Soul Trade
"Let me go." She told Clint who's still holding onto her tightly. He won't fall, she made sure of that. And if they wanted the Soul Stone she needed to die. Of course she wouldn't let Clint die, he had a family to come back to. Natasha only had the team as a family, but it's okay. Not to mention that this would clean of her ledger completely. They just had to save everyone. Whatever it took.
She was slowly slipping through his hand, but he still held her up, looking at her desperately. "It's okay." She said, smiling at him sadly. Nat couldn't take this any longer though. They knew he wouldn't let her go anytime soon, so she pushed herself off the wall and made him let go.
And then she's falling. She could faintly hear Clint calling her name. The fall took quite a long time. At least for her. She let herself loose consciousness before even hitting the ground.
Nat opened her eyes. That was…weird. She's supposed to be dead. Did it not work? Or was this some kind of after life? "Natasha…?" Said a familiar voice then. It wasn't Clint. Or Red Skull. A hand cupped her cheek and turned her head, making her look at the person behind the voice. "Steve…" The blonde grinned at her, trying to hold back a sob. But then he was openly crying as he pulled her into his arms. It took her a moment to get the control of her body back and when it returned, she hugged him back. "What happened?"
"I thought you're dead…"
"I thought I'm dead, too." Then she pulled back enough to look at his face. "So what's going on here?" They're both in a little pond, the water wasn't even deep at all. Nat couldn't remember there's water at the bottom of this mountain…"I brought back the stone. And then found myself here. With you. Nat, you can't believe how happy I am to see you!"
Nat needed a moment to process his words and frowned at him. "Wait…you brought it back? Why?" She asked, but could already guess what he'd say.
"We won, Nat. We won. We beat Thanos and brought everyone back." He answered, smiling brightly at her. The redhead couldn't help but smile back, but it brought more questions than it answered. "Wait, you beat him?" Nat asked, frowning again. "We already killed him."
"Yeah, well, something went wrong and the Thanos from the past came to us and attacked. Bruce used the new gauntlet to bring everyone back. The battle was as tough as the last one…But then Tony used the stones to snap him and his army away."
"Wait, Bruce and Tony used the stones? Are they okay?" The stones were crazy powerful, even Thanos was damaged while using them. How much damage would it do to two normal guys? Okay, one normal and one green guy.
"Uh, well Bruces arm was burned. Tony…" The pause Steve made didn't sound good at all. "Just tell me he didn't bite the dust." Steve wasn't saying anything and it answered her question. Nat didn't sacrifice herself to let anyone else die! That was so Tony, though. But what's gonna happen to his family now?
"Don't worry about Pepper and Morgan. They're gonna be fine." Nat just hummed, but not quite beliving it. She knew a lot about loss and the last five years were one of the worst in her life. Will they really gonna be alright? Steve obviously didn't want her to worry too much though and changed the subject. "Can you go back?"
Nat checked her suit. There should be enough Pym Particles there to bring her back. But...the glass broke and this meant she couldn't return home. "Shit..." She mumbled, holding up the broken tube. Just as she wanted to ask him if he could give her some, he spoke up. "I had a little talk with Red Skull up there."
"Guess he was happy to see you?" She asked, giving him a little smile, but still mildly confused about the subject change. "Oh yeah. He was very excited." Steve joked, before becoming serious again. "He told me time's different here. Slower. Kinda like the Quantum Realm."
"That's...good to know?"
"Look, I need to go and bring the other stones back. And I don't have enough Pym Particles for both of us."
"I see." So what now? She's gonna stuck here forever? But hey, at least she knew everything's fine back home again. Except that Tony died. "Hey, don't look like this." Said Steve, earning her attention again. "You still have your time travel suit. Do you think you can get in contact with the Guardians?" That made her thinking. Rebuilding parts of a time travel suit into a better communicator..."Could work."
"I know you can do it. You're like McGyver." At this statement Nat raised an eyebrow at him but smiled, asking silently 'You watched it?'. Steve just returned the smile as an answer. "If you want to know if you reached the right time, just ask one of the guys if Thor's with them. He decided to join them."
Natasha nodded, before shooing him away. "Okay, go now. Do your thing. I have some work to do and you'd just distract me." They shared another hug, but Steve wasn't done yet. "Nat, I decided to stay in the past and live my life there. I wish I brought enough particles with me to bring you back right now, but I intentionally didn't bring the ones to go back."
