With the sudden threat of the Aether being sensitive to anyone being near Clint or (most times) even trying to touch him, everyone started walking on eggshells around Clint. They didn't want to surprise him, or touch him or make him feel threatened in the least. Clint hated it. All he really wanted was a hug from Bucky but the Aether apparently felt a hug was a threat. They had at least been slightly able to get near each other and the distance had been shrinking every hour or so, but still...

What everyone mostly feared was the amount of power being taken from the archer. Loki had warned them that each time the Aether expended energy when Jane had had it that she had grown weaker and weaker. She could have died had it not been removed when it was. So far though, Clint honestly didn't feel all that different. Yes, he had been weakened during the first hit but otherwise he seemed fine. Clint was afraid to mention it due to knowing how dangerous the Infinity Stones were. The faster they removed the stone from him, the better. Even if they currently had no way to secure it.

"You mentioned that the stone began to quickly weaken Jane, how long..." Natasha trailed off, glancing quickly at Clint. The archer was sitting in one of the lounge chairs they had dragged in from the porch to fit everyone inside. Steve and Phil sat on the couch while Tony and Bruce stood by the bar looking over what little data they had collected so far. The room had been booked by Tony, so of course they got the largest and most expensive room which was more like a small apartment than a hotel room. Natasha sat in one of the room's chairs across from Clint. Loki and Thor both sat in the second couch in the room and Bucky had perched himself as near to Clint as seemingly safely as possible.

"I am honestly unsure. Jane had used the Aether's power numerous times. Clint's life force will be weakening the longer the Aether is inside him. As he becomes drained, he will feel tired. He may even pass out from time to time. Until we get it out of him, it will be as if he is slowly dying," Loki informed. Clint grew paler and paler with every sentence. He honestly hadn't been wanting to think about any of it. It wasn't really like there was much he could do about it other than watch the amount of times the power was used, which he was pretty sure he could handle. But, Natasha was right, Loki had briefly touched upon the fact that Jane had been drained even without the power being used. Clint's magic absorption ability might not save him from even that effect. Bucky, Phil and Natasha tensed, looking to the archer in fear. Steve pursed his lips. "I do not say this to frighten any of you. It is a matter of fact."

"Can we contact Frigga? Or Freya?" Clint whispered, trying to keep his voice calm. He hadn't yet spoken on not feeling weakened, worried that it was a bad sign. Subconsciously he knew he should say something but, knowing his luck, it was just better to keep it secret. Loki sighed.

"I have been attempting various ways to contact either, but have received no response. And we cannot go to Asgard without knowing if Huran has been driven out," Loki explained. Clint grimaced and got to his feet. Bucky shifted, watching his lover as the archer headed to the windows. "I am doing all in my power."

"I know, I know," Clint hummed before turning to look at Loki. He waved his hand over everyone as Tony and Bruce looked toward the archer. "But... This is a little out of our range of knowledge."

"We're doing the best we can," Bruce mentioned, a slightly hurt expression on his face. Everyone knew he was taking it hard that he still hadn't found the solution to rejoining with Hulk and had become rather sensitive about his scientific knowledge and while the archer felt bad, he hadn't been specifically targeting Bruce in his comment. Clint nodded and turned to look out the window to the area in where the Convergence was mainly going to happen.

"I'm sorry. This..." Clint stuttered.

"It's bullshit," Bucky finished, his voice sharp and tense. He had been taking this harder than most, including Clint. Steve narrowed his eyes slightly at the language but wisely said nothing. Clint huffed in agreement. "This shit keeps happening to you."

"It's a gift," Natasha snorted darkly. Clint smirked slightly but didn't turn back. Bucky was right. It was bullshit that these things kept happening to him. "If there's trouble, it's bound to be around Clint, involved with Clint or Clint's fault."

"Hey," Clint called, offended as he turned to look at her with a faux hurt expression. Phil, Bucky and Loki chuckled lightly but it was weak. This wasn't really a situation to laugh about. Even if they all really needed it and even if it was true.

