No Tears | NR

Chapter 31

Dorsington, United Kingdom

Turns out that Yara had been asleep for two days straight.

After she had cleaned herself up and found a hoodie, she had joined Natasha in the kitchen of the little house that they were currently staying at. The Avenger had quickly explained that they were in one of her safe houses and for how long the brunette had been asleep. To Yara's question about the other people she had heard on the quinjet, Natasha replied that she had asked her sister for help and Yelena had sent two widows to help the Avenger find Yara. They had, however, left a day ago.

The brunette would perhaps have been touched by Natasha's worry about her and her need to find Yara if she wouldn't have had the image of Natasha's dead body stuck in her head. She couldn't shake it. Whenever she saw the blonde, that image found its way back into her mind. So she quickly left the building. Natasha was too surprised to follow her.

Yara ran outside and found herself just next to the edge of a line of trees that were part of a forest. She didn't stop and jogged past the first few trees, trying to avoid any roots and other obstacles that were attempting to break her ankles. Yara stopped a short while later and sat down on the uncomfortable, dirty ground, leaning against a thick tree trunk.

She did her best to try and calm herself down. Her breaths were coming out in jagged, quick pants and she felt her heart racing. Everything that had been building up throughout the past month, all of her frustration, anger, fear, and pain, was boiling inside of her. She felt like she was about to burst. It overwhelmed her to the point where the only way that she knew to deal with it was to let it out in the form of a loud scream. Her voice cut through the silence like a knife through butter. She heard some animals scramble to safety but she didn't care. She yelled her lungs out until there was nothing left anymore and her throat ached - until she felt empty and she enjoyed that feeling, knowing that it wouldn't last for very long.

And of course, she was right. As if on queue, she heard steps next to her. They stopped a few seconds later. When she turned her head to see who it was, she found Natasha seated on the ground about a meter away from her. The Avenger had her eyes transfixed at something in front of her.

After waiting for Natasha to speak up and nothing happening, Yara turned her head to look down at the ground in front of her again. She followed a beetle with her eyes as it scurried around on its six legs, winding its way past various obstacles and sometimes climbing over them. Natasha finally spoke up just as the insect disappeared.

"I should never have dragged you here. You were doing just fine in Canada without me."

Yara was a little surprised by that confession. It hadn't been what she had expected to hear from the Avenger.

She thought about Natasha's words. Sure, her life had been a little dull and boring, but it was quiet. She had been doing fine, right? Except she hadn't. And deep down she had always known that. She hadn't been doing fine at all, even before Natasha had arrived and they had been attacked.

"I shouldn't have convinced you to do something you clearly didn't want to do; to fight", Natasha continued.

"Hey. Stop it", Yara spoke up, trying to interrupt the blonde. "Stop!"

Natasha looked at her with a hint of surprise which was something she didn't show very often. In fact, Yara found it very difficult most of the time to get any kind of read on the Avenger. Every once in a while, she would notice some anger, annoyance, or even worry. But that was about it. She knew that Natasha liked to keep her thoughts and emotions to herself and for good reason. But sometimes, Yara wished that she knew what was going on in the Avenger's head.