A/N: I do not own anything you recognize.
Summary:The odds have never been in Ekaterina "Katya" Alexeyevna Romanova's favour.
Warning:messed up timeline, contains hints of the movie Anastasia which is why I put it in the crossover.
Prologue:
Once, there was a sweet girl, Tsarevna (or Grand Duchess) Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia. When she was sixteen, her family was toppled from the throne and her father removed as Tsar of All Russia. After a year within captivity, her parents, brother and three elder sisters were killed by the Bolsheviks, but Anya escaped sneakily, by the skin of her teeth.
Afterwards, she fled to sanctuary in Lithuania, where she stayed for a few years.
A few more years later, after returning to Russia and hiding in Stalingrad, the now twenty-two-year-old Anya caught Alexander Zhukov's eye. She avoided his advances for but two years, before giving in.
In the year of 1928, a little girl was born to them. She was christened Natalia Alexandrovna Romanova (not that any Soviets knew, for safety purposes), in honour of her mother's family, even if legality called her Natalia Alexandrovna Zhukova. Unfortunately for Anastasia, in the next four years, she was killed in a house fire, yet she managed to save Natalia, but barely.
A soldier was there at the sight, a soldier sympathetic to the Romanovs somewhat, but still loyal to the Soviets. In a moment of panic, Anya ousted her well-concealed identity; "Save her! She's the Tsarevna Anastasia's daughter, the last Tsar's only grandchild!"
This soldier, Ivan, knew that no woman would say such a lie before dying, so he conceded that the Gospozha Zukhova was saying the truth, and was indeed Anastasia Nikolaevna. Ivan wondered what would happen if little Natalia was to be made loyal to the Soviets, perhaps even work together with or for (preferably for) them.
It would be a massive show of unity.
(Or so he thought.)
Plans were made, details were hashed out, and Tsarevna – now titular Tsaritsa – Natalia Alexandrovna Romanova was suddenly the first candidate for the Black Widow Ops.
Tsarevna
Natalia has known nothing but loyalty to Russia and to the Soviets. She is the Black Widow: it was the Soviets who saved her when she was four, and she is a Daughter of Russia. She doesn't want to ever betray them...but she is still loyal to her family more. Not that she has any, but the thought counts.
When they say she is to marry Alexei Shastakov, a Soviet test pilot, she does not mind. In fact, Natalia takes the news with a nod and a smile, ready to be Natalia Shastakova.
The marriage is happy, short as it may be, and when they inform her of his death during a test gone wrong, is the first time the seeds of disloyalty and doubt are sown. Her Alexei is one of the best, she can't- no, she refuses to think that a test has gone wrong when it is Alexei.
She does not tell her superiors that she is pregnant.
Eight months after Natalia is informed of her husband's death, Ekaterina Alexeyevna Romanova is born. The name has significance, it is a small defiance against the Red Room, for her daughter is named after not one, but two Russian Tsaritsas, but then again, Katya is also Tsarevna, the next Tsaritsa after Natalia, if you think about it.
Though it took her a while, the assassin is confirmed of her employers...nefariousness, and thus does not want her daughter to go through the same thing as well. There will be no cycle.
The older redhead leaves her daughter in an orphanage in Yekaterinburg, which she feels is poetic. Let the youngest of the Romanovs be raised where the so-called last of them were murdered. Not to mention, a place named after one of Katya's namesakes.
"Take care of her," she says to the lady of the orphanage, "She is here for her safety. Her name is Ekaterina Alexeyevna," she is about to say Shastakova, but something stops her: might as well give the madam more reason to take care of her daughter, "Tsarevna Ekaterina Alexeyevna Romanova of Russia, the future Tsaritsa, one of the only two remaining from the main branch of the House of Romanov."
"Y-you are the legendary Tsaritsa, aren't you?" the lady stutters, "The daughter of Anastasia. Don't worry, rumours travel, but they can stay just that," she laughs, "Rumours. I shall protect Her Imperial Highness with my life if need be, Your Imperial Majesty."
Your Imperial Majesty: no one has ever called her that, though that is her rightful title. At least the good lady is a Romanov supporter, who believed her within minutes...perhaps it is the "Romanov eyes" that her mother claimed were infamous. Katya has them too, which only added to the theory.
But since when does she have memories of her mother?
All Natalia could ever remember is a song from a music box, ringing laughter, and the sentence, "She has my eyes – the Romanov eyes – with your hair, but I believe she'll look like me". That is a piece of information the former Shastakova clings to.
Tsarevna
Months later, Clint Barton finds her, and Natalia is infinitely grateful that her daughter is in a mundane orphanage of Yekaterinburg. But, perhaps he sees the remorse in her eyes, for she is given a chance to change sides.
She does.
First, they want her to cut ties with the Russian espionage part of her work, and ask her to change names. "Natasha," she decides with a smile. They know nothing of how names work in Russia, she thinks, for she would still be Natalia. Black Widow she may be, but she is still Tsaritsa, she cannot abandon her heritage like that.
The official has problems spelling Romanova, so she just writes Romanoff on a whim, but perhaps her maternal protectiveness was working from behind.
Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, former Russian spy and assassin, current spy and assassin of SHIELD, and Ekaterina Romanova, an "unimportant orphan": no one would ever make the connection, and her baby girl would be safe.
Tsarevna
Years later, and miles away, a six-year-old redhead with blue eyes is removed from the rubble of a burned down orphanage of Yekaterinburg.
Never let it be said that Lady Fate is kind.
A/N: That's done. That's the prologue, and do review to tell me if I should add more of this story. I tried writing some of the next chapter of "Queen Elisabeth, the Tudor Rose", and succeeded in writing only four to five paragraphs. But worry not, my dear readers, for I now have a two-month vacation! Which means more time to write. :)
If you readers want a next chapter, I'm thinking maybe Budapest. If not, then this remains a one-shot which will allow your imagination to guide the way!