❝I'm sorry Nat...❞

♡₊˚ ⴵ・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Natasha

"Hm?" I grunted as I awoke from my slumber, squinting my eyes as a shaft of light shone on my face.

"Sorry babe," my girlfriend whispered, coming over to me and gently kissing my forehead, running her fingers through my hair. "I didn't mean to wake you."

I sat up slowly as she walked over to her wardrobe.

"You know I wake up to everything," I chuckled, watching her from behind as she picked out her mission suit. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Maria replied. "Fury wants me and Agent Morse to extract the team in Puerto Rico."

I nodded.

"They've been gone a long time," I commented, half to myself. "I wonder if they managed to gather any useful information whilst they were there."

"Oh they've probably gathered loads," Maria said with a shrug. "They probably found it weeks ago and have been sunning themselves on beaches ever since."

I chuckled.

"I know I would, given the opportunity," she added.

I hummed my response.

"I bet Aurora's gonna be annoyed at having her best friend gone on an extraction, when they've only just been reunited," I commented.

Maria laughed.

"Oh she saw Bobbi on a ton more dangerous missions, and as long as Bobbi comes back in relatively good shape, Aurora's happy."

I chuckled.

"Well, I'd better get ready," Maria concluded, taking her suit into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

♡₊˚ ⴵ・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

"I'm fine Natasha," Aurora muttered in a tight voice as she wrapped her wrists, after I'd asked her for what could've been the 40th time if she was alright. "I've not contracted cholera since you asked me three minutes and twenty-four seconds ago."

I sighed.

"You look unwell," I told her gently. "You shouldn't be training if you are."

She spun to face me.

"I need to train," she snapped. "I need to be better."

My brows furrowed as anxiety welled in my stomach.

"Has his voice gone away?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh my god Natasha, stop interrogating me!" the woman snapped with frustration. "Stop bothering me!"

I blinked, taken aback by her angry response.

"I-"

"Just leave if you're not going to train properly!" she ordered, annoyed authority in her voice.

I forced myself not to react to her order. She'd trained agents in the past, she had the right to order them around, and was probably keen to get back to it.

"Fine," I replied calmly. "Get in the ring, let's spar."

Aurora, seemingly contented, nodded stiffly and walked over to the boxing ring. I was only a few seconds behind, my brows still furrowed with worry.

"I'm not trying to order you around, but if you feel unwell, you'll stop, alright?" I asked her.

She turned to face me, her usually bright eyes dull, with dark bags around them.

"Fine," she agreed with a sigh. "Now come on, you'd better not go easy on me Romanoff."

I grinned.

"If you say so Eriksson," I agreed.

We positioned ourselves at opposite ends of the ring, and I watched Aurora's movements carefully. The beginning was always a stalemate - widows were taught to never make the first move unless it's an ambush - however I knew that Aurora was somewhat impatient, and if I waited and teased her enough, she'd make the first move. Surprisingly however, she had barely laid eyes on me before she ran towards me. With her moves uncalculated, it was easy to grab her arm and throw her down onto the mats, but when I attempted to pin her down, she rolled out from under me, kicking her foot in my stomach, throwing me back. I regained my balance quickly, but the Swede was already on her feet, racing towards me. I tried to slip out of her way, but right as I thought I had got out of her way, she went behind me, grabbing my arms and restricting them behind me. I felt her kick at my ankle, but I managed to stay on my feet as I pulled us both around so I was facing the ropes.

I leapt up, wrapping my legs around the ropes and pulling myself from her grip in one quick movement. I dropped to the ground and rolled out of her way, rolling to my feet before she could attack me again.

"You're going easy on me," I chuckled, as we were in the same stalemate as at the start.

"Then you stop going easy on me," Aurora replied, her tone unnaturally hostile, her eyes cold and emotionless.

I felt the colour drain from my face as she watched me with a face of marble.

A face of marble.

Shit.

Aurora

Kill her.
Choke her to death.
Crack her skull open.
Kill her.

The need to kill surged through my veins as I ran at Romanoff again, intending to bring her down. She wouldn't know what had hit her until it was too late. Until she was almost out of oxygen. Until I slammed her skull into the corner of the ring.

"Aurora-"

Her words were abruptly cut off when I ran into her, grabbing her waist and throwing her to the ground, quickly getting behind her and putting her in a chokehold whilst we were still on the floor. A strangled noise escaped her as she hit my arm multiple times, over and over, telling me to let go.

That's it.
Kill her.
My perfect weapon.

"Au-Aur-rora," she struggled to get my name out.

"He wants you dead," I spat. "I want you dead."

The red-head struggled against me, trying to pull my arm loose enough for her to get her head out of, swinging her body to the side in an ill-performed attempt to wrench her body loose.

His voice was raging around my head, endlessly.

Kill her.
Kill her.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.

It was like an instinct. Like an instinct of a lion to wait and watch their prey until they were vulnerable then to strike, needlessly dragging out their death. A sudden yelling and the sound of running footsteps down the corridor towards the training room erupted. Yes, it was a lion's instinct to drag out their prey's death. But they didn't want a clan of hyenas smelling the blood of the zebra that they were killing, and knew that they had to end it eventually.

"Agent Eriksson!" I heard a yell as I dragged a now limp Natasha over to the corner of the boxing ring, still in a chokehold.

I glanced down at the agent with narrowed eyes. Her lips were turning blue and her eyelids were slowly closing, although she tried to keep them open.

I'm not this killer you made me.

I felt a pang of pain and regret, and for a moment, I thought I was going to loosen my arms from around her neck. That was until I felt a sudden sickness overtake me. A sickness that begged me to stop yet urged me to continue at the same time.

"Agent Eriksson, let Agent Romanoff go and walk to the middle of the ring, hands in the air!"

At least ten armed agents had spilled into the room, guns aimed towards me. I looked around at them all, trying to figure out if I could take them all down without a bullet going through me. As I was figuring this out, the feeling of sickness overtook my body, causing my head to spin and my stomach to flip over.

"We'll only ask one more time Agent!" the agent barked. "Let her go, walk to the middle of the ring, and hold your hands above your head!"

You're bulletproof, ignore them. Kill her.

I shook my head roughly, and almost unconsciously, I felt my arms loosen, and Natasha's barely moving body slid from my arms onto the floor, where she lay motionless. I stumbled back into the middle of the ring, hands above my head.

"I'm not well," I whispered to the agent who came towards me, holding handcuffs.

"We won't fall for that again," he told me coldly.

"No, I'm being honest," I persisted. "I feel..."

The world spun around me, and I fell to the ground as my knees buckled below me. As my vision blurred, the last thing I saw was Natasha's red hair splayed on the ground as she still lay unmoving on the floor only a few feet from me.

"I'm sorry Nat..." I mumbled as a wave of black washed over me, and I fell into a numb sleep.