In case you wanted Katya to snap. Yes I do see your comments :) So you can replace the last chapter with this one if you want to
Katya had no freaking clue what was happening when she opened her eyes. She sat on the forest floor, in the middle of a small clearing, the bright sun filtering through the high trees. The silence was overwhelming. She didn't hear anything but the wind and rustling of leaves.
Confused out of her mind, she wanted to stand up, but her head hurt like a bitch. She hissed and shot out a hand to the back of her head. A bump adorned the back of it, under her brown hair.
Extra careful this time, Katya scrambled to her feet, slowly turning in her spot. Where was she? But most importantly, what happened? She had her suit on, so this must have been a mission gone wrong. Her first guess was that she passed out. But then why didn't she see any of her teammates? If this was a team mission, they would have never let her lay like this.
In her turning, her eye landed on someone else, a person that had previously been hidden by a bush. He sat on his knees, staring at his hands like he saw them for the first time. None of this felt right.
''Barnes?'' she questioned.
Bucky looked up from his hands, his long hair following the movement. He had the same confused look in his eyes, like the last five minutes of his life had disappeared. ''Katya? What happened?''
''You tell me.'' It wasn't her that answered, it was Sam, stepping out of the forest, joining their small group. Nobody seemed to know why they were there, why they had passed out collectively and why they had amnesia.
Luckily, a weak Sokovian voice could clarify it for them. ''We were gone.''
Katya's gaze landed on the witch. She couldn't believe she hadn't spotted her before. Wanda sat on the ground on her knees, bent forward like she had kneeled next to someone, but Katya's mind was still empty.
Wanda clenched her fists, staring at the empty space in front of her. She looked defeated, beaten, not only physically but more mentally. ''Thanos, he snapped his fingers, remember?''
The name of the alien was a trigger to the others, the key to unlocking their memories. A collective gasp echoed in the forest. T'Challa had now also joined their group, his head snapping to the direction of the battlefield. ''Where is he now, where are the others? How did we get back?'' he questioned nobody in particular because nobody had the answers.
Katya felt numb, she remembered everything. She remembered calling out for Natasha after the snap because she felt off. She knew what was going to happen to her after she saw Barnes get dusted. She also knew the last thing Natasha said was that it would be okay, her panicky and anxious green eyes staring down at her as she disappeared.
But Natasha wasn't here, so time must have passed. Maybe a long time. Where was she now? Was she okay, or what did she do, where did she go?
Before Katya could explode in worry, something started to sizzle next to her. The whole group turned to it, muscles tensing and hands reaching for weapons. Ready in case Thanos decided to come back. A portal opened, a yellow border surrounding it. Out came a man Katya had never seen before, which didn't help with the confusion.
''I am Doctor Strange, protector of the Time Stone.'' That ringed a bell. ''You turned to dust five years ago, but the Avengers got the Stones back from the past and snapped again, brining half the Universe back. Now they need your help. Thanos has the Compound under attack, once again threatening half of all living creatures.''
Katya didn't have to think twice. She removed her hand from her gun and stepped towards the portal. She had heard Strange's name before, and his voice and body language told her he wasn't lying. But what he said repeated in her head.
Five years. Natasha had been on her own for five years. For Katya it felt like a minute, but it must have been torture for her, alone. Luckily enough, Natasha had the Avengers that didn't get snapped, the ones who weren't in their little group just now.
Steve, Tony, Bruce, Clint, Thor.
When Katya stepped through the portal, she landed on an insanely large battlefield. If it weren't for the lake on the other side, she wouldn't have recognized it for what it was: the Compound's grounds. It had been reduced to a pile of smoke and ash, her home.
The first thing she did was look around for Natasha, hoping her red hair would stick out somewhere, but it was too dark and all the people around her obscured her vision. Hopefully after the battle, she'd find her. Natasha would be fine on her own a little longer. This fight was more important.
As the fight continued and Katya fought the aliens, ran over the battlefield and listened to the voices through the comms, she couldn't help but get a strange feeling in her stomach. That gut feeling that told her something was wrong. She didn't see Natasha, didn't hear her. And knowing her, she'd expected her to find her.
That, and Clint couldn't look at Katya.
Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and ran up to him, stopping his fighting.
''Clint. Where's Nat?'' she asked as the chaos around them continued.
Clint hung his head and sighed, his shoulders dropping. She knew that look. It was the look of someone who bore bad news. ''I'm sorry, Kat,'' he looked her dead in the eyes when he started, gathering all the nerve he had in him. He couldn't believe he was telling her this. ''She said to tell you she loves you, and that it's okay.''
