Endgame

I Was Ronin! Old Steve Rogers!

Author POV

Peter, Natasha and Wanda are getting into the car they have and are going to see Steve return the Stones, since Bruce, Rocket and Peter rebuilt the Quantum Tunnel. Steve is the only one returning the stones, no one else, he decided to do this alone.

They drive off from May's apartment where they're staying while they look for a place of their own. "I can't believe something like time travel exists now, things changed the 5 years me and Natasha were gone", "yeah, they really did Wanda... and so did I, I wanna tell you something."

Natasha see's Peter in stress, "is something wrong Peter? Are you ok?", "yeah, it's just-", he rubs his right hand through his hair, "- you see, I have a long story to tell you."

Natasha's grabs his hand, "Whatever it is, we're here for you, both Wanda and I are, we love you, remember that", says Natasha. Wanda smiles and nods her head, "she's right, we're right here, we're not going anywhere."

"Well, after I lost you in Wakanda, it took us 23 days to find Thanos... when we did we went to confront him and get the Stones back-", Peter stops himself as he reaches a redlight. The pain from that day at the hut still plague him, "- when we reached where he was hiding, we confronted him and when we got the Gauntlet off of him, he didn't have the stones on him-".

Peter remembers his anger, how he lost himself that day, "what happened then? I know it took you guys 5 year to bring us back", "we asked where the stones were, and he said he des-".

Peter stops himself, "he destroyed the stones didn't he?", asks Wanda, which then Peter nods, confirming the answer, "when he said that, I lost it, I got so angry that I punched him and he spat out blood... I was just angry, I wanted him dead."

Natasha and Wanda can hear the genuine anger and hatred towards Thanos that Peter has, and they don't blame him, they hate him as well. "We came back to Earth and I wanted to be alone, so I left the Compound and I traveled, but It wasn't as Peter Parker, it wasn't as Spiderman... I was someone else".

Natasha gives a look of knowing, "you we're Ronin, weren't you?", she asks. He nods his head, "Ronin?", asks Wanda, confused.

"Ronin is a persona I used, a black suit with gold outlines and a sword that I used to-". Peter stops himself.

*Flashback*

"why are you doing this? We never did anything to you!". The masked and hoodie figure speaks, "You survived! Half the planet didn't! They got Thanos. You get me!"

They start the fight and their swords clash, and the hoodied figure slices the man, "you are done hurting people!". They clash again and the man in the suit is is cut again, and he staggers. The hoodied figure soon slices the man's throat and he drops to his knees, "wait! I'll give you anything you want!". The man brings up his sword, "What I want... you can't give me!".

The figure stabs the man and he falls to the ground as he dies.

*Flashback Ends*

He stops at a light and closes his eyes, "as the Ronin, I used to go around killing people... I'm sorry", he says, nearly breaking down. Natasha just holds his hand, as Wanda looks at him in sadness. A Few minutes pass and they reach the destroyed Compound and he continues, "I was angry... I felt alone, broken... I didn't know what to do... I wanted to stop, but I kept doing it because... I was afraid".

They just listen as they get out of the car,, and immediately Wanda hugs Peter from behind, "I wanted to stop because I knew that's what you would want me to do, but I couldn't, I thought you wouldn't like who I was... I wasn't the Peter you both fell in love with", he says.

Natasha makes Peter look at her, "your right, that's not the Peter Parker I fell in love with, but I don't care, you were in pain, and I wouldve tired to help you, to become who were in love with."

Wanda nods her head, "that makes two of us Peter, we love you, and we would've helped you in your pain". Peter smiles, "so your not mad at me? You don't hate me?".

They shake their heads and kiss him passionately, "we love you Peter, we could never hate you", "we mean that, we both want to spend the rest of our lives with you", says Wanda and Natasha.

Peter smiles and hugs them both, feeling like the guilty he still had was taken off, and he wasn't afraid anymore. They joined Bruce, Steve, Sam and Bucky near the lake, "remember, you have to return the Stones to the exact point they were taken", "yeah, I know, clip all the branches, I got it".

Steve see's them, "your here, it's good to see you", he says, hugging Natasha and Wanda, "yeah, they wanted to see time travel, and so did I, even though I did it already", Peter says, laughing.

"You ready Steve?", "yeah, let's do it". Steve is on the tunnel, "how long is this gonna take?", "for Steve, as long as he needs, for us, about 5 seconds", says Bruce. Steve activates the Quantum Suit and grabs Mjolnir, "I still can't believe he can use Mjolnir", says Natasha.

"Going Quantum in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1!". Steve shrinks and disappears, and Peter's senses go off, but it's not senses of danger, it's different. "And returning in 3... 2... 1!".

Nothing happens as Bruce presses the buttons, "... where is he?", "he flew past his time stamp, he should be here", says Bruce. Sam argues and Bucky looks away, and Peter senses something over where he's looking at, "no way, is that-", Bucky cuts Peter off with a nod.

Wanda looks where they're looking at, "Sam", says Bucky, as he points at a bench, where they all see an old man. Sam walks towards Bucky, as Bucky tells him to go ahead, "is that Steve?", asks Natasha, but Peter stays silent and just nods.

Sam joins the old man and Peter hears their conversation, "so did something go wrong, or did something go right?". "That's right, I put the stones back, I thought... maybe I should get try the life Tony was telling me to get".

Everyone else then joins them, "and how was it?", old Steve smiles, "it was beautiful". Natasha smiles but is hurt, Steve was one of her closest friends, but she's happy for him.

"I'm happy for you, truly... but the only thing bumming me out is that I have to live in a world without Captain America", "oh, that reminds me."

Steve grabs a circular case and opens it, and reveals a brand new Shield, "here, try it on", he says, giving it to Sam. Bucky nods, as does everyone else.

Sam takes it and puts it on, "How's it feel?". "Like it's someone else's." "It isn't!". Sam looks at it and then looks at Steve, "Thank you. I'll try my best!".

Sam shakes his hand and notices his ring, "you want to tell us about her?". Old Steve smiles, "no... no I don't think I will".