Avengers One-Shots

Yelena's Reaction

Yelena and family's reaction after Nat's death. I wrote this before Hawkeye came out, so it's different to what actually happened, but oh well.

I remember the day my sister died more clearly than any day I spent with her.

When I phrase it like that, it sounds sad, almost pathetic. I don't think so, though, because every day I had with her, however faded in my memory, was so incredible. 

I remember the people reappearing, coming back from the dead, while I was at the supermarket looking at the crisp selection. I remember smiling to myself, knowing that my sister had done it, she had saved the world once again. 

I remember explaining to dozens of people that they had been dead for the past five years, but it was okay because they were all back now and that help would be available.

I remember feeling so happy, knowing that my friends who had blipped were back now, I could see them again.

Then I remember the phone call. 

The unknown number popping up on the screen. Answering the phone and hearing a distraught man on the other end.

He introduced himself to me as Clint Barton. He told me he was my sister's best friend.

I asked him if everything was okay, if she had been hurt. He just cried even harder, and there was rustling on the other end.

I heard a new voice, another man called Bruce Banner. He rambled about how my sister had gone to a planet named Vormir in a different timeline to get an infinity stone. The soul stone, he had called it.

There was more rustling then, and Clint took the phone back. 

He told me that Nat was dead.

He told me that they had a fight on Vormir about who it would be. He wanted to be the one to do it, but she was selfless, as always.

He told me that she had argued he had a family to get back to. He didn't know at the time that so did she.

He told me that she had flung herself off a cliff to save him. 

I didn't cry when I was talking to Clint. I didn't cry as I hung up and told him I had to be the one to tell Alexei and Melina. I didn't cry as I drove to my parents house. I didn't cry as I repeated Clint's words to them.

Melina did cry. As soon as I told them she was dead, her tears started and carried on coming in floods and floods. Alexei comforted her and invited me to stay. I declined and drove back to my flat.

I put a freezer meal in the microwave, remembering how Nat had hated that I ate them but she lived off them. I poured a glass of her favourite wine, which I didn't care for but always kept a bottle of. I sat in front of the TV. I switched to the news.

They were talking about Tony Stark. Speaking about his tragic death and how they hoped a statue would be erected of him in memorial. They spoke about the damage caused by the battle. They celebrated the return of the population.

Then, right before the programme was about to end, they mentioned her.

"A further casualty in the battle was Natasha Romanoff, the 39 year old assassin and fellow member of the Avengers. Next the weather."

That was when the tears started. 

All I could think was 'She gave her life to rescue the rest of the planet, and all she gets is a mention before the weather? You just gave Tony Stark a twenty minute documentary, and all my big sister gets is a two second half assed statement? She meant a lot to people too!'

I don't think I stopped crying for three hours. When I did, it was only because my phone rang once more. I debated ignoring it, but then I saw that it was from the same man that had called me before, that Clint. Hawkeye, I remembered.

For a fleeting second, I thought that they had made a mistake. Nat would be waiting for me to answer her call. My hope didn't last very long.

When I answered, it was a different man. Nick Fury. I remembered that Nat had talked about him, how he had looked after her, been in her corner all this time. 

He told me that S.H.I.E.L.D. would be funding a funeral for her, that my family could fly over to attend or hold our own. They didn't have her body either way. He said that we could be as involved or as uninvolved in her funeral as we liked. 

I told him that we'd think about it and get back to him. I threw my phone on the sofa and pressed my fingers so my eyes, trying to physically stop the tears escaping. I shoved my face into a cushion and screamed.

Then I drank enough vodka to get Captain America himself sufficiently drunk until I passed out on my sofa.

I was going to write more, but I think that this will do. I might come back to it later and add to it. If you're still reading, wow, I respect you. Almost at 20K reads now, so thank you so much for that. There's information on my profile about updates, so you can read that if you're interested. Thank you for reading, I larb you. X