The drive home was the hardest.
Never once in his life when he’d driven that car had it felt so empty. The passenger seat stood barren, the backseat abandoned. He was truly alone.
Decades ago, Thanos had hit them hard. He took lives without mercy and left them with nothing but blood and dust. Tony was the first to fall. The metal warrior had fearlessly boarded that spaceship and flung himself halfway across the universe to a barren world called Titan and gave his life to stop the monster who took it upon himself to level the universe. Without her best defender, Earth was sitting blind.
Next came Bruce. He died as the Hulk, fighting with every ounce of strength he had been gifted. His eyes shown blue one final time before he died - Bruce had to see the stars one more time. Natasha fell after him, surrounded by the empty shells from her guns. She swore to be tried by twelve rounds before she would ever let herself be defeated. Her fight burned on until the last bullet. He still hadn’t come to terms with her death. He never would.
Cap was the last to be shot down that day. He gave his life on the battlefield as he swore he always would; and he took half of those evil bastards down with him. There was no one on Earth who could have given a better fight.
Thor had lost everything, and once the fight was over, he abandoned Earth for the last time. To this day, no one had seen him and there was no telling where he had ended up.
The Avengers had finally fallen.
Clint Barton was the only one left. The world was not without supers, no, but the Avengers were gone. SHIELD was in shambles. He was alone.
Well, almost alone. When wartorn Clint had finally managed to find his way home, he was greeted with the only sight left that could make him smile. Lucky acted as if nothing was wrong in the world - and how could it be? Because Clint was home! Clint was never home anymore because of work, so this was a good day. Even though the poor archer felt nothing but an empty void, that damn dog still managed to make him smile.
For years, all they had was each other. Clint managed to secure his position at SHIELD, leading projects to rebuild and recruit. Once on stable ground, he had spent his time at the New York facility, training the new recruits. It was where he had started, all those years ago at the young age of eighteen, and it only felt right that he was finally on the other side of the job. Giving back was all that he had left now that his time on the battlefield was over.
He ran a few mission now and again, when they needed him to. It didn’t matter how old he was, Hawkeye was still the best damn shot in the business. And he missed it - being out in the field and killing those sons of bitches that made the world a shitty place. So it felt good to get out there and relive the good old days.
It felt better to come home everyday and see that beautiful golden face that always made him smile, no matter how many people had died.
But the years went by faster than they should have. Age hit everybody hard.
Nick Fury finally died at 98. Heart attack was the thing that took the man everyone once believed could never die. Maria Hill died young at 54 in the field. She, like all of SHIELD’s agents, went down guns blazing. Phil Coulson got taken at 76. He stepped in front of the bullet meant for someone else. Always the hero no one deserved. Clint had locked himself in his apartment for a month, not eating or sleeping in all of those days. Lucky was the only company he allowed, despite all the attempts to contact him. Phil had saved his life back when no one else cared, and Clint would never forget that. His death was the only one that hurt more than Natasha’s.
He was forced to live through it all. He had to watch everyone he had ever loved die off one by one. Living had always been harder than dying.
But the worst was always yet to come. The one person Clint had through everything was getting old alongside everyone else. He got sick one day. A bad kind of sick that was hard to watch. He stopped walking around as much and it became slowly harder to get him to eat, even his favorite foods. The trip to the vet was a routine one. Clint needed him to get better. He needed the support that had come from his oldest friend more than he needed the air in his lungs.
Disappointment came in the form of bad news that day. For the second time in his painfully short life, the vet told him the best option would be to put the poor thing out of his misery. Just like the first time, Clint protested. Because this was his dog and it was the vet’s job to fix him. They had to fix him.
They never could though. They weren’t magicians. They couldn’t turn back time. All Clint had ever wanted was to give him a fighting chance, and he had. He was supposed to die all those years ago when he had been pushed into traffic. Thanks to Clint, he had walked away with one less eye and a slightly shorter tail. And he had lived many more years than he was ever supposed to. Clint had given him that.
Not like that made this any easier.
They had allowed him a moment alone before it all happened. Those few moments were probably some of the hardest in his life. He had already lost so much.
“Hey there, bud,” he had started, his voice already breaking. “I know it hurts. But they’re going to take all that pain away soon. I just need a moment…”
“You already know how much you mean to me. I’ve loved you from that first slice of pizza all those years ago. But you’re fights done now. You can finally rest; you don’t have to look out for us anymore. You did real good, bud. Kick some tracksuit ass, got those bad guys to back down. Saved my life more than once. Y’know I owe you for that. I’ll always owe you everything.”
“Guess we both got old, huh? Old and creaky. You know I can’t stretch anymore without my spine cracking in every joint it has. It ain’t a pretty sight. But, hey, let’s face it. We had a damn good run. You got to meet everyone. Katie and Wanda and all those pretty ladies that always gave you love. Tash and Phil…”
Speaking there names was the thing that finally brought on the tears. He couldn’t hold the waterworks back forever.
“They all loved you, almost more than I did. And I know you loved them too. Loved them a lot, didn’t you?”
“I’m going to miss you, bud. More than anyone, I’m going to miss you. You were the best friend I had back then. You got me through it all. The battles, the mind control, the injuries, the loss. You got me through it all. You made sure I always bounced back. I know the Barton family is a really small and shitty one, but you’ll always be a part of it. We were so Lucky to have you, bud.” I love you.”
And that was the last thing he had ever said to him.The doctors came in after that and Clint stayed by his side through it all.
He would always be there for him, until the very end.