"Well, shit, Steve. You're an idiot." Nat shook her head, but she was still happy with him. She knew exactly how he'd spent his time in the past. Also she didn't have to wait too long for her rescue. "Good luck."
Then they parted. Steve took a few steps back and let his suit appear. "Now it's your turn." He said, before vanishing into another time. Nat knew exactly what he referred to. Now it's her turn to find happiness, since he's going after his own right now.
Sighing lightly, she went to work using everything she's learned from Rocket to modify her normal communicator enough to reach the Guardians from a bigger distance. That's all she had to do, plus staying alive for as long as possible.
Even though the time outside this stupid planet moved faster, it wasn't going fast enough for Natasha. After all she had 'nine years' to kill here. But there was absolutely nothing to do here. If she wanted to stay in shape, she just kept climbing up the mountain. Skull told her where to get food and water.
The food was terrible —which were the creatures living there— but she needed everything to survive. She just had to keep waiting...About three months later Nat began to try to get in contact with anyone. From the few clues she got, she could roughly calculate when the nine years passed on earth. It took her another month, though, till she made contact with the Guardians. A guy named 'Star-Lord' answered and just as Steve advised her, she asked for Thor. When he said he's with them she asked him for help and gave him the coordinates to this planet.
It took way too long for her again to wait, but when they finally arrived she was happy beyond believe. Rocket was happy to see her alive and Thor gave her a bone crushing hug. "Natasha! I knew you're okay! Barton said it can't be unmade, but here you are!" The god of thunder had picked her up while hugging and shook her around to make her dizzy. "It's okay, Thor...You can put me down now."
After squeezing her one last time, he finally let her go. As she tried to catch her breath, the blonde pushed her towards the ship. "Now, let's get you home!"
"Wait, hold on." Said Star-Lord and blocked their path. "I'm the captain here, okay? I'll decide what to do next. Who are you even?" Thor put an arm around her shoulder and replied. "This, Will, is the mighty Black Widow!" Nat raised an eyebrow at the word 'mighty', but she couldn't say she didn't like it in a way.
He frowned at Thors words and corrected him that his name's Quill, but Thor obviously didn't care. "She's from the Avengers, Quill, do you ever listen?" Said Rocket, who went to her. "Hey, good to see you alive."
"Thanks, raccoon." Replied Nat teasingly and got a playful glare from him in return. Then the little animal turned to Quill. "Without her you'd still be dead, you know. The last thing you can do is bring her back." With that said Rocket and Thor led her into their ship. There she met the rest of the gang: Mantis, Groot and Drax. The whole team was...something. But not that different from her team. Quill couldn't argue with Rockets point and so they took the fastest way back to earth.
The Guardians didn't stay after bringing her back. The facility was completely destroyed and they told her that Pepper bought back the tower, so that the team could stay somewhere. They just said their good-bye's —Thor did it by hugging her again— and left her on the roof of the tower. The ship's arrival brought some curious teammates out of their holes. Nat couldn't even recover from Thors hug, before she was surrounded by her boys hugging her half to death and crying manly tears.
The first was Clint. Of course. He was surely the happiest of them all. Then came Sam and Rhodey and she was practically sandwiched between the three boys. "Nat...How's that possible?" Asked Clint, who still held her even if Rhodey and Sam let go. "Steve brought the stone back."
After squeezing her one last time, he let go of her too. "So that means there was a way to bring you back the whole time?" The archer asked in disbelieve.
"Looks like it." Clint tried to wipe the tears away, but there came more. "You're such a pain in the ass." He said halfheartedly and smiled at her. The redhead returned his smile and turned to her other friends. "Good to see you back, Sam." She said and only got a smile and sniffles from him in return. A moment later she found herself in yet another hug by Pepper, who was also crying her eyes out.
Wanda was there too, and greeted her with teary eyes as well. The last ones were Fury and Hill. Hey hugged her as well and Nat couldn't remember a time where she's been embraced so many times. Or when so many people where that happy to see her.
Of course not everyone was there, she did notice that a certain person wasn't there with them. Everyone kept her too occupied to look for him and she had to explain what exactly happened on Vormir and how she managed to escape. At some point they all dispersed to give her a little space. It's been a rough couple of months and Nat couldn't wait to eat something good for once.
Clint didn't leave her side, though, as if he's afraid she'd disappear again. "Do you know where Bruce is?" She asked eventually.
"Uh...He should be in his old room. We're not yet done with the furnishings, so he can't lock himself in a lab all day yet."
"Hey, could you get me something to eat? I'm starving."
