A/N: Here is the sequel to violet! If you haven't read violet, here is the link. s/14007257/1/violet
I strongly suggest you read it, or else you'll be extraordinarily confused by what happens in this chapter. Some things you should know: This is set after Endgame, (if you haven't seen Endgame you're gonna be confused, and I suggest you see WandaVision, Black Widow and the Marvel movies that came before if you want to be extra not-confused, but Endgame is the main priority.) and some things have been changed. I couldn't let Maria get dusted, I just couldn't, so Sasha got dusted instead, just don't be mad at me for not dusting Maria. I couldn't! Italics are either flashbacks or Natasha's thoughts. Enjoy!
WARNINGS: Blood, death, violence, language, SPOILERS for basically every Marvel movie ever, and cheeseburgers. Just in case you're scared of cheeseburgers.
8 YEARS LATER
Natasha sat on her bed in her room on her floor of Avengers tower, feeling numb. She was happy, she supposed, but… she was also unbearably sad. It had been about 20 minutes since they got back. Thanos had been defeated. It was all over, Tony had sacrificed himself to bring everyone back. But…
"Tell my family I love them." Clint said, pinning Natasha to the ground. Frantically she punched him and turned them over so that he was on the ground.
"Tell them yourself." She said, shooting her window bite at him. Then she ran.
Violet… Sasha… Maria… Yelena…
She refused to look back. But Clint freed himself and shot an arrow right next to her. She groaned as she fell to the ground, clutching her side where she'd been hurt. But she didn't care about that. She watched in horror as he ran toward the edge of the cliff.
She forced herself up, running after him. Without thinking, she leapt off the cliff too, planning to fasten her grappling hook to his belt and then attach it to the cliff, but it malfunctioned. The explosion from Clint's arrow must have damaged it, and she panicked as they were both falling. No one would get the stone if they both died. But then it clicked and she hurled it up, relieved as it latched onto the rocky side of the cliff. But Clint.
She reached down and just managed to grab his hand, holding onto his wrist for dear life. She was holding on to the end of the hook with one hand, and Clint with the other. They were both slipping.
"Wait!" She said to no one in particular, looking down at Clint's face as her hands continued to slip. She tried to pull him up so that he held onto the hook, but that was her injured side, and besides, she wouldn't be able to pull him up with one arm. There was no use in trying. Clint would have to die.
He looked up at her and she tried to form words, but she couldn't. She'd fought hard and lost. She imagined telling Laura and the kids that he had died. Tears filled her eyes, and she tried desperately to think of something.
"Let me go." He told her softly.
"No." She said firmly, refusing to accept it. Clint was her best friend. She needed him. "No, please no."
Clint simply nodded and smiled slightly as Natasha furiously shook her head, slipping further from the hook. He couldn't. He couldn't die.
"It's okay."
And he wrenched himself from her grasp and fell for what seemed like hours as she watched him. She looked away as he hit the ground, sobbing, looking back to see his body far away on the stone floor, blood pooling from his head. He was dead. Clint was dead.
She woke up in a pool of water with the stone in her hand, and Clint was gone. She had lost.
Natasha was staring blankly at the wall, remembering it as clear as day. Then they had the fight. They fought Thanos, and they beat him. But Clint was dead. And Tony was dead. And the world was still in utter chaos, even with Thanos gone.
"Mommy?" a small voice whispered, and Natasha quickly wiped the tears from her face to see her daughter cautiously entering her room.
Violet had turned 8 a couple of months ago, and she was the spitting image of Natasha. She had shoulder length wavy red hair and bright green eyes, could already speak fluently in English, French, and Russian, and was a black belt in Jiu Jitsu. Over the course of the 5 years in which half the universe had been snapped, Natasha made sure that she knew these things to prepare her for what might come. But Violet had been safely at SHIELD with Maria during the fight, so she was fine. Physically at least.
She was still very young, so she didn't understand very much about what had happened. For most of her life, there were only half of the people in the world that there should have been.
"Yeah, what's up?" She asked, and Violet shut the door behind her and crept over to Natasha's bed.
"What's going on downstairs?" She asked. Natasha sighed. This was all too much for an eight year old.
