Chapter Text
Steve stood at the edge of the cliff, and looked over the desolate wasteland that was Vormir. He glanced behind him, at the robed figure. The Red Skull, his former enemy. The man that was standing there now was but a shadow of the pridefull man he once was. How did the man become like this? he wondered. How had he been doomed to this fate? Steve supposed it didn't really matter. The only thing that mattered now was bringing the stone back to where it came from, and maybe, just maybe, it would bring Natasha back in return. Maybe she was truly gone, past the point of no return, but he had to try. He owed that to her, to Clint, to Bruce, to everyone.
After this, his job would be done. He would head to the woman he loved, live out his life. But before he could do that, he needed to finish this. He held his hand with the stone over the edge, and dropped it without hesistation. The stone hit the ground, and for a moment everything was quiet.
Then, the sky turned orange, and the ground seemed to erupt into flames. Some of those flames climbed up, and came closer and closer. Steve tried to keep his ground, but every cell in his body screamed at him to flee, a command he ultimately obeyed. With a slight twinge of regret, he pressed the button on his time-gps, and disappeared. Maybe it had worked. He prayed it had. But if so, Nat would have to fend for herself.
"Wait! No! Steve! Come back!" Natasa screamed as the fire carried her up the cliff and she saw her dear friend vanish. "Come back! Please! Please..." she begged. She dropped on her knees and felt her nerves had started working again when she felt an excruciating pain throughout her body. She looked at her arms, and saw that they were heavily burned. Probably a side effect of her escape, she thought. She looked around her and it slowly dawned upon her: She was back. Steve had brought her back, somehow. That should also mean... "The war is over. We won."
"Who won? Thanos? The others? Who?" someone asked behind her. Natasha turned around and looked at the green woman she had taken along on her escape, who was also suffering multiple burns.
She'd heard about Gamora from Rocket, before... When she had arrived in the empty void that was the soul realm, Gamora was the only other person she had seen. She hadn't really had time to think it over. Merely seconds after she had arrived the sky became a drain and sucked Nat back out. She'd grabbed Gamora's wrist on instinct, pulling her up along, and it had worked. It did mean that Gamora, from her point of view, had been kidnapped by a strange woman. Natasha decided to answer her original question first, then try to explain everything else.
She started: "Well, most likely Thanos lost, since I'm back, and I saw Steve bring me back. He would probably be dead if Thanos had won. That probably means your 'others' have won too."
Gamora nodded: "Alright..." Suddenly she pinned Natasha against a rock and demanded: "Now, you will tell me who you are and what the fuck just happened!" She grasped at her thigh, then realised there was no weapon there.
Natasha raised her hand and pushed her away, trying to calm the woman down: "Relax, I'm not your enemy. My name is Natasha Romanoff. I'm a friend of Rocket. Thor too, I'm not sure if you know him? And Nebula! I know her too. I also fought against Thanos, and then... I died- killed myself- in order to get the soulstone, to get everyone back from the dead. Now I'm back to life, because Steve returned the stone, and I took you along, because, well... I recognised you, from Rocket's stories, and I thought you needed to get away from that place. Now we're on Vormir, and I guess that's it."
Gamora blinked in confusion. "You... know my sister? Rocket too? How about Peter? And Drax, and Mantis, and Groot, and..."
"Calm down. I don't know them, I'm sorry. I'll explain why. But... you might want to sit down."
"I can handle myself. Tell me what is going on."
Natasha nodded, took a deep breath, and started talking.
"So... you're not sure if Drax and... and Quill and everyone are back." Gamora said.
"No, I'm not. I'm sorry. But I'm pretty sure they are. I mean, Steve would not bring the stone back if the plan hadn't worked, I think." Natasha answered. Gamora nodded, visibly upset. Apparently, the idea of her teammates death had taken her by surprise, and the idea they might still be dead filled her with dread. It was sad to see, but unfortunately they didn't have time for grief right now. They needed to get going.
"Listen. We don't know if they're dead. What we do know, is that we are most likely in the wrong timeline. We both want to get back to our friends, our family. But in order to do that, we need some kind of magic or a time gps, and unfortunately I don't have the knowledge or the skills to make that nor do I have magic. So, we need to find a wizard, or a portal, or anything else which could point us in the right direction."
Gamora nodded at this. "You're right. I... I'm sorry, knowing my family might be dead is not exactly my idea of fun. But you're right. We need to get back. So, what do we do?"
Natasha shook her head. "I wish I knew. The best way to start is probably by asking the guardian. But I have no idea where he is..."
"You mean the man with the red skin? The creepy one?"
"Yeah, that's exactly who I mean. Where'd he go?" Natasha mumbled.
"It is not nice to call someone 'creepy', fraulein." a deep voice suddenly said. Gamora tried to reach for her missing blade again, while Natasha took out a gun and aimed. "Do not fear, Natasha. You know I won't harm you. I am merely surprised. I had not expected to see you return, especially not with another visitor."
"Yes, this you would not have seen her before. She was a sacrifice for the stone from my original timeline." Natasha replied. She continued with a question: "While we're talking about our original timeline, we would like to get back there. Problem is, we need a portal or magic or technology for that. You probably don't have something like that lying around, do you?"
The guardian seemed to contemplate his response for a while, but eventually answered: "As it happens, I do."
Natasha blinked, surprised: "What? Really?"
