Wanda watched, as Thanos walked over to Vision and picked him up, with tears in her eyes. He had been her best friend and yet again she had lost someone close to her. She should be used to it by now, she thought, but somehow you can't get used to things like that. Only when she saw Thanos snap his fingers she realized what his plan was. But it was to late. "Nooo!" She screamed and plunged forwards. But with one swipe of his hand, Thanos knocked her to the ground. Helplessly she watched as he turned back time and revived Vision, only to rip the mind stone out of his forehead. He turned grey and Thanos carelessly threw him to the ground in front of her like a doll.

Deeper into the forest, Natasha's head snapped up as a scream rang out. She knew it was Wanda in an instant. A sharp pain on her arm brought her back to reality. She looked down to see that the enemy she had been fighting had been able to land a hit on her arm and blood was oozing out of a large cut. With a skilled hit she took the enemy out and took off in search of her girlfriend. A few seconds later she felt something like a shockwave send her backwards and roughly into the ground. Irritated she stood up and looked around. In the back of her mind she had an idea what this could've been, but that couldn't be true right? That would mean that... Fear gripped her heart like an icy hand and she once again took off running into the direction of Wanda's scream, frantically searching for her girlfriend.

When she reached a clearing she stopped and looked around. A few of her team mates were there. She could see Thor in the middle and Steve and Bucky somewhere to her left and then Wanda kneeling next to a greyish looking Vision. "Wanda!" She called out. Slowly the read head lifted her head, an unreadable expression on her face. But it sent chills down her spine. Something was wrong. Then she saw Wanda lifting a hand. And in that exact moment Natasha felt her heart stop. Wanda's hand began slowly turning to dust. Indistinctly she could hear Steve calling out Bucky's name but that was soon drowned out by the ringing in her ears. This couldn't be happening. Her eyes locked with Wanda's and she began sprinting over the clearing. But with every step she took, Wanda turned further into dust. Just before she reached her, she could see Wanda mouth "I love you." to her.

Then, all there was left was dust, covering the ground in front of her. She came to an abrupt halt and looked at the dust. This couldn't be real. The ringing in her ears grew louder and louder. Tears made their way over her cheeks and she dropped to her knees. Carefully she placed her hands on the dust in front of her. Oddly enough it was a little warm and that's when it really hit her. They lost. Thanos had won and Wanda was now gone. Dead. Because some purple maniac had felt like he needed to save the universe, that didn't want to be saved. Deep sobs racked through her body. Tears were running down her face uncontrollably and she dug her hands into the ground.  "не делай этого со мной (Don't do this to me)" She cried.

"Please Wands, Ты мне нужен (I need you)"
"Вернись ко мне (Come back to me)"

After a little while later she felt someone kneeling down next to her. She looked to her left to find Steve. "Steve..." She creaked out brokenly. "I know." He answered softly, while his gaze swayed over to the left. She followed his gaze and her eyes locked on Bucky's rifle lying on the ground not too far away. She looked back to Steve and a look of mutual understanding crossed their faces. Then he opened his arms to her and she fell against his chest. He was gonna be strong for her, even though he had his own loss to grieve. For that she was so incredibly thankful. Sobs racked through her body once again, while she clung to Steve like her life depended on it. And like that they sat on the ground for what felt like over an hour. Steve held her in a tight grip, while she sobbed into his chest. He was doing nothing more than that but it was enough to hold her grounded. In his head he grieved his own love, he never got to tell his feeling to. A while later sobs grew into quiet whimpers and then eventually, Natasha fell asleep against his chest from exhaustion.

He looked around and was surprised to see that most of the remaining team members had found spot for themselves on the clearing and were quietly grieving their own losses. They were all together on this clearing trying to give each other comfort and ultimately waiting on him and Natasha. "I think it's time to go." He said quietly, yet somehow everyone heard him. And when he got up with Nat in his arms, everyone else got up, too. He looked around once again and noticed Sam wasn't with them. Another friend he lost. Stark wasn't there but they would have to check on him later. But overall their number had gone down visibly. Together they made their way back towards the Wakandanian Palace. Steve carried Natasha all the way back. Even though Bruce and Thor had both offered to carry her, he had stoically declined until they stopped asking. He knew they were just trying to be nice and give him some time to grieve for himself but he felt like he needed to do this. Like she was his responsibility. He felt like she was the little sister he never had and that he had to look out for her, so he refused to hand her over to one of them.

Later in the Quinjet he layer her down on a mat in the ground and sat close by, waiting for her to wake up. Halfway home she awoke with a startled gasp. He watched as her gaze swiveled around the jet and then as her shoulders dropped a little. Everyone was watching her by now. "How are you doing?" Bruce asked carefully. No answer. She just continued to stoically stare ahead. Her knees were pulled up, feet placed on both sides of the mat, her elbows resting on her knees. Bruce threw a concerned look at Steve. But he just shrugged. They should leave her alone until she was ready to talk to them. Even though he was mildly concerned himself. He had seen her eyes, when her gaze briefly crossed his. They were hollow and had lost the shine he got so used to since her and Wanda had become friends. She was broken and he was afraid, that she would never go back to her old self.

When the Quinjet landed and hour later, nothing had changed. Natasha had continued to sit in that same exact position, staring ahead. But he was pleased to see that she at least got up on her own when everyone else did. They left the jet, walked into the tower and were met with Clint. Steve figured Bruce must've called him and watched as Clint carefully took a step closer to Natasha, gauging her reaction. Nothing happened and he pulled her into a hug. For a few seconds she stood limp in his embrace, before she gave in and her arms wrapped around him and her head came to rest on his shoulder.

Oh god, creativity has been a bitch to me lately. I tried to write this chapter for so long but it just wouldn't work. So now I hope even more, that you guys like this chapter and I promise the next one will come soon, because actually, that one has been almost ready for a while know and I was working up towards it. It just needs a little shaping I guess😂 Anyways good to be back.

P.S. I don't know any Russian, so I had to use google translator. To anyone speaking Russian, I'm sorry🫠