You took it with you when you left
These scars are just a trace
Now it wanders lost and wounded
This heart that I misplaced
-Hymn for the Missing by RED

Loki and Maxton had left the room a few minutes ago. After Loki had finished his little speech, he had decided to let her think over what he had said. And boy, had he said enough to make Natasha's head whirl. She leaned forward on the table and propped her hands up on her palms. Either way, Loki planned on dying, but it was the timing that counted. It wouldn't do her any good to kill Loki after he had already taken over the world, right? That meant that she'd have to be quick about it.

Who knew when he'd begin the take over? He hadn't even begun to explain that to her yet. All she knew was the vague concept. The sooner the better, she supposed. But how would she be able to escape, even if she did manage to kill him? It couldn't be obvious, so maybe a staged attack by S.H.I.E.L.D.? But she was out of contact with them for now, how would she do that? She gave a ragged sigh and glared at the center projector. She needed something to take her anger out on, and there was no punching bag in sight which made it the obvious target.

"Now, now, Nat. I don't know what the projector did to you, but stop glaring at it." Clint quipped as he leaned against the wall. He crossed his arms and quirked a brow at her. He had known her to have particularly explosive tendencies, so it was admittedly strange to see her reserved. It wasn't to say that he wasn't glad to have her with him, but he was still confused. A small part of him was yelling that she was suspicious, and he should be on guard. The other part of him was glad to have her around and was telling him to talk to her some more because it had been so long. Why did he even want socialization anyways?

He tilted his head to the side as he thought. Talking to people wasn't really needed in the scheme of things. A human only needed to sleep, drink, and eat, right? So why was he feeling this desire to be closer to Natasha? He sighed softly and looked back over towards the redhead. She confused him so much, no one else made him feel like this. At first he thought it was just a girl thing, but none of the women in Loki's organization had brought up feelings remotely like this. Natasha was special.

One time, he sat down and wrote down all the ways to describe her. He had made a list of why he believed that he liked her, and then made a list of the ways to describe the other women in the organization. There weren't too many differences between them all on paper, so he was confused. Everything could be told with numbers and little symbols, the rising of the sun, the budding of the plant, everything ran with little numbers, but emotions. Emotions ran a different course and it confused him to no end. Why was it like this? He didn't understand.

He recalled the times they had spent in Budapest together, and with them he remembered a light-hearted feeling. It was that rare feeling of happiness again. Something about Natasha made him happy and that confused him. Nothing had made him feel that way for the longest of times, but she always seemed to be able to do it. It really was beginning to get to him. Was she the close friend that he needed or was she going to be an emotional liability? Clint didn't think he could tell the difference.

"I'm not glaring at it. I'm projecting negative thoughts in its direction, but it's different from glaring." Natasha rolled her eyes and flopped back into her chair. "So, tell me, why do you think Loki is doing this? What is your opinion on the matter, my peer?" She snarked the last detail after Loki had so kindly referred to absolutely everyone as being her peer. It was an annoying detail she was unlikely to forget for a while.

"He wants to bring peace to the world," Clint stated blankly. Wasn't that obvious?

"No, Clint. Don't you think there is a secondary purpose of some sort? You can't really think he's going to commit suicide at the end of this, do you?" Natasha asked incredulously. Had Clint really taken all of Loki's words at first impression? It seemed as if he hadn't read into it at all!

"I don't believe so. It's all logical," Clint said with a shrug. He didn't see what the problem was.

"Logic only gets you so far, Clint. You need to calculate the emotional desires into it as well, right? No one is that willing to commit suicide especially if they plan to have the world at their fingertips. I would bet you almost anything that he doesn't really plan to do that," Natasha said with a roll of her eyes.

Clint frowned at her words. What did she mean by logic would only take him so far? Logic was the answer to everything, wasn't it? He had been trained enough to know that emotions were for the weak, right? If Loki was strong then why would he still retain them? Then again, Natasha was strong and she definitely had strong feelings. Did this mean she was right about Loki? No, that couldn't be. She was new to the organization, and she was probably just misguided. She'd adjust eventually.

"You heard him though, Nat. Don't you think anyone would get a little tired of living after a few millennium have passed?" Clint felt uncomfortable. She was so confusing at times. It nearly drove him crazy.

"He seemed perfectly spritely to me a year ago. I wouldn't doubt that he was still plugging along," Natasha said with a shrug. She rolled back her chair and walked over to Clint. She stepped over to him and looked him in the eye. "Clint, what's wrong with you?" Clint raised a questioning eyebrow, and Natasha elaborated, "You're different. You're just so... trusting. You're always talking about logic and what makes sense. You don't joke around like you used to."

She ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh. "You just aren't you anymore. You're so serious. Why is that?"

Clint looked towards the ground and said, "I don't know." He had noticed the change too and it unnerved him. He remembered joking around with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and laughing at the silliest things, but now the only thing on his mind was business. Get the job done and get it done quickly. There was nothing else to say. "I'm sorry though."

"Stop apologizing already," Natasha huffed. She leaned her forward against his and sighed. "I missed you."

Clint swallowed as he felt something in his chest. He clamped his eyes shut as the feeling overtook him. It bubbled up inside of him and for some reason, it almost made him want to cry. He didn't get it. It wasn't something that could be explained by numbers, but he liked it. "I missed you too, Nat."

Natasha closed her eyes and held back a sigh. His voice felt so empty to her ears. Why couldn't there be more expression in it? She wanted to feel that he returned some sort of sentiment, but instead she just felt this nothingness. She closed her eyes against his chest and clenched a quiet fist. This was all Loki's fault. Clint had only changed after he was attacked by Loki, so Loki had to have done something to him. The Asgardian was a sorcerer wasn't he? Maybe he cast some spell or incantation that forced Clint into becoming like this. It was the only way because Clint never would have done this on his own.

Clint put a hand on Natasha's head and patted her awkwardly. Something told him that it was the right thing to do in this sort of situation, but it still felt so awkward. Was it supposed to be a comforting sort of motion or was it a figment of his imagination? A voice inside of his head told him that he should be trying to comfort her in some way and that it wasn't good that she was feeling like this. He couldn't say that he knew why he was supposed to comfort her or why she would need comfort, but the voice prodded him to do it anyways.

The two of them kept silently to their own thoughts. One of them was plotting to kill a man that had ruined one of her closest friend's life while the other was trying to discover what it felt to feel. What the both of them shared was their despair. Because they both felt that they were missing something important, but neither of them knew if they would ever gain it back again.

Author's Note: This chapter is short, but I wanted to get it out. I figured out what will happen in each individual chapter for the rest of this story, so never fear! I plan six more chapters after this and then an epilogue. (: I am going to camp next week, so I will not be around. I will try to post updates, but I might not be able to since I try to write longer chapters for this. Sorry guys, but I'll definitely be back the week after! Much appreciated, Xana.

Review and tell me what you think?