Steve woke up screaming. Panting, he looked around his room. Realizing he was safe, Steve laid back down and stared at the ceiling. Every night since that fateful day Steve had the same nightmare. As his eyes swelled with tears, Tasha opened his bedroom door. "I heard screaming. Are you ok?" she asked. He nodded. "You dreamt about him, didn't you?" Tasha asked. Steve looked at the floor. "You really need to get help with these dreams. You can't keep this bottled up forever." Tasha said grabbing Steve's hand. Steve relaxed a bit. Something about Tasha had always made him feel safe around her. "I'll go see a therapist in the morning." said Steve reluctantly. He knew it was no use fighting Tasha. "Good. You need it." Tasha said, happy that Steve was getting felt as her work here was done. She got up, told Steve goodnight, and left. Steve, though scared to, fell back asleep.
Blood. There's blood everywhere. Steve stumbles down the hall. Screams are ringing in his ears. He's slipping in and out of consciousness. He can barely stand. He finally made it to the bedroom at the end of the hall. He looks back down the hall and sees a hundred bloody knives pointed at him. He barely makes it into the bedroom before the knives start cutting him. He looks around the bedroom. There's blood dripping from the walls. The bedroom is soaked in crimson. A figure is hunched in the corner. Steve makes his way over to the figure and turns it around. It immediately takes the form of Tasha, but lifeless and pale. Steve screams out of anger and pain and wraps his body around hers. As his heart breaks, he fades out of consciousness and takes his last breath.
He wakes up crying. He curls into a ball and sobs, the face of dead Tasha still fresh in his mind. Every night, the same dream haunts his mind. The only thing that changes is which Avenger he sees. Tasha and Bucky are the most common, Thor being the least. Steve musters the strength to get up. He walks into the living room, where Tasha lounges on the couch. Steve sits down next to her, using all his willpower not to cry. Bucky walks in and flops down onto the recliner on Steve's right. There was a white ribbon on Bucky's wrist. Something clicks in Steve's mind. His mind starts throbbing as memories he tried to forget start breaking through. Throb, throb. A party. There was going to be a party. Tony was sent to get the ribbons. Throb, Throb. Steve went looking for Tony when he didn't come back in 30 minutes. Throb, throb, throb. Blood flowing from underneath Tony's door. Steve opened the door...Gah! He was ripped back to the present. " Steve! Are you alright?" Tasha said, clearly panicked. Steve had suddenly fell to the floor, hands on his head and screaming. "I-I'm f-fine." Steve forced out. He stood up, only losing his balance once. Steve sat back down, shaking hard. Then Bruce came in.
"I have fantastic news!" Bruce proclaimed excitedly. "We finally got enough blood for Tony!" Everyone cheered. Well, everyone except Bucky. Steve saw this and thought it strange. Why wasn't Bucky cheering? Steve thought on this as the day passed on. At night, Steve laid awake on his bed, scared to go to sleep. Steve heard a door click open and a male voice curse. Who is that? Steve wondered. Steve got up and peeked out the door just in time to see a figure slip into the lab. Steve followed silently, being careful not to make a sound. He looked around the corner into the lab. Tony was suspended in a glass chamber, tubes attached to him, keeping him alive. The figure walked up to Tony's chamber, stared at him a second, and started ripping out the the tubes connected to the chamber. Steve rushed in and flicked on the lights. Standing there, tubes in hand, was Bucky.
"Bucky, what are you doing?" Steve said, still in shock. "Steve, I.." Bucky started. "Why are you doing this?" Steve said, confusion in his eyes. "Getting him" Bucky said, gesturing to Tony, "Out of the way." "Why?" Steve said, raising his voice. "So we can be together" Bucky said, almost pleading. "Together? You think after this I could love you?" Steve yelled, getting angrier with every word, "If you want me so badly, you can have me!" Steve lurched at Bucky, tackling him to the ground. Steve flipped Bucky over and started punching him in the face. With every punch, memories broke their way into Steve's mind. Tony's body on the floor. The slits on Tony's wrists. The bloodied knife laying next to Tony. Steve hugging Tony hard to his chest as Steve screamed. Tony's pale face. His lifeless eyes. But as Steve thought about it, new things showed up. Bucky's disappearance from the party shortly after Tony left. How Bucky didn't cry when Tony's body was found. The ribbon on Tony's wrist… "You told him to didn't you?" Steve yelled, "You told him to take the knife!". "Of course I did! It took him forever to do it!" Bucky shouted back. A new anger filled Steve. Something cold. Something dark. This anger surged through Steve as he wrapped his hands around Bucky's neck. The anger was there when Steve squeezed with all his might. The anger disappeared when Bucky finally went limp in Steve's hands. The Winter Soldier was no more.
Steve sat and stared at his own hands when he realized what he'd done. He had killed Bucky. He had killed the only person from his time. He had killed his best friend. A cracking sound came from the glass. When Steve looked over, he saw that Bucky had managed to crack the glass. The crack was growing quickly. Before Steve could do anything, the glass broke and Tony slid onto the floor. Steve crawled over to Tony's lifeless body. He was dead. Steve sat hunched over Tony as his heart broke. He looked up and saw Tony, standing there, happy as can be. Tony offered his hand to Steve. "C'mon big guy, it's time to go." Tony said, smiling down at Steve. Steve took Tony's hand and walked with him into heaven as Steve Rogers left our world for good.
The rest of the Avengers found them in the morning. Bucky was laying on the ground with his hands by his sides. Steve had Tony's body in his lap and his eyes were open. Tasha screamed and cried. Bruce was too in shock to hulk out. Clint left because he didn't want anyone to see him cry. Thor caused such a thunderstorm that it shook the earth. Later, when they had recovered enough to do anything, they looked at the security tapes and saw the battle between Steve and Bucky. They had a funeral for all three of them a week later. They all had the same thing written on their tombstones: " Our world will never be the same without you as its hero".