Work Text:
Tony doesnt die snapping the stones but instead is gravely injured.
Clint is the one who returns the infinity stones instead of Steve. He saves the soul stone for last and talks with Red Skull (the soul stone’s guardian) saying how he wants to exchange the soul stone for Natasha’s life. Red Skull says how it cant be undone as when Natasha sacrificed herself she made an everlasting exchange. Clint says there must be something that can be done as he would at least like to see Natasha again. Red Skull says how that can be arranged to see and talk to Natasha but he can’t bring her back from death. Clint asks how this is possible and Red Skull explains how Natasha is stuck in a place called the Soul Realm and he must travel there using the soul stone to speak with her, but it is impossible for her to be brought back from the Soul Realm as when she traded her life for the stone her soul will forever be trapped there. Clint then returns to the future without returning the soul stone.
Time Skip.
Strange uses his magic and the soul stone to teleport Clint into the Soul Realm. But before he sends him Strange tells him sending him there is easy but getting back is the hard part as the soul stone can only carry one person into the Soul Realm and Strange wont be with him to bring him back so he must find his own way back. Clint accepts the risks and goes anyways.
Once Clint is inside the Soul Realm he realizes it looks like the same place he was just at. He goes outside and realizes he is still in New York but the sky is gray and theres not a single person around. He surmises he must be in the soul realm and starts walking around. He then spots a women with red hair walking into a bar. Clints like Natasha! and enters the bar.
Once Clint enters the bar he sees Natasha everywhere, meaning every person in the bar is literally a Natasha (all different hair styles and clothes). They all stop what they’re doing for a solid second but then return to what they were doing (he can still feel all of their eyes on him, watching).
Clint goes up to the bar where the Natasha bartender is serving drinks (literally only vodka) but before he can ask his question the Natasha at the bar is like why are you here, this is a bar for Natasha’s only, did you not read the sign? Clint responds like what? No im here to rescue my Natasha. He then shows the soul stone to which the Nat bartender tenses and is like you’re alive. Clints like ya now can you help me find my Nat? The Nat bartender (and yes Clint refers to this Natasha as the Nat bartender) responds I cant but the boss can. She then points in the direction of the back corner of the bar and says that back corner booth over there is where the boss normally stays.
Clint makes his way over there and in his mind is like the boss? All these Natasha’s have a boss? Is the boss another Natasha? Clint finally arrives at the booth and sees the so called Natasha Boss sitting there staring at him (this natasha is the ultron won in what if natasha, but i gave her a robot leg and she is the guardian of the space stone). On the walls above the booth are pictures of Nat and the Avengers, Nat and Clint (theres a lot of photos of them), and even Clint’s old retractable bow.
The Natasha Boss just sits there silently watching him, observing. After Clint gets his bearings hes like what is this place? Nat Boss responds i never brought you to this universe’s soul realm, so how did you get here? Clints like huh??? Im just looking for my Natasha to bring back, the soul stone’s guardian said i could come here i could talk to her and-. Nat Boss interrupts him how did you get here? She then stands up acting all hostile and then suddenly when she stands everyone else in the bar then stops what they are doing and begin reaching for weapons. Clints puts his hands up like i dont want to cause any trouble i just want to bring my natasha back from the soul realm, he then pulls out the soul stone and half of the natasha tense having a haunted look in their eyes while the other half have a hopeful one.
Nat Boss realizes whats going on and hisses put that away and then pulls him out of bar, commanding the other natashas to continue what they were doing. Once out of the bar and in an alley way Nat boss is like now explain to me exactly how you came here and dont spare any details like you would in a mission report. Clint then goes on about how he returned the stones instead of steve and that when he got to the soul stone he decided to keep it and bring it to dr strange who helped him get here. He’s then like now since i told you how i got here how abt u tell me what this place is?
Nat Boss then explains how in her universe ultron won and eventually the stones were locked away minus the space stone which was placed under Nat Boss’s care so she could travel the multiverse since her universe was destroyed (apparently when you become a stone’s guardian you can do more than what u cld do by just holding the stone). In traveling the multiverse she learned of every nat’s eventual demise for the soul stone, Nat Boss then talked to strange and the soul stone’s guardian who was able to get her into the soul realm, from there she gathered every person (Natashas, Clints, Gamoras) that died for the soul stone and got stuck in the soul realm and brought them to one universe so they wouldnt be alone. However in her whole time spent gathering and being in the soul realm, she never once met an alive person who came here to rescue someone from being stuck in the soul realm.
