AN: Hey guys, Fire Dragon here with another quick one shot. This is going to be my first one-shot for The Summer of Stories (more info on my profile). So any who, not much else to really say about this other than Warning: Character Death, and it takes place after AoU. Please, enjoy my quick story; comments and reviews are greatly welcomed.
I Will Always Be With You
The fire is raging and the heat is almost too intense to bear, but Natasha Romanoff was not one to quit right away, she is just stubborn like that. How she got into this situation, she didn't know; one moment she was fighting alongside Steve, and the next an RPG must have went off, leaving her exhausted, dirty, and aching like crazy. Steve must have saw the RPG coming and protected her from the brunt of the force.
Realizing that Steve isn't with her, Natasha turns around to look at her surroundings, trying to find the super soldier in the smoke and flames engulfing what was left of the building.
"Steve!" Natasha yells, but only a small croak could come out of her smoke filled throat. A terrible cough rips out of her sore throat, but she still calls out for her friend, making her cough more and more until she is knocked to the ground, gasping to breath. The ring of fire is surrounding her, the flames licked at her exposed skin, and taking away any oxygen left in the air.
"Please! Someone help me!" Natasha wasn't one to beg, especially for help, but the fire isn't slowing down; if anything, it is becoming bigger, as if it's about to consume her, and no one is coming to help her. Natasha knows that this is karma, this is her punishment: to die a painful death alone, with no one to help her, or even hold her.
Tears are now falling from her eyes, both from the smoke and sadness, blurring her vision of her surroundings. Another coughing fit wracks her body and her throat is now too sore to scream for help anymore. So Natasha did the only thing she could do now: give-up and hope that death would come swift and quick, even though she knows that God might not be so kind to a monster like her.
As those thoughts ran through her head, Natasha remembers Steve and how he would tell her that she is not a monster, how he would comfort her, and bring her out of her darkness. He was her light, and she trusts him with her life, just as he does with her. Their time together as partners during missions and during the fall of SHIELD strengthen that bond, and even into something Natasha has never felt before, something she thought she could never feel again. But she couldn't take it, take his honesty and overall goodness, he doesn't deserve someone as broken as she is, so that's why she left.
When Natasha met Steve again after their separation after the fall of SHIELD, she had kept her distance, and began turning to Bruce since they both share the same life experiences; they are both monsters, incapable of redeeming the sins of their past. Steve must have realize what she wanted and began keeping his own distance from her, straining their relationship, and whatever bond there was, to the point where it is almost nonexistent. Natasha forgot about it for awhile, but after losing Bruce, she then began to realize how much she missed Steve and his companionship, so she tried to reform that bond, but what they had before seemed to be long gone.
Snapping out of her blissful remembrance, Natasha realizes that she is still trapped within a firey hell. Mustering up the last of her strength, the Russian spy slowly got to her feet, but the action made her dizzy due to the heat and lack of oxygen. Her dizziness and blurred vision made her unable to see a dark, sinister man creep up to her through the fire, holding a gun aimed at her.
In the midst of battling the armed forces, Steve saw the RPG coming and almost on instinct, he dove in front of Natasha and practically shoved her out of the way, taking the RPG head on. The impact, and the explosion afterwards knocks Steve out immediately, and his tired body accepted the blissful nothingness of unconsciousness.
In the darkness of his mind, Steve once again sees his friends the Avengers, both new and old, together all looking at him, up to him 'cause he is their leader; they respected him, both the man with the shield and without. However, Steve doesn't recognize that this is a dream, and in this type of dream, nothing good lasts forever. The happy image of all his friends turn to that of horror as the scene shifts to that of desolation, ruins, and death.
"No!" Steve yells as he runs to each of his teammates, all are dead, or are about to die, their blood cover his hands because they were his responsibility, they trusted their lives to him, and he has failed them all. Steve is now looking frantically for one person, and she is nowhere to be found.
He soon finds her half buried under some rubble, bullet wounds litter her body, including her heart, "No. Natasha, Nat? No. Please, no," Steve begs as he pushes some of the rubble off of her body. Then oh so gently, Steve takes her small, fragile, broken body in his arms, cradling her head in the crook of his elbow.
How could you have let this happen? a distant, yet familiar voice spoke in the wind, this makes Steve look up quickly and look around for the speaker.
"Who are you!? Where are you?!" Steve yells at the empty, dark air.
The voice then seems to sigh and then chuckle softly...almost sadly, You don't know who I am? How could you, I thought that you loved me? At this, a translucent image of a young woman appears before Steve, making him hold Natasha closer until the image becomes clearer, into the form of a woman he knew long ago.
