The air was still around her as she waited for something that would never come.
Nobody moved.
Nobody said anything.
How could they? What words would bring her back to life as her world shattered around her. She didn’t think anything could have been worse than the soul crushing realization that Nick was dead.
She was naïve.
Fury’s death was like a hammer to her heart, damaging the exterior of her well-built walls. But this? This was a bomb, there was no precision to its actions, no meaning. There was nothing left, just wreckage.
Someone was talking behind her, someone brave enough to break the silence. She knew that voice. She knew that she knew that voice, she was just too tired to place it.
What did it matter?
Her heart was gone, her compass shattered with the holes of hundreds of bullets.
“Has she even moved?” There was another voice. A voice that sparked a hint of anger in her. It was his fault. The voice caused this, if only he hadn’t been so careless.
Steve stood in the corner and watched her disappear. Natasha hadn’t moved since he came back with the body, her face was eerily blank as she carefully stroked through the dark blond hair beneath her fingertips.
The boy Clint saved had been rushed to medical, but the with the shear amount of bullets Ultron had fired it wasn’t looking so good for him. Steve clenched his hands, the boy had to live. It didn’t mean anything if he didn’t live. It had to mean something.
“Nat” He spoke softly so as not to disturb her.
She didn’t move as if she hadn’t heard him.
Tony walked in and abruptly stopped. Steve was in the corner was an achingly sad look on his face as he watched their resident assassin mourn. Natasha was hunched over the body, she looked relaxed, she looked poised.
She looked scary.
“Has she even moved?” Tony murmured as he slid up beside Steve. Neither of them noticed Nat’s slight twitch at his words.
Steve shook his head silently in response.
The three of them descended into silence as the hours slipped by.
Fury showed up after 2 hours and approached Natasha, sitting next to her in solitude. Slowly the man took her hand that was still softly stroking Clint’s hair. He said something to her that neither Tony nor Steve could hear. But whatever it was seemed to shake her out of her stupor. The mean stayed quiet as her shoulder began to silently shake.
Fury held her hand as she cried.
The man who gave her everything was gone.