“Замедлиться! (Slow down!) Lucky!”
Yelena yelled as she slammed the door behind the two dogs.The calm akita stayed beside the blonde and observed with an unimpressed gaze, the eager golden retriever dash towards a familiar direction. Letting out a long huff, the akita looked up at the blonde who was now reaching over the back of the truck and pulled out two bouquets of flowers.
The akita backed up a few steps preparing herself for her owner, tail wagging showing her eagerness to assist. Wordlessly, Yelena passed one bouquet to Fanny who gently bit it by its stems and waited for the blonde’s next move.
“Good girl, Fanny,” Yelena cooed before leading the way towards the direction Lucky had bolted to.
With Fanny trotting behind her, the blonde walked in silence with the only sound coming from the crunch of leaves and sticks as she strolled along, making sure not to disrespect and step on any flat headstones. Tall trees were everywhere with branches pointed upwards acting as guardians of the dead. Yelena followed a winding path lined with weathered headstones decorated with fading flowers, balloons, and other trinkets in front of them. The closer she got, the more Yelena’s steps were slow and deliberate, prolonging the walk by observing the beauty of the different types of weathered headstones scattered around the cemetery.
A gentle breeze whispered through the tall trees causing leaves to fall onto the ground. Yelena closed her eyes for a moment, ignoring Fanny who had bumped into her knees from the abrupt halt, and enjoyed the cold breeze hitting her face. Finally deeming herself ready and it being long enough with Lucky being alone, she fastened her stride towards her destination.
Spotting Lucky who was already there, eating the fallen petals from a bouquet of flowers she had left last week, she sighed exasperatedly before bending down and placing the new set right next to the dying ones.
“You know what? I can’t blame him, those flowers actually don’t taste that bad.”
The side of her lip twitched up at the voice but it disappeared before the other could see it. Not turning around, she replied back,
“And should I worry about how you know that, Kate Bishop?”
“You mean you don’t eat flower petals for fun?”
Yelena rolled her eyes playfully as she felt a cold breeze indicating the other’s presence beside her. Lucky finally moved away from the petals and joined Fanny who had silently placed down her own bouquet in front of a stone.
It stayed silent for a few seconds before Yelena feigned nonchalance,
“I thought you weren’t going to show up again,” as she started to mindlessly pick on the grass.
“I didn’t want to miss Lila’s graduation, you know that,” Kate defended and Yelena didn’t have to look at her to know she was pouting.
“I kid, Kate Bishop. I know,” Yelena stopped picking on the grass and softly chuckled, ignoring Kate who was mumbling under her breath and probably crossing her arms like a little child. The blonde took a step forward, turned, and got on her knees. Placing her arms onto the upright stone she gently moved forward so her forehead was against it.
Natasha Romanoff
Sister | Daughter | Avenger
“Hi sestra,” closing her eyes and staying there for a second, “I am sorry I came a day later than usual. The Barton’s visited and Nate did not want to leave. He loves Fanny too much”
“And me! Nate loves me,” Kate piped up in the background.
Yelena continues, “Lucky loves him, but Nate still refuses to touch him…could barely even look at the dog. Pretty sure he hurt Lucky’s feelings.”
At that, Kate spoke up again, “He’s fine. Lucky is a big boy,” and slowly squatted down so she was at the same level as Yelena and the stone.
“Hey Nat,” Kate greeted, “How’s it going? Pretty cold lately, huh?”
Yelena snorted but despite Kate’s attempt to lighten the mood, it doesn’t stop the whimper that escapes Yelena as she closes her eyes tightly.
“I miss you so much,” she confessed as she let her fingers trace her sister’s name on the stone.
“I might have forgiven your archer and am..acquaintances with him-”
“Some might say, dare I say, friends-” Kate added and gasped dramatically.
“-acquaintances with him. But it doesn’t remove the fact that..that he got so much time with you,” Yelena’s bottom lip quivered, “That is not fair. It hurts too much”
And now that she started, she couldn’t stop.
“Barton had a family but you had a family. You had me,” She whispered the last part. Her lips parted as she continued in a broken tone,
“Sometimes I cannot help and wonder if I was not enough for you to stay.”
Fanny started to circle her owner, whining as she observed her unraveling. Deciding to curl up beside Yelena, Fanny placed her head on Yelena’s thigh. Lucky had walked towards her as well as was pressing his snout up against her cheek.
Yelena felt a light touch on her shoulder but she still refused to look in her direction. Kate’s voice filled the silence,
“Yelena..we talked about this before. You are more than enough. I will say this again and I will keep reminding you” Yelena shook her head but she begrudgingly listened to Kate’s voice,
“You are enough. I love you, Yelena. So much that I can’t even imagine how much Natasha loves you. I can’t imagine a world without you in it and frankly I would not want to live in one without you in it. I would do anything for you. And I bet Natasha felt the same. She was stubborn, right? So stubborn that not even Clint could stop her? She would’ve done anything to get you back. She loved you so much.”
Anguish washed over the blonde as she allowed herself a few tears to slip out before swallowing the rest down and attempting to build her walls back up. Up high enough to where she had the strength to reply back in a somewhat strong tone,
“That is not fair, Kate Bishop,” Shaking her head and chuckling sardonically, “you would know about being stubborn.”
Finally, she looked away from Natasha’s stone to look at Kate.
But no one was there.
Kate was not there.
She wasn’t met with Kate’s warm, comforting smile or her gentle blue eyes.
It was just her, the dogs, the gravestones, and an undeniable heavy weight on her chest.
Yelena lashes brushed against her cheek as she blinked, slowly glancing towards where Fanny had tenderly placed her bouquet of flowers. There it was, laying in front of another stone, adjacent to Natasha’s yet this one was fairly new and was slightly smaller in size with its surface not yet weathered by the seasons.
Katherine Elizabeth Bishop
Daughter | Avenger
Lucky, the ever so loyal canine companion, at one point had curled himself up against the stone, his fur a contrast against the stone’s pristine surface. His watchful eyes watched Yelena’s every move. With a heavy weight that has made its permanent home in her chest, she stood up back on unsteady feet and stared at the two stones. She aggressively wiped away the remnants of her tears and tucked her hair behind her ears. Due to her frantic movements, a strand snarled itself with her arrow-shaped helix located on her right ear.
The two most important people in her lives’ names carved onto the stones, taunting her and serving as a cruel reminder of the lost lives of the ones she’s loved the most. Her chest ached and the heavy weight increased, threatening to weigh her down the longer she dedicated to memorizing every curve of the letters from the ‘h’ in Natasha’s name to the ‘K’ in Katherine.
With a tremulous breath, Yelena murmured,
“And I could not imagine a world without you guys in it, yet here I am.”
She felt an unexpected gust of wind hit her face, tousling her bangs wildly, and a pang surged through her chest, craving for an embrace from her sister and a kiss from her beloved.
A touch of warmth. She yearned for it.
But all she felt were the lingering goosebumps on her arms, a faint touch, of something–or someone– that is no longer there.
A sharp whistle pierced the air causing the dogs to get up and follow the blonde back to the truck.
She felt her body tremble, an involuntary shiver coursing through her, a visceral reaction from the icy touch of the wind.
Yelena couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her.
Kate was right, it was cold.