Anastasia Romanoff always looked up to her older sister, Natasha. Ever since they had left the Red Room and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. with the help of their good friend and partner, Clint Barton. Though, the two troubled young women never expected to join...
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*****
I laugh at Nat after we get off of the rollercoaster at Walt Disney World. She holds my hand for support as she tries not to throw up. She keeps her eyes on the ground so she doesn't see any of the food around us that'll make her nauseous.
"Never again," She tells me.
"Damn, I wanted to go on one more ride," I mess with her, making her roll her eyes at me.
She takes a step in front of me, turning around to face me. "I will kill you if you make me go on one more ride."
"I'd like to see you try," I chuckle before looking to my side at the family of six, waiting patiently in line to get cotton candy. I don't realize I've been staring until I notice Nat's gaze on me. "What?"
"Hard that it's just the two of us?" She asks me, forcing a smile to show it doesn't bother her.
"No," I shake my head. "I don't need anybody as long as I have you, bol'shaya sestra (big sister)," I smile at her reassuringly.
"Then I'm glad I have you, mladshaya sestra (little sister)."
I open my eyes, realizing I'm in the same guest room I stayed in at Tony's house. I sit up, the first thing I notice is the bandage around my right arm. The second is Steve sitting by my bedside.
"How do you feel?" He asks me concerned.
"Like I almost lost my arm," I chuckle softly.
"You didn't," He assures. "It's just gonna take a while to heal?"
I notice the black and white suit he's wearing before looking at the black dress hanging on the doorknob of the closet. "Tony's dead, isn't he?" Steve only nods, not looking at me. I bite my bottom lip, nodding, not having any more tears to shed right now. My mind is just blank. "But we won?" He nods again.
"Then we made sure it was worth it," I state, knowing Nat and Tony died for a purpose.
"They'd be proud of you," He says.
"Steve," I say at the same time he says, "Ana."
"You go first," I tell him.
"You're not over Bucky," He begins and I open my mouth but he continues. "But you did keep your promise. I let him come in between us."
"It wasn't your fault," I reach my hand over to grab his. "We both have moved on but not from them."
"You moved on from the Red Room. I haven't moved on from 1945," He admits. "I love you, so much but-"
"But it's not enough," He looks down, disappointed in himself. I tilt his head back up to lock eyes with me. "It's okay, Steve. I know you love me. I love you too. It's okay," I sigh. "We both have different paths laid out for us. For someone like me, I'll never stop fighting. But you, your fight is over. It's time for you to get that life you wanted. The life I could never give you."
"You're pretty amazing, you know that?" He remarks.
"Yeah," I smirk, making him chuckle softly.
"You should see how things work out between you and Buck," He says. "Maybe he'll get his memories back."
"I don't know," I let out another sigh. "But since I survived this, perhaps I got some time to see what life has planned for me. I owe it to Natasha and Tony."
"It'll be a good life, I'm sure," He says in his usual optimistic manner.
"Thank you," I say before getting out of bed. "I'll change and be out in a minute."
"Okay," He nods, leaving the room.
I quickly change into the black, long-sleeve dress that's tight on my upper body and loose on my lower body, stopping at my knees. It probably doesn't go with this style, but after I spot the vest on the chair by the bed, I put it on. I finish up by putting on the heels that are left out for me. I brush my hair with my fingertips before staring at myself in the full-body mirror. I let a tear slip down my cheek and nod. We won.
~~~~~
I emerge out of the house, walking down the porch until I'm beside Clint. He turns to smile at me softly, placing his hand in mine and squeezing it comfortingly. I turn my head around, locking eyes with Nick Fury. He simply nods, showing that I did well and he knows I'm done working for S.H.I.E.L.D. But that doesn't mean I'm not working. As I told Steve, my fight will never be over.
After the funeral, I follow Clint down to the lake, just staring at it as we take comfort in each other's presence.
"You know, I wish there was a way that I could let her know that we won," Clint tells me.
I look up at him and give him a small smile. "She knows," I give him a side hug, looking back out at the water. "They both do."
~~~~~
"Remember, you have to return the stones to the exact moment you got 'em or you're gonna open up a bunch of nasty alternative realities," Bruce reminds Steve after handing him the briefcase of the six Infinity Stones.
"Don't worry, Bruce," Steve assures. "Clip all the branches."
I look up at Bruce and gesture at the bandage around his right arm like mine. Luckily, now I have more strength than him or my entire body would've been burnt to a crisp. "Twinzies."
He chuckles before becoming serious. "You know, I tried," My smile falls because I know where he's going with this. "When I had the gauntlet, the stones, I really tried to bring her back. I miss her."
"Me too," I nod, patting his forearm before following Steve to the machine Bruce will be using to send the super-soldier through time.
I wait as Steve says bye to Sam and hugs James. He then turns to me with a smile, looking from the red necklace he had given me to my eyes. "You better not lose that thing."
"I won't," I say before going on my tip-toes to kiss his cheek, reminding me of old times.
"Goodbye, Ana," He smiles.
"Goodbye, Steve," I smile back.
I watch as Steve gets onto the platform. Bruce counts down until Steve goes through the quantum realm. We wait for five seconds, but nothing happens when Bruce pushes the button.
"Where is he?" Sam asks Bruce.
"I don't know," Bruce confesses, trying to figure it out.
I keep the smile on my face because I know what's happening. I'm not worried about a thing. I lock eyes with James and he has the same facial expression. He knows what Steve's doing. I turn around and James follows my gaze.
"Sam," I grab the man's attention. He walks up to me, staring at the back of Steve's head. "Go ahead," I encourage him to go up to Steve.
I smile as Sam begins talking to the older version of Steve. The smile broadens as Steve gives Sam his shield.
"Wonder how this is gonna go," James comments from my right side.
I turn my head to look at him. "Me too," I look back at Steve and he turns around, smiling back at me. We're both where we should be and it's time to move on again.