The archer raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic, but when smiled when he understood her plan. "Oh yeah, sure. Any wishes?"
"Just get me anything, I really need something that's actually tasting good."
"You got it. But don't complain later." He joked, before leaving slowly. "Good luck, Nat."
Natasha knocked on Bruces door, but didn't get an answer. He was either too upset or he's wandering around. "Bruce?" She called out then and a moment later heard something break inside. So he was in his room. Then the door opened and Nat was quite surprised at his appearance. He was himself again. Not big and green anymore and his hair was tousled as if he lay in bed the whole time. He didn't even bother putting on a shirt.
Bruce stared at her in pure shock and for a long while no one said anything. Just when she was about to break this awkward silence, he put a hand on his forehead and went back inside, mumbling "I lost it...". He didn't even bother shutting the door again, so she let herself in.
"Not yet, doc." By hearing her voice Bruce immediately turned back to her, startled. "I'm really here. You can ask Clint when he's back with my food." Still, he kept staring at her as if she's a ghost. "Nat...?" The redhead came closer and reached up to cup his cheek. "I'm here." His hand came up as well and grabbed hers.
Realizing that this is true, his wide eyes quickly filled with tears and the next hug awaited her. He held her just as tight as the other boys, but his was more desperate. The redhead just returned the hug and put her head on his bare shoulder. "I came back when Steve brought the stone back." She explained, knowing that he's also trying to figure out how she came back in his smart head. "The Pym Particles didn't survive my fall and Steve didn't have enough for me to return. Had to wait a few months till could come back."
Then he pulled back enough to look at her eyes, but not letting go yet. "Months? But you were nine years in the past..."
"Yeah, but we didn't know time's different on this planet. I guess I just waited around five months."
Natasha could practically see the gears in his head working, trying to figure out how this is possible and calculate how long a day on Vormir was compared to their home. "Hey, why aren't you green anymore?" She asked then to pull him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, uh...well I'm still experimenting on things. You know, to change whenever I want. Being big isn't always handy." Nat just nodded in agreement. She knew he had certain problems in the five years after Thanos snapped half the population away.
"Sounds nice. So it works?"
"It's not perfect yet." He replied and shook his head. It was clear that he wanted to say more, but it also looked like he couldn't believe she's here -which is understandable- and even somewhat afraid. Nat waited patiently, just returning his stare, till he eventually spoke.
"Nat, I...I'm sorry it ended this way. I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry for leaving you alone in the facility. I'm sorry I didn't see how upset you were. I'm sorry I let you do this all alone. I'm sorry..." He kept apologizing and the tears were falling once again. Then he pulled her into a hug again, burying his face in her shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay." She patted his head to sooth him, but he just shook his head. "Nothing's okay. I should've noticed how you felt. I should've stayed at the compound and help you. I was so fixated to to fix my problems that I didn't see yours. And then, when you didn't return with Clint..."
Well, Nat would be lying if she said Bruce is wrong about this...Didn't mean she couldn't forgive him, though. "It's fine, really. You had more important things to take care of." But he disagreed again.
"That's no excuse to shut you out completely. I know we already talked about this...and you said we should stay friends...But the truth is I don't wanna be just friends. I wanna continue where we left off before Sokovia." Actually Bruce wasn't talking much then. Nat has tried to move on and thought Bruce did, too. Or that he was still too mad at her to run with it. And now he told her that they wasted another five years.
"You could've told me sooner." The redhead grumbled, before pulling away from his embrace. "I thought that's what you wanted!" Wide brown eyes stared at her again.
The scientist groaned and held his forehead. "We're so bad at this..." And Nat could only agree.
"We are."
Then he looked at her with a certain determination. "Then I'll just say it. To prevent any misconceptions. I love you, Natasha. And from now on I'll make sure you won't ever be alone again."
Natasha knew she's gonna ruin the mood, but she had to say it. "Sounds like a proposal." And she got the exact reaction that she wanted. He became all flustered and blushed. "But I love you, too." Bruce looked like the happiest person on this planet but before he could say anything, she cupped his face in her hands and pulled him down to kiss him. He didn't waste any time —not anymore— and kissed her passionately as soon as their lips touched.
"Don't let me down." Said Nat, when they parted for air. Bruce kept kissing her along her neck. Well, they did have a few years to catch up to. "Never." He mumbled against her skin, when things became more heated between them. "Don't you wanna put on a shirt?" She asked then, but already knew the answer.
"Too late for that."