"Well, do you remember how I told you that there was a bad guy who used a very powerful weapon to… to make half of the people and animals in the world go away?"
"Yeah. Thanos, right? But you beat him. Why is everyone so sad? And who are all the new people?"
"The new people are the people who got sent away by Thanos. They've been gone for 5 years. They all knew you when you were a baby."
"Oh." Violet said, looking a bit scared. Natasha patted the bedspread beside her and Violet crawled up next to Nat and leaned into her.
"And everyone is so sad because… Uncle Tony saved the world, and… sacrificed himself. That's what brought everyone back." Natasha explained, focusing on keeping calm.
"Well where is he? I saw Morgan and she was sitting with Auntie Pepper who was crying. I don't understand."
Natasha's voice broke as she continued.
"He died, honey. That's what a sacrifice is."
Violet just stared at her mother in disbelief. A tear ran down her face as the truth sunk in.
"Oh." Was all she said. She sniffed and Natasha wrapped her arms around her. Violet and Tony had been close. He really was her Uncle Tony, taking her to do all the things she wasn't allowed to do and showing her how to do things that were dangerous, one of them being "how to build an explosive, with Uncle Tony."
"Mommy?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's Uncle Clint?"
Natasha sobbed. Violet looked up at her in shock, because Natasha rarely ever cried. Especially around her. She was pretty sure she'd never seen her mother full-on cry.
"Mommy?" Violet whispered.
Natasha put her head in her hands and collected herself. She ran the back of her hand across her face and placed her other hand on Violet's knee.
"He died too, baby. He saved me, and… and saved the universe."
Violet leaped up from the bed and ran from the room. Natasha let her go. There was no point in trying to talk to her. Clint had basically been Violet's dad. She was sad, and Natasha didn't have enough emotional energy to comfort her.
Violet ran down the hallway to her room, sobbing as she went. She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't. She always knew that her family had dangerous jobs, but she'd never actually expected them to die. That was impossible.
"Hey, where you going?" Maria said kindly, crouching down to stop Violet in her frantic running.
"Uncle Clint died and Uncle Tony died and I'll never ever see them ever again!" She cried, melting into Maria's arms. Maria looked over to her room and could see, through the cracked door, Natasha sitting on the bed crying. She told her.
Maria held the little girl, unsure of what else she could do. She picked her up and carried her to her room, sitting with her on her bed until she fell asleep from exhaustion. She wasn't sure how long that was, but it was late and Violet needed sleep. Then she left and closed the door gently.
"Hey."
Natasha looked up to see Maria standing in the doorway. She was lying in her bed, and had been staring at the wall for about an hour.
"Hey." She said back, and Maria crawled in next to her. "Is Violet okay?" She asked, knowing Maria had handled it. She heard them in the hallway.
"She's asleep."
"What's going on downstairs?" She asked, too tired to find out herself. She knew that she should be helping the situation, but she just couldn't find the energy.
"Steve and Bruce are handling it."
"Who, um… who came back?" Natasha asked tentatively.
"I have no idea. I was only downstairs for a second before I came up here. But… I assume it's everyone."
"Can we find out tomorrow?" Natasha asked, turning around to cuddle into Maria. There were three people that she'd thanked whatever god would listen didn't get snapped. Violet, Clint, and Maria. There had also been people that had been snapped that she was heartbroken about. Sasha, Wanda, Fury… she was hoping that she would find them. But tomorrow.
"Yeah." Maria whispered. "We'll find out tomorrow." And the two of them fell asleep.
The next morning, when Violet was still sleeping, Natasha made herself presentable and headed downstairs with Maria at about 9, trying to conceal how horribly sad she was. Although, that was probably what everyone else was doing too.
The sight downstairs was overwhelming. Steve and Bruce were sitting on the couch with Thor, and across from them sat Sam and Bucky with Rhodey. In the corner, Wanda was sitting by herself. This was not shocking, because she'd seen them all yesterday during the fight. But in a chair near the couch, Nick Fury sat silently. Maria immediately walked over to him.
"Nick." She said simply, and Fury stood up to hug her. He hadn't seen her in a couple of days. She hadn't seen him in 5 years. Natasha just stared, processing it all.
"Natasha."
Nat turned and saw a dark haired young woman looking at her, confused.
