Life is not a Fairytale (PeterParkerxReader)

Chapter 67: In honor of Natasha

Your Pov:
While the others were collecting the Stones, I had to keep the kids occupied. And let me tell you, taking care for 3 five year olds isn't as easy as it seems.

"Auntie Y/n, we're bored," Mary said, holding onto my leg.

"Yeah, we wanna do something fun," Tommy said.

"Oh, what do you wanna do then?" I asked them.

"That's the problem, we don't know," Billy said, being overly dramatic.

"Just like his mother." I thought in my head, the thought of it made me smile.

"I may have something we can do. We can play a game where the goal is to stay silent the longest."

"But that's not fun!" Mary complained while pouting, along with the twins.

"I'm sorry, kids, but I have to stay behind with the machine. Go play outside or something, that's good for you."

"Ugh fine, come on guys," Tommy said, taking his brother and Mary with him.

"And don't go further than the fence!" I yelled at them, when the machine turned on, "Great, they're back just in time."

Everyone was back, but I felt something was wrong.

"Wait, where's Nat? Clint, she was with you to Vormir, why isn't she here?" Dad asked, and that's when I saw she was missing.

"It was supposed to be me. Sacrificed her life for that goddamned stone, she put her life on it," Clint said while I saw tears forming in his eyes.

"What, no. She's- she's gone?" Steve asked, also starting to tear up.

"A soul for a soul, isn't it? In order to get the Stone, you have to sacrifice something close to you," I said, making all heads turn at me.

"Yes, how did you know?" Clint asked me.

"I don't know, it suddenly just... came to me. This is all my fault, I should've been more careful, only if I had done more research, she'd still be alive."

"Y/n, nobody blames you for what happened, your mind was clouded because you lost someone, we all did," Steve said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"You should blame me, because of me, Mary doesn't have a mother anymore. Did you think about that?"

"Yes, we all did. This is what we're risking, and Nat put her life on the line because she believed that we could bring the rest back. She wanted us to be happy, put us before herself. We have the Infinity Stones, we owe it to Natasha to win this war."

At that moment, the kids came running into the room.

"Daddy, you're back! Where's mommy?" Mary asked Steve, and I looked at the ground in... shame, I think.

"Uhm, sweetie, do you remember mommy telling you about this guy named Thanos and his special glove?"

"Yes, he dusted auntie Wanda, why?"

Steve couldn't continue, you could see it was too hard for him to tell his own daughter that her mother died.

"Mary, come here for a second, okay?" I asked her, so she crawled on my lap, "Your mommy, she did something so she could make others happy. But because she did that, she isn't able to come back. You see, she went to get a special gem that could save the universe. We have that gem now, but without mommy. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, honey?"

"So if we have the gem, we don't have mommy, but if we have mommy, we have no safety?"

"Exactly. Now, I want you to know, it's okay if you're sad about that, it's not bad if you need to cry."

"Why would I cry? Mommy saved the universe, she's a badass."

"Yes, she sure is. And remember, she's always with you, even if you don't see her. We will try everything we can to make sure we defeat that big, ugly, purple guy for her, okay?"

"Can I help?"

"Oh no, that's not safe. Mary, while we are fighting, you can't be near. We can't lose another Romanoff today, understood?"

"Aye aye, captain," She said, saluting to me.

"Hey, I'm the- No, nevermind. Come on guys, we're going to war, in honor of Natasha," Steve said, crossing his arms and nodding to me.

"In honor of Natasha," I said, giving him a smile.