the unraveling of natasha romanoff

wanda's cabin

After almost 18 hours straight of traveling, Kate and Yelena are on the edge of what used to be Sokovia. Which, from Yelena's research, was an almost dead country until the Avengers blew it up to stop a Tony-bot from demolishing Earth or something of that cadence. Either way, it's a dead country.

"Where the hell are we?" Kate wonders aloud from the driver's seat. They're currently driving through what feels like an endless forest on a path that hasn't been used in god knows how long.

Yelena clenches her jaw, uncertainty settling in her stomach. She hates being uncertain, she's always known more than she should and she hates breaking that streak. Breaking that streak is how people get hurt and people that are hurt are less valuable.

Her displeasure is only amplified when Lucky leans forward in the back seat, panting loudly in her ear, and she gently pushes his snout away, "Lucky, your breath is awful."

"Be nice to him," Kate replies, "Oh look, a house."

"I'm plenty nice," Yelena grumbles, crossing her arms and sitting back in her seat. She doesn't need niceness lessons right now. "Я самый хороший человек на свете, черт возьми." (I'm the nicest person alive, for fuck's sake.)

"I don't know what you just said, but I don't think it backed up your point," Kate says as she finally stops the car.

Lucky bounces to the front seat, right on Yelena's lap, eagerly awaiting his release and she groans, cursing again as she grabs his leash and lets him out of the car, making sure to not let him run off.

Kate gets out as well, praising Fanny for sitting patiently in the back before grabbing her leash and following Yelena to the front of the house.

"It looks deserted," Kate comments, glancing at the house nervously.

Yelena shrugs, "There are worse ways to die, Kate Bishop."

"Why do you always think we're gonna die?" her girlfriend responds as Yelena knocks on the door.

A quippy response about how she's always been more comforted by death than scared of it, or something about how she's always been told her life doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things sits on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn't say it. Now isn't the time.

She knocks again and sighs when there's no response. Dead end.

"Guess she doesn't live here," Yelena says softly, turning toward Kate.

"She could just be out getting groceries," Kate replies, hopeful tone to her voice.

"The place looks deserted, Kate," Yelena shakes her head, painful reminder of the path they took being overgrown and barely existent on the forefront of her mind, "This place doesn't look like it's been touched in years."

Her heart admittedly aches at the realization, and she and Kate sit down on the stairs of the house in a dismal silence. Lucky's cuddled up against Kate and Fanny against Yelena, their leashes on the brink of tangling, but she can't find it in herself to care.

She got all of Natasha. She got the information she wanted and she guesses that Wanda moved prior to them getting here because this place feels deserted.

"We could always explore Europe," Kate says, her fingertips dancing across Lucky's fur.

"I've been to Europe," Yelena huffs, scratching behind Fanny's ear, "It's okay."

"I've been, too," Kate says, "but I've always wanted to go with someone I loved and have more fun than the BS trips my mom brought me on."

Yelena nods, moving over and resting her head on Kate's shoulder. She and Kate haven't been the kind of people that say they love each other all the time, despite telling each other only two months into their relationship. Them loving each other kind of just is , and Yelena is more than okay with that. She knows Kate loves her and Kate knows that Yelena loves her.