"Yes. When I was sent here by the spacestone, it left something behind, a way back. I could not use it, but you might be able to.However, I want something in return."
"What would that be?"
"I want you to take me along. I have been living here, oppressed by the Soulstone long enough. I want to leave. If you promise to take me with you, bring me to Earth, if you give me that guarantee, I shall take you to the portal and show you how to use it."
Natasha scoffed: "I'm not an idiot. If we take you, something will come after us to make sure you stay. No. We'll look for another way."
"You will not find one."
"We'll try."
Red Skull growled: "Don't be stupid, girl. You need that way out. Besides, you already have pursuers. If I come with you, we will merely share our enemy, you will not gain any new ones."
Gamora's eyes widened: "Wait. What do you mean? No one is after us... Right?"
She turned to Natasha, who nodded: "As far as I know..."
Red Skull erupted in laughter: "You really are a naive little girl! Two souls escaped the soul realm, in exchange for one! She is not going to allow that. Her wraiths are already coming for you. They will come after me too, if I leave. Taking me won't change anything for your safety, except for the fact that you will get away from this wasteland. Take me along. I know Her, the soulstone. I know how she thinks. I will only be an advantage to you on your escape. Trust me."
Natasha cast a suspicious look at him and pulled Gamora aside: "Okay, what do we do? He's probably lying. We can't trust him, but we do need to get away from here."
"I'm not sure he was lying..."
"Why? It sounds a bit strange, unbelievable even. Wraiths? I think he's just desperate to get away."
"That goes without doubt, but... I spent a lot of time in the soulrealm, and I know the Soulstone is sentient. Why do you think she requires sacrifice? I'm not completely sure, but I think I also saw those wraiths sometimes. I think he's desperate, yeah, but not lying."
Natasha took a deep breath: "I don't know, but you have been in the soulrealm a long time. I don't trust him, but I do trust you. Let's take the offer then, if we're doomed anyway. It's our best shot."
They walked back to where the guardian still stood.
"Have you made up your mind?" he asked them.
"We have. Here's how it's gonna go: you're going to show us the way out. We're taking you along, but when we're in our universe, you aren't going to do anything stupid. No reviving Hydra, no nazicism. No trying to use us for your own gain. We're taking you with us to earth, and after that, you're on your own. Everyone for themselves. Deal?"
He grinned. "It is a deal, miss Romanoff. Shall we go then?"
"Lead the way."
They arrived at what looked like a well, but when Gamora looked inside, there was only some black goo inside. It was deep though, she could tell that. "Anyone die inside of here?" she asked. Natasha chuckled, and Gamora turned to the guardian, asking: "Are you sure this is it? You'd better not be lying about this."
Red Skull grinned: "I assure you fraulein, this truly is your way out. It is disgusting, yes, but it was a creation of the infinity stones. Whatever those stones create is either dead or dark. It is the way, as far as I know. As I said, these are the remnants of the portal that brought me here. It should bring us back, with the right offering..."
"Wait, what are you implying? Last time something demanded an offering, I ended up dead. I don't really feel like doing that again." Natasha said. "What kind of offering are you talking about?"
"Blood. Not death, but blood, and a lot of it. Someone needs to bleed into this well, and then we shall be transported."
She looked suspiciously: "How will it know where we want to go?"
"The one giving their blood must specify their destination while offering their blood. That is the only way. Now, which one of you shall bleed?"
"Excuse me? Why don't you give yours?"
"As I said, miss Romanoff, we need blood. Mine is already contaminated thanks to the Soulstone. It won't work. One of you must bleed." He looked at the two women, as if waiting for one of them to step forward. It was silent for a while, until:
"I'll do it." Gamora said.
"Are you sure? I mean, we don't know how much blood it will want." Natasha countered.
"You all suffered because I wasn't strong enough to escape Thanos. I could at least bring us back. Let me do this."
Natasha sighed, then nodded: "Okay then. You know where to take us?"
"2023, at least. Where to?"
"Take us to New York. We'll be able to get to our friends pretty soon from there."
"Got it." Gamora said while she walked toward the well. "Does either of you have a knife?" she asked.
"Here you go." Natasha pulled a knife from her boot and handed it over.
"Allright then. Here goes nothing."
Natasha grabbed the guardian's shoulder and Gamora's. Gamora stuck her arm out over the well, and cut her wrist. Blood dripped down into the goo, and melted with it. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Nat flew around in a rage. "You said this would work, you piece of..." She was silenced by a blinding light erupting from the well, eveloping them all. Natasha forced her eyelids shut in an effort to protect her eyes.
She felt a slight breeze as the light faded. She opened her eyes, and saw a sprawling city around her. Except... This wasn't the New York she had been trying to get back to.
Blue, pointy eared weasels who walked on two legs seemed to be the inhabitants of the city they were in. Was it even a city? The buildings looked like some sort of green spheres stacked on top of each other in a way that shouldn't even be possible according to the laws of physics she knew.
"Where the hell did you take us?" she asked Gamora.
"To New Yourk. That's what you told me to do, isn't it?" Gamora replied.
"I meant Earth's New York, not this... What planet are we even on?" Natasha yelled.
"Wait. Earth has a New Yourk?" Gamora asked, confused.
"That's not the main point here! Where the fuck are we?"
"On the planet Chilaria, in its capital: New Yourk. But if this isn't what you meant, then... How do we get back?"
"I... I don't know," Natasha said, putting her hands to her head. "I don't know."