chapter five, innocence — act one, the reunion
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7 years ago    Location: Unknown,
                                                                  February 10, 2009

STARTLED, YELENA WAS immediately baffled as she woke up. Her memories were all blurry and she can pinpoint exactly what happened to her. Moving her body forward she try to take upon her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that she was handcuffed to the side of the bed and next to the bed there were some medical tools.

In a instance rush all the memories flooded her, it all became too much to handle. Tears were threatening to come out, but Yelena wouldn't let it, especially not here, were it shows a sign of weakness. Looking up she saw a man, he seems familiar but they are always altering with her memories so is hard for her to even remember how her life was before she came here.

The man moved closer to Yelena just observing her. As he observed, other people entered the room. One person came up to Yelena grabbed her neck and injected a substance in her. Darkness once again consumed Yelena but with all her strength she was fighting to stay awake.

"Figure out how she became free."

"Will do sir."

"Fix her. I need her."

Fix her? To Yelena everything was confusing. She felt a cold hand on her cheek as someone was drawing on her forehead. Why was someone drawing on her? For some bizarre reason all Yelena can think about is her childhood moment with sisters.

"Cut her open, I need her for a mission."

She misses her big sisters.

She misses swinging on swing.

She misses jumping on leaves.

She misses her innocence.

𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁

21 years ago Location: Ohio
March 8,1995

Thirteen year old Emily and eleven year old Natasha were currently riding their bikes trying to see who was the fastest. "Come on Nat, you can go faster," Emily try convincing her little sister to go faster.

"Okay, but if I get hurt Em, that is on you." Natasha wasn't that scared, well just a little but she did not want Emily to know that. She wanted to be brave just like she was.

"Remember what mom says, pain only makes you stronger."

Natasha just smiles at her big sister. Both girls were just enjoying the moment. The chirping noise of the birds. The cold breeze that hits their faces, the lightness of the winds. The beautiful blur of green, blue, and purple that appears on sight. The sound of other kids laughing and some old music coming out of the neighbor's radio.

"Hey Nat, Hey Em," said a little girl as she waved at them. The sisters smiled at her and waved back. The sister duo arrived at their home, ditch their bikes, and went slowly to the yard to surprise Yelena, their little sister. Both Emily and Natasha enter and start to whistle, waiting for Yelena's response.

They heard Yelena whistles back. They moved forward to Yelena, who was doing a backbend pose as Natasha joins her. Emily just smiles at their interaction. "We're both upside down. Emily you look funny from this angle" stated the bright 6 year old.

"You are probably right, I must look funny. Now between the two of you, who is going to last the longest?" teased Emily at the two girls.

"Well I bet that Lena will fall down first," Natasha proudly told her big sisters. She did not care if she won or not. It was just fun seeing Yelena's competitive side. "No, you will," Yelena stated while trying to hold her pose, but it was becoming hard.

"Lena, it seems like you can't hold the pose anymore," teased Emily as Yelena's face was bright red and at any moment she would fall down. Both girls were going for another good 10 seconds until Yelena fell down.

"I told you that you will fall down first." Natasha went to high five Emily, which Emily gladly returned. Emily was just laughing at her little sister's banter. The girls started to run around the yard until Yelena fell down and hurt her knee and cried out for her mother.

"Mommy!"

Both Emily and Natasha ran to their little sister and tried to calm her down. Melina came running out and crouched down the floor beside Yelena, "What happened?"

Natasha answered her mother, "she hurt her knee," as Emily clarified the situation a little more, "We were running around and she fell."

Melina just looked at her older girls giving them a reassuring look as she turn back at Yelena, "Oh, you bumped your knee?" Yelena just nodded at her mother while trying to ignore her pain. While the two older girls went to play on the swing set.

"Oh let's kiss it better. There you go," as Melina moved to hug her little girl, who immediately wrapped her little arms around her mother to feel her warmth. "Come on little one you are okay. You are a brave girl. Your pain only makes you stronger."

Melina got up and held her little girl's hands to make sure she felt safe. She took her to her other daughter, who were staring at fireflies. Yelena immediately spotted them, her eyes brightened up as she pointed them out, "Look forest star."

"Those are actually part of the lampyridae family." The girls just got up and moved towards them with their mother. They love listening to their mother's voice especially when she gives out little science lessons. "And the glow that you see, comes from a chemical reaction called bioluminescence...."

Both Emily and Natasha tried to pronounced in there heads as Yelena tried to pronounced out loud, "Bio-feasants?"

Melina smiled at her younger daughter, "Yea, Bio-feasants. Come on girls is time for dinner."

Melina and Yelena move into the house as Emily and Natasha both stayed and admired the fireflies a little longer. With that, they both went inside to set up for dinner and as they heard Yelena saying she wanted mac and cheese, as Melina instructed Natasha to grab the ranch for their father.

The girls went to the table to eat as Melina heard the front door open. "Oh dad's home!"  The girls were excited to see their dad and when they saw him they immediately welcomed him all at once, "Hey, dad."

"Hey girls! How was everyone's day?"

Melina got up as she saw his facial expression, he was distraught. Natasha ate silently, Emily knew something was wrong as she made eye contact with Natasha who knew something was up, but Yelena happily answered her dad. "Well, Mommy taught me about lamp bugs. And I hurt my knee."

Alexi let out a forced chuckle to ease some of the tension in the room. He knows that his two eldest daughters were aware that something was up. They were so smart for there age. He and Melina went to the kitchen. Alexi gave her a look, Melina instantly knew it was time. They had an hour to set up everything.

They both entered the kitchen and sat down as Alexi started off the conversation, "Girls, you remember when I told you that one day we would have a big adventure? Today's day."

Emily could not move, she knew what that meant and she looked at Natasha and saw her facial expression, terrified.  But Yelena, innocent Yelena was clueless, she was just happy to go on a trip. She went to the kitchen to follow her dad.

Melina just stared at the two older girls and let out a small whisper, "I'm sorry." She got up, went to the kitchen were Alexi was getting everything ready, while Emily went to get a small picture of her and her sisters. Natasha went to grab a photo album but she had to leave it as they all headed to the car and made there way out. Yelena instead they played her song.

"So, bye bye miss american pie drove my chevy to the levee but the levee was dry and the good ol' boys were drinkin whiskey and rye singin' this'll be the day that I die. this'll be the day that I die."

Emily grabbed Natasha's hand as she gave it a small squeeze to give her a sense of safety-ness. They both just stared out the window enjoying the simple things in life. They turned into a field and immediately got off and were instructed to get on the plane, but right before that Natasha grabbed a small picture of her sisters.

Melina started the plane and turned to the direction they were headed in. Natasha started to questioned why her father was not on the plane but Melina gave her reassurance that everything was going to be fine.

Shield agents appeared and Alexi started to shoot at them. The girls got scared but Emily immediately went to hug them. Melina accelerated and Alexi ran and jumped on the right wing of the airplane and started to shoot, but one of the agents was able to get a clear shot on Melina. The girls immediately called out to their mom.

"I need you up here."  Melina told her eldest daughter. Emily went up to her side but she could not ignore the blood coming out of her mother, but she stayed focused and listened to her mother's direction and guided the plane to take off.

As Natasha helped her father get in the plane. Eventually, they landed. They all got out and some soldiers rushed to them as they grabbed Melina. The girls rushed to their mother's side.

"Get up mommy. Pain only makes you stronger, remember?"

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notes!

Remember to be grateful for the small things we have in life. Take care of one another and make sure you take of yourself as well. 🤍