Jotunheim was a barren wasteland. A cold reminder of an angry god's wrath. No signs of recent civilization could be found for miles. Steve was as thankful as he could be for that. Sure there were ruins, great and terrible pillars of a once proud people stood in the ice and snow like a reminder of the foolishness of immortals but people have not inhabited this castle for years.

The destruction wrought by the bifrost was too great. It reduced the Frost Giants to a plague on the universe rather than a proud people. In the end, after all of the suffering they had gone through they turned their backs on the Aesir and their feeble truce. They would do anything to survive.

The reason that the Avengers had to get involved was not one Steve wished to think about. He would have been perfectly happy to let the Jotun live on and colonize Antarctica had they not decided to take the rest of the earth and the erant population as their own personal slaves. but as it so happened they had thought humans so far beneath them that they had not given attack a second thought.

The two year long war between the Frost Giants and the humans did nothing to deter hatred for any other alien race. Steve was here for one important mission, to help gather the Frost Giant sympathizers and take them back for justice in the new high court.

The high court was the only good thing to come from this war because Bucky reckoned and Steve agreed that if the leaders of all the races could work together to bring the universe justice, then they could actually start to mend human/alien relations. Odin, Nick Fury and a beautiful woman the color of jade green, a woman named Gamora had decided to join forces and get interplanetary relations up and running.

The war had gained sides and Steve had decided he didn't want in on any of it. The X-Men, The Fantastic four and the avengers planned to stay well out of it this time. After the superhero registration act had been repealed they chose not to take any sides for fear of the unrest that could plague the hero community. Alas that was not for them.

The Jotun, led by a newly de throned loki, took the ruins of london as their base of operations. Thor was devistated by the death of his father and the final damnation of his brother loki. He left earth to rule on asgard alone. The Avengers were missing their aseir brother in arms but they could do nothing for Thor yet. Meanwhile Heimdall was forced to serve Thor as a mercenary, it was not a job Heimdall had ever planned on doing and it left a hole in the post of guardian. With no one to watch out for asgard as intended. Thanos sent agents to break into the king's vault and steal the infinity gauntlet. Not impressed by the young king's actions and the subsequent consequences of Thor's neglect of the nine realms, Heimdall sent for the Avengers to knock some sense into Thor.

Thor had been ready for them and rode out with Sif and the warriors three intent on battle. The only reason that Thor and his Honor Guard were defeated was that Thor had been no longer worthy to weild Moljnir and his compatriots were not willing to seriously hurt the Avengers. After a timely breakdown of his greatest strengths and a hard beating by the Hulk, Thor stood before his greatest friends a broken man. He decided to use his armies to fight Loki and the Frost Giants on earth. With great sorrow and a willingness to do right and become worthy once more, Thor took his place on the high court.

With Thor back and willing to leap into battle Steve decided to confer with the muntants. Professors Xavier and Erik, of the school for gifted youngsters and past leaders of the brotherhood and X-menX-men, had not been happy for the interference of the avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. They did not want their families and friends fighting in this war. They could not, however, deny that their assistance was needed.

Reed Richards had been working with Hank Pym, Tony Stark, and Victor Von Doom to create a prison to contain the prisoners of the interplanetary High Court. It was a chance to create the failed prison that the government had him working on for the superhero registration act. It took a year and most of their respective fortunes to get the prison construction underway.

The Court was formed, The army was ready for battle and the prison was ready to take an influx of prisoners. Now all that they needed was to defeat Loki and his armies once and for all. Their enemies fell one by one in battle so glorious that Thor had considered this one to be his crowning epic. He boasted that this would be sung about for millennia in Asgard. Steve knew that it would be no diffrent on earth. The battle may have been won but Loki was still out there. The war was not over. Not by a long shot.

As it so happens this was neither here nor there at the moment. They were just a few thoughts as Steve stood watch for Thor's return. He stood in a niche on the side of a large ice mountain that was rumored to hide a palace. This palace had been the capital of the ruling city of Jotunheim. but now it was a ruin. The mountain was rumored to be the hideaway for the stray chutari and Dark Elves that had decided to enter the war. They had chosen this niche for a rendezvous point. Thor had asked for their help in retrieving this group personally as it was rumored that his brother had been hiding with them. Steve felt that for Thor to get over his anger at loki, he would need to first face him. Steve had no choice but to agree to help.

He stood at the bottom observing the great wall of rock and ice to his left. The ice and snow surrounded his every movement and sent chills down his spine into his very soul. the cold was seeping into his suit like a bad memory and he couldn't remember the last time he had been so terrified. The top of a wall of ice still eluded him even with his enhanced sight. He was told to wait for Thor and he would do just that. Jotunheim is not like anything Steve had encountered after all.

