Chapter 35
“--and please be careful,” Layla was peering down at Yelena. “I don’t want to come back to find you missing and have to hunt you down again.”
“You can’t just keep me here,” Yelena folded her arms.
“Of course not,” Layla let out a long sigh. “I just… I just want you to be safe, okay? So please, if you leave then leave a note telling me where you’re going and when you think you’ll be back. Can you do that for me?”
Yelena narrowed her eyes at Layla, not pointing out how leaving a note on how to find her was disastrous if it fell into the wrong hands, but she also didn’t want to upset Layla or have her yell again. “Yes,” she finally drawled, the words forced from her mouth.
When Layla relaxed at her reassurance, Yelena knew that she made the right choice. She’d risk her safety if it kept Layla happy. “Okay, good,” and with the ease of someone who had done it hundreds of times before, Layla scooped Yelena up into a tight hug, squeezing her tight like she was trying to pour affection into her.
Yelena waited for Layla to finish. She never felt threatened by the stifling hugs that Layla gave her. They didn’t make her panic, flail, or worry that she was in danger.
Layla pulled away, reaching out to ruffle Yelena’s hair for good measure before she perked up. “Oh! I got something for you.” Layla disappears into the kitchen before returning, triumphantly holding a little black box out for Yelena.
Yelena eyed her before she slowly reached out to accept the gift, wary of what Layla could fit in such a tiny box that wasn’t even the size of her hand. Yelena carefully wiggled the top of the box off, blinking at the silver glinting in the box. She pulled out the key, holding it up to inspect it.
“It’s a key to the apartment,” Layla explained nervously. “Y’know, so you can come and go as you please and make sure that I don’t get robbed when you go.”
Nobody had ever given Yelena a key and trusted her with something as personal as a space where they felt safe. She didn’t know what to say. Thanking Layla seemed odd but any other words didn’t seem to cover it. “Why?” Was the only thing that she could manage.
Layla got a small smile on her lips, pointing over at the couch. “That couch is your couch. You’ve died, bled out, and slept on it,” Layla then reached out and gave a small tug to the hoodie Yelena was wearing. “That is your hoodie now, even if it was once mine. That purple mug you like? That’s your mug now. That dark stain on the wood? That is where you bled out. This place is my home but it’s also yours, for whenever you want to use it.”
Yelena’s jaw clenched to keep the tears welling up in her eyes from spilling. “Don’t say that.”
Layla frowned slightly. “It’s true.” Layla reached out again, grasping the fist Yelena was using to clutch the key. “I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”
Yelena chewed on her lower lip, squeezing her fist closed tighter as she felt the grooves on the key dig into her skin. “You’re gonna regret it,” she warned.
“Try all you like but I’m not getting rid of you,” Layla gently uncurled Yelena’s fingers, pressing their palms together over the scars. “I’m never going to regret you, Yelena.”
Yelena inhaled sharply. “You have to go to work,” she practically shoved Layla away from her, knowing that if she let her then Layla would end up an hour late to work just because she was busy fawning over her.
Layla got the message, smoothing her shirt down before she left. Yelena locked the door and then stared down at the silver key in her palm running her thumb along the edge. She slowly unlocked the door and then opened it, sticking the key into the lock and giving it a twist. Her heart skipped a beat when the key twisted and unlocked the door. She then stepped outside the apartment and locked the door with her key, testing the door to ensure it was locked before unlocking it.
She doesn’t know how long she stood in the hallway, just unlocking and locking the door in disbelief that the key actually worked. She eventually unlocked and stepped back inside, the key warm in her grip from use.
She grabbed the sticky note pad and pen and slowly scribbled out a note to Layla before realizing that it was in Russian and crumpled the note up, taking care this time to rewrite it in English. Her writing was sloppy but legible enough. She left it on the counter and then pulled her boots on. Yelena stepped out of the apartment and went down the street toward the pharmacy where she proceeded to leaf through the newest magazines and newspapers.
It doesn’t take long before a woman steps up next to her and randomly selected a magazine, flipping it open. Yelena glanced over at Nour to see that she was back in a comfortable set of clothes, a pair of leggings and a tee shirt. It was exactly what she had expected to happen.
“So, this is just where we meet now, hmm?” Nour commented, idly flicking through the magazine. Yelena crouched down and stuck her finger inside the back of her boot, drawing out the photo that Nour had given her and holding it up to her. Nour blinked in surprise, whether it was at the fact that Yelena still had it or that she was returning it, Yelena didn’t know. Nour hesitantly reached out to take the photograph back and slowly tucked it back into her pocket. “Have you changed your mind?”
“Did you seriously think I was going to?” Yelena focused down on a new photo of Natasha printed in the newspaper along with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Nour set the magazine back onto the stand, plucked up a new one, and then disappeared. Yelena glanced at the spot that she just was, closing her own magazine and setting it back on the shelf. Nour reappeared as quickly as she came, holding a plastic bag out toward her.
Yelena hesitantly took it, peering inside to see that it was the same magazine that she was just looking at with the photograph of Natasha inside of it. She glanced back up at Nour, on guard.
“You like that one magazine brand. Look at it nearly every time we meet here. You like the Avengers?” Nour questioned. Yelena eyed her, wondering if she had made the connection between her and Natasha. A small smile came over Nour’s face as she glanced back at the magazines. “Safiyah was a big fan of the Avengers…”
“Yeah…” Yelena mumbled, clutching the bag. She didn’t know how to feel about the gift. “What else did she like?”
