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The pain that she felt when she landed on the ground after Thanos hit her with his almost complete collection of stones was nothing compared to what she was about to see.
At first, the hair on the nape of her neck stood up. Goosebumps trailed down her spine and the feeling in her gut told her he did it. He snapped his fingers.
It was over.
Not even people like them – heroes – couldn’t win this fight.
But it didn’t end there. It was like a calm before a storm. Eerie silence that promised the worst would come their way and they couldn’t do anything about it.
Natasha scrambled up to her feet and took a look around herself, searching for her friends. Her feet carried her to a place where the voice spoke up just a few meters away from her. The back of his dark blue vest was the first thing her eyes spotted and then his crumbling body changing into plain dust. There was nothing left of him, except the weapon she gave him.
And hazy memories she had of them. Together.
No.
"James," she whispered, shocked and nauseous at the same time.
~*~
The pain that he felt when he couldn’t see her on the battlefield, knowing deep inside that she didn’t make it was nothing compared to what they told him afterwards. Because it was definitive, final when someone else confirmed it for him.
She wouldn’t come back. Ever.
She did it, hoping he would come back only for her to die.
The same sting of pain welcomed him and intensified even more upon seeing her tombstone. He smiled at the sight of little notes, flowers and mementos, despite his dark thoughts.
And those few shadow memories he had of them. Together.
James crouched down and put a single red rose on the stone, his fingers skimmed over her name to feel her presence. Soft hands and lips of a ghost that once made him remember. Star-crossed lovers and their forbidden story that had never had a chance to bloom because fate had different paths planned for them. For one there was not even a path anymore.
"Natalia," he whispered, heartbroken and weary at the same time.