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(The first time Natasha and Wanda meet, it’s like this:
Her and Clint, sneaking along the upper passages of the ship. Just over the railing, Natasha gets perfect view from behind the Avengers as Tony drops in, flanked by Thor and Steve on both sides. On the other end of a short metal bridge is Ultron, now more fleshed out with metal, a hulking frame with glowing eyes.
The Maximoffs stand behind him, looking impossibly short next to the looming figure that is Ultron. The boy, Pietro, is the first to speak, and his accent sits heavy on his words.
The girl, though-
Her accent is just as thick, and her tone borders on light, but Natasha can feel the malice that wraps around her voice, lingers in her eyes as she looks at Stark, and it feels this is about to get a lot more complicated.
Then, dwelling on the interaction goes out the window, because there are soldiers surrounding her and she’s a lot more concentrated on throwing them around than whatever she’s just witnessed.
And that’s the last she sees of the girl until there’s the presence of someone standing behind her as red seeps into her vision and, suddenly, she’s in Russia.)
-
(The first time Natasha and Wanda kiss, it’s like this:
Wanda, pinned beneath her on the mat, hair fanned out around her and her chest heaving. Natasha still has her forearm against the other girl’s neck, with just enough force to keep her in place, but not enough to constrict her breathing.
Natasha’s got her knees on either side of Wanda’s hips, and her own breathing feels heavy, but it’s just training. At least, it’s just training until Wanda’s eyes are glowing red and Natasha watches her own arm being lifted off the brunette’s throat. It’s just training until Wanda is lifting herself up one one elbow
It’s just training until Wanda’s lips are on hers and they’re kissing, Natasha dropping down to cover the other girl’s body with her own, because then it becomes decidedly not-training.)
-
Natasha and Wanda end like this:
A snap, and for a moment, Natasha swears she can feel the world tear itself apart. The thought of it pushes her harder, trying to free herself from the walls of stone that Thanos had pulled up around her, thrashing even as the surface refuses to break under the force
She freezes, though, when she hears Bucky call Steve’s name, and she turns her head just in time to watch his feet turn to dust, and then his arm and then his legs and torso and finally, his head, leaving his gun to clatter to the ground in a cloud of ash.
Horror curls in Natasha’s chest, like bile rising to her throat, and it kicks a frantic sort of energy into her, trying to throw as much of her body as she can into the cage-like structure that holds her, watching as it starts to give little by little.
In the distance, Rhodey calls Sam’s name, and her stomach turns as her mind screams no, quickly followed by who else?
(Steve, Bruce, Thor?
Oh God, Wanda, where is she?)
Steve runs off, still wholly intact, and just as he disappears from her sight, Natasha manages to shove away the stones above her head, sliding free into the fresh air. Within a couple of seconds, she scrambles up onto her feet, taking off in the same direction as Steve.
She gets there just in time to watch him turn Vision onto his back. The Mind Stone is missing from the android, as is most of his forehead, and instead of his normal green and red coloring, he is all grey tones and white eyes.
-where is wanda she was supposed to be with him-
When Natasha glances at the faces around her, however, there is no Wanda. Bruce stands there in his iron suit, and Thor stares at the ground. The raccoon is crouched on a tree branch, and Rhodey watches over all of them with confusion.
But there is no Wanda. No long, light hair, no red jacket, no magic in the air.
She sees it though, when she glances down at Steve, because surrounding him is the same grey-brown dust she’d watched Bucky dissolve into, and she knows. She knows, because she felt the blinding blast of the Mind Stone being destroyed, only to feel the energy pass back over her as time rewound itself. She knows, because Wanda was with Vision, was with the stone, only now the it is nowhere to be found and Vision is a lifeless shell.
Vision is gone and the stone is gone and so is Wanda.
Her knees start to go weak under her before they buckle, and she crumples down, legs folding underneath her as she hits the ground. A strangled, awful sort of noise escapes her, but she can’t hold it in as her fingers reach out and brush dirt and ground and ash.
“Oh, God,” Steve says, and Natasha’s chest cracks open.
(There is no God here, she thinks.)
-
(Natasha without Wanda- Natasha after Wanda- is like this:
Five years of struggling to keep what’s left of the world, left of the Avengers, together. She spends days at a desk, trying to think of anything she can do to fix what’s happened, find what’s been taken. Thanos has been found and killed but the stones are long gone when they get there, and without it, hope for reversing the Decimation fades and fades until there’s none left.
Until, of course, Scott Lang shows up on their doorstep, and suddenly, there’s a chance.)
-
Natasha and Wanda begin again like this.
Portals open, there’s a red figure flying through the air, and Natasha takes a full breath for the first time in five years. Even from the distance, she can tell it’s her, and she feels her heartbeat slam into her chest like it’s been out of place all this time.
