Chapter Text
The sound of birds singing flowed through the house like a gentle breeze. The warm mid morning sun peeked through the curtains, casting a golden glow into the bedroom. I stirred slightly as I felt the body laying next to me shift.
“Sweetheart you have to get up”
I groaned and squashed my face further into the pillow. I was not ready to face the day just yet. “5 more minutes”
I heard the husky chuckle of my wife next to me “You said that 10 minutes ago”. Her warm fingers start tracing patterns across my exposed back. I moaned at the feeling and smiled. I can tell from the patterns she's drawing that she's playing connect the dots with the freckles scattered around my back. “Well that’s not helping” I hear her laugh once more before she places a delicate kiss on my shoulder.
“Come on beautiful girl. They need you”
I finally rolled over to face my wife, a lazy smile forming on my lips as I took in the sight of her. Her red hair was pulled into a loose plait, the blonde ends a beautiful contrast to the rest. Her emerald eyes were staring at me lovingly as she cupped my cheek. I leaned forward and gave her a lingering kiss on the lips. “You are absolutely stunning in the mornings”. Natasha pushed me away lightly with another laugh, a big smile plastered on her face. She continued to stare at me, her eyes roaming over my face, taking in as much detail as possible. I watched as her grin fell to a sad smile, her eyes losing the care free joy that once filled them.
“It’s time to get up”
I lift my hand to cover her own that's still resting on my cheek, stroking it with my thumb. A lump starts to form in my throat as tears threaten to fill my eyes. “Can’t I stay here with you?”
“I would love nothing more than that but they need you. You have a job to do”
I quickly pulled Natasha into me, wrapping my arm around her as I buried my face into the other woman's neck. Breathing in the scent that was purely her was heavenly. This was home. Nothing ever felt more right than being in Natasha's arms. “I don’t want to go” I mumbled into her neck as my voice broke.
An explosion from outside shook the foundations, the windows threatening to break as they rattled against their frames. “What the hell was that?!” I exclaimed, twisting on the bed to gaze out the window, hoping to see what threatened their world. “Natasha we have to-“ my words died in my throat as I turned back around to see the blank stare on my wife’s face, seemingly undisturbed by the noise outside. Natasha lunged forward, gripping my shoulders in a vice like grip. The noise from outside grew, the world around them started to tremble at the thundering sound of hundreds of running feet hurdled towards their home. But I couldn’t move, couldn’t tear my eyes away from the burning emerald ones looking straight through me. “Nat?”.
“Get up!..... Frost can you hear me?!?.... FROST?!? WE HAVE TO MOVE, YOU HAVE TO GET UP THEY ARE COMING!! CLARA!! WAKE UP!!”
“WAKE UP NOW!!”
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My eyes flew open, my lungs taking a burning breath in like they had been starved of oxygen. My head was throbbing. I quickly screwed my eyes shut as the world around me started to spin into a blur. I continued to take deep breaths, trying to ease the nausea that was working its way around my stomach.
Where the hell am I? I flexed my fingers and felt coarse damp dirt. The ground feels like it's vibrating. Like a hoard of angry elephants stampeding. It sounds like it too. Is that thunder? Yes definitely thunder.
I open my eyes for a second time. Everything is a lot clearer now. The sky above is burning orange and dark grey. The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air.
“Oh thank god”
My gaze shifted to the figure leaning over me, now just realizing I’m not alone. My hazel eyes connect with those of Tony Stark. “Frost thank god you’re awake”.
I move my eyes over him taking in his appearance, his Iron man suit battle worn and damaged, blood dripping down the right side of his face from a cut on his eyebrow.
Tony releases the grip he had on my shoulders. “What the hell happened?” I groaned, turning my head slowly in an effort to pinpoint our location. "You just charged at him, don’t get me wrong I love the enthusiasm. You managed to get a few good hits in before punched you, you went flying. Not gonna lie you had me worried for a second there, I thought you died”.
