The group all got out at the train station. Natasha gave them a look, which they couldn't quite decipher, but she was obviously nervous.
After a while, she walked over to them, a shiny gold ticket in her hand.
"Fifteen minutes," she said simply.
Her jade eyes sparkled in the sunlight. Her red hair looked like waves or the wind. Which, Clint thought suited Natasha well. Free and untamed.
Two adults walked over to the group, who took up most of the seating area.
"Steve, Tony, Bruce, Thor, Clint, Pepper, Wanda, Pietro, Vision, Sam, Bucky. Maria, Laura and Rhodey." The lady smiled.
"Hello, Melina!" Clint smiled at the lady.
"Mum!" Natasha exclaimed.
"Where is dad?"
Tony looked up, pausing his conversation with Bruce. "Yeah, where is Alexei?"
Melina laughed. "Getting Natasha's stuff. Had to get it, he said. Such a gentleman, right?"
Natasha laughed. "When he wants to be," she replied.
"Which is when he wants to impress someone, no doubt," she whispered in Russian quietly.
Melina smiled. "Oh, Natasha. Be nice or Yelena won't come."
Natasha's eyes widened. She heard a little girl, of six, call out.
"Yelena," she cried out excitedly, as the little blonde girl hugged her.
Clint walked over, tussling her hair. Yelena messed up his hair in retaliation.
He faked hurt, crying out, "Oh, no! Between you and Natasha I am doomed!"
"You are," the little girl called out triumphantly. Natasha smiled.
Alexei walked over, carrying a suitcase and a duffel bag. He went to hug his girls, but Natasha pulled back, Yelena safely playing a staring competition with Sam.
"You stink, dad," she whispered quietly.
After losing, Sam walked over to her, holding something.
"Here," he said sheepishly. He gave her two books, the second and third of the series he had given her at the party.
"I was gonna give them to you when you got back, but... Who knows when that will be."
They smiled sadly. "Don't let anyone deter you from making the team," she told him sternly.
He saluted. Sam's dream was to join the 'Children of America's Air force.'
They had all helped him, Steve and Bucky filling out their forms for the kid's army at the same time, signing their name with a flourish.
"Ma'am yes, Ma'am!"
She went to reply, but the whistle of a train interrupted her. Nearly immediately, everyone surrounded her.
"It can't have been 15 minutes," Clint exclaimed.
Natasha looked at the watch Wanda and Pietro gave her.
"Ten minutes. It is early."
She looked over to her parents.
"Say goodbye, it's ok. We'll see you at the airport, remember?" Melina's voice was soft.
Natasha nodded.
"Thanks for being the DJ, Rhodey. I didn't you were a DJ. I thought it was kids air force for you too?"
Something like embarrassment clouded James 'Rhodey' Rhodes' face.
"It was a favor, for tony. For your party," he admitted sheepishly.
She blushed, gratitude filling her face.
"You and Sam better be in the kids air force when I get back. You," she said, now addressing Steve and Bucky, " Better be in the army."
She was trying to get in everything she wanted to say, before she had to leave. But there wasn't enough time.
She simply hugged them, surrounded by her friends and family. Alexei had put her luggage in the train, and she was ready to go.
"Wow. Melina went to the Bolshoi; Yelena is going shortly after I get back. I'm not going to see you guys in ages."
She hugged them each, pausing slightly at Clint, Steve, Pepper and Bucky.
They each spoke to her, assuring they'd be there when she came back.
"I'll be finishing middle school or be somewhere in high school when I get back," she said, blinking back tears.
"But, most importantly, I'll miss you guys!"
Someone called out, signaling for everyone to get on.
She hopped on the train. She vanished.
As the train started to pull out, her face appeared in an open window.
"Bye!"
The group started to jog after the train. Silent tears streamed down their faces, Clint, Steve and Wanda not even trying to hide it.
"I'll be back! I promise!"
"You better," Clint and Bucky called out, Maria nodding.
"I did it! I got accepted guys," she repeated.
She waved, then the train zoomed off, smoke was all that was left.
Her family waved bye and took off in their car.
The words rang in their heads. It was the last they heard of her.
For years.
And they did not know what was going to happen then. That she might break her promise.
They wouldn't know what was going to happen to Natasha.
She would be different. They would all be. In ways unknown. Ways terrible. And it wasn't just Natasha...
YOU ARE READING
The Red Ballerina-The Black Widow
Ação"I did it! I got accepted guys!" That was the last they heard of her for a long time. And when she came back? She was different. She was cold and isolated. Is she the girl in Bucky's memory? Is she the Black Widow known as the Red Ballerina?
