No Tears | NR

Chapter 64 - Part 5: Endgame

Avengers Compound, USA

Three years have passed since Yara has met Finn. They have since become good friends. She has gone to visit him in Paris several times, and they have met up in the US a few times as well. Natasha has even joined them once or twice, although that took a lot of work on Yara's side. Natasha had been increasingly hard to get away from her desk. Things weren't looking good. Well, they were looking even worse than they had before.

In all those five, very long years, Natasha hadn't given up. She was still trying to figure out how to fix everything. But Yara had stopped believing that was possible a long while ago. Steve had too. Or, at least that was the impression, Yara got. The others who had fought in Wakanda and survived did their best to help where it was possible, but Yara had noticed their attitudes shift as well. An overall helplessness and despair had become evident throughout the years where there had been hope at first.

Yara didn't know another way to move forward other than living with it. It was hard. There was no question about it. If there was anything she could do to fix everything, she would in a heartbeat. But she saw no solution, no way to fix everything. Just like there had been no way to fix everything that had happened to her and that she had done.

She had finally managed to stop running from her past as best as she could. It still haunted it her and that would probably never stop. But she had found a way to live with it and move forward with a few good friends at her side and Natasha. And that was all she needed. In fact, she thought, it was more than she deserved. Nevertheless, she was grateful for it, and she wasn't about to give that up. Although she knew they would all leave her inevitably, such was the nature of her curse, she hoped things would stay this way for a long time to come. Natasha had revealed to her a few years ago that she had received a serum in the Red Room that let her age slower. Yara hadn't been able to stop smiling at the thought for days, that she had a chance to be with the Avenger longer than she had originally anticipated.

Yara sat on a bench outside the compound, absentmindedly tracing the spot on her left forearm where her number from Auschwitz used to be. About a year ago, after finally letting Finn in on who she really was, she had gotten the tattoo removed. It was part of a past that she had wanted to leave behind, and removing the tattoo had been the last part of that process, which had been very hard and long.

She was on a phone call with Finn, who should technically be asleep. It was already dark here, and France was a few hours ahead. Therefore, it had to be some time in the middle of the night over there, but neither of them cared.

Yara was listening to Finn, who was telling her about an incident at a bar he had frequented until yesterday. He was usually a calm spirit. It was hard to rile him up, but when a group of drunk men who couldn't be older than 20 wouldn't leave a young woman alone, he felt that he was obligated to step in. The whole thing apparently escalated a little and didn't go well for the guys. Despite his best intentions, he got kicked out as well. Apparently, violence was frowned upon there, although according to his account of what had happened, he had barely touched the guys.

A laugh escaped Yara's throat at that. She tried to imagine the giant of a man that Finn was, towering over the group of men. They never even had a chance against him. If those guys had been sober, Yara thought, they would never have tried standing up to Finn.

The sound of a loud engine and tires on tarmac nearing her caught her attention. She got blinded by the headlight of what sounded like a motorbike and quickly averted her gaze. Spots were obstructing her vision where she had seen the headlight.

As the engine got louder, Yara ended the call with Finn since she couldn't understand anything anyway and put her phone away. A few seconds later, a bike stopped in front of her and someone big turned the engine off. Then he got off and walked up to Yara.