I flinch slightly at the stabbing pain in my head “I think I did” I grumble as Tony reaches down grabbing a hold of my arms and pulling me to my feet. My body aches in protest at the rough handling and my legs start to shake, threatening to give out at any second. Tony wraps his arm back around me as he half carries half drags me away. My feet trip and stumble over the bricks covering the ground. I glance around noticing we are moving through the remains of a building, debris littering the floor and patches of fire continuing to burn.
The Avengers compound.
Or what’s left of it.
Of course. Everything is coming back now. Thanos and the snap, traveling through time to collect the stones, Bruce using the gauntlet in an attempt to bring everyone back and then the explosion.
Collecting the stones.
Oh god.
No.
Natasha
A broken sob leaves my lips before I can stop it. The painful memory forces its way to the front of my mind, Clint returning without Nat, the broken look on his face as he looked at me, saying over and over how it should have been him. My legs start to buckle under the weight of the grief as tears stream down my face. My wife is dead. Tony catches me before I fall whipping me around to face him once more. “Frost listen to me please. This is it. We won’t get another chance. Whatever you’re thinking, whatever you are feeling shake it off. Thanos does not leave here”
Thanos
The man responsible for Natasha's death. If he wasn’t such a homicidal maniac she would still be here. I turn my attention to the monster in question, noticing his army forming behind him. The temperature around them starts to drop as frost coats my fingers. I turn back to Tony, my eyes burning blue. “Let's kill this son of a bitch”
Tony smirks back “What’s the plan here Cap?” he asks as we slowly make our way over to where he is standing, never once taking our eyes off Thanos. Steve looks over at us, exhaustion present in his eyes. He tightens the strap around his wrist, keeping his broken shield in place. My heart stops as the faint sound of static crackles out the comms unit in my ear. I lock eyes with Steve as a shimmer of hope washes over his face at the sound of Sam Wilson's voice ringing out over the static.
“On your left”
Hundreds of glowing portals filled the area behind them as the lost soldiers and lost avengers came flowing out of them, ready to make another stand. I foolishly let hope swell up inside me as I scanned the crowd. What if she came back too? Bruce said he tried right? Please come back to me. Reality crashed down on me with unbearable force as I couldn’t spot her. My vision blurred as tears fell freely down my face. I lowered my eyes to the floor as silent sobs ripped through my body. My chest began to tighten as I struggled to get my breathing under control. I was starting to hyperventilate.
“Hey, I’m here” a warm hand tightly gripped my own. I lifted my head and stared into the face of Wanda Maximoff “Wanda oh my god”. I pulled her into a bone crushing hug. It’s been 5 years since I last saw her. That day still haunts my dreams. Wanda pulled out of the hug and cupped my face in her hands, her eyes were red from tears. She pressed her forehead against mine. We both took a second to bask in the feeling of having each other back. “I’ve missed you so much Wanda. I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop him, I tried”
“Shhh it’s okay I’m here. Where’s Nat?” I turn my head away from her, looking out across to the army in front of us. I don’t think I can bring myself to tell her just yet. Steve’s voice cuts through the air like a sharp dagger, saving me from having to answer her question.
“Avengers! Assemble”
With a deafening roar the battle began. I unleashed my powers, ice forming from my hands all the way up to my elbows. We charged towards Thanos. As I ran I formed ice spears from the moisture lingering in the air, hurling them across the field at his on coming army. I could feel the static of electricity ripple through the air as Thor launched lighting bolts at the flying Chitauri. I created ramps, pillars and blockades of ice, anything I could think of to help aid my family to a victory. I drove my fist into the ground creating a thick layer of ice that covered the floor, freezing larger numbers of the Chitauri in place, making it easier for our team to advance. We need to get to Thanos. I’ve lost Wanda in the masses of bodies. She’s going to be fine, she's going to be fine. I chant over and over in my head. Focus. A flash of red catches my attention. Wanda is using her magic to throw the Chitauri into the air, right into the flight path of Rhodey who was shooting them out of the sky. Yeah she’s going to be fine.
