Elysium (Natasha Romanoff)

One

Natasha

Let me go

The words echo in my mind as I watch Clint desperately make another grab for me. I smile at him, showing him I'm not afraid.

And I'm not.

I've never been afraid to die. Not in the Red Room, not as an Agent or as an Avenger, and least if all now.

He gets smaller the further I fall and I can't help but to wonder how far down the bottom is. It should be coming any second now. I wonder if I'll feel it, if it'll be quick. I hope so. After everything I've done for the world and the universe, a quick death is the least it could do for me.

I breath what is hopefully my last breath, feeling the wind whip around me and then I'm not falling anymore. Everything goes black and I'm floating. There's no pain, no feelings, just a never ending blackness.

I float for what could have been years or mere seconds. Time in the blackness had no meaning. And then slowly, I realized the blackness the was receding, being replaced with a bright white light. It's so bright I have to shut my eyes, but that does little to stop it.

With the brightness comes pain.

My skin feels like it's burning, my blood like it's boiling, every nerve in my body is itching.

And I can't breath.

I hadn't noticed before now that I wasn't breathing, but now that I had, I couldn't force any air into my lungs.

"Easy," a voice says by my ear. "Coming out of the Rebirth is never easy."

Suddenly I can breath again. My body doesn't hurt and the blinding light is gone. The darkness doesn't come back either. I'm slightly sad about that, it was peaceful there.

But I suppose after the life I've had, a peaceful afterlife was never in the cards for me.

I struggle to open my eyes and when I do, everything is blurry. The light still hurts even though it's a soft yellow and not the harsh brightness it had been. I blink a few times trying to clear the haziness and slowly a figure appears.

Instinct kicks in and I'm reaching for one of the many weapons I have strapped to me. But I'm not wearing them, my hands meeting only smooth fabric that is definitely not my uniform.

I look down and notice that I'm in a gown, like I'm in the hospital. Had I somehow survived the fall? If I had then that means we didn't get the stone and if we didn't get the stone then we lost.

My eyes go back to the figure who hasn't moved from the edge of the my bed. Considering the gown I was in I wasn't too surprised to see that the person was a woman wearing a white lab coat and holding a clipboard. She's smiling at me, clearly happy that I'm awake.

"Wh-," I try and ask, but my throat feels like sandpaper.

The woman moves to my side and grabs a cup from the bedside table, holding it to my lips and helping me drink. While I was slightly uncomfortable at her actions I couldn't find it in myself to care, my only thoughts at that moment were on drinking as much of the ice cold water as I could.

I finish the cup quickly and she puts it back on the table, "better?"

I nod and try my voice again, "thank you." It still came out scratchy but at least it didn't hurt to talk. "Where am I?"

"You're safe," she answers. "I'm Dr Lori, I've been watching over you. It's an honor to meet you." My gaze slips from her and to the door that's ten feet behind her. The fact that she didn't answer my question was a red flag. "You won't make it to the door," she says softly. My eyes snap back to her and she continues, "it's not a threat. I meant it when I said you're safe. You're body has been through a lot, you're still recovering and if you push yourself too fast then you could hurt yourself. The door," she says as she motions to it. "Is too far for your body to handle this early after your Rebirth."

I look between her and the door and deep down I know she's right. She knows I know it too and she lifts her clipboard and pulls out a pen, "I need to do a check on your mental awareness. Is it alright if I ask you some questions?"

"Yeah." Not like I had much choice.

"Great," she says with a big smile. "First up is an easy one. Do you remember your name?"

I can't help but snort in amusement. What one did she want? I've had so many it's hard to choose just one to give her. But for some reason I don't want to be called any of my aliases so I tell her the truth, "Natasha Romanoff."

"It's nice to meet you Natasha," she says brightly. She writes my name down and asks, "do you remember how you got here?"

"I remember falling," I answer. "And then there was darkness and then I was here." She nods, seeming happy with my answer. Before she can ask me another question I ask one of my own, "where's my team? Did we bring everyone back?" My sister, I desperately want to ask but not even my team knows about her and there's no way I'd tell a random stranger about Yelena.

Dr Lori frowns slightly, "I'm afraid that I can't answer that, Natasha. Believe me, I would if I could but I simply don't have that information."

I stare at her in utter confusion. How could she not know if everyone who had been dusted suddenly came back? Unless she was lying but why would she lie about this? Where was my team? And where the hell was I?

"Natasha," Dr Lori says calmly. "You are safe. Please calm down."

"I am calm," I tell her slowly. I most definitely was not but she couldn't possibly know that.

She motions to the blanket and I look down, surprised to see them bunched up in my fists. Unclenching my hands was harder than I expected it to be, my joints aching in protest. Either I'd been holding the damn blankets harder than I thought or I hadn't used my hands in a very long time.

"How long have I been here?" I ask. "How long ago was Vormir?"

"Vormir?" She asks in clear surprise. "Well that does explain a lot."

"Explains what?" I demand. "Why won't you answer my questions?"

"Natasha," she says in that annoyingly calm voice. "I wish I could answer you, truly I do. But I can't. Not because I don't want to but because I simply don't know the answers."

"How could you not know?" I half yell. "You're a doctor for fucks sake. Presumably a good one because I doubt Tony would hire a dumbass!" She looks confused when I mention Tony's name and a horrible feeling settles on me. "Tony didn't hire you, did he?"

She shakes her head, "I don't know who that is."

My eyes go to the window and I gasp, finally noticing what I should have noticed the moment I woke up. "We aren't on earth are we?"

She smiles gently, "no we aren't."

"Then where are we?"

"It'll be easier if I just show you," she says excitedly. She rushes from the room before I can say anything and in a moment she's back with a wheelchair. She puts it by my bed and throws back my blanket before offering me her hand, "let me help you," she chides when I try and do it myself.

Come on Natasha, I tell myself. Gain her trust, figure out where you are and let's go home.

Finally I nod and she helps me into the wheelchair, getting me situated before wheeling me out of the room and the building.

The moment we get outside I can feel my heart stop- we definitely weren't on earth. Wherever we were was someplace I'd never seen. It looked like a giant ring that stretched far over our heads. A soft breeze blows through the trees and I tear my eyes from the ring and look around.

We seemed to be in a large square with a fountain and picnic tables. A play set was off to one side and children were running around, their parents chasing after them as they played. A shadow flies over us and I look up to see giant orange birds swooping through the air.

"What is this place?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

Lori smiles as she answers, "welcome to Elysium, Natasha."