"We have less than three days to figure it out before Malekith gets here," Bruce reminded. "I'm nearly certain we can figure something about by then."

"Hopefully," Clint agreed. The rest of the day ended up quiet. Tony and Bruce had to keep doing scans on Clint and everyone avoided the archer as best as possible. Clint was nearly beginning to feel ostracized by his team even though he understood the reason. Just before they all headed off to bed, Thor accidentally bumped into Clint while the archer was leaving the bathroom and Thor was entering. The resulting blast of power tossed the thunderer as far away from the archer as possible and knocked Bucky to the floor as the poor Sergeant had been in the same room. Clint dropped to his knee, breathing heavily at the sudden surge of power. "Holy shit."

"Are you-" Bucky questioned, getting up to his feet and trying to act like Clint hadn't knocked him off his feet. Clint glanced back at him with his face scrunched up slightly in a pain that was very quickly fading into nothing. Before he could answer, a couple of the others entered the room. Of them being Bruce, Phil and Loki. Tony and Steve stood behind them but not completely in the room as of yet and Natasha was helping make sure that Thor was okay.

"What happened?" Phil demanded. Clint grimaced.

"Thor and I kinda bumped into each other," the archer admitted. Phil pursed his lips as Bruce stepped forward and used Tony's cell phone to once again scan the archer. Tony quickly slipped past as well to get a second scan with a device he had scrapped together with various items they had collected throughout the day. Natasha and Thor appeared behind Steve in the doorway. Clint rolled his eyes but got to his feet. "You make it out like this is my fault. I didn't want this to happen to me."

"Well, you might have been the best to handle it," Bruce muttered drawing attention to himself. TGhe man frowned at the information he was looking at. Clint had no idea what the thing scanned so his quick glance to the thing was useless.

"What do you mean?" Phil wondered as Tony stepped forward to look over the number. Bruce looked up from the phone before glancing around at everyone, almost surprised. Apparently he had been mostly talking to himself and not to them.

"He means, Clint isn't getting weaker," Tony explained, a little surprised.

"What?" Clint and Bucky called at the same time, shocked. Clint had no idea that Tony or Bruce could tell that. Otherwise he would have maybe mentioned it at some point. Loki arched an eyebrow before stepping close and holding out a hand. Green magic flowed out and over Clint. The archer grimaced, waiting for the Aether to attack the trickster but surprisingly, it didn't. Almost as if it could tell what sort of magic Loki was using. Which was odd that it seemed calm now compared to just moments before.

"I don't believe it," Loki muttered. He hadn't even thought that what was happening was possible. They were extremely lucky at this point. Clint arched an eyebrow. "Your magic is absorbing whatever the Aether takes from you."

"Wait, what?" Clint asked. While it had felt like that in the beginning, Clint hadn't really been sensing or feeling the tug and pull from the stone and his power. Loki huffed, mostly in disbelief. This reality was far stranger then any he had ever traveled before.

"However much the Aether takes from you, your magic takes back. Your system is in an eternal battle at keeping you level," Loki answered, impressed.

"So, he isn't going to die?" Steve translated. Loki shook his head, turning to stare at the Captain. This was the sad part that Loki honestly wasn't sure was true or not, but he felt it best to let them know the worst.

"I am not saying that. Sooner or later, his system may burn out. But, this has extended the amount of time we have to fix this," Loki informed. Clint pursed his lips. Burning out didn't sound all that good. With a sigh, Loki looked back to Clint. "We still run into the same issue. The more you use the Aether's power, the more it will tax your system."

"And my magic?" Clint wondered. If he wasn't growing weaker, then his magic must have been making up for it. So, is it basically that he is losing his magic every time the Aether attacks? Or does his magic take more from the Aether to recover what was used? Loki pursed his lips.

"I am unsure."

