The same as the original story until Vormir :) I know I said I was going to do 3 but I couldn't stop writing.
''What you seek lies in front of you... as does what you fear.''
''The stone is down there,'' Natasha muttered to the brunette next to her, both of them peeking over the edge. It reached stories high, higher than any building in New York or outside of that. Terrifying, that's what it was, Katya's nausea settling in.
''For two of you.'' Red Skull said mysteriously. It had Katya's stomach turn around. She knew there would be a catch. ''For the other... In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul.''
''What?'' Katya choked out, spinning around, but no more words came from the Red Skull. He simply floated above the ground and waited.
In an automatic response, she turned to Natasha, only to find her already looking at her. Katya shook her head, she couldn't handle this. They needed to jump off the cliff, sacrifice someone. One soul for those of billions. No question if they were going to do it, but more who it would be.
The world spun. She needed to sit down. Not, like Natasha, with her back to the cliff, but staring out over it. The view was beautiful and actually made her think of Sokovia a lot. On top of the world. She listened to Natasha and Clint talking, Clint's footsteps on the uneven ground as he paced.
Katya knew exactly what was going on in their heads, because it was in hers. They decided to jump too. She didn't need to be a clairvoyant to know that. Because they all loved the people on this rock more than their own lives.
''Thanos left here with the stone without his daughter. It's not a coincidence,'' Natasha's voice was distant, her mind somewhere else entirely. She was right though, they should have figured this out earlier. Maybe they could have come up with another plan beforehand. But it was too late now.
''Whatever it takes,'' she continued, still muttering to herself.
''Whatever it takes,'' Clint repeated. Katya didn't like how they said it. The finality of it all, the acceptance. She ripped her eyes away from the cliff and wandered back to her team. Natasha had stood up and gripped Clint's hands, looking into his eyes.
That broke when Katya joined them and Natasha's eyes flickered between her and her best friend. ''If we don't get that Stone, billions of people stay dead.'' She said it like she was hyping herself up, which made Katya more afraid.
Clint sighed. ''Then I guess we all know who it's gotta be.'' He might have been gone for five years, but it immediately felt familiar with these two women in front of him. To him, they belonged in his family, the aunts of their kids.
''I guess we do,'' Katya nodded, taking in the faces of her wife and best friend. She knew they were planning the same thing, but nobody wanted to word that yet.
Clint looked from Natasha to Katya and back. ''I'm starting to think– we mean different people here.''
A tense silence fell, one where everyone waited for someone to do or say something. Because they knew what this would end in: a fight. And for some reason, Katya found herself acting first.
''Sorry, but there is only one right decision.'' She threw a Widow Bite at Clint's chest so fast that the two spies around her missed it until he fell down shuddering. Hopefully he'd stay down long enough for her to jump. She planned to do the same to Natasha, but was too slow. She grabbed Katya's wrist before she could throw the disk.
Their eyes met for only a second. And Katya knew what would be next, but she couldn't prevent it from happening. A strong fist hit her jaw, much harder than in sparring, and the ground disappeared under her feet.
''Can't let you do this,'' Natasha muttered, taking one final glance at Katya before she took off in the direction of the cliff, fast. But she hadn't punched Katya hard enough, because despite the black spots clouding her vision, she was conscious enough to turn onto her stomach and shoot an electrical disk at her after all.
''Can't let you either.'' Katya scrambled to her feet, stumbled a couple times but refused to fall. She couldn't mess up or Natasha had time to get up.
Katya didn't want to hit her, so she shot another electronic current through her body while she was already on the edge of unconsciousness. How many would be too much? ''I love you. I'm sorry,'' Katya whispered with tears in her eyes. She didn't want to leave Natasha behind, knowing how much it would kill her, but she'd do everything to keep her alive.
She took a deep breath and turned to the cliff. Nothing and nobody stopped her now. The Red Skull definitely wouldn't. He just floated there. Son of a bitch.
Katya didn't feel the sense of peace she expected. Maybe because all of it had gone so quickly and she needed to go before the others woke up and tried to stop her again. She had pictured her death enough times to cover every option, but jumping off a cliff to bring half the Universe back? That hadn't been on the list.