"Sasha." Natasha said, tears filling her eyes as she gave her a hug. She hadn't changed, of course. She was still 17 years old, still the same Sasha she had been 5 years ago. Still her adopted daughter.
"I… I was snapped?" She asked, the slight remainder of her russian accent coming through.
"Yeah. It's… it's been 5 years. You've been gone for 5 years." Natasha explained gently.
"I was told… that's… that's crazy." She sighed. "Did you beat him?" Sasha asked, and Natasha remembered when Sasha had done her part in the fight in Wakanda. They'd fought side by side, and Natasha had held her as she was dusted.
"Yeah. Yeah we did."
A few months after Violet had been born, Natasha had adopted Sasha. She was 14 already, but she needed a legal guardian, and more importantly, someone to take care of her. She'd been more like an aunt than a mother, but for two years Sasha had lived with them on their floor and attended "school" with Bruce. She was already a smart kid, but he had taught her more advanced math and science and helped her with her english. Then when she was 16 she had moved a couple of towns away and gotten a job and lived a decently normal life, still staying in contact with everyone and visiting, but living her own life because she had decided that she didn't want to become a SHIELD agent. But she came with them to fight. And then she was snapped.
"I missed you so much." Natasha whispered as she held Sasha close, feeling so incredibly relieved she couldn't even describe it.
Natasha stared around her, staring at the scene of Steve standing over Vision, whose body was grey and he had a hole in his head where Thanos had taken the mind stone. Vision was dead. And Wanda was gone. She had passed Okoye, and apparently T'Challa had disappeared too, and so had who knows who else. Bucky, Sam… Thanos had done it.
Her mind went to Maria, and Violet, and her family and everyone else… had they been snapped too?
"Nat…" Natasha turned around to Sasha stumbling toward her. She had blood on the arm of her suit, and she looked scared.
"Sasha! No. No, no no no."
Sasha stifled a sob, falling into Natasha's arms. She lowered her to the ground, holding her as she began to disintegrate. She put her hand on Sasha's face, wiping away her tears. She would've told her that it'll be fine, but she didn't know that.
"Beat him for me, will you?" Sasha said with the same lopsided smile that Natasha so often used.
"Yeah. Yeah, we will." Natasha stammered, her hand falling through air after Sasha's hand, which she had been holding, turned to dust.
"Mom." Sasha whispered, before looking up at the sky. Then she disappeared. Natasha stared at the dust floating away from her hands.
A few minutes later, Maria walked over to Sasha, giving her a hug, and sat down next to her. She began to try to explain everything that had happened, including Clint's death, which would be hard on Sasha. She knew that Natasha had someone else to take care of.
"Wanda." Natasha said quietly, sitting down next to her. Wanda simply stared off into the distance, her hands twisting in her lap. Natasha took them into her own hands and kneeled down in front of her. She would have said something, but there was nothing to say.
Instead she sat down next to her, putting her arms around her friend and letting Wanda lean into her. But Wanda didn't cry. She just continued to stare blankly.
"I tried…" Wanda whispered.
"Tried what?"
"Tried to beat Thanos… I almost did, but… I wasn't strong enough. I failed to beat him. Twice." Wanda mumbled, her eyes filling with hurt.
"Hey, trying is all any of us can do. It's not your fault… none of it is your fault Wanda." Natasha assured her, because she felt like she needed to hear it. Wanda simply shook her head and stood up.
"Is my old room still there?" She asked, and Natasha nodded, watching her leave. Wanda had suffered so much. Just as she was coming to terms with her brother's death, Vision had died.
Nobody tried to talk to her as she went upstairs to her room. There was nothing they could say.
Natasha walked over to Fury, who was listening in on Steve and Sam's conversation. They were discussing everything that had happened in the past 5 years, and Bruce, Rhodey and Bucky were chiming in every one in a while. Thor had left already. All things considered, everyone was taking this pretty well.
"Romanoff." Fury said, standing up and giving her a one-armed hug.
"Fury." She said in response, grateful to have him back.
"Missed me?" He teased, sitting back down. She laughed, settling herself on the free couch. Maria eventually came over with Sasha, who looked devastated. She sat down next to Natasha and Nat rubbed her back.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, knowing that Maria must have told her about Clint. Sasha rested her head on Nat's shoulder, and Maria sat down on the other side of the couch.
