Dark Arrow

Chapter Fifty Two

One Year Later

Losing Rain had nearly destroyed Steve, he knew she was out there he just didn't know where. He'd scoured every known hide out and safe house he could find and yet he still hadn't found her. Every single memory of their time together haunted him. 

In the gym he took out his frustrations on the punching bag, the thin cotton wraps around his knuckles doing very little to protect his hands from the leather pounding against his skin. He didn't care, it was nothing compared to the pain in his chest from letting her down...again. 

The memory of her laugh, the way she scrunched her nose up and fell against the pillows as he tried desperately to learn ASL for her. 

Their first kiss, the feel of her soft lips against his and the way she fit so perfectly against him. The way she'd claimed to hate him and yet her body and eyes told him different. 

When she'd knelt down on one knee and proposed they became friends, showing him her playful side with a smile that he'd never forgotten. 

Then it shifted to her walking away from him for the last time and the rage flooded through him like a tidal wave. The chain holding the punching bag snapped and went flying across the gym. He struggled to pull his breath into his lungs. Rain had taken everything he had left when she'd disappeared and he didn't know how to function without her. Not when everywhere he looked he was reminded of what he'd lost. 

The exercise was doing nothing to help, so he decided to go and take a shower. Maybe after that he'd call Rhodey and see if there was anything his friend had found that he hadn't been able to. 

Even walking into his room was painful. Rain's clothes still laid on the floor where she'd left them, make-up on the table where he'd never been able to move it. She wasn't dusted like Bucky and many other loved ones but she had disappeared in the same way that day. She'd lost so much, including herself. He ignored the pang in his chest and stormed straight towards the bathroom. He needed to get back out of there as soon as he could, maybe he'd find comfort in the bottom of a glass and finally be able to sleep again. 

***

Walking into the briefing room was always eery, even after all this time. The emptiness of the compound was felt heavily by those that were still there. Steve sat down and waited for the call to Rhodey to connect. The second the hologram appeared, Steve knew something was wrong. 

"What did you find?" He asked with bated breath. 

"The federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys, never even got a change to get their guns off." He told him. 

"You think it's her?" 

"It's definitely Barton." 

Hope bloomed slightly in Steve's chest, it was the closest they'd come in months to finding her. It wasn't much of a lead, but it was better than nothing. 

"Do you know where she is now?" Steve asked, trying not to get his hopes up. 

Rhodey sighed. "Steve..." 

"I can't stop looking Rhodey, I just can't."

"Even if we find her. The scene she left..." He shook his head remembering the complete carnage that he'd seen. A far cry from the Rain he remembered. 

Steve refused to believe that his girl was too far gone. He'd pushed her to this by not being what she needed a year ago, he could not and would not believe he'd lost Rain to her grief. 

"She's still Rain, she just needs reminding of that." 

"I'm just preparing you for what you might find."