Before the War

Snap, Tears

    War.

That's what this was. It was an all out war for humanity.

The Wakandan battlefield was insanity. Things had sped up and didn't showed any sign of slowing or stopped. They fought valiantly against the thousands of alien creatures. They did it all to give Shuri more time to get the mind stone out of Vision's head.

It was the battle for Wakand and the world. It was the Avengers' last stand.

Steve had told Wanda, as soon as the stone was out of Vision's head to "blow it to Hell." The strongest language she'd ever heard out of his mouth. But Wanda nodded a reply, she was ready to do what was being asked of her.

They had all fought as hard as they possibly could. The battle was neck and neck. Everyone gave it all they had. Even then there were some close calls.

Ultimately when Thanos arrived there was nothing they could do to stop him. They never really stood a chance.

Thor was the only one who could have stopped the mad Titan. But he missed his shot by a few inches. Thanos' last words before he vanished rang true. It was painful to admit. Thor should have gone for the head.

There was a snap of a finger. Everything, even the air seemed to be different after that. It was as if the entire world knew there was no turning back. Nothing would ever be the way they once were.

Natasha was trying to free herself from the ground when she heard it. Scattered screams.

Steve was stumbling up off the ground when he saw it. Bucky disintegrating into dust. His last word were his name. "Steve?" Bucky asked. As if Steve could help. He couldn't. It was like he was there just to watch, again.

T'Challa has vanished too, leaving his subjects distraught. Especially Okoye, his most trusted guard and leader of the dora milaje. Okoye's entire mission was to keep her king alive, and she had to watch him die before her very eyes.

When Natasha had finally broken free of the ground, she ran over to where she had last seen Steve. She found him sitting beside a lifeless Vision. Their friend was void of color, and with a horrid gash in his head. He did not look like the Vision they knew. He looked like a corpse.

She was selfishly relieved to see Steve there, still breathing. But his eyes, they looked empty.

Then she noticed it. Dust was on the ground. She turned to see a Wakandan she didn't know disintegrate into ash before her eyes. She began to panic. She looked around. She didn't see Wanda, or Sam. Not even T'Challa. Bucky was gone too. There was ash where she had last seen him.

"Oh God." Steve gasped. Utter defeat and despair was evident in his voice.

Natasha dropped to her knees. Tears filling her eyes. She couldn't believe what was happening. Disbelief, fear, and grief. All these emotions came over her like a wave crashing down. The result was what felt like heart failure. She was heartbroken. They had lost.

Steve somehow got hold of Natasha's arms as she began to weep. He held her steady and she kept him from toppling over. He needed assurance that she wouldn't vanish either. He had to have hold of her, to know she was still there. She seemed to share that fear as well. She was afraid that he might vanish if she took too long a breath. She couldn't lose him, not after losing everything.

Ashes fell all over the world that day. Trillions of tears fell too.