Work Text:
Yelena had to live. She had to make the sacrifice count for something. She had to make sure Natasha didn’t die for no reason, that Natasha’s death wasn’t in vain.
Currently, Yelena was walking down the street, a hood over her head and trying to act as if she didn’t exist (Fanny was with her, being the unproblematic dog in existence, unlike Lucky). Because she really didn’t want to be here right now. After the whole Thunderbolts thing that turned into the New Avengerz with a Z, Yelena was tired. She didn’t want to deal with Walker, nor Ava, nor her dad, nor Barnes (He’s not bad, just somewhat annoying with how little patience him and her both seem to have). Bob was okay, and Yelena understood him, but he couldn’t do much to help them unless he wanted to destroy half of New York again. Not really ‘destroy’ but you get the point.
Yelena was stuck. She wondered if for a moment she could call someone, maybe Kate? Call it cliche, Yelena fell in love with the girl whom she’d only seen a handful of times. But Yelena doesn’t care, because Kate is the first person Yelena has ever felt like this about, the way she’s so overdramatic and chaotic. She makes Yelena feel whole again after her sister’s death.
No, Yelena had to deal with this herself. She didn’t want to drag Kate with her, especially after all the drama she had helped cause in New York City as of recently (ish). Besides, Yelena would feel bad for pushing her problems onto Kate Bishop, and that would be unfair.
So, Yelena did what she did best. She took out her anger and sadness and she went to her sister's grave. Maybe it wasn’t the best solution, but she wanted to talk to her sister, even if she wasn’t actually talking to Natasha. So she got Fanny, and they went for a little trip. That's how Yelena ended up in a cemetery with her sweetheart of a dog with her. Fanny was great emotional support, in case there was any question about it (which there shouldn’t be). But she couldn’t fill the void left by Natasha, no matter how much it broke Yelena’s heart to admit.
Yelena was sitting on the ground, leaning against Natasha’s grave, Fanny was curled up next to her with her head on Yelena’s lap. It was domestic, albeit sad given their environment and the emotion lying in it. She stayed there through the rest of the day as she oh so often does, then when she got a very obnoxious text from her dad she knew she should probably go back to the Tower. She didn’t want Alexei coming in her stupid cool car to find her. God, that would be SO embarrassing.
Yelena did pride herself on taking as long as humanly possible to go home though. She knew Alexei was going to make a big deal, and that Ava would have some sarcastic remarks just waiting for her. But she didn’t have to worry about that right now. Right now it was just her and her amazing emotional support dog against the world. And Yelena found herself coming to peace with it.
A thought crossed her mind before she could stop it. Natalia would be proud. Yelena did everything in her power to not cry and start bawling on the street. But she failed spectacularly (It's really sad considering she’s a trained assassin). She hugged Fanny, and Fanny just wagged her tail and tried to slobber all over Yelena. God, Yelena would never get over Natasha, but she could at least try to live for her sister… right?