True Colors

Desaster

30000 feet over the Atlantic, Oct 2013
Noone had anticipated it. Noone had even thought about anything even remotely in that direction. Later they would say it was none of their faults but Natasha knew better. She should have thought about something lije that. She should have anticipated it. She should have reacted faster. He shouldn't have gone. Why was it always him? Why weren't they allowed to just be happy? They had worked out everything in the end. Always. But this... this they couldn't work out. Never.

NoMan'sLand, 0' 00" N; 0' 00" E, Atlantic, Oct 2013
They had followed Fury in his grand exit. When they traveled towards the plane, Natasha suddenly caught sight of a flickering red light. It took her a split second to realize what it meant. "Bomb" she screamed amd they all turned to ran. Her eyes searched for Clint. He was right behind her but then he was falling behind. Natasha didn't even have the time to reach out to his mind to ask what was going on because in that moment the bomb detonated and the plane blew up. The blast knocked them down but none of them had been close enough to be seriously hurt. None but... "Clint!" She didn't even realize the cry she let out as she turned around and saw the archer being caught in the explosion. Hot tears ran over her face, bright lines in the flames of the explosion. She cried out for him again and again, tried to reach his mind but there was only emptiness. Where once the reliable thread had been that had connected their minds, where once he had been, there now was nothing. Nothing but the taste of ashes and tears. He was gone.

30000 feet over the Atlantic, Oct 2013
Natasha still found it hard to wrap her mind around it. This was different to when she had believed Clint dead after getting the stupid plant. This time she had seen him die. This time he was really gone. The worst was that she couldn't say goodbye. There was no grave to visit, no funeral to attend. The tema that had gone to clean up the leftovers of the plane had revealed tat there had been no corpse. But as much as she wanted to cling to the tiny hope that her husband could still be alive, Natasha knew he could not be. The connection between them was broken, he was dead.