That night, Clint's dreams took a strange turn. At first it was simple things. Memories slightly altered for better or worse and random things that just made no sense. But then something changed. In what seemed to be a flash of light, the world adjusted to pitch black.

"Clint," Natasha's voice called out to the archer a moment later, distracting him from the sudden change. He turned around and looked for her. It took a moment before she appeared and he couldn't stop his gasp. She looked like how she had before she fell off the cliff on Vormir. Hair shortened and half dyed. His mouth dropped, surprised.

"Natasha? But-" he whispered, stepping toward her. This was his Natasha. Not the Natasha he was with now in 2013, but the Natasha he had left behind on Vormir. She moved closer and pulled him into a hug. It felt familiar. Felt like the hug of a woman with much left on her shoulders. Like she had hugged him before. He relaxed a bit into it. "I don't understand."

"There isn't much to understand," Natasha told him softly into his ear. "I'm still here."

"But, I saw you die," he replied, pulling away. No... That wasn't right. She had a small smile on her face. Pleased to see him. It was an odd look on her that he hadn't ever seen. Something about the look made him realize the truth about this situation. "And... You aren't the... You aren't Natasha at all."

"Oh, I am Natasha," the fake retorted in a soft soothing way. Clint stepped back, confused and not at all soothed. In fact, the statement made him feel almost frightened. What was this thing talking about? How could it be Natasha but not? "I am the Natasha you remember but I also am not."

"How?" Clint wondered, confused. Natasha gave him another soft smile, patiently waiting for him to get it and he nearly smacked his forehead when he did. He had dealt with something like this before. While it had been a while and he often tried not to think about it, Clint had faced a Reality stone before. "The Aether."

"Yes."

"You aren't Natasha cause you are the physical manifestation of the Reality Stone," Clint grumbled, backing away to sit down on a chair that suddenly appeared. He huffed even as their surroundings suddenly formed from blackness into Avenger's Tower, in the same state it had been in before Ultron. While he knew the Aether was simply using Natasha's form to communicate with him due to his desire to see her, he wished it could have been someone else. Hell, he wished all of this could have been someone else. "Why?"

"Why what?" Natasha/Aether asked, moving to sit in a seat that appeared next to him. Clint pursed his lips. Why indeed... Why was it always him?

"Why me? Why show me this? What is happening?" Clint quickly questioned. While he knew he might not get an answer from the stone, he just felt the need to ask. Hell, if he did get an answer, he wasn't sure he really wanted to know it. Everything about this situation was wrong and likely painful for him. All he wanted was for everything to stop. For things to just... Become normal. Natasha/Aether sighed.

"I apologize for what you are going through," Natasha/Aether replied. Clint furrowed his brow. "I am unlike my copy. I show what could be and I needed one that could understand."

"Understand what?" Clint inquired moments before the entire space around them flashed with various images of hundreds of different things. Seconds into looking, Clint felt a headache forming and the area returned to the image of the tower. "What the hell?"

"I can give you the power to change everything for the better. Make it that your world travels the path toward peace," Natasha/Aether softly informed, leaning close to him as if telling him a secret that no one needed to know. Clint pursed his lips and got to his feet.

"No. I don't want any of this! I just want to stop Thanos and I'm not going to use the Infinity Stones to do it! I've seen what you can do. I've felt what you can do and it isn't something I want part of again," Clint snapped. Natasha/Aether arched an eyebrow and shifted in her seat into a relaxed position. "I want you out of me."

"I need a host. Something to hold onto," Natasha/Aether warned. Clint frowned. "Unlike the other stones, you have seen I am fluid. Ever changing. Much like reality itself."

"So, without a host," Clint trailed off. Natasha/Aether nodded.

"I will separate into the winds where anyone with any power could bring me together, no matter where they are in the universe," she finished. Clint winced.

"But the other-" Clint started to say but stopped when Natasha/Aether chuckled.

