Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 94: Crash And Burn

Everyone emerged on the platform at the same time, their miniaturized bodies growing back to full-grown ones. Heads turned and eyes jumped over the group as they counted heads. Eleven. They were all here. Katya exhaled deeply, she had already missed Earth.

''Did we get them all?'' Tony spoke up first, clutching an old looking briefcase in his hands. 

Now that she looked closer, Katya realized Steve wasn't wearing the same clothes as before. These looked like very old uniforms of some kind of job. Apparently the trip to Vormir wasn't the only adventurous one.

Rhodey smiled brightly, a silver orb in his hand. ''Are you telling me this actually worked?''

Katya caught her breath, hands on her knees. This was too much excitement for one day, and the scare from before still ran through her system. Vormir would hereby forever be banned from conversations or thoughts. The only traces left were her wet knees.

It could have ended so much worse, she knew that all too well. What if Red Skull had left after his monologue? What if he didn't have a soul and therefore couldn't trade it? What if Katya hadn't come up with a tricky solution? She would have been standing here with only one teammate; either Clint or Natasha, or they would be standing here without her. 

Because those two, they had accepted fate on that mountain top. They had given up, ready to jump, seeing no other way. Truly traumatizing.

''You,'' Katya pointed her finger at Nebula, ''are very lucky I am happy right now. A heads-up would be nice if one of us has to sacrifice themselves next time.'' Because she had known. She had known what would happen on Vormir, what it took to get the Soul Stone. And she let them go anyway.

The blue women shuffled a bit under the confusing stares from the others, but didn't give in. ''We had to get the Stone.''

Katya shook her head in disapproval, but couldn't find it within herself to be mad. She straightened up, took the Stone from the small pocket on her chest and handed it to Tony. ''This better be worth the traumas I got.''

As much as she liked celebrating, Katya needed fresh air, oxygen. Her lungs felt dirty and stuffed from the thick atmosphere on Vormir. Or maybe it was all in her head. Didn't matter, the building suddenly felt small.

''Hey! Where you going?'' Natasha rushed after her, out of the gigantic room and into the short hallways leading to the front door. The smile on her lips wouldn't come off for weeks, probably. 

Katya stopped in her tracks. Yeah, where was she going? ''I was going to go to the lake, but I think I just got terrified of water again,'' she joked, chuckling. But Natasha didn't join her, she seemed too occupied with something else.

Natasha eyed her for just a second before her lips were on Katya's. It was meant to be short and sweet, but emotion took over and Katya gently got backed into the wall, Natasha kissing her passionately. 

''What was that for?'' Katya chuckled when she had to get air, staring deep into the green eyes in front of her. The intensity of them had her heart speeding up, but it might also be the position she was in, trapped between the wall and her wife. 

''Saving my life,'' Natasha whispered, their faces close together. ''Again.''

Katya moved one hand from Natasha's waist to her cheek, brushing some dust and dirt away. The snow had melted on the trip back. ''Would it ease your conscience if I told you I didn't want to die either?''

Natasha hummed, enjoying how gently Katya's fingertips trailed over her skin. ''That would, yeah.'' She still felt a need to repay people for the things they did for her, even after all these years, and even if those things came from her wife.