Next Target: Clint Barton

14 - Really here

Natasha and Yelena each begged their bodies to move forward, but neither one of them could. Their shock overtook control of all of their nerves and muscles —they could only just stand there and stare at each other, wondering if it was all real.

Natasha forced her mind to focus on Yelena; she noticed her blinking, her hair fluttering slightly even though she wasn't moving and the subtle rise and fall of her chest to indicate that she was breathing. That was enough for her. She ran full speed towards Yelena and tightly wrapped her arms around her, refusing to let go.

She hit Yelena so hard that it almost knocked both of them over, but Yelena quickly regained her balance and hugged Natasha back. She was real and she was here —Natasha. Yelena let out a breath of relief and buried her face into her sister's shoulder as the rest of the team watched the heartfelt moment. They were all happy for the sisters (plus now none of them doubted whether or not they were actually sisters).

"<I told you we'd meet again.>" Natasha whispered into her sister's ear.

Yelena just smiled to herself and nodded against Natasha's shoulder to let her know that she had heard her. It was real —the moment they had together when Yelena was bleeding out. It wasn't just a hallucination, she really was in the Soul World.

They pulled apart from their hug when they were sure that the other wouldn't just disappear the moment they let go. Natasha turned to see the rest of her friends with huge smiles on their faces. None of them said anything but she could feel their warmth radiating onto her.

"Hey remember when I told you that she wasn't actually dead?" Thor snarkily asked the group while pointing to himself then giving Natasha a smile. "I said, 'Get it together, we're the Avengers!' meanwhile they were all crying over you." He recounted while giving all the Avengers a cocky grin.

They all rolled their eyes and Clint gave Thor a pat on the back and a friendly smile.

"You are never allowed to go to the top of a cliff again." Clint joked, though it sounded more like an order than a joke.

Natasha laughed and Yelena scoffed at him.

"I'm serious."

"Not even on a hike." Steve added while giving Natasha a genuine smile which she returned.

He wanted nothing more than to just reach out and hug her; to hold her and never let go, but he knew doing so in front of all their friends would just make things awkward and bring on a ton of teasing and rumors, which was not what he needed right now. In all honesty, he was a bit jealous of Yelena when she got to hug her and he couldn't.

"Not trying to break up a happy moment or anything but, how the hell are you here?" Sam asked her. He was genuinely happy to see her again; the two had become good friends over the two years they were on the run together, but he really wanted to know how she rose from the dead.

She shrugged and answered his question the best she could. "Honestly, I don't know. First a weird orange portal opened up and then I was just here, but I don't remember ever stepping through it."

Natasha shrugged and looked to Doctor Strange, hoping he could give all of them some answers.

He furrowed his brows then began fishing for clues. "Do you know if anyone else was pulled through?"

Natasha scanned through her thoughts to see if she could remember anything that would help them figure out what was going on, but a lot of what happened in the soul world was a blur to her. She remembered being there and watching over and bits and pieces of her conversations with Gamora but everything else was cloudy.

"Um, I remember another portal opening before mine did... and a woman with green skin —Gamora, and..." Her eyes widened at her realization as the team gave each other confused looks.