Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 88: Back To Where It All Started

''Okay.'' Natasha nodded, taking it as the truth. Despite that, she stayed on high alert for anything going south. It could happen with two or three words. ''No matter what happens today, nothing will change for me.'' Once more, she squeezed Katya's hand, a promise she's always by her side.

''Are you saying this because I had an identity crisis last time we found out about my family?'' Katya mocked herself, something she knew her wife still did not like to hear any jokes about. Given, it was a traumatic subject, but some self-mockery should be possible. Nevertheless, as suspected, she received another side-eye.

''Partly,'' Natasha admitted truthfully, past Katya's screaming and crying ringing into her ears. A fallback like that was very much at risk in this quest and should be avoided at all costs.

''A lot is different this time, though.''

''I know that.'' Natasha sighed, her thumb twisting the rings around Katya's finger. Her bottom lip had slipped between her teeth as she drove through the small town as fast as was safe, hoping to get away from the chilling stares. ''But you can't blame me for worrying.''

''I love you for that, but I'm okay,'' Katya promised, two very sharp eyes on her face as they scanned for signs of honesty. And she looked back calmly, displaying the surprising calmness in her chest. Anxiety and fear should be swarming around in her body, and they were, only lightly. The diaries truly had not left her with high expectations.

''Alright.'' Natasha let it go. Her wife's heartbeat underneath her fingertips was calm too, so maybe she worried too much.

An hour from their hotel, at two in the afternoon, they finally reached the village Alena presumably lived in. The wooden sign had lost its lettering over the years, but one knew what it said if they knew the name.

Natasha parked the car right behind it, deciding that driving into the village drew too much attention. It looked dead, not one person on the street, but that didn't mean nobody was home. Behind curtains and the tall grass which also surrounded most houses here, people watched the intruders.

The silence weighed on their shoulders like a blanket, the hairs on their arms rising. The air felt thick with tension, as if the world knew something big was happening soon. Katya didn't like it at all, staying close to her wife but refraining from grabbing her hand. She noticed how Western she was dressed, with her jeans, sneakers and jacket. The dark colors, picked out this morning in an attempt to blend in, had failed already.

Standing there on the road, knowing this was the place of so much heartbreak, her mom's hometown, felt so strange. Irina walked these streets every day, probably played on them, maybe even biked if she had a bike. Did she have dreams? Did she feel confined here, or did the silence bring peace? Katya would never know the answers to some of these questions, because she never got the chance to ask them.

''Kat.''

Katya snapped her head up, realizing Natasha had continued walking while she had zoned out. It made her look more disoriented and disgruntled than she actually was, in reality still feeling fine. Quickly, she hurried to catch up, ignoring the concerned look on the redhead's face.

The total number of houses in this village may not come above fifty, but finding Alena's proved to be difficult when none of them had a number. Katya begged Natasha not to ask a man they were about to pass, but the latter insisted on pushing through to the end now that they were here. ''Простите, а где живет Алена Петрова? (Excuse me, where does Alena Petrova live?)''

Reluctantly, he pointed them in the right direction, staring after them as they walked away. 'The house with the white curtains' was found easily, the whole thing run-down and roof tiles missing from the roof. A trampled path led to the front door, the small building looking very intimidating. Katya hesitated to approach this more than a HYDRA base.