Budapest

Prologue
October 5, 2014

The funeral home was empty except for them. Their friends had long since filtered out, leaving the couple to grieve. But they had stayed so long that even the workers had left. They had asked the couple to leave, but they stayed, sitting on the ground together, her wrapped in his arms.

"This shouldn't have happened," the woman said looking up at her husband, her green eyes filled with tears.

Her husband pushed her short red hair out of her face. He tried to smile at her, but there was no hiding the tears that shone in his icy blue eyes. "It wasn't your fault, Natasha," he said gently, "There was no way to stop it."

"Yes there was, Clint!" Natasha shrieked pulling away from him. "I've been trained for this! It's my job to take down monsters like that! But when it mattered the most, I-I failed."

Clint pulled her back into his arms, desperately needing her warmth. Desperately needing to know that she was still there. "You didn't fail. Nothing could stop it. We tried everything we could, and it couldn't stop it. Just remember that. You did everything you could."

Natasha sat up a little and wiped away her tears. "I guess we did."

They both looked up at the empty coffin, then to the picture next to it.

"She was so beautiful," Natasha whispered.

Clint pressed his lips to the top of her head. "Just like you," he said into her hair.

"She had your skills though," Natasha said with a slight smile, "I swear she tried to shoot it when it- when it came."

"She was a brave little girl," Clint said fondly, "our little Merida."