Thought I'd take a break from the preferences for a little while. (Don't panic. The next Peter Parker preference is in the making.) This isn't connected to any of them. It's based of off the song from Les Miserables, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Just wanted to leave a warning: severe angst and several mentions of corpses. Anyways, y'all better buckle in, 'cause it's about to get intense.

_ _ _ _

There's a grief that can't be spoken

It started as a normal day. No one saw it coming. No one ever even knew what hit them. Looking back, you still didn't know if it had really happened. You wanted to believe it hadn't. You wished desperately to wake up in your room at the Avengers Headquarters, cozy in your overpriced sheets... but you knew that wasn't going to happen.

There's a pain goes on and on

Everything was so quiet. Activity swarmed around you. Paramedics, fire fighters, SHIELD agents, etc. rushed to and fro around your curled up form. You couldn't hear them. You didn't see them. All you could hear was the heavy silence that brought ringing to your ears and your ragged breaths as you rocked back and forth with your knees hugged to your chest and Mjolnir resting by your feet.

Empty chairs at empty tables

There were no more tears. You had cried them all long before the emergency personnel arrived. Long before SHIELD showed up. Long before anyone knew what had happened in this clearing in upstate New York.

Long before anyone knew that the Avengers were dead.

Now my friends are dead and gone

You didn't know how long you had been sitting in the messy remains of the building. The flames that destroyed this beacon of hope had now gone cold, leaving you alone amid the smoldering coals and the bodies of your comrades. Your brothers.

You remembered shaking them. Screaming their names through salty tears and sweat that poured down your face. Each one of them, mangled and twisted in unnatural ways, stared back at you now, their dead eyes glaring into the back of your skull. They didn't move. They didn't smile at the sight of you like they always did. They didn't wake up and embrace you. They didn't speak and tell you it was all going to be okay. They didn't breathe.

So why did you?

Here they talked of revolution
Here it was they lit the flame

As you sat in the pieces of the broken building, you remembered what had taken place only hours ago.

"(Y/N)! Come here for a moment!" You heard Thor bellow from across the room.

"One second!" You called back. You excused yourself from the bar, where you had been chatting with Nat and Maria.

Tony had tried to get everyone together tonight, and all but a few were able to make it. Clint, Scott, and Bruce had declined, and Pepper was off doing her CEO thing.

As you approached the sofas, you spotted Thor, along with Steve, Sam, Rhodes, Vision, Wanda, and Peter. Thor beckoned you over with a wave of his hand and you sat beside him.

"(Y/N)!" He laughed, probably a bit tipsy from his Asgardian grog, "(Y/N), you tell them. They won't believe me!"

"Tell them what?" You looked at him quizzically, but you couldn't help but smile. Everyone was smiling and having a good time. It was about time you all got a break.

"About when you lifted Mjolnir!" He nearly shouted. You blushed. "On our mission in the new city of..." He furrowed his brow.

"New Orleans?"

"So you do remember! Tell them!"

"Well, uhh," you looked at everyone. They gazed back at you expectantly. "Yeah. We were on that recon mission in Louisiana a few months ago. We caused a bit of a ruckus... and I uhh took the hammer when Thor wasn't using it."

You waited. Everyone was silent, waiting for more.

"I mean, he dropped it. There were like, ten guys on him! I wasn't really thinking about it and I just picked it up and took a swing."

"It was more than ten," Thor whispered, his pride obviously hurt.

"Bullcrap!" Cried Natasha, who had sauntered over from the bar. It seemed everyone had gathered to listen.

At that remark, everybody started talking at once.

"Of course she did! Why wouldn't she be worthy?"

"I think (Y/N) is worthy," Peter quietly remarked.

"Yeah right! Even old Gramps over there couldn't lift it."

"Hey!"

"I bet she could!"

"Not a chance!"

You were overwhelmed by the sudden quarrel. You stood up. Thor looked at you questioningly. You just shot him a mischievous smirk.

"Guys," you said, but no one heard, "GUYS!" At that, everyone quieted.
"If you don't believe us, I'll just go get it now." Their eyes widened. Without another word, you skipped off toward the basement stairs with a smile on your face.

You descended to the landing, followed several twisting corridors, past the holding cells and interrogation rooms, and finally came to the stairs lowering to the weapons vault. Though Thor normally kept the hammer with him at all times, his sober self had decided it would be better not to have it at the party. Obviously, his mind had changed.

You strolled past lockers, shelving units full of various training equipment, Steve's shield - which you were half tempted to grab just for the heck of it - and finally, you reached Thor's belongings. There wasn't much there. He was one of the few Avengers that didn't stay at the base.

