Chapter 2
Steve ran a hand through his hair but remained silent, trying to process what he just heard. But one question gnawed his brain. How could his relinquishment affect the young man's mother? Who was she?
"What did you mean by your mother was affected the most when I left? Who is she?"
James' eyes started to fill with tears again. After a few moments of silence, he spoke, "Natasha. My mother is Natasha Romanoff."
The verdant eyes, perfect nose, sharp chin, the laughter.. Suddenly it all started to fall in place. Even James' voice was a little husky. Just like Natasha but deeper. But it still didn’t make any sense for many different reasons.
Natasha's dead, right? Did she had a kid before she died? No, if she did she'd tell him. Why didn’t she tell him? Is James lying? He had so many questions.
Steve frowned and shook his head in disbelief, "No..wait..what? How? I-" he was struggling to form words. "She had a child?! I never knew..And I thought she couldn’t- And how? She sacrificed herself for the soul stone. Bruce tried to bring her back but failed so- ."
"If you had stuck around a little longer you'd know."
...
Post-battle Avengers Compound (Reconstructed), 2023
They built a makeshift Avengers HQ just outside Tony and Pepper's lake house. Steve and Carol stood at the platform of the time machine. Fully geared and ready to complete the final step of the mission.
Steve insisted to do it alone but Bruce was stubborn. The ancient one thoroughly warned them not to mess up cause if they do, it can cause catastrophe throughout the multiverse. There was no way Bruce was going to risk this one. So he asked Carol to help Steve return the stones.
The plan is simple. Since Carol wasn’t there during the time heist, they decided to let her return the stones that will require the least interaction with other people. Thus, facing least problems.
First, Steve and Carol both went to New York, 2012. Steve placed the space stone back in Loki's scepter and Carol went to the sanctum to return the time stone.
After a quick regroup they split up. Carol had most experience with space so she went to 2014. First stop Morag to return the power stone, then Vormir for the soul stone.
Steve on the other hand, had to go to Asgard in 2013. Not only because he had to return the reality stone but also because Carol wasn’t worthy to pick up the Mjolnir that they also needed to return so that 2013 Thor could fight against the Dark Elves. After returning them both, Steve set the time for 1970 and coordinates to Camp Lehigh, New Jersey.
Morag, 2014
Returning the power stone hadn’t been difficult. Thanks to Rocket and Nebula, the stone was already placed in an orb and as soon as Carol brought the orb near the small purple force field which was supposed to protect the stone, it just sucked the orb inside and it started to levitate.
Carol left the structure and went binary, not minding the still-very-passed-out Peter Quill and headed to her last stop before returning to Earth. She didn’t want to get her hopes up because Clint informed them that the entity that guards the soul stone said that the exchange is everlasting and irreversible. But Carol couldn’t stop thinking about the what-ifs.
After the decimation Carol and Natasha had grown very close to each other. The ex-airforce pilot didn’t know much about the spy's past but she was amazed to see her determination to fix things, to make things right when most people accepted defeat and turned their backs on the world. Even though Natasha didn’t get much help beside the Starks, she worked hard to help people who were affected by the snap. Specially the countless children who were orphaned.
Carol did her best to help Natasha on the fieldwork even though she had responsibilities in other planets. She tried to spend most of her time on earth but went to other galaxies to keep tabs on from time to time.
After defeating Thanos she asked around for Natasha. "Hey, Rhodes. Do you know where Natasha is? I didn’t see her during the entire battle. She doesn’t seem like someone to miss out on a good fight," Carol smiled. "Now where is she?"
Rhodey's face fell. "She gone."
"What? What do you mean?" she asked, confused.
"She sacrificed herself to get the soul stone." Carol was stunned. She sunk into a nearby chair, trying absorb Rhodey's words. Her eyes filling with tears.
He continued, "Banner tried to bring her back when he had the gauntlet but..it just didn’t work. I guess you can only bring back the dusted with those stones."
