The moment the fight broke in the Hall of Kings, Natasha wasn’t hasty to get to Caspian’s side.

She knew the others would surely jump into their king's aid given the situation. Kings were always the priority in cases like this, no matter what world one lives in. Instead, the female assassin got under the table–which, under circumstances was perfectly understandable, but she wasn’t down there to hide, rather to neutralize her most threatening opponent, and made some bad people stumble along the way.

She first took care of the obvious trained assassin who was trying to kill Caspian the first time. It went rather quick, for she hit him first where the sun don’t shine, thus he was powerless when she sliced him with her previously concealed twin knives.

When she came out of under the now ruined table, she dodged a blade coming straight towards her face and kicked her opponent straight on the chest, pushing him away. Natasha groaned when a rough hand manhandled her by her long hair like a tight vice and slammed her back to the dining table. Her own knives forgotten momentarily as she hold up the hand that was pointing another blade to her chest. In her struggle, she let go of one arm as she took a very shiny looking ceramic plate and bashed it to her attacker's head. The man snarled in pain and not little amount of rage. Grabbing her own knives, she set him free of his pain.

A battle cry behind her alerted her of another incoming–Natasha would’ve rolled her eyes had she got the time. Why do they always make noises and let her know that they’re coming for her?

Meanwhile, Caspian fought alongside his close friends who had placed themselves around him despite them being occupied as well. It wasn’t that the young king was clueless and desperately needed help.

In fact, he was far from it.

Call it a king’s wisdom or a hunch, tonight Caspian had set his trusted sword under the table, in rare occasion tuning into his old Telmar king's habit: Trust no one. Be prepared.

The young king, too, fought fiercely, even managed to aid his own people along the way. Caspian channeled all his focus on survival first, no matter how very scared he was at first for a certain redhead's life, or how she managed to avert a certain death from him with a butter knife, or how absolutely astounded he was at how well she defended herself.

Too well.

At this point, Natasha felt quite sorry; not for the man she just took down, or the man after him or the other men after him that she had put an end to– but for the pretty silverwares that were collateral damage, and for her twin knives that were knocked off of her hands during the fight.

Cursing in Russian, she searched for them, but naturally, more of them emissaries/assassin came for her. Again, she sidestepped and parried one of their attacks before kicking him hard on his shin. Natasha laid an uppercut punch to his face. He shrieked like a girl before passing out.

A pair of strong, big arms wrapped itself around her small form like a tight vice. Reacting quickly, she reached for his pinky finger and twisted it hard towards an unnatural angle that he shouted in agony and loosened his hold on her, enough time for the redhead to elbow him hard on the chest and got out of his grasp.

The avenger jabbed on his ribs. He groaned. She jumped and land both her feet hard on his chest. With a maneuver that she had perfected and done over and over again, she let herself hit the hard ground on her upper back first, hands planted firmly on the ground beneath to keep her head from bumping against the floor. With her weight, the redhead kipped up and let the momentum of the fall hoist her back up on her two feet.

The huge man she hit, though in pain, still managed to stand his ground. She hissed in annoyance and broke out running towards him. Using her momentum the redhead climbed his height and linked her shapely legs around his neck, clamping him down. Forced by her sudden weight, he immediately fell down to the ground while she landed on both her feet safely.

He didn’t get back up again.

It took her about a minute or two to deal with the ones coming straight for her, but when she was done with all of them, she focused her energy on helping her comrades, especially the ones who were struggling.

Trumpkin, was choking; his rather tall, bigger enemy had unfortunately pinned him by his throat, adamant on suffocating him to death. Darkness had began to settle on his line of vision, until the pressure on his neck was suddenly released. A beautiful woman with a fiery redhead had strangled the bastard with a belt. She looked at the dwarf and gave him a signal nod. Natasha got out of the way just as Trumpkin, with his rather dense posture charged at the big guy whilst holding a butter knife, which apparently was the most favorite choice of weapon by many unarmed Narnians tonight.

“You…” Trumpkin breathed as he finished taking down the man more than twice his size, his eyes looking intently at the redhead, “…have a lot of explaining to do.”

Natasha smirked. “You’re welcome–“

Another one of those emissaries caught her off guard and grabbed her by her middle. Being totally unprepared, the petite female assassin was easily thrown to the ground and slammed against the hard floor. Wiping the blood off of her lip, Natasha looked positively murderous at the guy who rudely interrupt her speech. With full speed the female sprinted towards him, but instead of charging at him head on, she lowered herself and slid on the floor. She grabbed a knife along the way, and slipped between the guy's legs, slicing at his most sensitive areas.

Trumpkin winced as he witnessed the whole ordeal, then flinch some more when Natasha twisted the poor guy's arm with a loud crunch.

Natasha let out a breathless sigh as she kicked away the weight of the unconscious guy off of her. She looked at her dwarf friend. “Let’s fondle first talk later, yeah?”

As an answer, Trumpkin let out a battle cry and charged at something behind her. The redhead watched with a smile on her face as the dwarf rain hell upon his victim.

Caspian was in a bit of a problem. He was pinned to the wall, his sprained wrist flared painfully as the young king struggle to hold off the sword of his enemy. Again, he found himself extremely close to the brink of death, until someone with an impeccable timing intervened. Blood was sprayed against his chest and chin as a pair of feminine hands sliced her knife on his enemy's throat. In an instant, the threat was down, and a beautiful woman he called friend was staring up at him instead.

“I can explain,” said the Natasha breathlessly.

Caspian didn’t answer her right away. Rather, unceremoniously, made his way to one of the still standing table, grabbed a dinner napkin and wiped his enemy’s blood off of his chin and chest.

“’I can explain’ sounds a little cliché, don’t you think, Natasha?” he deadpanned as he threw away the bloodied napkin to the floor.

Natasha didn’t respond to that. Instead, she followed his eyes to their surroundings. Whatever the emissaries of Narrowhaven was planning, it wasn’t meant to just end here at the Hall of Kings. Caspian and Natasha looked at each other meaningfully.

“This is not their endgame.”

Caspian nodded with a clenched jaw. “They’re planning to take Cair Paravel. We are under attack.”

“Professor Cornelius,” realized Natasha, her face paled a bit at realizing that the old professor was left alone at such a perilous moment.

Caspian heard the worry in her voice that resembled his inner thought of the beloved professor. He still, had so much questions for her. Yet at the moment, he chose to believe in her.

The young king raised his hand, using his thumb, gently wiped the blood stain on her cheek. Natasha was lost in the unsettling darkness of his eyes as he did so.

“Go,” said Caspian with a low voice that only both of them could hear.

Natasha's hand cupped his that was on her face, momentarily squeezing it as their eyes spoke of mutual understanding. Then she slipped off of his fingers, and he had to let her go.

Caspian watched her back as she left. He had grown too accustomed of her being there for him. Now, he wondered if there would be a time when he would have to let her go again–for good.

He wondered then, if he would be able to do just that.

***

[Author's Note: After watching Black Widow's fight scenes so many times, writing this scene has become so so enjoyable. Thoughts? Thankyou all for reading and for your support. I love you 3000 ❤️]