Stone. ~ S.Rogers

~39~

AURORA ODINSDOTTIR

I opened my eyes, and realised I was standing back on the Quantum Platform in the Avengers Compound.

I felt a hand grab mine, and I smiled at Steve, who rubbed circled into my hand with his thumb.

"I'm so glad you're okay." He said, making me smile brightly at my fiance.

"I'm glad you're okay, too."

"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked, and I held the reality stone in my hands, smiling at Thor, who seemed a lot happier.

It probably helped him a lot to see our mother.

"You telling me this'll actually work?" Rhodey asked, but I looked around, noticing someone was missing.

Oh no.

"Nat, where's Clint?" I asked, but she stayed silent, a tear slowly slipping down her cheek.

Everyone stood in silence, not knowing how to process that Barton didn't make it, and I sat on the ground, not trusting my legs to keep me up.

Steve crouched next to me, holding his arms around me while I motioned for Nat to come to me, seeing her start to sob.

I pulled her in for a tight hug, rubbing soothing circles into her back while we cried, and everyone stood in a respectful silence.

Clint was gone.

•••

Steve, Thor, Bruce, Nat, Tony and I sat outside, silently mourning Clint while we cried, until Tony spoke up.

"Do we know if anyone told Clint's family yet?"

"I don't think so." Steve said, and my brother looked confused.

"What?"

"Steve just asked Tony a question." I said to Thor, who shook his head, walking over to me.

"Yeah, you're acting like he's dead." He said, looking at all of us.

"Why are we acting like he's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring him back, isn't that right?" He said, looking annoyed.

He's in denial.

"So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."

"We can't get him back." Nat said, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"Wha- what?" My brother stuttered out, and Nat turned to look at him.

"It can't be undone. It can't."

"I'm sorry, no offense, but you're a very earthly being, okay?" Thor shot back, gesturing between himself and I.

"We are space beings, and we're talking about space magic. 'Can't' seems very definitive don't you think?"

"Yeah, look Thor, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here, but Barton still isn't here, is he?" Nat asked, making a tear slip as Steve gently squeezed my thigh.

"No, that's my point-"

"It can't be undone, or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say." Nat sighed, then raised her voice.

"Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, you go fly and you talk to him."

We fell silent again, letting Nat process her grief, before she cleared her throat.