It all happened so fast anyone would say. But not to her; not through her always admired her acute sight in the red room; her ability to depict every detail no matter how rapid the sequence of movements could be.

'You have a gift, Natalia,' they used to tell her. But her gift never felt more like a curse that in this exact moment.

Natasha was on the ground, immobilized by the weight of metal bars squeezing the lower part of her body. She watched as Steve took over her brawl against the Winter Soldier. She tried to pull herself out of the metal trap while punches were thrown between the two former best friends who had now become enemies.

Then she saw it. She clearly saw, and in every tiny detail, the Winter Soldier pull the gun out of his leather case and aim it at Steve who had his back to him. She saw his finger press the trigger without a hint of hesitation , the bullet spurt out of the barrel, cut through the air then finally lodge itself into her teammate's abdomen before her aghast eyes.

Steve staggered, one hand clutching his open wound, then slump onto the floor. The Winter Soldier didn't bat an eyelid, shot a glance in her direction then walked out of the room in a mechanical gait.

She turned her attention back to Steve who was now gasping penibly, his chest jerking with the rhythm of his muscle spasms.

Natasha used all her strength to release her legs from the bars.

'No, no, no, no,' she whispered alarmingly to herself as she ran up to him as fast as possible.

She swiftly fell to her knees and held his face.

His flickering eyes fell on her and regained a spark. He tried to speak but a faint stuttering came out of his mouth.

She lifted her wrist to her mouth.

'Cap is down! I repeat, Cap is down!' she cried into her transmitter, breathing heavily. 'Requesting medical support urgently and immediate extraction.'

Steve slightly shook his head in response to her S.O.S call.

She slid her arm under his neck and lifted his upper body onto her lap. She pressed her hand on the bleeding wound, watching helplessly as the scarlet blood slipped between her fingers in profusion. She then glanced around the room for a piece of cloth close enough to her reach so she wouldn't have to leave his side.

'Hold on, Steve,' she groaned forcefully, looking away so he wouldn't see the anguish of being wrong in her eyes. 'The help is coming.'

He shook his head again.

'I-I never thought it would end like this,' he eventually stuttered. 'Not because of Bucky.'

His words cut her heart open with a thick blade.

'It's not the end yet, Steve,' she groaned. 'I won't let you go.'

Her palm pressed the wound even harder through the soaked fabric of his uniform.

His eyes stared at the ceiling with less life than a few moments ago.

'There are so ma-many things I now wish I had said sooner,' he stammered with difficulty.

He looked at her again. In spite of the pain, he managed to put a weak smile on his face.

'No,' she groaned hardly. 'Don't you die on me, Rogers.'

'You,' he continued with a serene look.

She shook her head vehemently, forbidding herself to listen to any more of his goodbye words.

'Steve,' she pleaded, tears filling up her eyes. 'Please, don't give up.'

She cupped his jaw and stroked his pale skin with her fingers.

His eye dived deep into hers.

'I-I need to say it to you before…' he paused as he gathered a new breath in his lungs. She leaned down towards him, her face a few inches apart from his therefore conceding to hear, although she hadn't accepted it yet, were his final words.

'Nat, I…' she waited for him to gather enough strength to let out the following words but nothing other than a heavy silence followed.

'Steve?' she called. She slightly pulled away to take a look at him. His pupils turned still as she watched the last light of life die out. 'Steve? Steve!' she cried desperately, her voice raising up an octave every new time she called his name. 'Please Steve, don't!' she begged him.

A tear rolled down to her chin before falling onto Steve's dry and blueish lips.

Her heart ached more than she would have believed it possible. She had seen so many companions fall during missions, but oh God, how painful this one was.

Her chest shook up as sobs forced their way out. For the first time, she yielded to her emotions and burst into tears. She leaned down over him, crying into his neck, shielding him from any further harm with her body.

The funeral was much more tedious than she expected it to be. Every Avenger was mourning or silently feeding pointless resentments.

Unsurpsingly, many people attended his burial. Too many. And although the Avengers respected Steve's request to have an open funeral if something went wrong, authorities still had to be deployed to manage then scatter the heavy crowd. America grieved the loss of its Captain, of its first Avenger, of its best soldier.

Natasha was mentally worn out. She attended the funeral only because Clint told her to do it.

'You were not there,' she had muttered to him sharply, more like a reproach than a statement. 'I was.'

'I know,' Clint had whispered with a weak nod. 'But you owe him proper goodbyes, Nat. You owe it to him. To yourself.'

She stood before the coffin, at the front row usually reserved for family and special guests. All the Avengers were there. She guessed it had to mean something about who they were to him.

Stark was wearing an expensive dark suit but his face was emotionless. Frighteningly emotionless. He let his features twitch from time to time and always squeezed Pepper's hand with more strength every time it happened Natasha noticed.

Clint and Bruce were less visible than all the others but still silently mourning their teammate.

Thor was there too. He had come from Asgard as soon as Heimdall informed him that one his earthling companion had ceased to live. Tony had first handed him a suit to wear for the funeral but Thor had declined the offer saying he would rather the traditional Asgardian mourning suit as he considered he should pay Steve the respects any of his closest friend from Asgard would deserve if they perished.

