Tour Guide | Steve Rogers ✓

Chapter Twenty Two

It was strange. The last thing Quinn could remember wasn't everything fading to black, Aquila's voice echoing in her mind. She had died that much she was sure of. There was nothing within her mind that could justify the fact that she had been dead, turned to ashes left to blow away in the wind. But now she could feel the dirt beneath her hands, smell the flowers nearby, hear the birds ahead. 

All of her senses can rushing back to her in a moment, her surroundings slowly coming back into focus. And all of a sudden she felt herself take in a deep breath, her chest rising once more in front of her. 

It took all she had to become in control of her breathing once more, before eventually pushing herself up finally interacting with her surroundings once more. 

Her eyes scanned anxiously across the ground, as she eventually made her way back to the clearing only to see Sam, Bucky and Wanda going through similar thought processes as she had only a few moments earlier. 

"Quinn," Sam called out getting the attention of the blonde. "You died as well. . "

"Yeah. . ." Quinn breathed out shakily before realising that Bea had appeared by them as well. "Bea, are you alright?"

"I think so. Where is Keira?" Bea replied looking around in shock.

"Where is everyone?" Bucky asked as well looking around. "How are well all even alive? The last thing I remember was turning to ash."

But thankfully for them all a figure suddenly appeared in front of them offering an explanation none of them were really ready for. 

"You are all alive because Thanos' snap was reversed by the Avengers. Five years have passed."

"Does that mean that they defeated Thanos?" Quinn's voice asked shakily. 

"Not even close to yet. But they've been fighting for the past five years and they need your help."

"I'm sorry did you just say, five years?" Bucky asked incredulously. 

"Have a look for yourself." The wizard-like figure said, opening a golden portal in front of them before disappearing into thin air once more. 

Quinn looked out of the portal in shock as T'Challa, Okoye and Shuri walked out, only to see a desolate battlefield in front of them. Sam soon took off overhead, flying through the portal, the rest of them following out of the portal.  

The troops of Wakanda marched forward, yelling their battle cry as Quinn looked around at many unfamiliar faces surroundings them streaming from their own golden portals before her eyes landed on someone who was looking a lot different from the last time Quinn had seen him. 

"Yibambe!"

"YIBAMBE!"

"Yibambe!"

"YIBAMBE!"

"Steve!" Quinn couldn't help but shout, running straight towards Steve who could hardly believe that she was there standing in front of him again. 

Quinn was soon pulled into Steve's tight embrace, their teeth knocking together, just like their first-ever kiss as the two of them pulled together for a desperate kiss five years in the making.

"You're here." Steve choked, tears running down his face. "I don't ever want to lose you ever again. I love you. I love you so much." 

"Hey, stranger," Quinn replied with a smile, playing with his hair that had only grown slightly longer in her absence, before bringing his lips to hers once more. "I love you."

As Steve brought his blonde into his embrace once more, the tension in his shoulders that had seemed to be there constantly over the last five years slowly releasing, he couldn't but help to think about all the times over the last few years when the sudden loss of Quinn was all he could think about.

Hope. No one ever realizes how much hope means until there's nothing left in its place. It had all happened so quickly, Thanos snapping his fingers, everyone disappearing into nothing but ashes. However, nothing would ever compare to the pain that buried itself deep within Steve's chest when he realized that he had not only lost Bucky, Sam and countless members of his teammates but that he had lost Quinn as well, the one person that he would never be able to lose. 

Hope. It had come again when they all thought that they had a chance. A chance to reverse it all, but just like how Thanos had destroyed the lives of millions, he had destroyed the stones as well, leaving no hope behind only complete utter despair. 

Nothing could ever compare to pain hitting him every single morning, the harsh reality hitting all of a sudden the second he opened his eyes, running his hand over the empty, cold spot on the bed where Quinn would usually lie. Every day feeling like another eternity that Steve had to get through with her by his side. 

It wasn't until he was forced to learn how to live again without her that Steve realised how much he couldn't. Ever since that chance meeting at the Smithsonian all those years ago, the Tour Guide wormed her way into his heart, offering the support and guidance needed in his crazy life. She had kept him grounded, allowing him to keep going when everything seemed impossible. And now how was he supposed to ground himself not that she was gone? 

He remembered the first time he crashed into Tom Greene on the empty streets of New York, in his attempt to run the loss of Quinn out of his mind. Although he had never met the love of his life's adoptive parents, he knew very well that they knew perfectly well who he was. 

"Steve." Tom Greene's voice had called to him, forcing him to a stop. 

"I'm sorry." Was the only thing that Steve could manage to choke out at the sight of the broken man in front of him. "I'm sorry that I couldn't protect her."

"I know you did all you could, Steve. And now both she and Jake are in a better place now. We've just got to make this world something that they would be proud of."

The hardest part of moving on was watching his two best friends, Aquila and Natasha marry each other despite all the people missing from the ceremony, watching Tony and Keira move out to the countryside and start a family. It was everything that Steve had always wanted with Quinn and now he would never get the chance. He was forever happy for both couples but the small selfish part of him wanted him to be one who had the chance to marry the love of his life, to move in together, create a home and a family. 

And now there was that hope again, ever-present in the back of his room. With everyone gathered around him, with Quinn back in his arms once more, they had a chance, a proper chance, to finish this once and for all. Make sure that Natasha's sacrifice was worth it, provide the chance for everyone to have their happily ever afters once more. And they were going to do it, whatever it takes. 

"Come on, Lovebirds!" Sam's teasing voice startled Steve out of his own thoughts. "As much as this is touching and all, in fact I think Bucky here is about to burst into tears but if you don't mind I would kind of like to get this over and done with."

"I think that's our cue," Quinn replied with a mischievous smile. "We better get back to work. What do you say, Captain?"

Steve shot Quinn another smile, squeezing her hand before turning back to where Thanos stood with his army. 

"Avengers!" He yelled summoning Mjolnir into his hand as Quinn only looked up in shock. "Assemble."