Avengers One-Shots

I'm not just going to give up on her.

Imagine that Carol had snapped instead of Tony, so he survived. I'm writing two endings to this, a happy one and a sad one. You can read which one you want to read, or you can read both if you would like. I'll let you know when the different endings are starting.

When Steve found out that Natasha had died, he was sadder than he'd been since Peggy and Bucky's death. But for that, she'd been there to make him feel better. This time, she was gone. Forever. So he felt it was only right for him to return the stones. Clint thought differently. He believed that since it could have been him who sacrificed his life, he should go. The two fought about it for ages.
"I need closure! I need to see where it was that she died!" Clint argued.
"You're going to get closure on her death. I'm not just going to give up on her! I'm going to get her back! I can't live without her." He said the last part very quietly and a single tear rolled gently down his cheek. Seeing Captain America cry was enough for Clint to relent and allow him to go.

He returned all of the others first, before he got to the soul stone. The stone the love of his life have her life for. The love of his life that he never told how he felt. He'd always known that he loved her, but never quite how much. Until he lost her. People always say if you love someone then you've got to learn to let them know, but Steve felt it was more accurate to say you never know you love them until you lose them.

When he arrived at Vormir, he was greeted by a face he knew all too well.
"Red Skull," he growled.
"Steve Rogers, son of Sarah Rogers," he began, but was cut off by Steve.
"Yeah, I'm not here to talk. I want to return the stone and exchange it for Natasha Romanoff's life."
"The change is permenant, I'm afraid, you can't bring your friend back."
"No! A soul for a soul. That's the deal."
"Very well. You may try. However, I cannot guarantee it will work."

Steve could see Natasha's body at the base of the cliff, limbs twisted in all different directions and her head limp, lolled to the side. Even in death she was beautiful, bold red curls that had fallen out of the plait framed her head like a halo, like the angel she was. Seeing her there, helpless, lifeless, the opposite of everything Steve knew about her made him so mad. He used all that anger and threw the tiny orange pebble that she had given her life for as far as he could off the cliff. At first, it seemed as if nothing had happened, that he had got his hopes up for nothing. Then, a flash of orange.

Steve was sat in a puddle of about an inch of water. The puddle stretched on for miles, as far as he could see. The sky was orange, with one black silhouette in the distance. He knew instantly that it was her. He ran towards he as fast as he could. Her first feature that he could see was her crimson hair. Then he could make out her pale complexion and her green eyes. He reached her soon enough and pulled her into his arms tighter than he'd ever hugged anyone.
"I thought you were dead," he brearhed, inhaling her familiar scent that he had missed so much.
"So did I," she replied with a laugh. "how are you here right now?"
"I put the stone back and you're back! You're here!"
"Why save me though?"
"Because I love you."
There was another orange flash and Steve was back on the cliff, Natasha still lying at the base, limbs still twisted and broken, head still lying to one side.

"No. No no no no no no no. NO!" Steve said.

ENDING ONE:

Steve looked down at the body dejectedly, thinking he came all this way for nothing. Then, just as he was about to give up and turn around to go home, he noticed her head moving, ever so slightly to the side. It was a barely noticeable movement, but considering she was dead it was a big deal. Steve gasped and started climbing down the mountain, an almost impossible task for a human, but as easy as pie for a superhuman.

It took him a while to get down the cliff, but he managed. He barely even registered his own movements, his mind too focused on getting to Nat and not so much on how he was doing it. His feet finally touched the ground and he ran as fast as he could to the bold person, looking so frail.