She missed Nat, a lot. So she couldn’t stop the thin ray of hope in her mind that maybe if she returns the stone, she'll get her friend back.
Vormir, 2014
Carol was startled by a black hooded figure behind her and almost shot a photon blast at it. As the figure came closer, she recognized it. It's the same guardian that Clint was trying to describe.
"Welcome, Carol Danvers, daughter of Joseph," he spoke with a heavy accent.
"You guard the stone, don’t you?"
"Yes. What you seek lies in front of you. As does that which you fear."
"Cut the exposition crap, okay? I'm not here for the stone. I have the stone," Carol opened the palm of her hand to show him. "I'm here to return it. A soul for a soul, right? So, If I return the stone, do I get back the person who was sacrificed?"
The guardian looked a bit puzzled, "It has never been done before. The exchange is supposed to be everlasting. But you're welcome to try."
"So how do I return it?"
"The same way it was acquired."
Carol stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down, half expecting to see a dead body. But there was nothing but light fog and dusty snow. She couldn’t help the chill that ran down her spine.
This is where Nat jumped from, sacrificed herself so that Clint could reunite with his family; so the Avengers could bring everyone back.
She extended her hand that clutched the stone. She was never really religious but in that moment she prayed to whatever mysterious higher power there was, to bring back Nat. She opened her palm and saw the stone fall and disappear down in the fog.
Suddenly a very bright light illuminated the sky of Vormir and her sight went black.
Camp Lehigh, 1970
He stared at the time-travelling device at his wrist then at Peggy who is currently too busy with her paperwork to notice that she is being watched by a certain supersoldier.
He completed the mission. He placed the last stone-the tesseract-back in Howard's vault and was about to activate his quantum suit. But right now, he's feeling indecisive. Should he go back to 2023 or finally get the life that he always wanted but could never have?
He'd be lying to himself if he said the idea of going back to Peggy didn’t cross his mind before. He was battling with himself ever since Scott Lang proposed the idea of time travel. However, the first time, he had a job that needed to be done. So he compartmentalized his feelings and focused on the mission. But this time it was different.
Despite having a few grey hairs at her temple, Peggy looked just as beautiful as the day he had kissed her before getting on the Valkyrie. Before taking the serum and becoming Captain America, Peggy was the only one beside Bucky and his ma who believed in him. And probably even loved him.
Peggy still had a framed photo of the skinny version him on her office desk. That's ought to mean something right? Even after all these years, maybe she still loves him. What will he do going back in 2023? He doesn’t want to be Captain America anymore. He just wants to be Steve Rogers. That's why he passed his shield, along with his legacy, to Sam.
Buck will be alright too. He won't have any shortage of people to help him. Sam's there, so is Rhodey. And there's no HYDRA or government to run from anymore. Also he is allied with the Wakandans. So everything should be fine.
Natasha. There were times when he'd think that maybe he could have a romantic and serious relationship with Natasha. But..it just never happened. They never got the timing right. There were barely any time in between bad guys trying to destroy the world to running from the government to bad guys trying to destroy the world again. Even when there were-a few brief period of calm in between chaos-they themselves were with other people. The number of missed opportunities for them being together were ridiculously abundant. Even when all was quiet during the last five years, it just didn’t feel right, for either of them. The burden of failure..guilt was too heavy.
At the end times, they had gotten closer once. Tried to chase away the nightmares that didn’t let them sleep at night. Then shortly after, they had a mission in hand, a chance to bring back everyone. So their feelings had to take a back seat. But now when everything was finally okay and peaceful, Natasha herself wasn’t there. So what's the point of going back?
Would it be so wrong if he wanted to be selfish for just once in his life? He was just so tired. He didn’t want to fight anymore. He wanted to live normally for once. To live that the life Tony always told him about. A simple life.
Steve finally made his decision. He won't go back in 2023. Instead he'll go to 1950s and be with Peggy. Just like he was supposed to if he hadn’t crashed the Valkyrie that ominous day. So he set the time and coordinates and went subatomic.