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Natasha and I walked through the wreckage of the spell. A silent destruction, the kind that wouldn't show for weeks, months, maybe even years to come.
Natasha glanced around with a dry laugh. "Man, this place was a disaster. So much for a dream world fantasyland, huh?" I nodded at her words. After a beat of silence, she spoke, combing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Did I ever tell you I had a sister?"
I nodded. "Yelena,"
"I used to deny it. Now..." her eyes were on something in her mind like a distant memory. Or just a projection of my own. "I don't really know why I did. I would go back and forth in my head that she wasn't really my sister, but she was. In fact, I had actually had two,"
Her eyes fell over to me, holding a sad smile. A smile I knew better than my own.
"I might not have got that fairytale white picket fence boring little life I always wanted but—" she paused tossing me a glance. "I had the basic founding principles of it in my life,"
"A family?"
"A family," she smiled. "A family that loved me. A really weird family that would get into fights and not speak to each other for years, but still a family nonetheless. That counted for something. It counted for me,"
A lump formed in my throat. I knew what she was trying to tell me.
"I wished it was me that day," I confessed because I hadn't to anyone else. "You don't have any idea how many times I wish I could've reversed time to stop you,"
Natasha shook her head. "I, for one, am glad it wasn't you. You've got so much life ahead of you. Don't go trying to be a hero and get yourself killed because you think you know better.,"
"I typically do know better," I laughed, eyes glazed with water.
Then she smiled that familiar knowing smile. "I love you, Jo," she reached out for my hand, pulling my feet back to the ground. Telling me she would be okay. And I would too.
My heart was heavy, I blinked away tears as my voice cracked. "I miss you,"
It felt like a rupture in the chest.
"I miss you too," Natasha said softly, as the words escaped her lips, with a swirl of red she disappeared.
I barely had any time to process our goodbye as I heard a familiar voice.
"Why are you frowning over there?" my mother's voice carried over as I approached the home. I recognized it in an instant. A voice I never knew and could no longer forget.
"Because you're leaving me," I told her sitting down on the porch steps. My voice is raw and vulnerable.
"I could never leave you, Josephine. I'm always here," she touched her heart, then reached for the locket that sat on my neck. The one that held her picture. My only piece of her. "And here,"