With this new information Clint asks all sadly is it even possible to get someone that died for the stone out and back into the land of the living? Nat Boss sighs and is like idk but first lets find your Natasha. Clints like what they werent all in that bar. Nat Boss looks at him and says no, everyone i brought here is scattered over the earth, but most natashas either spend the majority of their time in one of six locations (Ohio, Budapest safe house, Clint’s farm, Avengers Tower, Avengers Compound, Melina’s house outside of St. Petersburg).
Nat Boss continues asking for Clint to describe his Natasha to her. Clint gets all confused like wouldnt they all be the same? Nat Boss is like no bc in each universe something major happened to change each Natasha individually, some of these Natashas here were never in the Avengers but happened to sacrifice themselves for the soul stone anyways. Clints like oohhh and then starts telling Nat Boss all of his Natasha little likes and dislikes, he eventually gets into how his Natasha found Yelena but left her. Nat Boss stops him at that and is like oh that Natasha ya i can bring you to her. Clint is then like wait why couldnt you just bring me to the most recent Natasha you brought into the soul realm and work back from there? Nat Boss answers saying how time works differently in the soul realm compared to the different universes and what couldve been a couple hours or days for Clint coulve been months or years for his Natasha. Clint pales and in his mind is like crap i already left her leading the avengers for 5 years and now it couldve been a whole nother 5 years of Clint not being with Nat again.
Nat Boss before they leave to find his Nat, tells Clint to not tell anybody here that he has a soulstone and is alive as that can either get him dead or everyones hopes up that he’s there for them. Clint agrees and Nat Boss takes him to Melina’s house where there are a couple of Nats and like 2 Clints hanging out (they are arm wrestling), the clints are abt to talk but Nat Boss shuts them up by speaking first, wheres the Natasha i brought here 2 months ago? Clint 1 is like idk i dont keep track of time, Clint 2 is like ya i rely on the all the Nats to keep track of the time passing. The natasha sitting on the porch reading a book –a pile of books next to her as well– (alive Clint deems to call her Bookworm Natasha) then jumps in saying shes inside looking at the photos from Ohio.
Nat Boss and alive Clint then make their way inside, there are two Natashas playing poker on the table (alive Clint calls them Poker Natasha 1 and Poker Natasha 2 in his head). On the couch in the living room however is another Natasha looking through a photo book. Alive Clint notices that she seems more sad and solemn than the other natasha’s he came across, as he goes to speak but Nat Boss kicks him with her metal leg. He then yelps in pain, getting the natasha on the couch to look up. Nat Boss then asks are you were the one i brought here 52 days ago? The natasha on the couch nods and sets down the photos. Alive Clint smiles brightly and is about to say something but Nat Boss smacks him upside the head. Nat Boss then says come on im gonna bring you someplace where no one is around. Nat is like okay??
Nat Boss then brings them to strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum and before either of the Natashas can talk Clint throws himself at his Nat hugging her. Hes then like im so sorry, it was supposed to be me that died not you, I didnt mean to leave you here for 2 months. Nats like what? Clints like its me ur clint, i kept the soul stone and came here to bring u back. Both Nat and Clint get all teary eyed and eventually they both settle down and are like wait how do we actually get back? Nat Boss is like i have a theory but idk if it will work or not, if you became the guardian of the soul stone you should be able to travel between the soul realm and the living one, you may even be able to talk to the dead. Nat Boss smirked knowing natasha would hate that. True to what Nat Boss assumed, Natasha recoiled in disgust. Clint then hands his Natasha the soul stone, Natasha making some joke abt dying for a glowing rock.
Nat’s like how do I become it’s guardian? Nat Boss doesnt answer and instead just walks backwards grabbing the back of Clint’s shirt dragging him back as well. Natasha then starts glowing and in a bright flash the soul stone disappears. Clint’s like woah but where’s the stone go? Nat Boss explains that Natasha unconsciously locked it away somewhere and only she knows how to access it, but she can still use its powers despite it being locked away. Natasha’s like how do I use its powers and Nat Boss just shrugged and is like just think abt using it to go home. Clint and Nat then grab hands and Natasha uses the soul stone to go back to the land of the living. They arrive back in and dr strange is there and everything is no longer gray and dull.
End. Possible epilogue with Yelena, Barton family, and Avengers reacting to Natasha being alive.