It felt right though. After being responsible for so much death, she could make up for that at once. With big steps she walked to the edge, the snow landing in her dark hair. One foot in front of the other, until a stinging pain in her calf sent her to the ground again. With a grunt, she fell onto her stomach. She didn't have to look back to see the knife lodged into her skin.
She couldn't anyway, because her gaze snapped to a figure running past her, looking over their shoulder with guilt in their eyes. ''I'm sorry, too,'' Clint called back. How the hell did he get over that Widow Bite so fast?
Katya lay on the ground helpless. She threw her hand forward, as if she could grab him over this distance. She couldn't do anything, had no time to grab her weapons or stand up and tackle him to the ground. She could only watch as he closed the gap to the edge. ''No, no, Clint!''
But he reached the edge and jumped off without hesitation. Katya watched him disappear in shock. Did that really just happen? Did she really just lose her best friend?
It didn't take long until the tears started again. On her stomach on the cold ground, Katya lay there, waiting for something, her eyes trained on the spot she saw him last. Maybe she waited for him to come back? But nothing happened, only some shuffling behind her that indicated Natasha woke up.
''Kat?'' she questioned confused. But Katya didn't look over her shoulder, unable to rip her eyes away from the cliff. ''Where is Clint?'' Her whole body hurt from the shocks, but she couldn't find it within herself to be mad about it yet. Because her best friend was missing and her wife was in trance. Slowly, the realization settled in; why Katya cried, why Clint wasn't here.
Natasha rose to her feet, swaying a bit as she walked to a bleeding Katya, but the latter didn't even feel the burning sensation in her leg. ''Where is Clint?'' she repeated, more panicked and louder.
Katya finally looked away from the cliff and placed her face into her hands, sobbing silently. ''I- he- I couldn't stop him.'' The moment played over and over again in her head. It would follow her until her own end. ''I'm so sorry, Nat.''
But Natasha wasn't mad. She could never be mad at Katya for this. The knife in her calf said enough. Clint would have found a way to jump. She couldn't have stopped him if she wanted to.
But Natasha did go into shock, sinking to the ground next to Katya. Her shocked eyes stared at the cliff while her hand found Katya's upper back, placing it there to provide comfort. If that comfort was for Katya or herself, she wasn't sure. But she needed something to ground her.
Silent tears streamed down her face while Katya kept sobbing next to her. At least until their surroundings changed and they were in a pool of water, about a foot high.
Katya was no longer laying on her stomach but sat on her knees across from Natasha. The water stung like a bitch in her wound, but that didn't matter. All her attention was focused on the bright light in her palm. She brought it up to the surface and slowly opened her fist. There lay the one thing they came for, but would trade within a second for their friend back.
They looked up at each other but didn't say anything. Katya had a hard time looking at Natasha. She felt guilty, even though she suspected she didn't blame her.
Their tears mixed with the water they sat in.
~~~~~
Katya and Natasha emerged on the platform, cheeks stained with tears. They survived, but the cost was too great. They both stared at the Stone in Katya's hand, numb, eyes distant.
''Guys, where is Clint?'' Bruce asked. He was the first to notice he wasn't there, the others were too quick to celebrate. But upon hearing his question, they too twisted their heads in Katya's direction.
Natasha was about to burst into tears again, the heavy silence in the room too heavy on her shoulders. She ran off the platform, pushing past Rhodey blindly. Katya wasted no time limping after her, pressing the Stone into Tony's hands when she passed him. Tears blurred her own vision and she was about to have a breakdown herself, but they needed each other now.
Natasha's safe place has always been the library, so she stormed in there and sunk down on the couch, burying her face into her hands. She was a silent crier, but her body shook with every sob. It broke Katya's heart as she sat next to her, wrapping her arms around her and allowing her wife to lean into her body.
She said nothing for minutes. She couldn't anyway, because she was a crying mess herself. She leaned on Natasha as much as the other way around, the moment Clint disappeared over the cliff replaying in her head.
