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“Don’t let go!” You begged, hand grasped in hers. Her grip was tight and unwavering, firm like an anchor. Your feet dangled beneath you, your eyes catching a look behind you and the ground looked so far away.
“Never,” she whispered, reassuringly. Her eyes were warm and her grip safe. She’d never let you go, no matter what. “I promise,”
The two of you continued to hang there, a light stream of wind blew gently in your ears. The sun was harsh and beat down on you. Its rays were unforgiving and the streams of light that entered your eyes were merciless. Your grip was slipping, the sun making your hands sweat.
“I-I’m slipping,” you warned, grip loosening even more.
“Just hang on a little longer,” she groaned, your combined weight making it harder for her to hold on to the edge.
“Aaand time!” Steve’s voice rang out from below.
You quickly let go of Natasha’s hand, landing nicely onto the grass below. The Avengers compound’s gym was currently being repaired because someone decided it would be fun to add in a fire pit to practice (read: play) with. Guess which smartass also got his goatee and eyebrows burned off.
Now, everyone on the team was outside in the unforgiving sun of August, drenched in sweat and covered in grass stains. Clint was practicing his archery skills while Wanda practiced her telekinesis, moving objects to avoid his arrows. Tony was practicing his aim in his Iron Man suit. (read: more like he was destroying stuff, but if you ask him, it’s the same thing. (it’s not)).
The others were at the end of the field, where Steve had forced them to run laps from one end of the compound to the other. Sam’s voice could be heard from across the field, grumbling about Steve’s punishment. ‘You set one fire to the kitchen and now we’re being punished! I didn’t even set the fire!!’
Bucky’s retort was fast, ‘No, you just didn’t do anything about it!’
‘Neither did you!’
‘Don’t forget that you set the swimming pool on fire,’ Scott’s voice rang out too.
‘Do you want me to feed you to birds?’
The redhead landed beside you gracefully, brushing some dust off of her work out clothes. “Finally! Rogers, next time you decide to make us do this exercise again, remind her not to eat a five course meal!” Natasha teased, pointing at you.
“Excuse me?! Need I remind you who fed me that meal?” You retorted, shoving her gently.
“Only because you hadn’t in 3 days!”
“Because I was busy!”
“Busy playing video games.”
“Please! You’re only upset cause you were horny last night and you had to pry the controller out of my hands before I went do–”
“Enough,” Steve’s voice cut through your teasing. His ears and cheeks were pink and he looked like he would rather be anywhere else. “Grip practice is good for any kind of scenario. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared for any situation. Now take a 2 minute break and then switch.” He said.
“Yes dad,” you both groaned.
He sighed once before walking away, muttering about having to bleach his brain and horny lesbians.
↠↠↠
“Don’t let go!” You pleaded, your grip firm, nails digging into Natasha’s hand as you felt her slip slightly.
“Detka…” her voice wasn’t louder than a whisper.
“Don’t.” You stopped, “Don’t you dare try doing that to me! Do you hear me?! That is not okay!”
“Moya lyubov',” she tried again.
“Don’t let go!” you screamed. The ground beneath was far less inviting than the soft grass back at the compound.
“I’m sorry,”
“Natasha no–” you shrieked.
Pushing herself off the wall, her hand was ripped out of your grip. The skin on her hand was shredded by your fingernails. The soothing warmth of her hand disappeared and just like that, she was falling.
You couldn’t look away, no matter how hard you willed yourself to. It was a perverse situation. One that never should’ve happened.
One minute you were standing around your family, hopeful that your plan to grab the stones and bring everyone back would work. And the next, you were dangling off a ledge, cursing yourself for never taking Steve’s grip training seriously.
Now you watched as the love of your life drew further and further away from you. And you were helpless to do anything to stop it.
The sickening crunch of her body hitting the ground was all you heard before silence took over.
You didn’t hear your own heartbeat, not the wind blowing, not even Red Skull’s words registered in your brain.
Because all you did hear was the sound of her body hitting the cold, unforgiving ground over and over again.
And the quiet promise she had whispered that day, rang out in your ears. “Never, I promise.”