Katya's whole world stopped turning. Nothing worked anymore. Her brain, her heart, her lungs. ''What?'' she breathed, almost inaudible. When Clint did nothing but stare at her, trying to force his tears back, she repeated the question. ''Clint, what happened? Clint!'' The last word echoed over the battlefield, but it got lost in the noise.
''A soul for a soul, that was the deal.'' Clint slowly stepped closer to her, hoping to provide her some support. ''She had to sacrifice herself to get the Stone.''
''No,'' Katya laughed manically, thinking he was joking. ''No, no, no, no.'' But he didn't laugh, only looked at her in pity. So her face fell and tears swelled in her eyes. ''Please tell me you're joking.'' Her voice shook and broke.
Clint's own voice wavered. ''I wish I was. It was supposed to be me. But she knocked me out and jumped before I could stop her.'' Yeah, that sounded like Natasha. He stepped even closer if that was possible, reaching for her hand. ''I'm so sorry I couldn't save her, Kat.'' He truly was sorry, the worst pain he had ever felt. But Katya didn't want his pity or his pain. She wanted her wife.
Katya ripped her hand out of Clint's, taking a couple steps backwards. ''Don't touch me,'' she hissed angrily, suppressing the sobs while tears ran down her cheeks. She had so much trouble understanding any of it.
Five years had passed, Natasha was gone. Five years had passed, Natasha was gone.
She kept repeating those words, but for some reason they felt untrue. Because Natasha was still very much alive only half an hour ago, holding her in Wakanda. Did Katya even wake up, was she still inside the Soul Stone? Or maybe this was another dimension.
She tried to find other explanations. Anything that would bring her wife back. But Clint's eyes were true. They didn't lie. This was the painful reality of her life now.
''She sacrificed her life so you could live. That was her only wish these past five years, to get you back,'' Clint explained softly, trying to keep his own voice from breaking, but failing miserably.
''Yeah? Well can she tell me what the use of that is, if she isn't here?!'' Katya screamed, gesturing wildly with trembling hands. She had no control over herself anymore, throwing out all she felt. ''I don't want this without her!''
But yelling at Clint was never a good idea. He mirrored her tone, loud but strict, trying to yell some sense into her. ''She gave you your second, second chance!'' He grew frustrated. His yelling surprised Katya so much that it shocked her out of it. Clint continued much calmer. ''She wanted you to live, to go on without her, be happy. Don't throw that away, don't make her death meaningless to you.''
Katya stared at him, her ears ringing. Shaking her head, she said with uttermost certainty. ''Life without her is meaningless.''
She turned around and ran off, about to plunge her staff into another alien's chest, when a powerful blast hit her back and sent her flying.
Her body landed a good distance away, rolling over the ground until it came to a still. Everything certainly hurt then, her vision spinning. But she scrambled to her feet nonetheless, no time for recovery.
Katya had no idea what happened. Neither did the people around her, but the cold reality was that the gauntlet lay on the ground unprotected, both Thanos and Tony very close to it. The billionaire tackled the alien to the ground, but got thrown off and to the side easily.
Thor and Steve were up next, trying to force the axe into Thanos' chest, but even with their strength combined and the power of Mjölnir, it didn't work. He threw them to the side like ragdolls, kicking Steve in the chest so he stayed down for good.
Katya hurried over, sprinting to close the distance. She was closer than most of her teammates.
With wide eyes and fear coursing through her body, she watched as Thanos slid his hand inside the gauntlet, grunted from the sheer force of the Stones and got ready to snap. Everyone held their breath, praying someone would do something when he touched his fingers together.
And that's when the blonde spacewoman Katya learned was called Carol, intervened, grabbing the fingers of the gauntlet and tugging on the thing to try and get it off. But it wouldn't budge. So she turned to crushing the big man instead. It almost worked, Thanos' headbutting doing nothing to get her to back off, but then he peeled the Power Stone from its slot and punched her off easily.
Katya was convinced that that was it, they had lost again. That he would snap half the Universe away again.
She ran and ran. To do what, she didn't know, but she was very close now.
In front of her eyes, Tony scrambled to his feet. His suit torn apart and holes covering it. He grabbed the gauntlet around Thanos' hand in a similar way Carol had done. He pulled and pulled, using all the power his suit still had. And to her surprise, it came off, Tony quickly slipping it on himself.
The first thing Katya felt was immense relief, the next was extreme fear for her friend. Tony who had been nothing but kind to her, who had the biggest heart out of all of them, one of the best friends she had ever had. No, Tony was much more than that, he was family.