"The other stone shows you what you wish. It changes things to how you desire it. I show you paths that can lead to what you desire," she explained. Clint felt his mouth drop slightly as he tried to wrap his mind around this new information. "I am sure from your duel experience with the mind stones that you noticed the differences. One took you over and the other shifted you. That was not a choice of the user. It was how they were designed."

"Why would you tell me this?" Clint mumbled. Natasha/Aether gave him a sympathetic look.

"I am sure your friend Loki mentioned the multitudes of dimensions and universes." Clint nodded. "In this universe, things revolve around you and your friends."

"What?"

"Think of your life being a story, told by someone. Like a television show, a movie, or a book. You and your friends would be the main characters. Everything that happens revolves around you. It happens to you. It is resolved by you," Natasha/Aether stated. Clint frowned. "That is why this world is so unique compared to the others your friend visited. Before, it revolved around too many but this universe is centered on one point."

"The Avengers," Clint whispered, shocked at the knowledge. Was that why the world ending events happened when it was only them that could deal with it? Why no one else ever came to help? Natasha/Aether shook her head.

"You." Clint's mouth dropped.

"What?" She chuckled.

"Your friends are often involved in your messes but have they always been the same people each time? Have you always dealt with every situation with Natasha?" she wondered, waving down to her form. "Or Tony?" Suddenly she changed into the genius. "Steve?" Again the Aether changed to him. "Bruce? Phil? Thor?" Each name bringing a new form until the Aether settled on Bucky. "Nearly every important event that happened in your world has happened with you involved."

"But..." Clint mouthed, thinking it over. There had to be more that didn't. Something.

"You were also involved with nearly every stone before they were collected," Bucky/Aether pointed out. Clint winced, not liking the reminders of some of the experiences. "It is all up to you."

"No, I-" Clint started but the Aether simply smiled Bucky's little smile.

"You can handle it. It's why I chose you."

Clint woke with a gasp, confused and slightly terrified. What the hell had happened? That... It was a dream, nothing more. Had to have been. Right? He couldn't have dreamed the truth. Couldn't have dreamed meeting with the Aether. Besides, all dreams liked making the dreamer the center of attention. Right? Shaking his head, Clint got up and headed to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. When he looked up to the mirror to see his reflection, he jumped back, hitting the wall behind him. His eyes were shinning the red of the Aether.

"No!" he cried before shutting his eyes and concentrating hard. He didn't want the Aether. Didn't want the power. About a minute later, Clint opened his eyes again and looked into the mirror. His eyes were normal again.

"Clint?" a voice softly called through the door. Clint stiffened and glanced toward it. "Are you okay?"

"Bucky?" the archer replied. There was a hum of affirmation that had Clint sigh deeply. He hadn't planned on waking the Sergeant and felt bad for having done so. "Yeah, sorry. I'm good. Leftover traces from a dream."

"A dream?" Bucky echoed even as Clint went and opened the door. The Sergeant looked him over, worried. "Sure it wasn't a nightmare?"

"Honestly, no," Clint admitted with a sigh as a hand went up to scratch the back of his head. Bucky arched an eyebrow, interested in what Clint was saying. Clint sighed and shook his head. He really didn't want to talk about what he dreamed. It was stupid and had to be completely untrue. Just some stupid unconscious wishing. A dangerous thing with the Aether inside him. But then he remembered what the Stone had told him. It wasn't like it's twin. It didn't create the world. It led the owner to the world. "I don't know."

"You sure you're okay?" Bucky reiterated, stepped toward the archer an placing a hand on the man's shoulder. Clint felt a chill run down his spine before he looked over and realized... Bucky was touching him. Bucky was touching him and the Aether wasn't attacking. Clint smiled and glanced up at the Sergeant. It took Bucky an extra twenty seconds before he realized what was going on. "The Aether!"

"It's not attacking," Clint agreed with a laugh. Bucky chuckled in relief as well before gently pulling the archer into a hug. 'Bring no harm and no harm will come,' suddenly passed through Clint's thoughts. The archer jerked back, shocked. Bucky quickly released him.

