In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

Doomsday Instructions

I wished it felt like time froze when Steve and I kissed our hello, but it didn't. All I could hear was the imaginary Doomsday clock in the back of my head, tearing my heart between a reunion with the love of my life, but also knowing I had no time for him, with him. I hated our short lasted reunion as much as I loved it; nevertheless, I couldn't afford to waste more time pretending the world wasn't about to potentially end.

I breathed his name softly into his neck. I felt him shiver when I did so, and I chuckled, pulling away. I smiled up at him brightly. I saw in the crinkle between his eyes, though he smiled just as brightly back at me. He knew, as I did, that we were wasting time.

Steve let go of me and we turned to face our friends, smiling sheepishly at their relieved looks. It seemed our being apart had taken a toll on each one of us.

"I saw you on the news, with Stark," Wanda spoke up.

"I'm fine, we both are," I assured. "Look, it's so wonderful to finally see you all, I don't know how long it's been, but—"

"Two years," said Steve softly.

I whipped my head to look at him. He nodded, eyebrows raised to convey that he had felt every long second of those two years. I stared at him with a frown, trying to work out the shift in time from our different standpoints. What whirlwind I experienced felt nothing like two years, but I was sure Agamotto's concept of time pertaining to me could have been altered as opposed to regular time. A discussion for another day, I figured.

"Uh. Right. Two years," I muttered, returning to my announcement.

"Is Tony okay?" asked Rhodey, concerned.

"He's fine, we all are—"

"'All?'" repeated Sam.

"Yeah, me and Stark, the Spider-Kid, and my Wizard friend, Stephen Strange. We ended up meeting these Guardian Space People a-and, Bruce, they know Thor! He's alive, he's off with some of their crew to forge a new weapon," I informed, pointing to Bruce.

"Thor's alive?" breathed Bruce, exhaling a thankful sigh.

"Yeah, yeah. But that's why I'm here, guys, I wanted to regroup everyone, but Tony and Strange refused to listen to me, so now I'm here to let you know that we're waiting for Thanos to come to us on this random planet so we can take the Gauntlet and I can come back here for Wanda and I can destroy them. I figure we have the best shot, considering we are made from them," I said quickly.

I watched their faces mold from intent listening to confusion. I looked at Steve, as I figured he was going to be the one to inquire more about my situation. All he happened to muster was, "Clara, why?"

"A question that could be directed at a lot of what I just said," I said, frowning.

"Since when have you been made from an Infinity Stone?" asked Natasha.

"It's such a long story, you guys," I sighed, shaking my head. "Point is, I'm protecting the Time Stone but I can't destroy it. If I do, I won't have my abilities anymore. I'm not desperate enough for that yet, and Aggie would kill me, so maybe I'll go into hiding after we destroy the other Stones— I don't know, I haven't thought that far yet."

"We're going to separate Vision and the Stone. I'll destroy it after," said Wanda.

I smiled proudly at her. "Nice. Good. Then we'd only have mine to keep intact, which entirely ruins any chance of him destroying half the universe."