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“‘LENA! Time for lunch!” , you shouted in the kitchen beside your wife, Melina who’s preparing the last dish for lunch. You hear faint footsteps and huff and puffs from her furry companion. As all of you sat around the table, you sitting at the head, Melina to your right and Yelena to your left. Even though your eldest couldn’t be here, she was still in your thoughts and out saving the world, you couldn’t be more proud of her. When all of you were eating and chatting , Yelena dropped her utensils and spoke up “Mom? Mama? I-i don’t feel well.” . You instantly stood up and pressed your palm against her forehead, concerned shown on your face. “’Lena, моя дочь (my daughter). Where do you feel discomfort?” . You followed your daughter’s line of sight to see her legs slowly turning into dust, her eyes wide like yours. “Y-Yelena? What? What’s happening?” , you spoke before she disappeared. You turned to your wife immediately running to her side, your hands cradling her face gently. “Melina? Baby, please don’t tell me it’s happening to you too. Please, моя любовь (my love), I love you.” . Your wife smiled sadly, leaning towards you and kissed you reassuringly “I’m sorry, darling. I love you too, I hope we’ll see each other again.” , she said before turning into dust between your fingers.
You stand there, everything was quiet, no pigs snorting, no huffs and pants, your hands shaking trying to process what the hell just happened. You ran to the living room and grabbed the controller to turn on the TV. All news stations reporting people turning into dust all over the world, women, men, children, animals, everything. All suffered the same faith, disappearing into thin air. Trying your best to keep your tears at bay, you reached for your phone in your pocket and pressed on Natasha’s number.
Ring.
Ring.
Rin-
“M-mom?” , you heard her say, her voice was shaking, evidence of tears threatening to fall. “Natasha! My god, you’re okay? Please tell me you’re okay.” , you sighed in relief. Natasha said “Mom, I’m okay. It’s just…something happened here a-and I feel like it’s my fault that people turned into dust. You should have seen them, Mom.” , Natasha said over the line, sniffling. “I-i know, sweetheart. M-mama and Yelena, they-they turned into dust right in front of me when we were trying to have lunch. Please don’t blame yourself, мой старший (my eldest). I’m sure its not your fault, it was the villain of this mess. I’m flying over to your base of operations, is that okay?”, you replied. After Natasha sent you the address of the Avenger’s Compound, you packed your things, roaming and checking the area of the house for anything, making sure to pack some family portraits. With a sigh, you heading towards the private plane you owned and set out to the Avenger’s home.
You saw your daughter looking defeated in the middle of the grass field whilst you landed the plane. You grabbed all your belongings and made your way to her, setting down your bags beside you and holding out your arms, asking for a hug. Natasha sniffled and slowly made her way to your embrace, head tucked between your neck, arms around your waist tight, like to make sure you were actually there.
She led you towards the common area with more people, looking as defeated as Natasha, or not even more like that guy in the jacket at the back and wait- is that a rodent? Never mind….at least for now. “Uh guys, this is my mom, Y/N , she’ll be staying here with us for awhile.” , Natasha introduced you to her teammates. “Its a pleasure to meet all of you. My apologies for the sudden intrusion, I hope I’ll be able to help however I can.” , you replied after several handshakes. You sat down with them at the long table as they filled you in as to what happened.
Captain Marvel, or Carol as she introduced herself to you got Tony Stark back, arguments here and there, tension obvious between a lot of them. But time slowly moved on, people started losing hope, moving away from the compound, moving on with their lives. Leaving Natasha and you in this hollow shell of what was once Natasha’s home before your home in Saint Petersburg. You still drag your eldest back to Russia once every month to just get away for the weekend, trying your best to stay by Natasha side, taking care of her while obviously she’s struggling to take care of herself. You go back to Saint Petersburg to clean up the house every couple of weeks, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, gardening, just the mundane chores to keep the house clean for your family, if they ever return.
Yes, you’re the mother of Natasha Romanoff but you’ve adapted that role to other members of the non-dusted members too, bringing them home-made meals or bringing them for outings, quiet nights in with cuddles. You cook for Natasha on most days, some days the team comes back for several hours then they eat with you and Natasha too, usually Russian comfort food is what you cooked to relieve the home sickness, or peanut butter sandwiches prepared differently for your eldest when she doesn’t feel like eating. Natasha had asked you why you stayed with her while everyone left. You simply replied with why wouldn’t you? She’s your daughter and when her youngest sister and mother was gone with half of the population. She’s left in charge over everything, so you’re by her side, helping with whatever you can. You promise to stay by her side no matter what.
