двадцать один (Twenty-One)

Russian Translations:

Я люблю тебя - I love you

люблю - Love

And suddenly, just like that, she remembered.

Just like that.

Mama

Papa

Olga

Tatiana

Maria

Alexei

And me. Me...

Anastasia...

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova.

Daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. The last Grand Duchess of Russia.

Her mother her father, her sisters, her brother...

Mama, Papa, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Alexei, Anastasia...

Me...

She stumbled down the hallway, which seemed to be narrowing tighter and tighter with each step she took, but she barely heard the blaring noise of the alarm over the nosiness and spinning of her own thoughts.

Of course, she'd heard the name many times in the last several decades of her prolonged existence, but never like this, never directed at her.

That had been it, that had been the trigger, her trigger.

So that meant-

What did it mean?

Anastasia Romanova

Tatiana Vasilivna

Ilana Shapira

Sascha Shostakov

The beginning, the middle, and all the way to the end.

Several names, several identities, but only one that she truly was.

She blinked hard - suddenly everything was flooding back, her name-trigger sending everything spilling back into her memory.

Just like that.

That night at Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, the gunshots, the screams...

But that was all she could remember, but not because she couldn't remember, but because her situation did not allow her to. Suddenly, she was snapped from her memory prison, only because she was thrown off balance, literally. The whole floor was tipping - no, the whole entire building was tipping. The entire structure in the sky was falling.

Here's where the part of the plan that 'all hell would surely break loose - but it would be planned' came into play.

And hell really did break loose after that.

Although distracted now, Sascha had no time to think of anything else - she had to get out of here before they crashed.

With no earpiece she had no idea what the others' statuses were, so she could only hope and pray they would be alright.

"YELENA!"

As she emerged into the blinding daylight she heard it, Natasha's shout.

Now it was her turn to shout. "LENA!"

Yelena was perched up on a jet that was trying to take off, staff in her hands.

She flashed them a smile. "This was fun! Я люблю тебя!"

"NO!"

"DON'T!"

BLAST!

Yelena jammed her staff into the engine, creating a blast which sent her flying and plunging downwards, as well as the jet.

"Sascha!" Natasha tossed her a parachute. Sascha promptly caught it and then, without another thought, leapt off the edge of the crumbling structure.

Yelena could hardly be seen in amongst the falling debris, but Sascha wasn't about to lose sight of her. She would not.

Finally, she caught up, grabbing onto the blonde and attaching the parachute to her back. "I got you! I got you..." Yelena just stared dazed back as Sascha pulled the chute.

"Sascha!" There was a flash of orange, black and gold and Nat was falling not far behind them, but she wasn't alone: Taskmaster was sailing through the air towards them, sword drawn.

In her own falling, Nat shoved them out of the way - with the parachute they floated gently away and to the ground. Aside from being a bit tangled up in the chute, they were for the most part okay.

"Yelena?" Nat joined them and dropped to her knees beside them.

"We're both upside down..." Yelena groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Careful, люблю," Sascha urged her, helping guide her up into a seated position.

As soon as she was sitting, Nat grabbed the blonde and pulled her close in a tight and loving hug. "Forgive me, Little Sister. I should have come back for you."

"You don't have to say that-"

"No. I do. I should have. It was real to me too."

Now a choked-up Yelena returned her sister's embrace. "Thank you. Now that I'm glad you said."

"Hey!" There was Melina limping over with Alexei's assistance.

"Everybody good?" Nat asked.

"I am clearly injured," Melina stated.

"You got something to say?" Nat nodded to Alexei.

"I'd just mess it up." Instead, he reached out. Nat reached out too and they joined hands for a moment.

A beeping noise sounded then. Nat withdrew a small blinking tracker device from her utility belt. "Ah, here comes the cavalry." Secretary Ross was on his way - on his way to arrest her.

"So what's our plan?" asked Melina.

"Sasch?" said Yelena.

Sascha glanced at the tracker and shrugged. "That many armoured vehicles? Shouldn't be problem."

"No, you guys go, I'll stay," Nat told them.

"That's insanity," Alexei protested, and none too gently. "We're a family, we fight. We fight with you."

"Go, I'll hold them off."

They all began protesting at once, talking over each other in true family fashion.

"You guys, go," she insisted. "I'll be fine."

"Oh my God..." sighed Yelena.

"True hero fashion," Sascha added.

Nat chuckled. "Besides, if it can work out with us, who knows, there may be some hope for the Avengers. Maybe a little bit."

"Okay, well if you're leaving, then I guess you should take this." Yelena unzipped her green vest, the one with all the pockets that she was so proud of, and handed it over to her sister.

"Your army surplus vest? The first piece of clothing you bought for yourself? You sure?"

"Yes. I know how much you like it."

"Aw shucks." Nat accepted the gift. "It does have a lot of pockets."

"Very handy pockets, yeah."

Nat's smile turned serious. "He had Widows implanted all over the world. Melina will need to copy the formula-" She handed Yelena a vial of the red counteragent, which they could infer was the last one. "But you should be the one to tell them it's over. And Sascha-" She withdrew a disc. "Careful with that - there's a lot of personal stuff on there."

Couldn't be much more or any more personal than what she had just been triggered to discover, or rediscover, but Sascha just took the drive and gave a stiff nod. "I will be." That was all she could manage, a nod, brisk and stiff.

A whirring drew their attention to a jet descending close by.

The Widows.

"You came back for us," cried Yelena.

"We wouldn't just leave you behind."

"Thank you."

A few of the Widows helped a now mask-less Taskmaster into their jet.

"Who is that?" Sascha asked.

"Dreykov's daughter," Nat responded.

Clearly she had missed something, but she couldn't think of that now.

"You'll all be coming with us," Melina told the Widows. "Come, come with us. Don't worry, you're safe now." Then she turned to her daughter figures. "You coming as well?"

"You go ahead, we'll catch up," Nat told her.

"Okay. But hey, you take care of yourself, okay?"

Nat smiled. "Yes, Mama. Don't worry, I got this."

"I know."

The group all gathered onto the jet and with one last wave, headed off, off into a better life.

"So, how far away is your friend Secretary Ross now?" Yelena asked

"Two minutes and counting."

Sascha cracked her knuckles. "Oh, this'll be fun-" She was cut off then by a terrible creaking from above.

It all happened so fast - and before she knew it-

"YELENA!"

She was dead.

I LOVE Russian history, so I'm incorporating that here :)

And don't worry, I know what you're thinking - WHAT? Yel's dead?! But don't worry - if you've read my Endgame story, you know that she comes back ( of course! ;))

Just saw Shang-Chi today - SO GOOD! So I'll be starting a story for that as well soon!

As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)