Hey guys! I'm back with another fic! :) This one focuses on Clint Barton right after Phil's death. I was listening to Imagine Dragons when I Bet My Life came on, and it just gave me a plot bunny I had to write! This will be a multi chapter story, and it will take us through the entire song. :D Enjoy!

*ATTENTION* I do NOT own Avenger's or anythings Marvel! All rights go to the real owners!

*ATTENTION* This song is Imagine Dragons! I do NOT own this either. No matter how much I want to.

Enjoy!


I know I took the path that you would never want for me

~O~

Clint ran. That was all he could think to do. The one person he trusted the most was gone. Phil Coulson was dead, and he was never coming back. So Clint had decided that his time at S.H.I.E.L.D. was done. Everywhere he went reminded him of Coulson, of Nat, of the three of them in their battle against the world.

It had always been them; right from the beginning. It had taken almost a year for Coulson to earn his trust, and for Clint to let him in. In all that time, Clint had been hostile, mean, and silent. Then on a mission in Cairo, which had ended with Clint getting captured, Coulson had come back for him.

He wasn't supposed to. It was protocol. If an agent got captured, and there was no way out without losing more lives than protocol thought ok, the agent was to be disowned and left behind without another thought. But Coulson hadn't done that.

He had come back for Clint single handedly. Going through the compound, and almost getting himself killed. All for Clint.

That was when Clint realized that he wasn't bluffing about never leaving him behind. That he wasn't bluffing when he said that he would never abandon him. That he wasn't bluffing that he could actually find a real home at S.H.I.E.L.D.

Then Natasha had come into their little team, and although it had taken some adjustments, they got used to her, and it became all three of them against the world. A little band of misfits and crazies against everything that was bad in the world. Clint and Phil worked together for almost six years, and the three of them worked together for almost four.

Then Phil died because of Clint. He had let Loki onto the helicarrier, and it caused him one of the only people in the world that he trusted. That he treated like family.

He knew Phil wouldn't want him to do this. Wouldn't want him to run away from his problems. From S.H.I.E.L.D.. From his home. But his mind couldn't think of any other solution.

So that's what he did.

He distance himself from everyone, and reverted back to his old ways. He became harsh and closed in on himself. He spent a week making a letter for Natasha, and then left in the middle of the night without a trace. Left all the Avengers to figure out just how exactly he had snuck out and disappeared. He wanted to stay. But he couldn't.

I'm sorry Phil. He thought. But I just can't do it.

~O~

I know I let you down, didn't I?