"Peggy?"
Yes Steve, it is me; however, you seem to have forgotten.
"No! I would never forget you."
But you did. You forgot about me, and you forgot about Natasha, and look at what happened.
"No, I...I...I didn't mean to hurt anyone, I'm sorry Peggy!" at this point, Steve wants to just reach out and grab Peggy's hand, but that would mean he would have to let go of Natasha, and he just couldn't do it again, not again.
See Steve, you have let us both go, and you have lost us both. You had hurt every single person who had ever loved you, who trusted you.
Steve then looks up at Peggy, but this time he sees everyone: the Avengers, the Howling Commandos, his friends from the army, and his parents, all looking down at him with looks of sadness, disappointment, and anger. "No, no! Please forgive me! I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" tears are now flowing down his cheek and onto Natasha's lifeless form.
But you still did.
It was true, he lost Peggy because he had to save the world from Red Skull, and he had lost Natasha to Clint, to time, and to Bruce. He doesn't want to lose her again, so Steve leans in gently to Natasha's ear, even though he knows that she couldn't hear him, "please Nat, wake-up, and I promise that I will never let you go again. I promise to never hurt you again."
It is at this moment that Steve hears someone calling his name, albeit far away and soft, but it eventually grew louder until he could hear it loud and clear. It sounded like someone weezing and struggling to yell, but Steve knows that it is Natasha's voice, and it shocks him awake.
Heat, immense heat, is all Steve could feel as he begins to gain consciousness, and when he takes a big breath, smoke immediately fills his lungs, making him cough and weez. After a few moments, Steve finally gains some sense and realizes where he is, and what had happened: an RPG, soldiers...Natasha. Not caring for his numerous injuries, gashes, broken bones and his own blood pooling around him, Steve slowly gets to his feet and calls for Natasha among the smoke.
After a few minutes, Steve then hears something, and his super hearing pin points it as Natasha, but it is very faint. Steve could only limp towards the sound of Natasha's soft screams, and he doesn't even care that he had lost his shield, he just wanted to go and help Natasha; he is not going to lose her again. The screams eventually stop, this scared Steve for a moment, but he still continues on through the flames. He eventually spots a figure standing in amidst the flames, a slender, feminine figure that doesn't look like she could stand much longer...Natasha.
Feeling relieved, Steve is about to call out for her, but he then spots one last soldier sneaking up on the wounded spy with a gun in his hand. No, he is not going to let her get hurt again; he made a promise, and he is going to keep it, even if it means losing his own life. Without thinking any further, Steve launches himself into a run, and just as the man open fire on the oblivious Natasha, Steve jumps in front Natasha, taking the bullets to his torn body.
Natasha didn't see it coming, she never did and blames herself for being so weak. It all played out before her in slow motion...the man firing his gun...the big, strong body of Steve jumping in front of her smaller frame...taking the two bullet to the center of his chest...into his heart.
The assailant wasn't finish, realizing that his target has changed, he shot one last bullet and it struck Steve's head, finally sending him down on the ground. "No! Steve!" the unearthly cry from Nat ripped through the air, sending the other man running, but he wasn't fast enough, for the now furious Black Widow fired two shots of her own into the man, effectively killing him.
Dropping her gun, Natasha drops to Steve's side, bringing his bloodied head to her lap, quickly covering her body in his blood. "No no no no no no, Steve. Steve? Steve! Don't die on me now! Get up!" Natasha is practically shaking the super soldier, but her weakened strength could barely move Steve's much bigger form. Tears are now streaming down her face as Natasha cries for help...help that is not there. Then, slight movements and coughs from Steve makes Natasha whirl around to face the soldier and she quickly shushes Steve as he begins to struggle with the pain.
"N..Nat?" Steve mutters quietly and weakly, blood coming out of his mouth.
"Shhh Steve, I'm here," Natasha could barely keep herself together as she looks into Steve's dull eyes; they were no longer bright blue like sapphires, they are now dull, like a dying light. "Please Steve, just hold on, help is coming soon."
She knows that that might be a lie, but that's what she does in these situations...lie...it is her safeguard. However, Steve only smirks, seeing right through her, like he always does, "It's okay...Nat. You are...okay."
This makes Natasha furious, and she lets all of her emotions out at once, "Why Steve! Why did you have to do that! Why do you always have to save me?"
"Because...you are not...a monster...and I couldn't...hurt...you...lose you... again."
"Oh Steve," Natasha whimpers softly and bring her forehead to his, "You never did, I'm here."
"No...I wanted...to be...with you. I love you."
