We're sat outside the compound in a white gazebo by the lake. The water ripples softly as schools of fish swim by, their scales shimmering in the soft sunlight that filters through the green leaves of tall sycamore trees housing small birds calling out to each other in light tones that fill the sweet smelling air.
It should be a beautiful day.
I don't remember how I got out here: a quick memory of Stark guiding me up from the floor, held in his fatherly embrace; a flash of Clint glancing at me with guilty, tear-filled eyes and tear-stained cheeks; a fading memory of Stark pulling out a plastic lawn chair and helping me sit in it without my knees collapsing as they shake dangerously below.
Scott and Stark sit either side of me, giving me space whilst also a shoulder to cry on, and Steve with Bruce, leaning over the side of the gazebo, the former whispering to the crying scientist. There's no sign of Nebula.
The Infinity Stones lay displayed on the table in front of us all, each innocently shimmering in different hues like they're merely glass stones you'd find at a beach. Even the Soul Stone's amber glow is glittering prettily in the sunlight. You wouldn't guess that just thirty minutes ago it was exchanged for my sister's life.
A soul for a soul. A sister for a stone.
"Do we know if she had any other family?" Stark asks quietly after a couple minutes of silence, taking his eyes off of me for what feels like the first time in a decade.
The question feels like a taunt, as though I'm not good enough to be Nat's family, like Yelena and I aren't the ones that looked out for her when everyone here abandoned her and left her to the mercy of the law.
Steve glances back from the lake, his eyes flicking to me before focusing back on his clasped hands resting on the fence of the gazebo. "Yeah. Us."
"What?" Thor suddenly asks. His voice is full of confusion.
"I just asked him a question-" Stark begins but gets cut off.
"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead," Thor starts. "Why are you acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can get her back, isn't that right?" He shoots up from his seat and slams his hands on the table, barely missing the device filled with the Reality Stone and sending it skidding across the surface and landing in my lap. He doesn't even notice. "So stop this shit. We're the Avengers. Get it together."
I slowly pick up the Reality Stone and place it back on the table, the contact added with this strong emotion making my fingers prickle. I clench my hands, feeling the bite of my nails from even under the fabric of my fingerless gloves. If I wasn't wearing them, I would've surely drawn blood.
"We can't get her back." Clint's voice is quiet.
Those five words make my heart feel like it's about to burst. I don't know what's happening to me. I don't know what I'm feeling. Is it grief? Anger? Sadness? My knee begins to bounce up and down, up and down without me meaning it to.
"Wha- what?" Thor's voice is still strong, still confused, still in denial.
"It can't be undone," Clint says thickly. "It can't."
Thor laughs dryly. "I'm sorry, but you're a very earthly being. We're talking about space magic here, and 'can't' seems very definite, don't you think?"
I want them to stop. I need them to stop.
"Yeah, I know that I'm way outside my pay grade, but she still isn't here, is she?" Clint's voice grows stronger, more annoyed.
Just stop.
"No, that's my point-"
"It can't– it can't be undone. Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say," Clint says before suddenly standing and starts shouting. "Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly up and talk to him!"
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Mind Full of Roses // Peter Parker
أدب الهواة"My power isn't like yours. Mine is a burden; a reminder of what I was forced to become." Roselyn Paxton was the first in two things. One: being the youngest Black Widow in the Red Room. And two: being the first survivor. ☽ ☽ ☽ DISCLAIMER: THIS IS M...
