's with enough fire to murder, but subordinate enough to him to do what he wanted. She wasn't going to let anything happen to Yelena here.
She leaned her forehead against her sister's and closed her eyes. "I promise to piss you off every day now."
Yelena’s face cracked into a smile. Anyone else and she would have been able to keep it together, maybe say something insubordinate, but keep her feelings on the interior. But Natasha? Brought out her laughter like they were normal, just two sisters that grew up in Ohio.
For three years they almost were.
Yelena felt Natasha’s forehead and her eyes also closed. She was going to hold onto this moment forever, this moment which was owed to her, stolen from her, kept out of reach. No one could take it away from them now.
“Yeah, well you won’t have to try very hard,” Yelena teased back. She sniffed and she composed herself.