Nour blinked a few times, the smile falling before she nodded toward the door. “Let’s talk a walk,” she suggested. Yelena nodded, following Nour out of the store. Nour didn’t say a word, casually strolling down the sidewalk.
Yelena was the first one to see the pair of boys in the alley, one pinning the other down as he wailed on him. A third boy, younger than the other two, was sitting against a wall with a bloody nose, shying away from the violence. Yelena stopped in her tracks to watch, Nour quickly realized that Yelena wasn’t following her and paused as well.
Yelena moved forward first, imagining Khonshu’s voice in her head telling her to drop it, that nobody was in danger of dying, and that they could only intervene after. But Khonshu wasn’t there.
Yelena grabbed the back of the boy’s shirt and yanked him off of the other boy, shoving him up against the wall. “You think hitting little boys is funny, hmm?” She demanded. She wasn’t in her White Knight uniform, she was simply Dina El-Faouly, the scrappy girl who got suspended from school for beating up a boy.
The boy was startled by her and Yelena slammed a fist across his face before she shoved him toward the exit of the alley. “Fuck off and go home,” she sneered. She then turned her attention toward the other two boys. “C’mon, get up,” Yelena leaned down and helped the laying on the ground sit up. “You okay?”
“Y-yeah…” the boy mumbled, swiping a sleeve across his face. “Thanks…” He then turned to the boy. “Come here.”
The younger boy scrambled to him, slamming into him with a whine. For a moment, Yelena saw herself and Natasha reflected in the actions. “He your brother?” She couldn’t help but question. The older boy squinted at her suspiciously but slowly nodded. She addressed the bigger boy. “When you are in a fight, go for the throat.” She then stood up and left the pair of brothers, pausing when she saw that Nour wasn’t where she was moments ago.
Yelena quickly found her just around the corner, wailing on the boy some more. Yelena had to yank her off and tell the boy to scram. The bloodied boy flees and Yelena turned on Nour. “What are you doing?”
“Teaching him a lesson,” Nour spat, lurching to try and chase him down. “You’re letting him get away!”
“He’s just a stupid boy!” Yelena shoved Nour against the wall. “Leave him.”
“He was hurting those other boys!” Nour snapped at Yelena. “I thought you were about vengeance!”
“I am!” Yelena roughly shoved Nour. “But I am not there for the predator, I am there for the victim! I can only interfere when something is already done, not before. If I try then I can no longer be acting as White Knight but as myself.”
“He deserves to be punished just like all the other scum,” Nour stepped closer to Yelena and Yelena resisted the urge to flinch away. “I didn’t get to punish hers but I will punish them.”
“And you would have been perfectly fine in stepping it, killing the boy, and leaving those other two boys alone in the alley, unsure if they were hurt beyond help?” Yelena questioned quietly.
“So what if I am?” Nour demanded, her eyes narrowing. “If you cannot--”
“And if those boys were Safiyah?” Yelena knew she crossed a line as soon as the name left her mouth. Her head jerked to the side with the force of the slap that Nour sent. “I cried and wished someone would have helped me for many years, Nour. I don’t leave when I finish my job, I stay and I help whoever is hurt. If I was there then I would have helped Safiyah when I was done, just like anyone else.”
Nour was breathing hard, her nostrils flared as her hands shook. “Do not talk about her as if you know her…” She said shakily.
“The only thing I know about her is that she did not deserve what happened to her,” Yelena replied quietly, wondering if the mark on her face would fade or bruise by the time Layla got home from work. “The boy that you were trying to kill was fifteen or so. He’s just a kid.”
“He was hurting those boys!” Nour did not sound apologetic about it.
“Those raised in violence and pain will often inflict the same thing,” Yelena swallowed hard. “Didn’t you tell me something similar? He’s only a year older than her--”
“Stop it!” Nour pushed Yelena up against the wall, her fingers fisting her shirt. “Just-- stop talking about her! You know nothing about how I feel--”
“I know how it feels to lose people,” Yelena interrupted her. “You said it yourself, I am all alone.”
Nour stared at her, shaking slightly as she took a deep breath. Her grip on Yelena loosened slightly. “I am sorry,” Nour apologized quietly. “I should not have lost my temper with you.” She tried to reach out and caress the cheek that he had hit. Yelena leaned away from the touch but she was trapped between the woman and the wall and had no choice but to let Nour touch her or shove her off.
Yelena subjected herself to the gentle fingers on her cheek, watching Nour’s expression closely. Nour was getting lost in her head, Yelena could see it happen. Her eyes glazed over and her touch became tender. Yelena knew instantly that Nour wasn’t seeing her, she was seeing Safiyah.
Yelena had not felt any sort of maternal affection since the woman she had once called Mama died when she was six. Having it at that moment was odd. Nour had pretty much killed her and now here she was. Nour was not trying to convince her to switch sides, she was only mourning her daughter.
Apep was taking advantage of the grief a mother had for her only child. It hit Yelena at that moment that she had to kill her. Nour was going to have to die by her hand if she was to free Khonshu and get him back. The full moon was slowly creeping up on them, she’d have to do it soon.
She had never had a problem with killing before, she had killed hundreds of people since she had been White Knight and she regretted almost none of them. But this would be one that she regretted. She would carry the knowledge of Safiyah with her long after Nour was gone.
Yelena quietly promised to herself that after things had finished and settled, after Nour had been gone and buried, that she would track down the men who killed Safiyah and she would get revenge for her.
She was the avatar to the God of Vengeance, after all.