I continued my assault, using my ice covered hands to punch my way through the Chitauri or encasing them in a block of ice.
“Steve what the hell am I doing with this gauntlet?”
“Clint you need to get it as far away from here as you can”
“NO not yet-”
The rest of the conversation was cut off by Peter's scream for help. Looking up I spotted him swinging my way, a giant flying monster chasing after him. “What the hell did you do to piss this guy off Parker?”
“ASSISTANCE REQUIRED, ASSISTANCE REQUIRED!”
“Hang on kid, I’ve got ya”.
As Peter swung overhead I pulled the liquid from a burst water pipe towards me, creating a large icicle. With the flying idiot's attention still on Peter I launched the icicle into the air, driving it into the belly of the beast. With an ear splitting screech it fell from the sky.
“Oh man thanks, those things are a lot larger up close”.
“Yeah maybe leave those ones for someone bigger”
“Guys this isn’t working” Clint coughed over the radio “Whoever has the gauntlet just gets a massive target painted on their backs, Thanos puts all his attention on them there's no way we are making it to the van”.
I look around trying to spot Clint. My eyes settle on the van way behind enemy lines… yeah that's really not going to be easy to get to. Hearing another large crack of thunder I turn my attention skyward once again, this time collecting moisture from the storm Thor was bringing. I bring my arms down hard and fast bringing a heavy rain of ice shards down onto the army between us and the van.
I finally spot Clint ducking behind a large piece of rumble and start running towards him, blasting enemies with ice as I go. “Clint are you okay?”
“NO! We need a plan here”
“Yeah we’re working on that!” Tony shouts as he flies past overhead.
“We need to split his attention” I mumble, grabbing the gauntlet from Clint, carefully encasing the time stone in ice and attempting to ease it out of the gauntlet. “Frost what the hell are you doing?”
“We’re making it easy for him! We’ve got all the stones in one place, if we split them up he won’t be able to keep track of all six”.
“Frost no, if he gets hold of even one of those stones he will be too powerful” Steve comments over the radio,
“It’s better than him getting all six in one go! Besides, does anyone have a better idea? No, great!”.
Quill lands next to Clint and starts rummaging around in his bag “I have some tech that might be able to contain the power of the stones but I can’t say how long it will hold”.
The rubble above Quills head suddenly explodes. Peaking around the corner I spot a group of six Chitauri armed with laser rifles advancing on our position. Looking back down at the time stone a plan quickly forms in my head. It’s a stupid plan but a plan none the less. Oh hell. Increasing the ice in my palm I grab the time stone and rip it from the gauntlet. I groan in pain as the heat from the stone spreads up my arm, radiating through my whole body. This is going to burn through my powers fast.
“Clara what the hell are you doing, put it down it’s going to kill you!” Clint screams but I can no longer hear him. All my focus is on getting the stone away from here. “Split up the other stones and run like hell”
With that I took off running across the battlefield, praying that the green glow edmitting from the stone will draw Thanos’s attention away from Quill and Clint long enough for them to work. I dodged and ducked under incoming assaults not trusting to use my powers in case my hold on the stone slips. The pain is starting to intensify. I need to loop back around to the van before the power of the stone consumes me.
“Stark can you clear me a path?”
“Frost….. Please tell me that’s a glow stick in your hand and not the time stone”
“I would tin man but mum said I should never tell lies”
I dropped to my knees to avoid the laser aimed at my head, stumbling back up on shaky legs. The stone was draining me. I need to hurry. A cry of anger sounded from behind me. Turning on my heel I came face to face with a giant Chitauri swinging an axe directly at my head. I raised my arms to protect my face from the oncoming blow, my instincts kicking in before I could stop them.
“No Don’t!” I heard Doctor Strange scream over the radio but it was too late. The axe connected with my hand, smashing the ice and hitting the time stone beneath. A blinding green light surrounded me before everything went black.