There’s not too much time to dwell, though, because there’s only moments before they’re thrown into war. Thanos and his allies fight hard, and Natasha is streaking across the battlefield, arms and legs flying, leaving destruction and bullet holes in her wake.
She’s almost near Thanos when she catches sight of her again. Really, she feels the magic before her eyes can catch up, but then she looks over, and there’s-
Wanda, so achingly close that Natasha can almost see the green in her eyes, and moving with single-minded drive towards Thanos. The debris surrounding her becomes weapons as she hurls anything she can get her magic around, and within seconds, she has him backing up as she cuts around throwing scraps at him and starts sending the red mist itself right at him. They clash for a moment, but then Wanda has him on his toes again, off the ground and rising further into the air until-
The missiles start coming down overhead.
There’s one heading for Wanda and Natasha barely thinks before she moves, because she’s sprinting towards the other girl the second she sees it, colliding with Wanda and sending them both rolling away, under a large chunk of metal. The second before they touch the ground, Natasha feels magic surrounding them, and a moment later, the ground beside them explodes, but even as the sound of it rings in her ears, the dirt and rocks and scrap from the collision bounce away from them like there’s a force-field.
It settles, however, and when Natasha pushes up onto her hands to see Wanda beneath her and breathing, it doesn't matter that they’re laying in the dirt of a battlefield. What matters is Natasha has been fighting, and bleeding, and carrying on for the hope of one thing, and now it’s staring her in the eyes.
Despite having just come back to life from dust, despite the fact that Wanda likely has no memory of the last five years, has been plucked right from her final moments before Decimation, she seems to grasp the severity of the moment, because when she opens her mouth to speak, nothing comes out. Instead, she is silent, but her lips curve up into a smile as Natasha reaches out to cup the other girl’s face in her palm.
Finally, after a long moment, Wanda remembers how to form words. “I heard I have been gone a long time,” she says, but her voice isn’t teasing, or sarcastic. Instead, it is soft and apologetic, like she’s the one at fault for her own disappearance.
Natasha shakes her head with a soft laugh. “Too long,” she admits.
Wanda’s expression softens even further. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, but Natasha only strokes a thumb across her cheekbone, unable to stop the way her body leans in towards Wanda’s until their noses touch.
“You’re far past forgiven,” she assures, as she closes the last of the distance between them.
There’s no time, but Natasha does it anyways, because a part of her still feels like it is Decimation Day and she is staring at Wanda’s ashes between her finger tips. But Wanda’s cheeks are warm and pink under Natasha’s hands, and her lips move when she kisses her, and she’s real.
As a hand skims Natasha’s neck before sinking into her hair, she decides that five years in a world without Wanda is precisely three hundred sixty four days, twenty three hours and fifty nine minutes too long.
When they pull apart, Natasha hears gunshots ringing in the distance, and it’s a bitter reminder that there really isn’t time for this, but Wanda speaks first.
“What if we lose again?” She asks, and Natasha knows the other girl must remember it like it was only minutes ago, because for her, it was.
“We’re never losing again,” Natasha says, conviction in her voice, as she climbs back onto her feet. “Now, come on Maximoff, we’ve still got a war to win, and I don’t want to be the one keeping our best weapon in the trenches.”
Wanda smiles as she lets Natasha help her up, and once she’s standing back on two feet, she hurls herself back into Natasha. The kiss is quicker, but just as sure, and when Wanda leans back, her eyes are starting to go a faint shade of red.
“I love you,” she says, grabbing her hand, and Natasha smiles.
“I love you, too,” she replies, as Wanda squeezes her hand before dropping it, mist circling her body as she lifts off the ground. “I’ll see you at the finish line.”
(She knows it, as she watches Wanda zip away.
She’s never losing her again.)
-
(Natasha and Wanda find a happy ending like this:
Another snap, but this time, Thanos and his army are the ones that crumble away, leaving the Avengers standing in their place, along with everyone else who’s come to help.
Tony dies, and Natasha cries, for her and for Pepper and for Morgan and Peter and the whole rest of the sorry lot they call the Avengers.
But even as they mourn, the battlefield is full of reunions. Even as Rhodey wipes the tears from his eyes, he reaches out to sling an elbow around Sam’s shoulders and say something to the other man. Steve has dropped his shield and Mjolnir to hug Bucky with both arms and a sad smile.
And Natasha has Wanda, one hand in the her hair and the other on her hip. Exhaustion has started to settle into her bones, pulling at her limbs, but it doesn't matter when Wanda is so close to her that she can feel the rise of the taller girl’s chest every time she takes a breath.
Maybe the world isn’t ever going to be back to normal, not like it was. Half the planet has lived five years the other hasn’t, and things have changed and lives are different, but-
There are also families stitching themselves back together for the first time in five years, parents kissing their children, brothers and sisters hugging, spouses reuniting.
And in the middle of a ravaged battlefield, Natasha has Wanda, and everything feels alright again.)