He was just Captain America. Just a guy from Brooklyn and he wasn't important in the grand scheme of things, not really. Steve didnt feel important. He didnt think he ever would. He looked around and saw nothing.

No flash of red that would signal Thor's arrival. The only thing he saw for miles was blue and white. Ice and snow. And cold. Unfailing in misery. Phil needed to hurry back. He just did. He couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't stand to sit in enemy territory ripe for the taking. He hated being a sitting duck and he hated sitting there alone. The Dark Elves would return. When they did he would never be able to fight them alone, even with his advanced strength he would die..

..no he and Phil would die.

Phil

Damn the man and his sense of duty. Steve begged with him not to go. He positively begged. Not after getting him back from the dead had he been this scared for Phil's safety. Phil had come out of hiding when the first initial attack of the Frost Giants had left a good group of people, including his longtime friend Maria Hill, dead.

Steve had been so guilty because of Phil's death that when he saw him alive for the first time (and no one would use this against him because Tony had done this too) Steve actually shed tears.

He heard Phil's screams before he knew they were his. His whole body tensing for the attack before he registered that phil was not there.

" Phil!" Steve screamed for him. Terror etched itself into his bones. "Oh god no"!

He could not loose Phil again. Not after loki. Not after new York. Phil was his hero and his partner.

He scrambled to his feet to better locate the sound. His head swung aroung in rapid movements. The snow had long since glued its self to his jacket from inactivity but it showered around his feet in waves now. He swung around trying to pinpoint phil's location. His head swung up as more screams and shouts echoed through the empty skies. The sound came from above.

"NO"

Phil screamed again. This time in pain instead of fear.

He knew what he had to do before he even did it. The gloves on his hands were too thick to let him get a good grip on the ice. He dreaded what was to come. He had to climb the wall and he had to remove his gloves to do it.

The ice on his bare hands made him shudder. It was bitter cold and felt worse than the freezing metal of that damnable plane. His hands stuck to the holds in the ice and his skin came off in bloody patches only to slightly heal before being torn away once agian. He didn't care. He had to get to Phil. All of the ice in the nine realms couldn't rival the cold fear of loosing Phil agian.

He shouldn't have been here. Phil should not have been here. When Steve found Loki he would smash his shield into his big norse face.

'Oh god Phil no please don't die. I love you god damn it, I always have. You are my fella. Bucky even likes you and Bucky don't like no one. You can't die on me again' Steve's thoughts were frantic and his inner monologue turned to the Brooklyn accent he had as a kid.

Tears froze on his face as the screaming stopped. He pulled himself to the top of the wall.

"PHIL"

His heart stopped when he saw him.

"Run"!

"Phil no. I will not leave you."

Phil's heavy coat hood was pulled back from his face. Blood dripped out of his nose and ears in a steady stream. He seemed to be alone. But years of training had Steve looking fot threats immediately. He had moved back from the icy ledge. Phil had his hand up in warning even as he slipped down to his knees. Blood slowly dripped from his nose to the white show underneath his knees and white pants. His tense shoulders and pleading soft eyes screamed 'stay away'.

The moment Steve stepped forward he started to disappear. His body shimmering to transparency and quickly to nothing before Steve's eyes. The more his body disappeared the more others started to appear. The long grey bodies of twenty dark elves made their way into Steve's range of visibility.

Oh shit.

In a last ditch effort to reach Phil and tell him it would be ok, he started forward, only to have the first elf raise his sword and take a swipe at him. He dodged the elf and took the opportunity to land a glancing blow to back of the elves head. It crumpled to the ground with unseeing eyes. A pool of blood formed under Steved booted feet. The purpilish color stained the blue boots black.

"I will not leave you"

His eyes burned from the unshed tears and he rushed forward to be with him. To pull him back from the elves if need be. The rest of the elves, spurred on by Steve's actions, gripped phil and pulled him to his feet. He was yanked back behind the group.

"Phil don't do this. Dont die on me again. Please"(I love you)

The shorter man's eyes held so much fear. He was too late. The non occupied elves rushed forward with their weapons in hand. Magic of all different colors came at him like gun fire and effectively cutting off Steve from making a rescue. As much as it pained Steve to admit it, he was out gunned and out matched. If he did not retreat he would be captured or killed.

The last words he heard before he jumped off that cliff hit him like a punch to the stomach.

"I love you too captain. Always have, always will."

The last thought Steve had as he sailed down the side of the mountian was of how many times the ones he cared about had to fall because he could not catch them and how many times he would jump to save their lives.

This is the first time I have written anything in three years. I tried to post this earlier but decided to redo the whole thing. I am much happier with volume two.

I have no clue if this will be a one shot or all the shots but I enjoy no strings attached writing soo...