Those small words hit Natasha like a bomb. All her life, she was told that love was a weakness, that it is for children; but here is Steve, sweet, honest Steve that would never lie to her, telling her that he loves her. She always thought that their bond was broken by their time apart, but apparently it didn't, and those words uttered by the super soldier proves it, and it brought tears to her eyes.
"Please...Nat...don't cry," with almost the last of his dwindling strength, Steve reaches up, cups Natasha's face in his hands, and uses his thumbs to wipe her tears away.
Natasha places one of her hands over Steve's on her cheek. With little effort, Natasha bends down and captures Steve's lips in her own, kissing him with passion that was held in for far to long. The kiss only lasted for a few fleeting moments, but it meant so much more than either one of them could say in words.
Steve knows that his time is almost up, he is becoming so tired that he dropped his arms to the ground with a heavy thud, "Nat...please...listen to me. Live your life...don't hold onto the past...to me..."
"No, Steve... please don't do this to me..."
However, Steve gives her a look that tells her to let him finish, "...my time is...up... I am so... sorry,"before Steve closes his eyes forever, he looks into the beautiful green eyes of Natasha Romanoff, memorizing every last detail of his love to bring with him to the other side, "I will always be with...you." With his final words spoken, Steve finally closes his eyes.
"Steve? Steve?" Natasha shakes his shoulders, a sob wracks her body, "No...no, please no." Natasha finally breaks and cries over the dead super soldier as she leans her forehead once again to his cold, lifeless form in a pool of crimson blood.
Natasha had no idea how long she cried over Steve; but as her eyes begin to dry up and she has no more tears to shed, a small wind sweeps through and Wanda runs in, using her magic to protect her from the dying fire, which Natasha didn't even realize was still going. As the young woman runs up to Natasha, the spy barely heard the loud scream that came from Wanda as the other young woman too fell to her knees beside Steve, crying and holding onto his hand. Natasha had lost all feelings from the outside world; all she could do is see, but not feel; however, she is still cradling the captain's head on her lap. Wanda then bows her head so it lies on top of Steve's hand, and she is now saying a small prayer in Russian through her sobs.
A few moments later, Falcon runs in and when he sees Steve, he rushes to his other side, and fell to his knees, "No, not again bud. Com'on man! Get-up!" Sam took off his goggles and is now furiously shaking Steve with all his might while trying his best to hold in his own tears. When shaking isn't working, Sam is pumping Steve's still, yet heavily bleeding chest, while calling for help that came too late. Sam thought that it would take a lot to shake him up, but after seeing Steve lie on the ground dead, their leader, their best friend dead, that broke him to an extent he didn't know was possible. Realizing that nothing could bring his friend back to life, he joins Wanda, and weeps for his fallen comrade.
Natasha sees it all, how much sadness and heartbreak has been caused because their leader is gone. As they roll Steve out on a stretcher, a tarp covering his body, Natasha is left alone, since no one wants to go near the unstable assassin. But Natasha wouldn't have even noticed if they did touch her, all she could feel and see is her darkness and demons coming in and attacking her now vulnerable heart. She never even realized how much influence Steve had on her, she realized too late that he was her light that shined through her dark hell, and she didn't go to him; instead, she went further into the darkness, and Steve only shined his light to light her way, never to stop her. Now that light, that had scared away all of her demons, is now gone, extinguished by the evil upon this world, the evil of which she came from herself.
Choking in another sob, the air suddenly becomes thicker, heavier, and Natasha couldn't breath. She started to become light-headed and nauseous, and before she knows it, she faints and falls into Vision's arms.
The funeral had been grand, too grand, as the whole country mourns for the lost of Captain America; the weather was cool with a few storm clouds on the horizon. Soldiers lined the streets all the way to the cemetery, saluting to the coffin as it passes by in a hearse. The president awarded Steve a medal of honor for his bravery in defending the country, and the Avengers came to claim the medal for Steve, even though they know that no medal could ever represent who Steve really is. The parade session was one of sadness as the people line the streets to mourn and pity the the people close to Steve.
They don't know, Natasha thinks as they drive to the cemetery, and they never truly will. Dressed in black, Natasha, along with the rest of the Avengers and a few SHIELD agents, watch as they lower the coffin into the ground, only Bruce is not in their group, but even Thor came when he heard of what happened. As a safety precaution, since Steve is still a highly prized super soldier with lots of enemies after the serum, Tony is having the coffin be buried in cement, and a high security system is installed to guard the tomb. A big monument was erected to honor the captain, and his shield, which was found by Rhodey among the ruins of the fire, battered yet still whole for nothing could ever break the symbol of Captain America, was buried with him.
