The Rise of Darkness

Chapter 33

They arrived at the Avengers Tower again. Steve hasn't said a word the whole ride back. Bucky sat next to him and tried to comfort him, but he didn't respond to anything. As they arrived at the tower he directly walked into Graces room and closed the door. The rest of the Avengers sat in the living room, Natasha and Wanda sat there crying. "So what are we going to do now? Maybe plan the funeral?", Tony asked. Bucky stood up and walked over to him facing him directly. "How dare you.... Steve lost his girlfriend, Thor lost his sister, we lost a friend and you are already thinking about burying her?!" Bucky pinned Tony against the wall with his metal arm. Sam stepped in and held him back. "Let it go Bucky." He didn't losen his grip. "You think I didn't care about her?! She was like a daughter to me! So don't you dare tell me I don't care about her, because she meant a lot to me! Fuck you Barnes!" Bucky let him down and walked away. "Tony, we all need time to process it. I know you meant it in a good way, but just give us time." Tony nodded. The door opened and Peter walked in. "Hey, what's up?" As he saw the sad faces he asked worried: "What happened?" He looked around. "Where's Steve and Grace?" Tony walked over to him. "I don't know how to tell you this kid..." "What happened Mr. Stark?", he asked nervously. "Grace was taken and we tried to rescue her..." Tony's voice broke. "We tried to rescue her...", he started again. "but she... she didn't make it. She's gone." Peter stared at him with disbelief, but then his eyes started tearing up. He hugged Tony tightly and started crying.  Thor, who was still quite and kept a straight face couldn't help himself anymore and hit the table in front of him with his hammer. Everyone winced and looked at him. Natasha stood up and wanted to hug him, but he walked passed her to Steve's room, Bucky followed him. "Thor, I think he wants to be alone." "He needs someone and I want to help him." Thor knocked on the door. "Steve, can we come in?" There was no reply. Thor opened the door and Steve sat on the edge of the bed looking at a photo of him and Grace. He then looked up and sighed. "You know, she was pregnant." Thor and Bucky locked at him in shock. "She just told me yesterday. I lost the love of my life today and my child. So I won't need this anymore." He stood up and as he walked over to Bucky he handed him a small box. "I won't need this anymore." "Steve..... I-", Bucky started. "No, I don't need no lecture, no advice, not a single word. You take this ring and do whatever you want with it." Steve walked out of the room into the living area. Thor looked at Bucky. "He wanted to propose?" Bucky nodded and walked after Steve. In the living area everyone was screaming at each other. "Stop!", Steve screamed. "We are not going to blame anyone for what happened. It happened and we can't change it. We have to move on and keep her memory alive. She wouldn't want us to fight. We where her family, so let's stay one instead of distancing us from each other." Steve went to the bar and grabbed shots for everyone. "To Grace.", he said. "To Grace." The rest joined and drank the shot.