Fire

Summary: He had nothing left to lose.

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There was a moment during the battle when everything seemed to pause for him, when he glanced over and saw Tony look to Strange and Strange raised one finger, when Steve realized what Tony was meaning to do.

But...

Steve couldn't let him, he thought about that little girl that Tony had carried into his home, he thought about Pepper setting the table for six when she knew why they had come to Tony.

Steve thought about going into the Ice seventy years ago, expecting to die, of waking up in a time where he'd lost everyone, of gaining a pseudo-family in the Avengers, of giving that up for Bucky, Steve thought of Bucky... he couldn't move on with Steve, Steve was a reminder of everything he used to be and could no longer be.

And Steve made a choice, the same one he had made so long ago, if someone was going to die here, for the world it was going to be him, going to be the man who had nothing to lose, there were no children who would cry at his loss, who would barely remember the father he wasn't, no wife to mourn him and Bucky would have Sam to help him move on, to remake himself without Steve reminding him of who he used to be, it would be a new start for Bucky without Steve around.

Steve launched himself at Thanos again, took his attention while Stark geared himself up, closing his eyes in preparation before attacking but by the time Tony was ready it was already done, Steve had the new Gauntlet and the stones and he was burning.

Steve closed his eyes for a moment as the fire raced through his veins, it felt familiar, like a memory and Steve recognized the memory, recognized the pain as the same one he'd felt at the very start of everything when he'd been in Howard's chamber for the Serum, absently, like the last time, Steve wondered if this was how it felt to be burned alive.

Steve forced his eyes open, forced himself to stand, and it hurt, oh, how it hurt but he looked at Thanos as the being turned to him.

"I am... inevitable." Thanos said as he snapped his fingers only for nothing to happen, he looked surprised.

Steve found a smile as his eyes fell to Stark, Tony, who looked so shocked and surprised and terrified.

"So are we." Steve whispered and he raised his arm with a great effort and snapped his fingers and he burned like the wick of a candle and then suddenly...

Out he went, like someone blew the flame out.

The Stones fell from the Gauntlet as Steve fell to the ground, and Steve couldn't even feel Tony catching him, he couldn't feel anything and a smile wormed it's way back to his lips, nothing hurt anymore, not his body, not his mind, not his heart, nothing hurt, it was... silence.

"Cap!" Tony's voice broke through his haze of numbness, "Steve!"

Steve looked up, met Tony's eyes, the image of him fading, becoming hazy like memory.

He could hear the rumble of Tony's voice in his ears, could feel the vibrations through the numbness that engulfed him but everything was fading away, he could not understand the words Tony was saying, the hum of his voice was soothing against his ear where it rested against Tony's chest.

Steve's lips twitched, a muscle spasm more than anything else, that little girl of Stark's would get to feel that every time her Daddy read her a story now, Steve hoped she remembered that when she was older, Pepper would hear that voice when they were in bed long after their child went to bed, Steve hoped she took care of him.

Steve let his eyes close, too tired now to keep them open, even when Tony began to shake him harshly, voice rising in volume and Steve recognized the urgency but could do nothing in response, he was so tired, he'd been tired from the moment he had put that plane into the Ice, when he had laid himself out on the floor of it and closed his eyes expecting nothing but the cold embrace of death.

It was time for that now, time to let go and so, ignoring Tony's frantic and unintelligible yelling, Steve finally let go, and let the world, and all the noise fade away into nothing, into silence.

How fitting it was that he had died first by ice and now he was ended by fire.

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Well, that wasn't a fix-it.

So, I watched Endgame... and while it was nice that Steve got his happy ending I couldn't help but feel that it was entirely selfish of him and of all of the Avengers Tony had the most to lose when they went into it and I feel like Steve would see that and well, at that point Steve didn't exactly have a whole lot to lose, no family, no children and I thought back to that little guy in Captain America: the First Avenger, the one that jumped on that dummy grenade ready to die for every one else and why wouldn't he do that for someone he knows has everything to lose.

And so this happened, my apologies.