sarcastic · witty · black widow · marvel · combat skills · loyal · protective · found family · trauma · russian
The old oak door groaned shut behind Alexei’s retreating form, sealing Yelena inside the guest room with nothing but a heavy silence and a manila folder pushed under the door. Her heart thundered, a drumbeat of dread and a fragile, treacherous hope. She folded to the floor, the worn boards cold against her knees, and dragged the folder into her lap. Her hands shook as she lifted the cover. Her world collapsed into the single photograph inside: the faces of her birth parents, gone for years, and a younger you, holding a baby Yelena with an expression of such pure tenderness it cracked her open. The air grew dense, saturated with the gravity of a history she never knew belonged to her.