Laura and the kids bounced around in her head. They would be getting them back, but how the hell were they supposed to tell them their husband and father wasn't coming home. Because he sacrificed himself, for them, for the Universe.
''Baby,'' Katya whispered eventually, not really sure why. Reassuring Natasha she was here maybe?
Natasha's sobs had died down but tears still ran down her face. ''So much death and I still don't know how to grief,'' she muttered into her hands, her voice hoarse. Her tone was somewhere between anger and humor, using the last one to process her sadness.
Katya gently nudged her. ''That's okay,'' she whispered back, careful with her next words. ''I don't know how to process this either. I do know one thing though: he would want us to move on.''
She half expected Natasha to start yelling at her. That she couldn't think about that yet. But she said nothing, just sat there. So Katya did too, for as long as both of them needed it.
~~~~~
''I can't do this.'' Natasha had stopped halfway up the stairs of the porch. The Barton house, the home they never had, towered over them. The place that always provided warmth and security now felt like a death trap, the last place they wanted to be.
Natasha was an absolutely mess, her hair in a messy braid that had more strands out of it than in it, her eyes red and large bags under them. After the fight with Thanos, they had cleaned up and flown here immediately. They needed to tell Laura as soon as possible, however hard it was.
She had her hand tightly wrapped around Katya's. She didn't look too great either, just as messy and worn out. Clint's death had hit them like a slap in the face, leaving them numb.
''Me neither, but we have to,'' Katya muttered. It didn't feel right to walk in together, as a couple, when Laura lost her husband, but they needed each other.
Natasha nodded, took a deep breath and crossed the distance to the front door, knocking on it softly. It wasn't long until the door swung open, a very anxious Laura looking very surprised at their visit. She must have figured out what had happened, because she exhaled in relief and lunged forward, wrapping them both in tight hugs.
''Oh my god, girls,'' she breathed. She hadn't yet realized Clint wasn't here. But then she stepped back and looked around, coming up empty. Katya saw the exact moment she realized. Something broke in Laura's eyes, sadness flooding them.
She looked from Natasha to Katya for confirmation on what she suspected. And when Natasha dropped her head and Katya nodded sadly, tears welled in Laura's eyes.
''Oh my god,'' she whispered again, swaying on her feet a bit.
Natasha seemed to snap out of her own head, stepping forward and taking Laura's hands into her own. ''Laura. I'm so sorry. We couldn't stop him.'' Her voice wavered, but she tried to stay strong for her.
''What happened?'' Laura choked out, looking between the both of them.
''We needed to get the Stone, so one of us had to sacrifice themselves. We were all ready to go, but he took us out and jumped before we could stop him. I'm so sorry we let that happen, it should have been us,'' Katya explained softly, voicing Natasha's feelings too.
To their surprise, Laura swiftly shook her head. ''No. Don't say that.'' She dropped one of Natasha's hands and reached for Katya's, her mother instincts taking over. ''He loved the both of you so much.'' Natasha and Katya smiled sadly, the tears starting again. ''He wouldn't have wanted that. Sounds like his death was meaningful, and that's all he ever wanted. To go out the right way.''
''He brought half the Universe back,'' Katya confirmed. She couldn't believe Laura was logically thinking about this instead of sinking to the floor in a sobbing mess.
Laura smiled through her tears. ''That sounds like a beautiful trade. I and the kids will be okay, we have each other. It will be hard but we will get through this. But you, he wouldn't want you crying and sad. Please forgive yourselves.''
''We'll try.''
~~~~~~~~
A/N: This is officially the last chapter of this book. I cannot believe it's been a year since I started this journey. Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, emotionally investing haha. I never, ever expected so much love and reads and compliments. They honestly make my day. You have no idea how happy it all makes me.
Sequel is up on my page now! ''Chasing Ghosts'' So if you want to keep following Nat and Kat's adventures, make sure to read that. If you haven't watched TFATWS yet, go and binge that first, then come back to the book ;)
I have so much more planned, so be sure to follow me to not miss anything. I hope to see you again!