Artemis: The Final Battle ➳ Steve Rogers [2]

[ F O R T Y - N I N E ]

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S T E V E

I watched as her eyes transformed before mine. The vulnerability in them now gone and replaced darkness that swore to leave death in its wake. Pain shot through my chest, the woman I love was now gone, locked away by this entity that was controlling her.

"What are you waiting for, Steve?" I wince at the coldness of her voice as she continues to taunt me, "She's asked, hasn't she? Go ahead, do it."

A part of me knew that it was what Camille wanted. I had promised her, after all. I'm usually a man of my word, but this was one promise I just couldn't keep. Did Cam even realise that the man she had married was a selfish bastard?

I let the blade fall from my hand and it clutters to the ground. Despite her voice begging for me to in my head and the desperation in her eyes that were now branded into my skull, I couldn't do it. I won't. Whether it be out of love or selfishness, I refused to lose her...maybe because a part of me knew that losing her would mean losing myself too.

"I'm sorry, baby. I can't do it."

The woman staring back at me was not the woman I love, but I knew she was still in there, and I knew that I had failed her. Now, the only thing that I could do was hope that she would understand.

"I always knew you didn't have it in you." She throws her head back in laughter as she taunted, "Earth's mightiest hero, that, you are not. What you are is weak. Couldn't even do what she asked you to do, huh?"

She gets to her feet, picking up her blade from where I've dropped it and starts towards me.

"Cam, I love you." I say, hoping to get through to her, "None of this is your fault."

Camille scoffs, "Oh, enough with all this sappy stuff already. I'm just going to kill you now."

From the corner of my eyes, I spot a flash of red. Turning my head to see that the Guardians, who were staying over at headquarters much like the rest of the team had arrived on the scene.

Panic fills my chest as Quill raises his gun, aiming it at straight at Camille with his finger in the trigger, ready to fire.

"Don't!" I yell.

Before my mind could process what I was doing, I found myself diving for Quill and tackling him to the ground just as he fires.

An anguished cry sounds through the room and I watch as Camille struggled to her feet, the hand clutch at her thigh now covered in blood.

"What the hell man?" Quill demands, shoving me off as he raises his gun again, takes aim and shoots before I can stop him again.

This time, Camille manages to evade the shot, disappearing into a portal that she had created.

"I had her!" Quill rounds on me as soon as she's gone.

"That's my wife you were shooting at! Were you trying to kill her?"

Anger washes over me as I start towards him, only to be stopped by a hand on my chest.

"Steve, calm down!"

My eyes meet Bucky's who watched me with worry. Soon, the rest of the team joins us.

Wanda and Bruce rush to aid Peter, quickly bringing him to the Med Bay. Thankfully, by the looks of it, the boy wasn't fatally wounded.

"What happened?" Tony questions as his eyes followed Peter as he was being escorted out of the room.

"Where's Cam?" Thor's deep voice follows.

"She's gone! I could've gotten her. This asshat let her go!" Quill whines.

"The last I checked, the plan was to trap her. Not to kill her!"

"Steve," Bucky says, warningly.

I squeeze my eyes shut, taking a deep breath. I don't think I've felt anger like this in a while.

"I was trying to slow her down," Quill argues.

Rage surges through me again, "Really? Cause it looked a lot like you were trying to take her down to me, Quill."

"Okay, everyone. Calm down." Sam interjects, "Did Cam say why she was here? Or maybe where she might be going?"

I shook my head in reply, running a hand across my face.

"Damn it." Sam curses under his breath.

Just then, a face we've haven't seen since the wedding strolls into the room. Carol stops in the corner of the room, without a word.

"When'd you come in?" Tony asks.

"I just did. Strange told me about the situation." She says, "Considering everything...Don't you think maybe it would make this a whole lot easier if you guys were to just think about-"

"No," I state firmly before she even gets the chance to finish her sentence. She didn't have to, I already knew where she was going with this.

"I agree with Steve, that's out of the question," Nat says in agreement.

"Guys, come on. I get that she's family to you guys, man." Quill adds, "But don't you think she's right?"

"No, I don't, Quill." Tony shoots him a glare, "No offense, but Danvers has been here for fifteen seconds, I don't know she's the best judge of the situation."

"And what makes you guys the ones with the best judgment here?" Carol argues, "You guys are letting your emotions get in the way of the Mission here."

"Cam isn't a mission, she's my sister. So don't even think about it." Nat hisses and the room erupts into chaos, with people yelling over one another.

'Steve, please! You promised me you would.' Camille's voice echos over and over again in my head, drowning out the chatter.

I couldn't shake the way she looked at me- the fear, the desperation and how much it killed her that she was hurting people.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I could feel a headache building and tears stung at the back of my eyes. I couldn't stay here, where her presence still lingered. I couldn't bear it. I needed to get out of here.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. My feet carried me out of the room as my vision started to blur with tears.

"Steve!" Bucky's voice called out after me, followed by his footsteps as they followed me down the hall, only stopping when I did as well.

"Talk to me, man." The concern in my best friend's voice was unmistakable and the tears started to pour.

"You should have seen her, Buck. She begged me to end her." I say between sobs, "I couldn't do it. I just couldn't."

Another thing I couldn't do was stop replaying the scene over and over again in my head- how broken she sounded and how she held her blade over her heart, pleading with her eyes.

When I thought my heart couldn't break any more, she'd gone and done it again, shattering it into a million different pieces. But there was no doubt that my heart and it's broken pieces still belonged to her, and that it'll always be hers.