You wrapped your fingers lighly around the ornately carved pommel, then slid your hand down to grasp the leathery handle. You pulled up, and the weapon lifted easily. It had a good weight to it, but wasn't heavy by any means. Now that you weren't fighting bad guys, you realized that it felt good to hold it. Almost euphoric.

You were worthy.

You felt power, like an involuntary shiver, rush through your veins. It felt good. Your muscles seemed to grow stronger. It was like you could run for miles and not grow weary. You could scale a building in a single leap. Maybe even fly!

Here they sang about tomorrow
But tomorrow
Never came

Meanwhile, the team was still discussing your worthiness.

Steve checked his watch. "She's been down there for ten minutes."

"She's probably too embarrassed to come back up without the hammer," Tony quipped.

Peter glared at his mentor. "Doubtful. They're long hallways. Maybe she's just taking her time."

"Patience, my brothers! She'll be along soon enough."

"Without the hammer," mumbled Rhodes.

"Do you realize what this could mean for our strategies now?" Sam mused, "HYDRA doesn't stand a chance against you guys!"

"True."

"Now I'm imagining them two just throwing it back and forth, knocking down agents like bowling pins," giggled Tony, who was also drunk.

"Vision can lift it too, you know." Wanda's tone grew defensive.

"Even better!" Laughed Tony, "It's like pinball!"

"We should try it on our mission tomorrow," suggested Steve, "We're set to take down another base in Siberia."

"I might just have to join you guys!" said Sam, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing

Thor stood from the couch. "This will be a great occasion! The three of us will be unstoppable." He looked around the room. "...And the rest of you will be good too, I guess."

"I agree," stated the Vision, "Our odds of winning would increase dramatically. And it would be rather..." he cocked his head, "...fun, as you say."

I can hear them now
The very words that they had sung
Became their last communion
On the lonely barricade at dawn

You froze, a sudden thought broke through the haze in your mind.

'How could this have happened?'

No one was supposed to even know where the base was, besides a trusted few. You all had been so careful. Where had you gone wrong?

Shouting erupted from somewhere behind you. You turned to get a view of the commotion. Firemen - probably issued by SHIELD - stood on top of a pile of rubble. One was barking orders.

"There's someone under there! He's still alive!"

Your heart raced. Who could it be? All of your comrades were strewn beside you, definitely not alive. To your knowledge, there had been no one else in the building. Bruce had been tinkering upstairs, but when they found his body, they had moved him over to rest with all the others.

You choked. Tears threatened to spring forth again. The man had been like a brother to you. You had spent countless hours talking with him while he worked, sometimes into the early morning. He always said he enjoyed the company. You were baffled that somehow the Hulk hadn't protected him this time. It made your blood boil. The "other guy" that had caused your friend so much turmoil couldn't have come out long enough to save him.

"Hustle, men! Hustle!" The fire chief cried.

A man stumbled out of the ruins, covered in soot, sweat, and blood; and immediately, you were filled with rage.

So it was him.

All of the security checks, every extra precaution they took had somehow not been enough to stop this guy.

'I'm gonna kill this HYDRA scum,' you thought, looking back on how he had wormed his way past the Avengers' defenses.

He had been brought in for questioning. SHIELD wanted Natasha to work on him, since their other agents were useless. She was busy at the compound, so he was brought here. He must have had a tracker in his system that escaped detection, creating a perfect bulls-eye for his superiors to drop a bomb on.

Hot, angry tears welled up in your eyes as you stood. Your breathing became ragged. You bored holes in the man's head with a murderous glare. You vaguely acknowledged somewhere in the back of your mind that someone was calling your name.

The man was being led to an emergency vehicle. You needed to act fast, or you'd lose him. You glanced at your fallen comrades, and a new wave of rage and grief washed over you. That was the breaking point. You sprang into action, ready to barrel straight over the rubble like a steamroller, just so you could lay your hands around his filthy little neck.

You took two determined steps forward, but then felt strong arms wrap around you. You struggled. You wanted to rip free, your eyes still fixed on the former prisoner. You kicked and clawed, but the grip around you never faltered.

"Hey, hey. Settle down. You're gonna be okay, (Y/N). Just stop for a second."

Finally, the voice clicked in your head. 'Clint.'

You turned around and fell into his embrace. "Shhh," he breathed, stroking your hair, "It's okay. We're gonna be okay."
It wasn't until you heard him sniffle that you realized that you were crying again too. For several minutes, the two of you stood like that. Clinging to each other like it was the only thing keeping you alive.

You risked another look at the team, regretting it instantly. You choked back another sob and looked up at Clint. "Take me away from here," you practically begged, "Please."

He nodded, swallowing. "Let's go." He shifted his arm around your shoulders and led you to his pickup truck.

To be continued.