And Katya knew, she knew, he wouldn't survive the Snap. Simply because she saw how much it affected Thanos, and he was an alien for god's sake. But Tony, even though he always appeared as more than human, was just that: a human without any special powers except his brilliant mind which once again would save the Universe.
The power coursed through Tony's veins, and it must hurt him to great lengths, but he didn't whimper nor groan. How could Katya say goodbye to him? She heard he head a daughter. How could she face Morgan, knowing she failed to protect him? She'd grow up without a father.
She made a split-second decision. But even though it was abrupt and reckless, she had thought it through, made the decision with full conviction.
Tony couldn't die. Katya was going to snap. And in the back of her head, of course Natasha's death played a role. But in the first place, Katya needed to save Tony's life, because he had a family.
She sprinted forward, tackled him to the ground and snatched the gauntlet off his hand at the same time. He was too surprised to block the fist coming for his jaw. Not the way she wanted to say her final goodbye to him, but she knew if she didn't knock him out, he would rip the gauntlet out of her hands again.
Nobody came to stop her now, everyone either too far away or unconscious. So she stuck her hand in the huge glove... and almost fell unconscious.
Katya sat on her knees, but even that was too much of a strain. She fell onto her hip, her empty hand holding her up while she screamed out from the pain.
Because it hurt. A lot.
Natasha's Widow Bites were nothing compared to this pain. Getting brainwashed was nothing compared to this pain. Getting shot and stabbed a thousand times was more pleasant. Because she felt like she was being burned alive.
Her heart raced out of her chest and she swore she heard her flesh sizzle. Her whole left arm was on fire. Not literally, but that's how it felt. Katya wasn't even aware she was screaming, thought it was someone else, until she forced her jaw closed and it stopped.
She groaned and tried to push the black spots on the edges of her vision away. It didn't work, but that didn't matter anyway. Because she was clear minded enough to think about what she wanted to Stones to do.
She knew she was dying. But she didn't care, not anymore. She didn't want to die, but it was too late either way.
With the small amount of vision Katya had left, she focused on the huge purple alien that was too shocked to do anything but watch. ''This is for Natalia,'' she hissed at Thanos.
Taking one last, deep breath, she brought her fingers together and snapped.
If possible, the pain got even worse. No explosion of energy came from the Stones this time, but she knew it worked, felt the atmosphere shift again. Knew Thanos's army would disappear, preventing him from snapping half the Universe away again.
She did it, she saved everyone. But that's not what she was thinking about. She couldn't think about much.
With a smile on her lips, she collapsed to the ground, on her side, panting heavily.
A painful silence fell over the battlefield. Katya heard it ring in her ears, but that might also be her eardrums. She would have jumped at the boots appearing before her face, but she was halfway gone already. Not registering anything anymore.
Someone pulled the gauntlet from her arm, but it didn't help with the pain. It was overwhelming.
She just lay there, waiting for the darkness to take over. Katya had been on the edge of death before, knew exactly how it felt.
''Katya. Katya,'' a panicked voice broke through. Someone fell on their knees next to her head and turned her onto her back. Her eyes fell onto the dark sky, couldn't get them to focus on the face hanging above her own. ''Hey. Hey. Can you hear me?''
Clint placed his hands on her cheeks, which was the encouragement she needed to find his eyes. He was crying. Losing his two best friends within twenty-four hours did that to someone. ''You did it. We won.'' He smiled through his tears. ''It's okay. You go and see her again.''
A surge of excitement and peace flooded her body, but it was gone as quickly as it came. She gathered all her energy to force one word out of her lungs. ''Sorry.'' It was barely audible, but Clint heard it. She was pretty sure everyone around them heard it, because the entire team watched her last moments on Earth.
She wasn't even sure what she said sorry for. Probably for causing him hurt, causing the entire team hurt, because they all had tears running down their cheeks.
Clint swiftly shook his head. ''No, it's okay. I understand. I understand. Say hi to Nat from me.''
Katya nodded once, finding the strength to smile back. His eyes were the last she saw before she closed her eyes for good, leaving behind one family on her way to the other. Because nobody had any doubt that she and Natasha would be together in death too.
~~~~~
Katya opened her eyes slowly, the brightness of her surroundings blinding her for a moment. She lay on her back, nothing but whiteness all around her. Even the floor underneath her fingertips was a bright white. But she couldn't care less about where she was, because the arm that burned like a bitch a minute ago, was completely fine, no pain, nothing.
''Katya?''
