Chapter 24
2015, date redacted
The Avengers find Natasha and Maria curled up together on a kitchen chair in the morning. No one questioned, but Nick did shoot her a congratulatory look. Damn bastard somehow knew all, it seemed.
Maria's mumbling something about coffee, and Laura slides a cup to her which she gratefully receives, letting Natasha steal some sips from her cup. Maria winces as her bones crack from the stiff joints.
Natasha slides into another chair, also looking pale and shaky, but determined. It's a good look on her girlfriend. Natasha's ankles lie on Maria's lap, and Maria absent-mindedly caress them.
"We're leaving at 1000 sharp, it's going to be one good showdown," Steve says.
"We're going to shove Ultron's metal face up his vibranium ass," Clint offers.
"But first, Helen," Tony reminds.
"I have a hunch finding Doctor Cho will lead us to Ultron, she's tough, she'll survive. Let's kick his ass," Steve declares.
"Steve, I thought you didn't like that kind of talk," Natasha mock gasps.
Steve groans, and the adults laugh.
2015, date redacted
It's like another day in the office. Natasha sighs and lets a robot's leg she picked up to smack another robot's head drop to the floor.
Maria Maria Maria.
"Well Avengers, we won," Steve says, but as Natasha sees the young girl staring out at the distance with empty eyes, Natasha thinks that the battle isn't over. Not the one that rages in them, at least. Bruce, she tried so hard, she tried to hold the team together, tried to help, but she failed.
She would not fail again. Marble. Unbreakable, unstoppable. There was another fractured piece added now, Wanda Maximoff. She sees Clint go to her first and Natasha decides that Wanda would be in good hands.
Natasha sighs and stares up at the sky.
The battle was over, but what was of the other battles to come? They nearly lost to an AI, what if Thanos really did come?
She had to make sure that when it came to that, they would be ready. Wanda Maximoff would be key in this. Wanda had to grow, had to learn. She couldn't just randomly use her powers on people, and Natasha needed to help her. Guide her.
Natasha would. She had a feeling that they would need a little bit of a regroup. James, still in cryostasis, was making progress, slowly but steadily. About a third of his re programming was complete. It felt like forever, with two years, but as long as James was still fighting, it would be okay.
Natasha straps her guns back into their holsters as she turns back to see Steve checking on Tony and Thor, then settling down together to watch the sky too.
There's this feeling, powerful and overwhelming, that consumes her.
Steve catches her looking. He winks. It feels like a seal to her, Natasha Romanoff.
There's footsteps behind her, and Natasha turns. In the wreckage of the church that stood in the heart of Sokovia, where she felt slightly unclean from being in a supposedly holy place.
"Gonna stare all day? I know I look good though," Maria smirks and spreads her arms out.
Natasha breaks into a radiant smile, one that makes her look years younger, like she isn't carrying a burden on her back so heavy that most in the world would crack under, and runs into Maria's arms, where it was safe, perfect, home.
She kisses Maria in the middle of Sokovia, in the heart of the universe.
Its wild, undulated, carefree. Tongues and teeth clash, lips swallowing the other pair. Before she knows it, Natasha's choking back sobs.
"I got you, I got you baby," Maria soothes, breaking apart and kissing Natasha's forehead tenderly.
Natasha lays her head on Maria's shoulder, they sway gently in the ashes and settling dust and dirt.
It might not be whole, might be broken, but as long as there was Maria, she would always burn brighter than a star.
Everything fades away as Natasha stares up into Maria's ocean blue eyes, clear and bright, swirling, like a myriad of stardust and mysteries.
"I love you," Natasha breathes.
"I know," Maria replies.