When the ceremony ended, no one is left at the cemetery other than the Avengers, their partners, Agent Hills, and Nick Fury, who also came to the super soldier's funeral to honor him—he even lets a few tears roll down his cheek from his one eye for the fallen soldier, he was the best this world could ever offer. The mood is dark and no one has anything to say, even Tony is at a lost as he stares at the head stone with their friend's name on it, surrounded by flowers, wreaths, cards, candles, and other gifts.
Finally, the silence is broken by Tony as he lets go of Pepper slowly, "Cap, he...uh...he was one of us, and he was the best and will forever be," Tony then turns to the others and stands up taller with more confidence, "No one will ever be able to replace his position on the team and in our hearts. But he doesn't want us to be like this, he would want us to move forward with our lives."
"What are you saying Stark?"Maria asks for everyone, who are now all looking at the billionaire.
"I'm saying, Steve wouldn't have wanted us to just...just stop what we are doing. He would have wanted us to continue to protect this world, so that more innocent people will not have to die by the hands of evil. Steve went to talk to me months ago, about what would need to happen if something like this were to happen, and he had made me the leader if anything were to happen to him. I know that you may not believe me, and think that I am the least qualified for the position, but I will try. I won't give-up on this team, for Steve's sake and for the world's sake. So only if you will have me, I would be honored if I can become your leader." Tony bowed his head, waiting for their response.
"I will," Clint speaks up.
"As will I," Thor declares, giving Tony a big pat on the back.
One by one, everyone accepted Tony as their new leader, ending with Natasha, who gives the Iron Man a nod and a small smile.
When the rest of the Avengers left the cemetery, Natasha stayed behind, hoping to have a moment with Steve.
"Hey Steve," Natasha whispers to the headstone, "You really made a good decision making Stark our leader," Natasha smirks, but then turns serious, "But in all honesty, I'm glad you did, 'cause no one but Tony could love this family like you did, he would be great as leader."
Natasha then lets out a sigh, "I miss you so much Steve. I never got to tell you this, but I had missed you so much when we went separate ways: you to go find Bucky, and me to find myself. I'm so sorry for never telling you this, for always getting you into trouble... for staying away from you. It was only when I was trapped in that fire that I realize how much you mean to me, and how much I love you." There, she said those words, those small, simple words that could have become something beautiful if she had said it sooner.
Tears begin to stream down her face, "And it's too late now, because of me. But I will be stronger Steve, I won't let my demons get the better of me, I know that that is not what you would have wanted," Natasha then remembers something and reaches into her bag. She takes out one of Steve's many sketchbooks along with a pencil, and lays it down among the many flowers covering the grave. She then opens it to one of the many sketches of her that Steve drew and leaves it open to a picture: it was of her sitting down and reading a book, when she looked so serene and peaceful, yet so concentrated in what was happening in the book, "Here Steve, I got this for you, thinking that maybe you would want something to do. I know you hate doing nothing for too long."
Shifting her tone to that of seriousness again, "Steve...it's going to take some getting use to, you were just always there for us, it's hard to say good-bye," the wind then begins to sweep across the cemetery, bringing with it warmth and sweet smells of flowers. Natasha closes her eyes and lets the wind blow over her, and she could feel it, Steve holding her, even though he isn't there.
"No. This isn't good-bye. You made a promise to me, and I know that you always keep your promises. I know that you'll always be there for me," Natasha gently blows a kiss into the winds before standing up. "Just do me a favor while you're at it, make sure you watch over all of us, we'll always need you to guide us."
Natasha then turns to leave, but quickly turns back to face the grave one more time, "We will see each other again Steve, I promise you that...just wait for me, please." With the wind swirling around her, blowing her short, red hair out of her face, Natasha leaves the cemetery with confidence in her steps, and faces her new future.
What Natasha doesn't see as she left was the wind blowing the pages of the sketchbook to a picture of her and Steve sitting close to each other, in their very few moments of true intimacy.
End Credit Scene (Cause this is Marvel)
Unbeknownst to anyone at the funeral, among the tree lines in the cemetery, a lone man watches the ceremony, burial, and the intimate moment with Natasha. This lone man was known by many names throughout the decades, but his true name is James B. Barnes, also known as Bucky. Bucky had been travelling around for a bit to regain his memories, but it had been slow, very slow. But when he heard of the passing of Captain America, he wouldn't believe it until he saw it for himself.
And as Bucky watches over everything and everyone, he sheds his own tears for a brother he just remembered...
Steve Rogers.
Well, that's it guys, please review and comment, but keep in mind that I have never written anything like this before. So please tell me me if I'm good or not, you guys will affect my future stories.