An old woman was sitting on a wheelchair next to agent Sharon Carter, clutching to her cotton handkerchief. Some time she sobbed Steve's into it, some time she looked all around the assembly seeming to legitimately ask herself who they were and what she was doing here with them.

After the funeral, all the Avengers returned to the Tower. Everything seemed the same except that it was all different. They had left a piece of them behind in the cemetery. What were the Avengers without who was the soul of the team? She doubted it had any future. They probably all thought so, too but none of them could be bothered to bring up the subject. The Avengers were soon to become a memory.

Natasha shuffled her way to her private apartments. She took off her heels then lied down in her bed, finding inner stillness in listening to the void.

The next morning, Thor vanished back to Asgard only to return a week later.

'I made some research and I have found something which could provide the best help we could ever hope for,' he told everyone in Tony's lab. He showed an object that wasn't bigger than a coin.

'A penny?' Tony joked humorlessly.

'It's a powerful device,' Thor protested quite placidly given the situation. 'It can make anyone who wears it travel back in time.'

The Avengers all shared conniving looks. It was pretty obvious what purpose this device could serve.

'Does it work?' Tony asked as he tried to moderate the hope and enthusiasm in his voice.

'I believe so,' Thor said with a nod. 'It is part of an old Asgardian legend but I believe it will work.'

Tony showed his discontent by stepping away.

'Legends are fairy tales,' he said.

Thor looked at him sternly and somewhat offended.

'Legends in Asgard are more of Ancient stories than fairy tales,' he corrected him.

'Ancient?' Banner repeated, taking off his glasses. 'So you want to use this ancient device on one of us?'

Thor pointed to him.

'No, Dr Banner. I want to bring Captain Rogers back and I believe our legends to be true.'

'How does it work?' Clint stepped in, making the most intelligent and constructive remark so far.

'The person who decides to use it has to wear this on the temple. He or she will be sent through time to the day they wish to reach.'

'So the person who will do it will have to change the events in order to keep Cap from being shot?' Tony asked.

'No,' Natasha finally spoke up. 'It's too risky. Circumstances were not weighing in our favour that day. We need to go further back.'

They all turned to her.

'How far are we talking exactly?' Bruce asked reluctantly. They all knew he already suspected what the answer would be.

'The Winter Soldier killed Cap, right?' Clint said. 'How about we make sure he never exists?'

'1942,' Natasha murmured to herself with a nod.

Tony's interest was piqued again. He found the idea tangible.

'We save Barnes from the clutches of Hydra and we save Steve,' he summed up with a newly gained confidence.

A silence followed during which the teammates exchanged approving glances. This sounded like the start of a solid plan.

'Who is going to do it?' Bruce asked.

Thor and Tony opened their mouths, ready to speak up. Natasha, with her keen eyes, saw it coming and beat them to it.

'I'll do it,' she said, rising from her seat.

Clint immediately looked at her with an expression that blatantly displayed his lack of surprise but also his extreme concern. He wanted to stop her, she could tell.

'Nat,' he started.

'Thor can't leave Asgard, Stark has to look affter the team and he's got Pepper, you have a family and a farm. I have none of that,' she said with an outstandingly convincing logic. 'Plus, it'll be easier for me to approach Steve and Barnes without raising suspicions. I'll win their trust to stay close enough and I'll work in the dark without ever being suspected.'

She never enjoyed the thought of being in a sexist society so useful to her decoy.

'Wait,' Clint tempered. 'This is going too fast.'

He turned to Thor. 'How do we even know she won't combust into mush?'

She wanted to huff. This was the least of her concern. 'And can she even come back?' he continued.

Thor pursed his lips.

'I cannot tell for sure. It's an Ancient legend. We don't have any form of trace of someone who traveled back in time and returned. But I presume it is a portal who can be taken from either direction.'

'You presume?' Clint repeated with a frown like he had just heard the biggest inanity ever voiced out loud in a public place.

The two men started a fiery conversation on the definition of a presumption but Natasha had stopped listening long ago. She couldn't care less about the possible risks and the probable issues of this plan. Here was her chance to save Steve like she had told him she would.

The time travel was planned for the next day. A few calls had to be made to prepare Natasha's arrival in the 1940s. S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't have been founded yet and wouldn't be able to provide any financial or armed support. Fury helped greatly in the matter. He called back a couple of hours after hearing the Avengers' plan and communicated the bank details of an account belonging to the secret service used in emergency cases since the end of the First World War. Anyone detaining those details would therefore get open access to an unlimited amount of cash. Although Nick Fury wouldn't technically be born until nearl a decade, his influence knew no year limit it appeared.

After discussing the final details, the Avengers parted to their respective apartments with the convinction they had elaborated a subtancial plan. They even allowed themselves to hope it would work.

Clint came to her room later that night. He sat on the bed next to her, quiet and yet extremely forthcoming about the purpose of his visit.

He reached for her hand and held it gently.

'You don't have to do this,' he eventually whispered.

She stared in the dark for a few seconds.

'I do, Clint,' she murmured, squeezing back his hand. 'I owe it to him. To me.'

He didn't protest any more after that. They both sat in the dark, holding hands, for the most part of the night.