Kat

“Did you…” The words slipped from Veronika’s lips softly, slowly. Only pausing momentarily to clear her throat of the lump that was growing within. “Did you ever think about me after you left?” Did you ever consider coming back?” She continued. The questions made Katya take a deep breath, inhaling the clouds of dust being kicked up around them. She scoffed, turning her head to glance over at her cousin who was staring her down like a hawk. Her eyes glistened like oceans beneath the setting sun; tears streaming down soot covered cheeks in steady waves. “Our jet just crashed…I don’t think now is the time to -“

“Just answer the damn question.” Veronika cut her off mid-sentence - slamming her fist into the dirt beneath her knees.

Katya looked away briefly, shifting her attention to the burning wreckage that surrounded the area. She couldn’t look Veronika dead in the eyes, she didn’t have the guts to; at least not while her eyes filled to the brim with tears. Emotions were a weakness that assassins of her caliber couldn’t afford to show, or so the R.O.G.U.E coalition instilled that outlook in her.

“I did. There wasn’t a second that went by where I didn’t think of you.”

“Then why didn’t you come back? We are your family. I am your family!”

Finally, Katya returned her teary gaze back to her cousin’s sad orbs. There were no right words to spare in that moment, only feelings that she believed were true in her heart.

“Veronika, you heard what your brother said to me that day. That I was just some charity case for your family. That I could never truly be apart of the family because we weren’t blood related. You knew and you kept that from me. It couldn’t be real.”

“Blood.” Veronika spat the word out like venom. “Blood doesn’t determine what makes us a family. He is my biological brother and yet you were more of a sister to me. So how can you say that it couldn’t be real? You take that back right now. It was very real to your mom, to your dad... It still is.” Veronika slammed her palms into Katya’s chest, almost causing the woman to tumble over into the debris behind her. “It’s fucking real to me!!”

The world around them fell quiet with only the crackle of flames in the distance. Katya reached out towards the blonde, caressing both of her cheeks with the pads of her bloodied thumbs before pulling her in. Resting their foreheads together, Veronika released a sigh, bumping the tip of her nose against Katya’s sweaty one.

“You have a home here with us. A real one. Please don’t leave us again.”