"What? What happened?" he wondered. Clint glanced to the mirror but there was no sign of red in his eyes. Had the Aether just spoken with him? He shook his head.

"Nothing. Sorry," he replied before stepping forward and hugging Bucky again. The Sergeant smiled and leaned down to gently kiss Clint's forehead. Sighing, the archer relaxed a bit into Bucky's grip. "I want to go back and cuddle in bed now."

"I don't see an issue with that," Bucky chuckled before tugging the archer out of the bathroom. Clint willingly followed and they headed to the queen bed that the archer had slept in. They laid down and Clint curled into a ball and pushed himself as close to Bucky as possible. For his part, Bucky grabbed the archer and held him tightly in place. "I'm sorry these things keep happening to you."

"Thanks," Clint whispered, just barely hiding his wince at the memory of what the Aether had said.

"Wish I could help," Bucky muttered, placing his lips onto the top of Clint's head. The archer hummed as something in him stirred. "This shouldn't be happening to you."

"I don't think any of this should be happening, period," Clint pointed out. Bucky snorted but nodded in agreement. Clint sighed, resting. It wasn't long before he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Bucky held him tightly, almost afraid of letting him go. And so he was still curled around Clint when Steve gently knocked on the door. The Sergeant turned to look as best he could without disturbing Clint.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Steve asked. Bucky smirked and nodded.

"He's sleeping," the Sergeant basically mouthed. Steve nodded and stepped into the room, keeping as quiet as possible. "What's going on?"

"Tony and Bruce wanted to scan him again but, if he's resting, we should leave him alone," Steve soothed. Bucky exhaled deeply, shifting a bit to hold Clint differently. The archer hummed and shifted as well, uncurling just slightly but still plastered against Bucky as much as possible. "How you doing?"

"Okay," Bucky answered. Steve raised a disbelieving eyebrow as he pointedly looked to the way Bucky was holding the archer. Bucky winced. "Okay. A little scared. Stevie, I've nearly lost him so many times."

"It's okay," Steve muttered. "It's understandable to be afraid."

"I'm scared I'm gonna lose him for good," Bucky added. Steve frowned as the Sergeant looked down at Clint with a soft and worried smile. "We've hardly been together, even though we first started dating nearly four years ago."

"I. Did not know that," Steve stuttered. Bucky nodded.

"I think... We've only maybe had a little less than a year." Steve frowned and Bucky shook his head. "We've known each other longer, I know. But... We weren't together."

"I get it," Steve agreed. It was like him and Peggy. They knew each other but they hadn't been a couple. No matter how much the world believed they had been. Bucky sighed deeply.

"He keeps getting into trouble. All the time." Steve smirked and waited for Bucky to look back at him before giving him a look that basically read 'so didn't I.' Bucky snorted. "Worse than you, punk."

"He'll be okay. We won't let anything happen to him," Steve swore. Bucky sighed.

"There is no way to keep that promise."

I have no idea what I'm doing anymore... Right now, I've been getting more and more depressed and my writing has been reflecting my lack of conscious thoughts lately... Switched medication so it should hopefully help but... Yeah, things aren't where I want them to be. Hopefully things will get better. I have enough chapters written to last till August and then I could easily post some other works I've been doing so I have time to get better again but, just know, if I 'disappear' for a bit, it's cause I've been pretty down. I promise to give warning if I plan on it, but figured I'd warn you all.

Darius is doing good. Getting closer to his birthday (ten days away). I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand that yet but the day is drawing ever closer. He's been behaving a bit better. Gotten back to not cleaning up after himself at all but then again, hubby and I aren't doing much to change that or even doing all that much better at keeping our own things clean. Biggest thing we are dealing with with him is that he constantly wants to hang out with hubby but hubby is typically working... Poor kid... Things should get better soon, hubby has a plan to stay home a bit more so that should help everyone out.