The Stars We Watched
After Natasha had finally managed to get up, accompanied by great pain, she had busied herself by exploring the area - as much as that was possible with an injured leg. She was limping across the otherworldly, dark sand, trying to find anything that could help her in this situation.
The unsettling silence stretched on, only interrupted by the sounds of the water.
Vormir was what she would've called a desert on Earth, apart from the cliffs which stretched high upon her head, into the dark sky.
Natasha's thigh was still aching, and the throbbing feeling coming from the deep gash had only intensified with her walking. She had tried to wrap it up with a torn piece of her black catsuit, which had slowed the bleeding. Still - there was nothing close to food on Vormir, and she didn't know if she should just drink water from a planet so far away from home.
After at least fifteen minutes of trying and failing to find anything else than sand, water, cliffs, and an occasional rock, she gave up, and with a heavy sigh, the woman sat down on the soft sand. She bent her right leg while leaving the injured left one stretched out.
Through the lingering silence, Natasha felt like she could hear her own thoughts and how they raced through her head. Without any food nor water, she wouldn't survive more than three days at most, probably even less due to her injured and weak body. And despite her usual determined mentality to push through every challenge, she felt desperation seeping in. This truly felt like a dead end. And what about the team? How were they dealing with her supposed death? Were they even still standing? No. She didn't even want to think of that possibility. And finally, her mind settled on the heaviest weight on her heart she had tried to push away — Wanda. They had already been a couple for over a year, while keeping it a secret half of the time. Admittedly, their relationship had started rocky, due to Natasha's insecurities regarding everything that had to do with any kind of emotions. But she had grown to love the younger woman deeply, and her heart ached thinking about what state she probably was in now. She had never wanted to leave her girlfriend, but neither had she wanted Clint's kids to grow up without a father, and she could never have forgiven herself if she had let him sacrifice himself instead.
With another deep sigh, she let herself sink fully onto the ground, lying in the sand and staring up at the sky — which had grown only slightly lighter. But there was still no single star lighting it up. She and Wanda had loved to lay on the compound's roof and watch the stars.. a light punch from herself against her head brought her back to the present. "Stop thinking about her, idiot," she reprimanded herself.
Realistically, her chances of surviving were drastically low, and they were sinking with each second she spent on the planet. She started to freeze, partially due to her injuries, and then because the air felt like it was cooling down. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to gather some warmth to somehow not freeze to death, when she heard a sudden, low whirring noise. It was gone as fast as it had come, but she couldn't make out the source of that noise. Before, it had been eerily quiet. Even through her not very promising condition, her usual instincts kicked in. Was there somebody here? She still remembered Red Skull. A weird, flying guy with a red "face" who seemed to know everything. With a low curse, "Fuck!", Natasha pushed herself up and limped towards a nearby rock to take cover. She was unarmed – who knows wherever her weapons had gone. Even her widow's bites weren't intact. So, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had to remain in her cover in case anybody - against her proposals - was here. For a long time, there was nothing, except for her, the cliffs which seemed to tower over her, the cold air and the gently lapping water. "This is the most fucking annoying thing of my life. Dying on a planet which likes being an asshole. Great." A hint of her usual sarcastic edge peeked through her words laced with annoyance, but also a deeper desperation. With a frustrated groan, the spy settled against the rock in a more comfortable position than kneeling. Had the noise just been a part of her imagination? Was she going crazy? She had so many questions, but no answers.
The redhead - whose originally red hair with blonde strands was now streaked with sand - was ripped out of her thoughts when the noise appeared again, just way louder, and this time it seemed to be directly over her head. Looking up, she raised an eyebrow in confusion. From her view, the huge object hovering in the sky seemed like just a ball of metal, but as the still whirring object gradually lowered onto the ground, she could make it out as some sort of spaceship. It was made of dark metal, and small, yellow-ish glowing lamps adorned the sides and what seemed to be the outlines of a gate with a ramp. At the upper front was a huge window and the snout grew pointed towards the tip.
Natasha felt her heartbeat quickening in her chest, and she had to fight to keep her breathing under control. She was unarmed and basically helpless, as much as she hated to admit it to herself. Would this - whoever or whatever it was - be her rescue, or her end?