One Last Time (A Steve Rogers Fanfiction)

New York, 2013

Steve stumbled as he reappeared in the same place sixty-seven years later. He wasn't an easy man to rattle but seeing Peggy again had him slightly discombobulated. He lowered the case and hammer down on the ground and set his hands on his hips, taking a moment to clear his thoughts. His mind buzzed and there was a strange burning in his chest, a dying ember that was starting to glow bright once more.

He pulled out the old compass from his pocket and stared down at it. He couldn't even remember how many times he'd looked at this in the past, or the future as was the case. With a shake of the head, he put it back and focused on the task at hand.

Asgard, 2013

Steve put the Tesseract back into the case and oriented himself. When he heard voices, he jumped behind a column and waited, listening as Thor and Rocket came up with a game plan. He started to follow but had to dodge out of the way once more when Thor deviated and went a completely different way. Steve gave Thor one last glance before following Rocket.

As stealthily as he could manage, he trailed after Rocket—who was really fast for someone with short legs—into a bedroom. He hid behind the door as a woman stood up out of bed and Rocket came pouncing from behind, sticking her with a three-pronged device, the same device Steve carried in the case.

After Rocket scampered out, Steve came out from behind the door and held two fingers against her wrist. Relieved that she was alive, he carefully scooped her up from the ground and set her back into the bed. As he drew the blanket around her, she began to stir.

"Thor?" she whispered, her eyes remaining closed.

Steve cleared his throat and said in a low, rumbling voice, "Yes. I'm here."

A dreamy smile touched her lips as she snuggled deeper into the blanket. Steve waited until her breathing deepened before retrieving the device from the case. "Sorry about this," he said before holding the device to her arm. The Aether swirled around inside the vial then was sucked out, back into Jane's body.

He let out a breath. One down, five to go.

On the way out, he realized he still had Mjolnir. He walked over to the window and set it on the sill. Then, once again, he wielded the Space Stone and went back to earth.