"How are you doing Sasha?" Bucky asked. For some reason the two of them had been good friends 5 years ago - maybe because of their pasts.
"I'm… okay. How are you?"
"Confused." Was Bucky's answer. Sasha laughed a little.
"Look who's here." Steve remarked, pointing to the stairs where Violet was poking her head over the banister. Her hair was messy and her eyes were red, her small nose resting on the railing.
"Hey babe." Natasha said, beckoning Violet over to the couch. "Come sit with us."
Violet slowly emerged down the stairs, revealing that she was wearing monster truck fuzzy pajamas and clutching a stuffed bunny. She cautiously padded her way over to Natasha and climbed into her lap. Then she hid her face in her mom's sweater.
Natasha noticed that she was acting a lot younger than usual. She wasn't usually shy around strangers, but these were strange circumstances.
"Hi." Sam waved, and Violet waved back. Everyone chuckled at how adorable she was. "I haven't seen you in 5 years." Said Sam. "You must be… how old are you now, 3 million?"
Violet giggled, shaking her head.
"No. I'm 8."
"You're 8?" Bucky cried, pretending to be shocked. Violet giggled again.
"Do you remember these people?" Natasha asked, setting Violet next to her on the couch. Sasha scooched over to make room. Violet considered for a second, and then pointed to Steve. "Well of course you remember him, you saw him two days ago. Do you know who that is?" She asked, pointing to Sam.
"Sam. I saw the pictures." Violet stated. "And that's Bucky the Winter Soldier who shot a gun at you."
"Honey he didn't mean to, you know that. No, he's a really nice guy. He's Uncle Steve's best friend and he used to hang out with you when you were little." Natasha explained, mouthing "sorry" to Bucky, who waved it off.
"And that," Natasha said, pointing to Sasha who was on Nat's other side, "Is Sasha. She's your adopted sister. Do you remember when I told you about her?"
Violet nodded, staring wide-eyed at Sasha. Sasha waved to her kindly and Violet was suddenly shy again, holding her bunny to her chest and leaning into Natasha.
"Mom? Who's the scary magic lady who I walked by on the stairs? Is that Wanda?" Violet asked tentatively, and Natasha nodded. "Why is she sad?"
Everyone exchanged awkward looks of sadness, and Natasha realized that Violet probably didn't remember Vision.
"Um… because someone that she loved just died."
"Uncle Clint?"
Natasha's breath caught in her throat momentarily before she shook her head and explained about Vision. She didn't spare too many of the details, because Violet had grown up in a time where there was a lot of death and chaos and with people who were around a lot of death and chaos, so she was used to that kind of talk about people she didn't know.
It was people she did know, like Clint and Tony, who affected her.
After introducing Violet to Fury, who was quite taken with her, Natasha decided to bring some food to Pepper and Morgan, who were staying on Tony's old floor upstairs. She wasn't usually the person who did that type of thing, but everyone else was busy, so she grabbed a couple of cheeseburgers from the enormous pile that Thor had bought and headed upstairs. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
There was a pause.
A very disheveled and distraught looking Pepper came to the door. She took one look at Natasha and burst into tears. Quickly she closed the door behind her because Morgan was still sleeping, and Natasha set the cheeseburgers down on the table next to the door and gave Pepper a hug. She wondered if anyone had given her a hug yet. Damn, did that woman deserve it.
After a minute, Pepper separated from Natasha and leaned against the door frame, shaking her head. She wiped her face and took the cheeseburgers.
"Thanks." She mumbled quietly.
"Hey, Pepper…" Natasha began, but stopped. They'd all been through so much in the last couple of days, and Natasha was sure that she would punch anyone who asked her if she was okay, or told her that "everything was going to be fine." And she'd only lost her friend - Pepper had lost her husband. So she just said, "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. I'm sure everyone would love to babysit Morgan, too, if you need it."
Pepper nodded and took the burgers back into the room, pausing before closing the door.
"I'm so sorry about Clint." She said, and gently shut the door.
Natasha sighed, leaning against the wall.
Clint.
She had to tell Laura.