The Way It Used To Be

Author's Note: This just destroyed me when I was writing, but I had to. I apologize for the tears I caused.

I had to fix something. Oh, this is embarrassing. I had originally wanted to put three graves in, but I decided to have it for Loki and Natasha only. EEP. Thanks to the Guest for pointing it out!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned.

Rated [T].

(Warning: Character Death.)

The bridge was starting to crumble. Asgard was in chaos. Odin had relocated everyone to Earth along with himself, but he had forgotten the most important two. Natasha clutched her side in pain. Blood stained her white wedding dress. She had a head wound that was still gushing red. Using one arm, she slowly lifted herself and looked around for the groom.

"Loki!" She called out. "Loki, where are you!"

Natasha needed to find him. A weak cough directed her attention to one side of the rainbow bridge. She crawled over to Loki, leaving a trail of blood as she went. Natasha held Loki in her arms; his suit was covered in blood and his lip was bleeding. A deep wound in his stomach was spilling blood.

"Loki…don't leave me." She cried, tears running down her face.

"Go on without me…you'll be safe on Earth. Thor will come for you." He coughed.

"No. I'm not leaving without you." Natasha said. She wouldn't leave Loki to die. "We're supposed to get married today!

"I…can't make it much longer. The bridge is going to break and we'll both die." Loki's green eyes were wet.

"Life will be meaningless without you." Natasha hugged Loki tightly.

"I'm sorry…know that I love you. Keep on living." Loki tried to take a deep breath, but his lungs were already shutting down. Even as a god, he had taken too much damage to be healed.

"Natasha!" Thor had appeared on the other side of the bridge with the tesseract.

The bridge was cracking. Loki was slowly slipping from Natasha's arm.

"I'd rather die than be without you!" Natasha cried.

The bridge had dropped down in pieces into the Void. Loki was only hanging on from Natasha tightly gripping his arm.

"I love you…Natasha." Loki had managed to say before his eyes closed and he succumbed to his injuries, letting go.

"Loki!" Natasha had attempted to dive after him, but Thor had pulled her away and activated the tesseract, transporting them back to Earth.

They landed with a thud in Stark Tower, the living room where Loki had been beaten by the Hulk. S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken the Asgardians into one of their many secret bases, housing all the sudden foreign visitors. Tony had made a glass box cover around the dent, putting a plaque in front of it like a display at the museum. Looking at the display made Natasha cry harder. Thor was hugging her tightly and had tears silently falling down his cheeks.

"Where's reindeer games?" Tony asked, attempting to crack a joke.

"Loki…he…" Natasha tried to say, but her chest tightened, unable to go on.

"My brother…isn't among us anymore." Thor said somberly. Natasha sobbed even harder. What was life, if she didn't have Loki anymore? The only man she truly loved and who loved her back, understood her; taken away by Death's greedy hand.

Natasha's heart felt like it was shattered into a million pieces. "Today was supposed to be the best day of my life."

"Nat…" Clint tried to comfort her.

"No! I even had a surprise for Loki: He was going to be a father." She placed her hand on her abdomen carefully.

Thor gasped. His nephew or niece would grow up, never knowing their father.

"Natasha, we need to get you to the hospital or something immediately." Bruce said, a sense of urgency in his voice. Her injuries could have harmed her unborn baby.

The rest of the evening was a blur. All Natasha remembered was an ambulance coming for her, reaching the hospital and being told that her baby was fine. But she wasn't. She had lost Loki. Her heart ached for him. She missed the warm feeling of cuddling up to him in bed. Her body pined for him. But Natasha had to live on, to keep the last trace of Loki alive.

Three months later, Natasha found life to be even more unbearable. She was resting on the sofa in the living room of Stark Tower when a sudden pain attacked her lower side. Her insides twisted and turned. She pulled away her blanket to find blood slowly blooming across her white sundress. Fear and panic gripped her. This couldn't have been happening.

Bruce had walked in, and seeing Natasha's face of pain and her clutching her stomach, rushed over.

"Natasha!" Bruce yelled.

"Sudden…pain. Bruce…help." Natasha was feeling weak.

"Steve!" Bruce called out and Steve rushed in. "Help get Natasha to the medical room." Tony had one of the many spare rooms converted into a medical bay for Natasha and her baby.

Steve took Natasha into his arms and rushed away. He lay her carefully on the bed. Bruce rushed in and told Steve to get Pepper, who had taken training as a nurse.

An hour later, a nervous Steve, an anxious Tony, a worried Clint and pacing Thor was greeted by Bruce and Pepper.

"How is she?" Thor asked. He worried greatly for Natasha. She seemed to be getting worse a lot ever since they had come back from Asgard. Thor felt the need to protect Natasha and her baby, the last remains of Loki.

"Natasha's weak and the baby…"Bruce trailed off.

Thor rushed in to see Natasha hooked up to an IV. She was looking deathly pale.

"I couldn't even protect my child." She held a hand to her abdomen.

"Natasha…it's not your fault." Thor said.

"But it is! It is, Thor! I was too weak!" Natasha cried. "Please, just go…I need to be alone."

With one last look, Thor left the room. Everyone was upset. Steve had went to his room, to destroy the drawing he had been working on ever since he heard Natasha was pregnant with Loki's baby. It was a drawing of their baby. He knew Natasha wouldn't want to see it. Tony had been working on a small robot for Natasha and the baby. Pepper had been knitting a sweater for the baby. Bruce was desperately trying not to hulk out. Thunder rumbled outside, a sign Thor was angry. Clint had wanted to train the child to protect itself.

They all took the miscarriage hard, but Natasha took it the hardest. She had desperately tried to keep her baby alive. The baby was going to be a part of her and Loki. She or he would have Loki's raven-black hair and Natasha's plump lips. They would have beautiful green eyes, which Loki and Natasha both shared. Their baby would be part Jotun and be intelligent, just like its parents.

Week after week, Natasha's condition was worsening. She was getting sicker and sicker ever since the miscarriage. Not even the Black Widow toxins from the Red Room could help heal Natasha. She was slipping, deeper and deeper every day. She wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep. Just lay there all day, staring at the ceiling.

One day, Pepper was trying to coax her to eat, holding her hand, when Natasha went limp. The heart monitor flat lined. She was gone.

A funeral was held. It was raining, Natasha's favourite weather. Pepper had sobbed into Tony's shoulder. Steve had tried not to cry, but failed. Bruce had to be told in a hulk-proof underground chamber, where he proceeded to break everything in his sight. A thunderstorm lasted for days and Clint had hid in his nest.

It was a cemetery that consisted of only two graves. Tony had bought it for them. The two graves were Loki Odinson; although his body was never recovered, they still put a tombstone there, and Natasha Romanoff.

Loki Odinson, loved and lost. Died from injury.

Natasha Romanoff, loved and was loved. Died from heartbreak.

Author's Note: I hope you liked it. This hurt a lot when I was writing, so enjoy. I SHIP IT SO BAD! *sniffle*

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