Artemis : The Seventh Avenger ➳ Steve Rogers [1]

04 [ 19 ]

☆ ☆ ☆

CAMILLE

We stood silently looking out at the river. I wasn't in the mood to talk these days and Steve understood, always remembering to give me the space that I needed.

I laid my head on Steve's shoulder and he holds me tightly against his side, his thumb rubbing tiny circles on the small of my back that helps to calm me down.

Words couldn't describe the pain of losing a sister and a beloved friend at once. We had just attended Tony's funeral, which only served as a reminder of all that we had lost.

His last words were engraved in my mind. I never understood what it meant, until I'd met his little girl who had muttered the words 'I love you three thousand' to the hologram of her Father, still not fully understanding that death meant she would never be able to see him again.

"Hey." Clint greets as he comes up to me.

"I think I'll leave you two to it." Steve says giving me a kiss on the forehead.

Clint shoots him a thankful smile as he walks past him, patting him on the shoulder.

Clint joins me, his presence comforting as it always is.

"You know, before we left, she handed something." He says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a crumbled and dirty envelope. "It's seen better days, but she told me to give this to you in the case where something happens to her."

I take the envelope from him, on it was my name, written in Nat's handwriting.

He lets out a laugh, "I didn't want to take it at first, you know. I never wanted to think that one of us wouldn't make it out of this alive." He says, his voice cracking as tears started to well up in his eyes.

I reach over, taking Clint's hand in mine. "She gave her life so we could live." He choked, "It should've been me."

"She left this world knowing that there people in this world who loves her." I say, "And I much as I hate that she's gone, I'm glad that's the way it happened."

He nods, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "I just wish there's a way I could let her know that we won."

I look up at the sky, where the sun was starting to set, "I've got a feeling she knows."

*

ONE DAY LATER

This was the final stop before we headed back to our time. Steve and I had managed to drop off the rest of the stones without any complications, leaving just the Space Stone still in our possession.

We step out of my portal and there we were, standing in the middle of the lab that belonged in a S.H.I.E.L.D base that was located in Jersey back in 1970.

"There." Steve says, pointing to a broken metal container. "That should be where it used to be."

We open the case that contained the stone, I take the Stone out and gently placed it back where it came from. Sure, it looked a little different, but according as long as it's back where it's supposed it be, everything would be fine.