help

lost

His hand ran across the page, creating swirls and lines that came together to form the picture. Steve had not had anything he could do, so he decided to draw. It had been a while since he had the time to do it, and so feeling the familiar weight of the pencil and the calmness from it was... nice. Right now, he was sketching a tree, the roots swirling around the ground at the bottom, the branches sticking out, the leaves covering the area.

It wasn't his best work, but he had not drawn in over 70 years, so that might be a factor.

If Thor were here, he would probably be doing something with him. He had grown close to the god, and the both of them needed a distraction. But Thor was still on Asgard, though it had been two days since he'd left. There was no sign that he was returning, and honestly, Steve was nervous.

What if something happened on Asgard and Thor never returns? No one would ever know.

After finishing the tree, he decided to look through the pages of his notebook. He passed the dancing monkey, other more random drawings he'd done, and then he came to his favorite page.

It was something he and Bucky decided to do for fun one day. They wanted to draw each other and see who did it better. They drew for hours, and when both of them finished, they shared their works. He thought he drew Bucky well, but he wanted to see what Bucky had done. When he saw the drawing, he laughed out loud. It was one of the worst things he'd ever seen. It looked like a child just scribbled a bunch of random things on a paper. Bucky insisted that he won, and Steve decided to not argue with him.

Bucky never let him forget that he won, and every time he was reminded he'd picture the drawing and try not to laugh.

He ran his hand over it and smiled. That was a good day, one of the best. It was right before Bucky was shipped off to war, and Steve was sad that he was leaving, so Bucky came up with the game to cheer him up.

It worked.

He didn't realize he was crying till a tear fell onto the page, and he quickly wiped away his tears before more fell. Luckily, it didn't land on the drawings, but he still closed the book.

He never stopped missing Bucky, but there were moments like now that he somehow missed him even more. Bucky always knew what to do. God, he'd be so much better in this situation. But Bucky was gone, gone forever.

Steve was about to open the book again and start drawing when a loud knock sounded on the door. He stood up and went over to it, opening it quickly. He smiled at the person in front of him.

"Thor. It's good to see you again," he said.

"You too, Steve. I have brought back knowledge I wish to share with everyone. I have alerted everyone else already," said Thor.

"Alright," he responded, closing the door and following Thor down the hallway.

Steve glanced over at the god and realized then how exhausted he looked. He decided not to mention it, now wasn't exactly the best time. The pair reached the meeting room a few minutes later and entered to see the rest of the Avengers, Fury, and Agent Hill.

He sat down and noticed a pile of books in front of Thors' seat. They looked old, and the writing on the cover was in a different language. Thor headed to his chair but didn't sit down.

"As you all know, I returned to Asgard to speak to my Mother and Father about the situation. They gave me more information that will help my brother."

"Did they know any way to release him from being under control?" Bruce asked.

"Sadly no. The only way my Mother knew is if the person in control releases them. Otherwise, there isn't much to do. There are not many objects that exist that use mind control. You and Stark haven't found a way to use Loki's scepter yet," Thor responded.