4 years later, Natasha has deemed you a member of the team during dinner together.
Another year passed when Scott Lang gave all of you hope, hope of bringing everyone back. With the help of Tony, he basically invented time travel, bringing back the team to plan on time travelling to retrieve the stones. Tony even made you a suit which you thanked him for with a hug and promise to send baked goods to his family. Originally, Clint was teamed with Natasha to go to Vormir to get the Soul Stone.
“Please let me go with Natasha, I would love to travel to what seems like the end of the world with my eldest.” , you said to Clint. Several conversations and planning were done, the team agreed that you and Natasha were the ones to go to Vormir.
As you and your daughter climbed to the top of the mountain, you were talking about life, laughing and reminiscing on the past before reaching the top to meet an ugly red-faced skull man who was floating.
A soul or a soul.
A sacrifice with someone you love.
Whatever it takes.
You and Natasha sat on the rock while quietly thinking of a choice. When Natasha stood up and saying she made a choice, you did the same too. You held her by her forearms and brought her into a tight hug, enjoying each others presence for one last time. Both of you had to fight, fight each other to see who gets to sacrifice themselves. When you stole her widow bites and blasted her with it, temporarily laying on the ground with electricity tasing her. You ran towards the edge. Natasha ran towards you, using a weapon to keep her from falling off while holding on to your wrist.
“You know, Natalia, my sweet daughter. I’m so proud of you, wiping the red from your ledger, becoming a hero for all the little girls. I love you so much. You have to stay strong for them, okay? Bring back your friends, bring back your family.” , you said while tears dripping down your cheeks.
Natasha shook her head, gripping your wrist with all her might. “Please mom. Please! Don’t do this! I-love you too, Mom. It should be me, let me do this, Mom. I love you so-”
“Please let me go, моя дочь (my daughter). Tell Melina and Yelena I love them. I’m proud of all of you, my family.” , you said before kicking the side of the mountain, losing Natasha harsh grip. Falling towards your death should feel gruesome but all you felt was peace.
Natasha cried as she woke up in shallow water with a yellow shining stone in her palm. Calling out for her mother, like a child who was lost in a scary place, seeking comfort for her mother’s embrace. A child in Ohio calling out for her mother when she was lost in the field. A child crying into her mom’s arms, who was cooing and patting her back, reassurance and love whispered into her ear. But now? It was all gone.
When she teleported back to the compound a minute later, she dropped to her knees, silently with tears streaming down her face.
“Nat, where’s Y/N?”
Within 24 hours, Bruce snapped back the other half of the universe then went into war with Thanos. Everyone fighting with every once of strength they had, new found hope with everyone back. The added grief of your death made the team who knew you more determined on killing Thanos’s army and Thanos himself. At the end, Captain Marvel stole the gauntlet, and effectively the stones, snapping her finger before saying “I am Captain Marvel ”.
When everyone made it back into the now newly made compound. Everyone was getting used to having everyone back, a lot of them spending time with their families, Carol in an arm cast like Bruce, rebuilding what they once had. While Natasha flew back to Russia to find Melina and Yelena.
When the door opened, all of them hugged, sinking into each other’s embrace. But once quiet mood down dampened when Yelena, her youngest sister asked “Where’s mom?” When all of them sat on the couch, Natasha took a deep breath and started speaking “When half of the population got dusted, Mom wasn’t dusted, she called me and flew to the Avenger’s Compound where she took care of me and my friends for 5 years. One of the stone, the Soul Stone, it had to have a s-sacrifice. A soul for a soul. A-and it was supposed to be me but Mom did it instead of me. She…she saved us all.” , when Natasha finished speaking, all of them were in tears, the feeling of anger and sadness floating around the room. “Before Mom had….sacrificed herself, she told me that she loved all of us and that she’s proud of us.” , Natasha said.
The 3 women, now sat in the living room with vodka on the coffee table in front of them, listening to stories of their Mom from their Mama and Natasha talking about their time during those 5 years.
A grave sat behind the house in Saint Petersburg, under a nice shady tree with flowers and candles in front of the grave.
Y/N Y/L/N - Vostokoff
Mother, Wife, Friend , Avenger
Despite meeting some of the team for 5 years, you left a big impact on all of them, it felt like they lost a teammate, a friend, a family member. Your funeral filled with Avengers and Melina and Yelena, all gathered to remember the person that once was there, now gone for the sacrifice for the greater good.