𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

- ⧗  ZARIAH PETROVA ⧗ -

ZARIAH LOVED PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES. She hated to admit it but it was the truth. After Nat had brought her the first one yesterday, Zariah had already asked for three more. Now for the second day in a row, the pair of them sat eating them in her cell for breakfast.

   Natasha bragged about how she was right and that Zari should have never judged her. The redhead simply told her to shut the fuck up.

   The pair of them had spent a lot of time together in the last day. Since Zariah had agreed to signing SHIELD's contract, Nat had spent the time explaining all the details to her.

   How she could finally leave her cell and get a room at the compound. There were several tests that needed to be done but Nat assured her nothing could hurt her. They were simply procedure to put on her record.

   Natasha had also explained the entire story of how she'd joined SHIELD. She spoke a little of her time at the red room, then of all the amazing things she'd done since she'd left. Though there had been an adjustment period, Nat's life had changed entirely for the better once she'd found her freedom. Zariah silently prayed that perhaps she could soon say the same.

   When Nat couldn't be in her room with her, Zariah had spent her time reading her book. She'd never truly read a story book before, only revised plots of popular stories to whip up as part of her fake identity. But knowing the story and reading it were too different things, and Zariah believed that reading was perhaps the next best thing the world had to offer, of course, after peanut butter sandwiches.

   "You like it?" Nat had asked when she entered the room that morning with their breakfast. She gestured towards the closed book that sat on the bed beside Zariah, having been finished only an hour or so before.

   "Yeah," Zariah replied, allowing the smile to show on her face. "It's really good."

   Nat nodded. "Yeah I loved Alice in Wonderland as a kid, especially the mad hatter."

   Zariah let out a little laugh but then her face fell slightly. She looked up at Natasha with inquisitive eyes. "You spent time outside the red room when you were little, didn't you?"

   Natasha seemed to tense up a little but she pushed out an answer nonetheless. "Yeah I did," she answered simply.

   Of the stories she'd told, Zariah had known it was the truth. Unlike her, Natasha had had a taste of the real world as a child. Perhaps that was what made her defection so easy. She knew that the horrors they'd faced were horrors indeed, not the everyday life Zariah had been brought up to believe.

   "Hey," Nat said, bringing her smile back. "I'll tell you all about it one day, huh? Just not right now."

   Zariah nodded. The truth was Nat didn't owe her anything about her past. The fact that she shared it at all was a privilege. After all, Zari had shared next to nothing about her own life.

   Once the pair had finished their breakfast, Zariah had piped up to ask a question. Something that had been bothering her since Natasha had asked if she was sure about joining SHEILD.

   "Do I have to change my name when I leave?" she asked. "And put on an American accent like you?"

   Nat looked at her with a small smile. "Not if you don't want to. You can make your own choices now."

   Zariah staggered a breath. The concept at hand was a total stranger to her. Never before had she been asked what she would like to do. She took a moment to think, really think for the first time in her life about what she truly wanted. After a minute she raised her head.