Chapter 57
Steve’s eyes snapped open back in the present.
He was confused for a few seconds before it all came back to him in full force.
Their first Christmas with the Winchesters. A mysterious woman that said she is an Avenger that came from the future to save the Earth. A ship appearing from nowhere, destroying what comes in its way. SHIELD asking for their help. Tony and Dean going inside the ship and never managed to come back out. Loneliness and despair for days. Then, pain that started from his brain and spreading through his whole body. Castiel put him to sleep then he was back there. In the forties. With Tony, Dean and Sydney. Facing a monster calling himself Holdstein. Falling for the man with blue light in his chest. Falling for his husband before he was even born by decades. How ironic.
It took him seconds to have all those memories rushing back to his brain in coordination that he suspects was Castiel’s doing. Between those memories, he heard the Angel’s voice talking to him in his brain in a quiet voice. Asking him about their husbands. Then the last thing Castiel whispered in his brain rang loudly inside his ears.
“The moment they leave the era, you need to wake up, Steve. You need to wake up and tell us that they left. It is the only way to bring them back.”
He sat bolt upright, freaking out half of his team by his sudden movement since they’re yet to notice that he was awake. His eyes scanned the room fast until they landed on Castiel who was immediately on his feet and staring at him in anticipation.
“They just left.” He announced with a dry voice from not talking for days.
Castiel’s eyes widened then turned to Jane and Sam.
“Start the broadcast. Fast!”
***
Immediately, Dean noticed the pale, pained look on Tony’s face when he finally entered the ship.
Sydney was helping Brigitte with the seat belt, so she didn’t notice the look of utter despair on the genius’s face as he threw himself on the seat next to Dean looking like he just lost everything.
Dean’s heart fell to his knees.
“Tony, what’ve you done?” Dean demanded and tried to keep his voice calm to not show the panic he was slowly feeling.
Tony’s eyes turned towards him, and the look in his eyes was answering enough.
“I had to do it, Dean. I had to.” He whispered brokenly. Pain and devastation filled his words heavily.
“No, you didn’t have to! This is just your fucking self-loathing clouding your judgment and blinding you.” Dean hissed in suppressed anger. “What you did might feel selfless but in fact it was selfish. You thought by making yourself miserable it will make everyone living along happy with their lives. But in fact, all you have done is telling the love of your fucking life to avoid his fate. Now, he might spend his entire life waiting for the moment where he will finally meet you again in excitement, only to be disappointed and broken hearted when he is an old man, who wasted his life looking for the love of his life, only to see the man he was waiting for in TV or something, young and had no clue who the fuck he is.” Tony’s eyes widened in horror, obviously he didn’t think about any of that when he warned Steve. Only thinking about the whole thing from his point of view alone. “And in addition to all of that? We might go back to our time to find everything went to shit because of you screwing with time. We might never find our home again. Or the moment we step out of the ship, Sydney will vanish in thin air right in front of her lover who just threw her life away to be with her! The world doesn’t revolve around you, if you haven’t noticed! Everything you do, affects who are around you!” Dean knew he was being harsh, but he was just so mad and frustrated then. Literally, everything could go to hell just because Tony thought his husband would be happier without him!
Tony looked down at his lap where his shaking hands rested.
“I-I didn’t think-I-I just wanted him to be happy! I-I didn’t mean for all of this!” Tony stuttered as he looked at Dean frantically, managing to break Dean’s heart from the desperation on his face. “Dean, I-I didn’t-I am sorry I-“
“When are you going to finally see that Steve’s is actually happy with you?! You not seeing it, might have just ruined everything!”
Before Dean could continue his rant, Sydney interrupted him by starting the ship.
“Buckle up, guys! We’re leaving this age of blood!” she announced in determination. “Be warned, we don’t know where the next journey will take us.”
“It won’t be worse than this.” Dean muttered with a sigh.
Two German aircrafts appeared in the horizon, so Sydney immediately flew the ship right to space.
“Here we go, then.”
***
The sun rises and sets a thousand times in a few seconds as the ship dived into a storm of colors and they all felt pressure on their necks and chests that made Brigitte almost scream.
Then, suddenly, everything was over.
The ship reached the Nil Zone, and was floating in the endless nothingness surrounding it with its black holes staring mockingly at them.
A heavy silence fell on them as they trailed their eyes over the holes in front of them.
Each one was lost in their own dark thoughts. With darker questions that loomed in their heads.
When will the next hole will take them?
The ice age? The middle ages? Ancient Egypt?
Will they ever find their way back home?
Does home still even exists?
“So, left or right?” Sydney interrupted the silence grimly.
“Well, I still prefers straight lines.” Tony muttered while pointing at the hole right in front of them.
“Holy shit! Do you guys see that too?” Dean suddenly exclaimed while pointing at something.
They all turned towards what he was pointing at and their eyes widened.
“It is a red hole!” Brigitte exclaimed awed.
“Not only that! It emits a very special frequency that is different from the others!” Sydney announced frantically.
Dean and Tony’s eyes widened in understanding at the same moment and looked at each other.
“The team!” they exclaimed together excitedly with huge relived grins on their faces.
“Go towards that hole!” Dean said urgently turning towards Sydney.
“Do you think it is a sign?” Sydney asked hopefully as she darted towards the red hole.
“We have nothing to lose.” Tony shrugged looking anxious.
The hole was far away, but its red color made it obvious between the hundreds of holes surrounding it.
Sydney darted towards it as fast as the ship could go.
Then suddenly, the red color disappeared and the hole returned back to its black color.
“No! What happened?” Dean exclaimed nervously.
Tony and Sydney stared anxiously at the hundreds of holes in front of them that looked exactly the same.
The painful truth fell on them like lightening.
Without the red color, it’s impossible to find the hole again to return back home.