Title: Time is a Measure of Infinity
By: TriplePirouette/3Pirouette
Spoilers: current MCU
Disclaimer: They're not mine.
Distribution: . Anyone else please ask first :)
Summary: Steve and the Vision are confronted with the time stone. For SteggyWeek2k16, "Free for all"
AN: I started this after AOU came out. I'm not sure exactly what I wanted the ending to be, but this seemed as good as any.
The Vision turned, straying from the fight to the lone man on the hillside, hidden from the fray by the rise of the earth. Amid several torn bodies he stood, soot staining his face and uniform, looking intently at something small in his hand.
Vision landed softly, but crunched his boots loudly on the earth as he approached the hero. "What," he softly begged, "could have you so enamored when your companions face destruction?"
Steve looked up as Vision came to a stop before him and simply held out his hand. There was a bright golden glow from within, shimmering with hints of ethereal blues and greens, radiating from a small irregular pebble that could barely be seen in the radiating light held in Steve's palm.
The Vision supposed that if he could shiver he would have. Steve held the Time Stone, lost amidst the battle, picked up by one of their own, and yet- yet he felt uneasy.
It was the dark, determined look in Steve's eyes that gave him pause, which made him doubt the moral compass of the man before him. They were the eyes of a man about to do a very, very stupid thing.
Vision stepped forward, his hand out, intending to lecture Steve on doing the right thing, intent on reminding him why they were the so called "good guys," but the moment Vision's hand closed over Steve's, he felt a jolt of power.
He surged with the energy of the stone in Steve's palm meeting and feeding off the stone embedded in his being. They fed off one another and multiplied one another until the Vision could feel himself and Steve removed from this plane of existence, floating onto a dimension he could only remember from being a sentient computer program. Before he could even think another moment on the reprimand he'd begun he saw a face- a beautiful brunette with sparkling eyes and ruby red lips that made him feel warm and bright. She shifted: military uniform, bright red dress, dirty fatigues, but her eyes were always the same, her smile shifted stern to sweet, but it was always there, and more than anything, more than anything he felt Steve's emotions like a fire burning inside him. He didn't know this woman, but he knew what she meant to Steve. She was Love. She was Home.
The world floated back to them in muted sounds, surrounding them but still somehow far away as Steve returned to the Vision's line of sight. "You see?" Steve asked, his pain encompassing the burning passion that the Vision felt for the woman.
The gemstones flared energy around the pair like a grounded Northern Lights, drawing guarded looks from over the crest of the hill, but the faint voices over the coms didn't filter to the pair's awareness.
"Love isn't enough," The Vision whispered. He'd never really felt love before, he'd felt awareness, and cared, but not love, not like this, not as deep as the burning ache he felt from the man across from him. "You can't change time for-"
It was pain. Stabbing, deepening, emptying pain as her face floated before his mind's eye again. Her bright brown hair and vibrant skin faded with age, crumbling before him. Then he hollowed, broken and stunted as he saw a coffin, bright British flag covering the casket. The breath left his body as he doubled over, his hand falling away from Steve's and the world crashing back like cannon fire around them.
The Vision tumbled to the ground, the air escaping his lungs and his eyes watering. "I'm- I'm…" Words couldn't describe the deluge of emotion he'd felt, the purity of it. He looked up and could only see those sharp, determined eyes staring down at him.
Steve's voice was like gravel. "Then you understand."
"I don't." Her voice rang out, making both their hearts stop, but with different emotions.
The Vision looked up and there was the woman that he'd seen, standing there in a blue suit and bright red hat, lips cherry red and turned down in frustration and confusion.
Steve turned, his eyes wide. Only her name slipped from his lips. "Peggy."
He watched them run to one another, hugging as if nothing else in the world existed, as if nothing else would ever matter. He could still feel Steve's pure fear and longing churning in his stomach and it made him want to hold the woman, made him feel as if he loved her. The Vision didn't know what it all meant, why the gems had granted him existence and brought her back into this world, as well, but he did know that this changed everything.