A Twisted Fate

The beginning of the end

Natasha's room in Stark's penthouse, December 24, 2023 ...

Everything was peaceful as she slept in her room, dreaming about the upcoming festivities for the day such as decorating the tree with Morgan, drowning in oversized sweaters with Clint on the couch while sipping on some hot chocolate while it snowed outside or decorating some gingerbread men with Peter. She was so into her dream world that she didn't even realize something had brushed against her arm. The second time, however, she did notice. Still sleepy, Natasha saw her alarm clock on her nightstand illuminate the numbers '3:10 A.M' which was followed by a soft groan as she turned to her right. A shadowy figure, about the same height as Natasha with what looked like a black widow suit on, stood by her bedside looking down at the floor with long hair covering the face.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she asked in what was a soft whisper, the sternness that was supposed to be included, fading. The figure, however, didn't answer so she repeated the question with as much sternness as she could muster.

The shadowy presence simply looked at her, its sunken black eyes staring into the redhead's green ones with a grin, the kind of grin that will make someone have nightmares for a week or two, now slowly spreading across its face. Natasha gasped and turned her head to the other side of the room where she saw it again.

"What do you want?!" Natasha practically screamed as softly as she could to the figure which didn't answer again. To her surprise, the presence disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace of it ever being in the room. She let out a sigh of relief as she laid back down, moving her blanket closer to her body. Sure she has had a lot of scary experiences in her life like almost dying but this was different from the rest, it was like everything her paranormal nightmares consisted of which she hated.

As soon as it was gone, she drifted back to sleep again only to wake up again instantly afterwards. The thought of it coming back with that wide grin and its sunken black eyes made her terrified so there she laid in her bed with the blankets now closer to her than ever, hoping to forget what she had just seen in the late morning.

Stark's penthouse, 12:41  P.M. 

The sunlight shone through the windows of the living room while Christmas music was blasting on the speakers as a blanket of white finally rested on the land around the tower, waiting to be played with by the next generation of avengers while the Christmas tree that stood in the corner shined with glee.

Pepper had picked Morgan up and began to dance around with her to Wonderful Christmastime while Peter took a bite of a gingerbread man still on the baking tray. Steve was in the kitchen preparing a Christmas Eve dinner and Clint well he had a large oversized sweater on as he watched Frosty The Snowman on the TV.

A quick glance came from Clint to the sound of a door opening to Natasha's room and out came a sleep deprived agent with a head full of messy red hair. Without pausing the movie, he quickly rushed over to her along with Peter after he put down the half eaten gingerbread man on the tray. After seeing how she looked, Pepper put her little girl down and paused the music to let the other avengers hear the nightmare she had.

"Nat what happened?" Clint asked softly to her, his grey eyes meeting her green ones, observing the fear that resided in them.

"I- I rather not talk about it .... "

Peter looked at her and said 'Maybe if you did, we could help' in a soft tone. Natasha looked at him and nodded slightly. "It was about 3 this morning when something brushed against my right arm. I shrugged it off because maybe it was just the wind and then it happened again. I opened my eyes just a little bit to check the time but I didn't think anything of it. As I prepared to go back to bed, I rolled onto my right side but then I saw something standing by the right side of my bed. It- it looked like .... me from the body build to the suit it was wearing and the hairstyle it had that was covering its face. I asked that thing who it was ... but it didn't answer so I asked the question again only to find that the thing didn't have eyes, it did but it was black with no color whatsoever and then a grin grew slowly on its face ... the kind of grin that would make a grown adult have nightmares for weeks. IT just stared at me with that same expression then the figure disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing that indicated it was actually in the room .... I tried to fall asleep but- but that grin and its sunken black eyes just haunted my dreams and my mind .."