When the choice comes, it is one of the easiest Natasha has ever made.
It isn't that she wants to leave everything behind. She loves her life: SI is finally back to its former glory, she's married to one of her best friends, and every day she leads a team who fight to make the world better in some small way. The world is a place worth fighting for.
That's why she has to do this.
Apparently it wouldn’t hurt, at least as far as they could tell from the little the Illuminati has managed to piece together. Just- one minute everything will be as it always was, and the next she will have died a few years earlier, long enough that everyone would have had time to mourn and move on. Emotionally speaking, it will be relatively painless.
Almost. Close enough.
Extremis wouldn't allow Natasha to forget, of course. It was what made her the perfect candidate; who better to send than someone whose existence might destroy everything if she stayed, after all.
But somewhere under the tightness in her chest she knows this is all her fault, and that responsibility will have to be enough. Without his memories of her, Steve will be safe, happy even. The team can recover in peace, like they deserve. And she…
Squaring herself, Natasha glances towards the mess of metal and wires Reed is still poking at.
Well, she’ll do what she has to.
She is going to figure out how these tremors work, wander the multiverse until she finds whichever version of herself doomed them all, and she will fix this.
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Avengers Drabbles/One-Shots
FanfictionA general dumping spot for any Avengers odds-and-ends that aren't large enough to have a home of their own.
