𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐃𝐈𝐎𝐓 | ʏᴇʟᴇɴᴀ ʙᴇʟᴏᴠᴀ x ᴏᴄ

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟... 𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬?

What if... Aerus snapped their fingers?

We all know the story of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff. The sacrifices they both made, giving their own lives to save billions more. The story lives in many of our hearts, and perhaps always will.

But, in this story, it wasn't Tony who snapped his fingers. It was Aerus.

"Come on, Fanny." She told the dog as it hopped off her lap, onto the ground. She stepped out of the truck herself, with an chequered shirt that had once belonged to Aerus, tucked into her jeans. The slam of the door was one of the only sounds in the park, along with the rustling of the leaves above her in the trees. 

At that time in the year, it could be classed as beautiful- walking down the path with Fanny, to... let's not go there.

Yelena understood well why Aerus snapped their fingers- to save half the universe, and more, was important. But, in this mission alone, Yelena had lost her sister and lover. Far more than she'd ever wanted. And somehow, she found herself to blame for it. 

Yelena was the one who insisted on going to help in the fight in Wakanda. Yelena was also the one who insisted on helping in the Time Heist. And, when you've been in the position that the Russian was in, of course, you were going to blame yourself. 

She'd go there often, bringing books to read by herself, but sometimes would even read them out loud. She'd say how her week had been, tell Air that she was planning on meeting with Sam Wilson to talk future plans. But other times, Yelena would just sit there with a pack of six beers and drink three of them, leaving the other three just where they were.

Sometimes, Yelena would sit there and lean against the tree trunk and watch people walk by and pay their respects to the two graves. And, part of her wondered that if it had been the other way around that anyone would paid respect to her grave. Sometimes, she would wonder if she'd have a grave and funeral period. She'd done bad things in her past, so what did she do to deserve all of that?

The dog barked as she ran ahead of the blonde Russian, down the path, knowing the way all too well. Yelena was as silent as ever. That was one of the things Aerus loved about her. The mystery behind the eyes and that grin that didn't take long to grow on her face. 

She ran ahead still, while the girl walked. And walked, and walked. Before she came to a stop in front of two, familiar graves. Both Natasha's and Aerus' graves had more flowers, soft toys, candles and thank you notes than the last Saturday 'Lena had visited, and she had plans on cleaning them both clear again, so a new wave of the fan's things could clutter it all up. 

She first turned to her sister's grave, tiding it up a little by sitting up one of the soft bears and making it all a little more uniform. Flowers perched everywhere around the sister's grave tried to lift the girl's spirits but it didn't work. 

NATASHA ROMANOFF

⧗

DAUGHTER⋅ SISTER⋅ AVENGER

Yelena let out a short sigh as she moved to the side of the grave, leaning her forehead against it, trying to hold back any tears she'd not let out for the last past few weeks.

And she held it all in, bottling it all up and looking back up at the gravestone, letting out a whistle. Although she knew there was going to be no reply, there was a small bit of hope still inside of her that hoped something... someone, would've replied. 

But there was only silence. And so, the girl stood up before turning to the other grave. Much less to Natasha's grave, but there was still cards, and two soft toys on Aerus' grave. The Russian did the same to Air's grave, cleaning it up before sitting down beside of it for a moment, thinking carefully. 

"I miss you." She said, tears now in the Russian's eyes. Her voice was so quiet she could barely hear it herself, but she didn't need to be the one who heard it. Aerus was the one who needed to hear it. There was a long, long pause before she ran a hand down the side of the gravestone, standing up. 

"Hey." She sent a glare to her own dog, of who was digging away at the tree, much like she usually did. "Stop it." The dog whined a little before noticing a butterfly, chasing after the thing as if it were a million bucks. 

She walked to the front to get a better look once again at the grave, fists clenched for only a moment before unclenching them.

AERUS SHAW

♛

LOVER⋅ AVENGER⋅ HERO

Even with those leaves that still rustled in the wind, Yelena felt as though the world was silent as she looked down at both graves. It was silent. 

Was silent. Valentina appeared next to the Russian, blowing her nose loudly into a tissue. Slowly, the spy turned her head to the woman, of who continued to blow her nose loudly. If the girl had the choice, she wouldn't have worked with Valentina at all, but the choices were small and didn't last that long. 

"Sorry." The woman said to the girl, of who was not impressed. "I'm allergic to the Midwest." Yelena stayed quiet, turning her head back to her lover and sister's gravestones. "What they did... both of them... I can't even imagine." Valentina says to the girl, while Yelena kept her hands in her pockets.

"You're not supposed to be bothering me on my holiday time, Valentina." The Russian accent showed irritancy and someone who could've been planning a murder if she had the time. 

"Oh? Bothering you?" Valentina repeats the girl's words. "Oh, no no no, I'm just here... paying my respects." She insures, of which was obviously a lie. If Yelena had thought about it a little more carefully, perhaps she could've killed Valentina and gotten away with it. 

Yelena nodded to Val's words. "You know, coming here makes you look desperate." The Russian told her. The dark haired woman laughed at what she said, but Yelena only smiled for a moment before going back to the stern cold face. "I want a raise." She told the woman. 

Valentina eventually stopped to laugh as she spoke. "Oh yeah, you and me both." Yelena's head turned back to the two graves. "Believe me, you're gonna earn it." She reached to her handbag, taking out a tablet. "I've got your next target." She told the girl. "Thought I would hand deliver it to you." 

"I don't want a little one like last time." She told her. "I want to show off my real skills-" 

"Oh, you will." Valentina didn't open just yet, though. "I think it's rather good we're doing it in front of them." She nodded down to Aerus' grave as she then did open up the tablet, handing it over to Yelena. "I can see why she digged the girl for a while. Guess when she's not being so crazy, she can be kinda a cutie, don't you think?"

Yelena stared down at the photo on the screen. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlett Witch, the ex-lover of Aerus Shaw on the tablet screen. It was Wanda from when she'd been spotted in Germany in 2016, so long ago compared to now. 

"Are you serious?" She looked over at Valentina, as if she were insane. Sure, Yelena was skilled, but not as skilled to take out someone like Wanda. 

"Oh, you won't be alone. I have a friend, who knows a guy." She tells her, causing a raise of the eyebrow. "We're going to be taking a trip to New Jersey, Yelena."

a/n: Thank you all so much for the reads on this book so far, PLEASE, for the celebrations of christmas and 70K, please request more What If chapters like this, I have a few in mind so don't keep me waiting!