The force of the crash knocked the back of his head against the chair. Unconsciousness gripped him almost instantly, saving him from having to feel the tight holds of the initial shock and freeze of entering the Arctic waters. Nothing but black, and no feeling at all.
He thought he was dead. He thought he was finished with his duty. He thought he would see his best friend Bucky again.
But as his mind cleared, and his thoughts focused, he never thought that even death could be so...Cold. Literally.
His eyes shot open, and he realized that he was still alive.
His breaths quickened, and he tried to gather his thoughts. What happened? Where was he?
Steve Rogers was sitting in the cockpit chair, and his hands were still gripped to the steering wheel.
Letting go, he placed his hands on his chest, and he smiled.
"I'm alive...I'm alive..." He repeated. Once he was completely sure that this was no cruel afterlife hallucination, he fumbled for the intercom and brought it near his mouth.
"Hello?! Anyone out there?" Nothing. Not even static. Taking another look around him, he realized that there were bits of ice frosted over metal. The plane was completely broken and out of commision. That meant that the communications were off, and that also meant that, unless by some miracle he was found, he was stranded Arctic. Completely alone, and slowly freezing to death. Looking out the window, he realized that the ship was slowly sinking. "Oh no-"
Rushing out of the chair, he quickly ran out the door, leaving his shield behind. Now realizing the full extent of his predicament as he exited the broken ship, he looked back just in time to see the aircraft sink in to the sea.
Now, he was truly alone. Not even his shield was there to bring him that familiar, comforting sense of safety and duty he carried with him.
His eyes wavered at the spot of his only chance at escape. Now, as the sun set slowly, its red light glazing over the surface of the Earth, Captain America wasn't sure how to feel. He'd done it. He'd saved everybody. But he was alone, and there was only one thing that could fuel him to push on.
"Peggy...I'm coming." His mind went in to overdrive, thinking of the best escape route. He remembered the position on the map of where he crashed, so if he headed a certain direction, he'd be able to reach some sort of civilization.
Looking at the sun, he closed his eyes. The sun sets West...Eyes opened, he now had a direction to go.
He ran as fast as he could, adrenaline pumping his muscles. No matter what, he would not miss it-He would find civilization. He would find help, he would find his old friends. He would find Peggy, go on their date, and live happy for the rest of their lives.
Sending a silent wish for Bucky to wait for him a bit longer, he felt the freezing cold of night wash over him. He wouldn't let that stop him-Nothing would stop Captain America if he set his mind to it.
Right?
He wasn't sure how long he ran, but he knew that he'd never felt this tired since his transformation in to a soldier. His legs felt like mush-Every passing second stung him with agony and pain. He realized that, although his mind was set in stone, his body was only the peak of the capabilities of the human body.
That meant limits, whether he liked it or not.
Falling to his knees, he crashed down on his fists, and started to repeatedly punch the ice.
"No..." He hissed through clenched teeth, looking forward to the black night that mocked him. "I can't give up...I can't..." He would crawl-He could still make it.
Reaching out with his hand, he realized that even his arms felt like they were going to fall off. Trying to push off with his feet, he fell forward and couldn't stop fatigue and pain from paralyzing his body.
As he rolled over on to his back, the truth of the matter rammed in to him like a truck. There was no way out of this. One way or another, he wasn't going to make it.
Only the sound of the wind accompanied him as he silently counted the stars he could see. Being a city boy, he'd never seen that many. But it looked beautiful...A stream of white danced across the sky, stars visible everywhere. Smiling, he wished that he could of seen this more.
But he couldn't, because he was going to die. Frozen in the Arctic, where the chances of finding him were close to none.
Closing his eyes, he waited silently for death to claim it's next victim. He felt a strong blizzard coming...He just hoped that it came quickly enough.
He wasn't sure how he felt. Pain? Regret? Sorrow? Anger? A mix of all of those. He'd failed a promise. He wouldn't see Peggy again, and as time went on without him to sense it, he was slowly freezing over. Soon, he felt nothing but the vast, blackness of impending death.
"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost 70 years." The stranger with an eyepatch told him. He stared off in to empty space, and looked around him once more. Unknown technology, yet people walked on as if it were part of their everyday life. He didn't want to believe it, but...
"You going to be okay?" The stranger said again.
"Yeah, yeah, I just..." He didn't know what, but as the memories of his life rushed back to meet him in this new time, his eyes started tearing up as Peggy came back to him. Almost 70 years...She'd be dead by now, most likely. By now, Peggy wouldn't miss him. Now, Steve missed Peggy.
"I had a date."