Katya snapped her head up. There, about ten feet in front of her, stood Natasha, her eyes wide in surprise. She seemed to be frozen in place, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. It took a while before she shook it off, tears welling.
She almost sprinted the last couple steps to Katya, who had scrambled to her feet, and threw her arms around her. Katya stumbled backwards a bit, but could only laugh and hug her back.
Natasha pushed her face into her neck, her tears falling on her skin. It always made Katya cry too, and she tangled her fingers into the long red hair for comfort. Because she was back, and Natasha was no longer alone.
''Hi baby,'' Katya whispered, closing her eyes and relaxing. It felt weird to not share her sadness. She knew what it was like to live without Natasha for years, but that was a very long time ago and they were nowhere as close as they were now.
Natasha pulled back to look at her, her hands finding Katya's cheeks as her wet eyes looked deep into hers. ''I am so happy but also so mad.'' She frowned, and it wasn't hard to guess why she was mad. She jumped not only to get half the Universe back, but also to give Katya a happy life. But here she was, not even a day later, dead.
''I could say the same. Jumping off that cliff, what were you thinking?'' Katya couldn't help but smile, despite her being kind of mad too. She came back only to find out her wife was dead. That feeling was indescribable, something she didn't wish anyone.
Natasha didn't react to her jokes, just kept taking in her face like she would lose it all again tomorrow. ''What happened?''
Katya sighed, the smile falling off her face. She reached up to take Natasha's hands from her cheeks and to hold them instead. ''It's a very long story, but the point is: they brought everyone back, then Thanos showed up at the Compound, trying to reverse it. He brought an entire army. He was winning, and someone needed to snap him away.''
''You,'' Natasha concluded. She had listened to the story patiently and with interest. When Katya showed up in this room of light, Natasha's mind had immediately gone to a dark place. She knew Katya's history, what she had done to herself at HYDRA. And thought maybe she had hurt herself again just to be with her. But that wasn't the case, luckily.
Katya nodded, the battle playing in her head. ''Snatched the Stones off Tony. I couldn't let him do it. Morgan's only five. I think. I don't actually know, I overheard he had a kid, but since it's been five years, you do the math.''
Natasha teared up again when she listened to her rambling. Not only because she was proud of what Katya did, but also because a realization fell over her. Their lives were over, they made it. Too early and not at all peaceful, but they were gone, no going back. They left so much insecurity and misery behind, but now nothing could happen to them anymore.
''I missed you so much,'' she whispered again. Words would never be enough to explain that insane hole in her chest she had been living with. ''God, these last five years have been hell. Life really is impossible without you.''
Katya abruptly pulled her in for a short kiss. They had time enough now to make up for lost time. For Natasha, this felt like their first kiss all over again. The butterflies in her stomach soared and the hole in her chest closed instantly.
Katya smiled at her wife's ecstatic face and glanced at their surroundings. ''This is the end, isn't it?'' she sighed. She wasn't nowhere near done with Earth, with life. But hey, this wasn't so bad.
Natasha shook her head. ''Oh no, this is just the beginning.'' She went to steal another kiss, but the ground underneath their feet flickered, changing into a very familiar lawn. Both of them turned in their spot. To their surprise, the landscape changed, like it waited until everyone had arrived to make the perfect world.
''This is home,'' Katya realized, her eyes wide when she saw the Compound she fled two years ago. No, seven years ago. Well, Natasha fled and Katya got thrown into the Raft prison, but they abandoned their home because it was no longer safe.
It looked perfect, like the day they moved in after Ultron. Only nobody was here, and Katya was sure nobody would ever appear either.
Natasha looked at Katya while she stared at the Compound. ''No, you are home.''
''God, you're so cheesy sometimes,'' Katya chuckled, meeting her intense gaze. ''What do you want to do first? We could snoop in the other's rooms, they're not here anyway. Or we-'' Natasha cut her off by pulling her into another tight hug, smiling contently. ''Or we stand in the middle of the lawn and hug, that's also fine,'' Katya joked, inhaling Natasha's familiar perfume that didn't get lost.
''Baby, it's okay. I'm here now. Never leaving again,'' Katya whispered. She had never seen Natasha like this, so clingy, like a child almost. Not that she cared. Katya loved hugs. Something she never expected to love.
Natasha let her go quickly, almost like she was embarrassed. She would never be good with things like these. ''Just checking to make sure.'' Katya just smiled at her and accepted the hand that slipped into her own. Natasha smiled her beautiful and iconic smirk. ''Now what was that about snooping in rooms?''