All I Need (Vampire Diaries/Captain America Fanfic)

16. Avenging The Whole Freaking World

I could see Harper. I was 99% sure I was dreaming, but the small one percent held onto the hope that, maybe, I hadn't killed him. Maybe I was still in Mystic Falls and everything that happened that night was a bad dream.

He walked towards me, and suddenly, his face changed. It became almost transparent, like a ghost, and he had a hole where his heart should have been. The heart that I ripped out.

"Why?" he asked me. "How could you do this to me?"

"I'm sorry," I said. I had no explanation to offer, no thinking that could justify my actions. I fucked up, and I'd have to deal with that for the rest of my life.

"You ruined me," he said. "I would have done anything for you."

"I'm sorry Harper," I said, dream-me crying. "I'm so sorry!"

...

"Serena," someone called softly, shaking me awake. I woke up instantly to see Steve sitting on the bed beside me. "I think you were having a nightmare."

"Hi. Sorry," I said, my throat feeling scratchy.

"I made breakfast, if you want something?" he offered sweetly. I sat up and smiled, before an all-too-familiar feeling came over me.

"Steve," I said, looking him in the eye. "Don't scream or cry out. I promise I'll stop." As my compulsion took over him, I leaned towards him and sunk my teeth into his neck. The blood filled me up from the inside out. I could already tell that my skin was glowing and my energy had increased.

"Thanks," I said. "Sorry," I added, getting a look at his neck. I reached for a towel, wiping the blood from around my mouth and then holding the towel to his neck, cleaning off the blood. "I'm really sorry that you came to wake me up and I accidentally scratched you in my sleep. It bled a bit, but you'll be fine." I compelled him.

He laughed. "Remind me to never wake you up again."

"What can I say, I love my sleep!" I laughed along with him, thanking the Vampire Gods for compulsion.

"So, breakfast?" he repeated. "Do you want something?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry. Actually, why don't you let me take you out?" I offered. "After all, you let me stay here and gave me somewhere to sleep."

"I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to ask you out?" he asked.

"I'm bringing Captain America into the 21st century," I said with a smile. "Here, girls can ask guys out too, isn't that crazy?!"

"Fine, your sarcasm is noted," he said. "Where are you taking me?"

"We're in NYC," I said. "Is Central Park too... cliché?"

"Central Park sounds perfect," he said, smiling at me. His smiles were the most addictive thing I'd ever come across. I don't know how I lived without them before I knew him.

...

The sun was shining down on us as we walked through the park.

"Do you come here often?" I asked. If I ever lived in NYC, I could imagine coming here every single day, or at least, until the novelty wore off.

"Not really," he said. "I travel a lot for work, and when I am here, I'm just waiting for the next thing to pop up."

"When you say work, do you mean Avenging the whole freaking world?!" I asked, causing him to laugh.

"Sometimes. Most of the time though, we do small things, like rescue missions."

"That's still a hell of a lot more than I do," I said.

"What do you do?" he asked. "Do you work, or are you a student?"

"I'm definitely not a student. I've done the college thing." More times than I cared to admit. During the 50's, I went to college, getting a degree or two in things that I would never think about again. "I've had a few jobs. I've worked in offices and bars, never staying in one place for too long. Then when I set up in Atlanta, I worked for a pretty long time in a photography studio, mostly on reception. Sometimes I toyed with the idea of opening up my own studio but I never got around to it."

"Why not?" he asked.

"I never thought I was any good," I answered honestly. "Plus my boyfriend James was making enough money for the both of us, so I thought that there was no point."

"And what's stopping you now?" he asked.

"Because being designated homeless isn't enough of a reason?" I laughed. "Staying with my brothers wasn't supposed to be a permanent solution anyway."

"So, where are you gonna go when you leave here?" he asked, tilting his head as he looked down at me.

I shrugged. To be honest, I couldn't imagine myself going back to Mystic Falls for at least 100 years, after I finally got over what I'd done to Harper and could bear to be back in the boarding house. "I guess 'hell' isn't the answer you were looking for?"

His face formed a pitying look and he grabbed my hand. "You're not going to hell," he said. "Whoever you hurt, they'll forgive you."

"It's not other people's forgiveness that gets you into heaven," I said. "I think it's about whether or not you can forgive yourself – and I don't think I can."

"You're too hard on yourself," he said, keeping a firm grasp of my hand as we continued to walk around the park.

"Enough about me," I said abruptly. "Tell me about you."

"What do you want to know?" he asked. "I'm pretty much an open book."

"Is it... hard to have to save people that don't deserve saving?" I asked, not entirely sure why this was the first question on my mind.

Maybe I wondered, if Steve knew my secret, would I be one of the people that he'd save.

"On some level, doesn't everyone deserve saving?" he asked.

"What, even murderers?"

"Everyone comes into the world the same way, with a clean slate. It's parents, nature, other people and society that fuck them up."

"Wow. Captain America swears?" I asked, liking this side of him.

"Of course not," he said. "But Steve Rogers is a lot more relaxed."

"So that's who I'm on a date with today then? Steve Rogers?"

"It'll always be Steve," he said. "Steve's the regular guy, Cap's the hero."

"I'd take the regular guy any day," I said.

He gave me one of those addictive smiles, leaned down, and kissed me softly as someone cleared their throat.

"Aw, isn't this cute?" a female with a British accent said.

I looked up to see a blonde girl staring at us with a glint in her eyes.

"Um, can we help you?" I asked, irritated.

"Are you Stefan Salvatore's sister, Serena?" she asked. I froze. We were nowhere near Mystic Falls, how could someone here know who I was?

"Um, yes. Why?" I asked warily.

"I'm Rebekah. I believe you know my brother, Klaus Mikaelson?"

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We've finally been introduced to an Original! What do you think Serena's history is with Klaus?

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