Author's Note: Second piece in the fandom, inspired by a documentary I happened to catch the other day regarding warfare in the 20th Century (although I should note, I have a strong academic background in the topic to start with).

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If you ask anyone, they will tell you that Steve is a good soldier. He has always been a good soldier, from the moment he swore his oath. When he went off to the war, he followed orders - he killed the enemy, he rescued civilians and compatriots, and he asked his questions only when his men was safely behind the lines.

Contrary to popular belief, Steve is not unduly naive. One does not live through war and emerge unscathed, not even someone with the physical (and, by extension, mental) resilience granted by the Super Soldier Serum. Yes, he believes deeply in the power of ideals and the justness of fighting "the good fight." He believes people deserve the benefit of the doubt until they disown that right through their actions. That when the option is present, the ordinary man will do the right thing.

But he also knows that evil things are done in the name of "the good fight," and ordinary men do not exist in a vacuum. When he wakes in the night, years and years out of a time which is slowly ceasing to be "his" and becoming instead "the past," it is not always Bucky's face he sees in the dark place behind his eyelids. Bucky is the explanation he gives when Tony refuses to let the subject of nightmares go, when Steve is losing sleep more often than he is enjoying it. Steve does not fool himself that Tony believes the hollow words, but then Steve knows that Tony has his own ghosts, and truces can be bought with silent lips and breathless moans.

Steve tells himself that he does not lie, for Bucky haunts his dreams often enough, and Steve is still too good of a soldier to dishonor men who have long since died. Even if their actions will continue to trouble him until the day he ceases to dream altogether. The last thing he needs is more ghosts dogging his steps, these days.

After all of this time, everything he has seen in the years since waking from the ice, there is still nothing so terrifying as good men gone mad with grief and terror, mowing down civilians and surrendering soldiers alike because they are numb to anything but their own screams.

He cannot help but remember: They were once good soldiers, too.

Finis