Monthly Challenges for All - Harmony of Souls Eternal

Fill #8

Representations: Henry Morgan, Steve Rogers, Immortality

Bonus Challenges: Schooner, Keen

Word count: 1,398

They weren't ready when they met for the first time. Among the death and destruction, they still managed to find their own love without the universe butting in and playing matchmaker. There was no need for a soulmate at that point in their lives. Instead, there were a few hushed conversations about the wellbeing of a soldier.

There was the occasional reprimand for putting themselves in danger and the inevitable rebuttal that danger was everywhere around them. There was the gentle teasing about their respective loves and mutual well-wishing when a new day dawned over the spread of battlefields that made up World War Two.

It would be nearly seventy years until they were joined together with a soulmate bond and able to acknowledge said bond.

When Steve Rogers woke up, it was to an old baseball game and the misty form of a panther curled around him. Confusion swirled through his mind even as his fingers absently ran over the warm panther next to him. The action helped keep the panic at bay as his mind raced through the different possibilities for why he was here, and why he was waking up at all.

The last thing he remembered was saying goodbye to Peggy Carter before guiding a plane full of bombs into the sea. His hand stilled as his brain realised the significance of having the animal he had been petting near him.

No, Steve thought, please no. A person only gained a soulmate—for that's what the misty animal next to him meant—after they had lost a love in one way or another. The panic that had been kept at bay surged forwards. He had to get out of wherever he was and find out what had happened to Peggy.

Pushing past the nurse that had just entered, Steve ran. He didn't know where he was running, he just ran and hoped he'd find a way out. The panther loped silently beside him and he tried his best to ignore it.

When he finally burst out of the building and onto a street, the sight in front of him made him stop completely. There were people everywhere, rushing from point A to point B without a care in the world. Cars drove by, sleek and shiny, looking totally unfamiliar and different to the cars he knew. Lights shone down on him from every direction even though the sun was still high in the sky. Steve stumbled back from the overload of information, the panther winding through his legs when he stilled and purring comfortingly.

"Captain Rogers!" a voice called out and Steve turned to see an eye-patched black man standing on the sidewalk and looking at him. "Why don't you come back inside and I'll explain what's going on."

Steve hesitated but knew that he may as well go with the man. He needed information and this man, enemy or friend, was offering it. With one final bewildered glance around him, Steve followed the man inside the building he had just escaped.

"Ah, you've finally arrived properly." The words were addressed to the golden retriever that had finally ceased flickering in and out of existence. The dog barked up at him, snuggling close as the immortal doctor continued writing out notes on his latest death.

Abe came down the stairs through the secret hatch and Henry glanced up briefly, gesturing to the empty space when the golden retriever only he could see sat, "You'll be happy to know the dog has finally decided to stick around."

His son smiled, and Henry knew that those words had eased one of the many burdens the man carried. Abe was old now and reaching the end of his life. He was scared of leaving his father alone to continue dying and reviving, never aging beyond the mid-thirty mark. Now he knew there was someone out there that would keep his father company.

"That is good news, indeed," the old man said. "Are you planning on seeking out the owner?"

Doctor Henry Morgan, medical examiner for the NYPD, shrugged. "I'm sure we'll meet eventually."

They met again after an alien invasion, catching glances of soul animals during said invasion. There was a giant hole in the sky and aliens were attacking New York. The NYPD was trying to get civilians to safety and fend off the aliens that came towards them. Although he was merely a doctor in the morgue, Henry was also out on the streets saving those he could. Already, he had died several times and it was, as always, Abe's job to find him with a new set of clothes in hand for him to wear.

The city was hectic, people running everywhere and aliens falling from the skies. Along with the NYPD, there was a small group of people in costumes also fighting. They seemed to be more effective than the guns the NYPD wielded so the police force was ordered to work alongside them.

As Henry hustled a family into an underground train station, a soul panther bounded past him and he knew that somewhere nearby was the person the universe had declared as his perfect partner. Given the circumstances however, he dismissed the panther that symbolised himself and refocused on the civilians he was helping. A whistling sound coming from behind him was all the warning he had before he died. Again.

Captain America was fighting off aliens and trying to remain focused on the battle. It was difficult though; his attention being dragged in a completely different direction by the soul panther that occasionally flickered out of existence for a few minutes. It had been doing that randomly for as long as Steve had known it, but those occasions had always been fairly sporadic and spread out.

The panther had vanished at least three times that he was aware of in the past day.

Beside him, Natasha yelled, "Captain, pay attention!" as she blasted an alien who had come up behind him.

Suitably informed of the consequences of his wandering attention, Steve shoved the strange behaviour of his soul companion to the back of his mind and focused on the battle at hand. There were a lot of enemies flying through the air or storming through the streets and they wouldn't stop attacking by themselves.

Just as he thought this, a golden retriever sped past him and he was once more distracted. Again, Natasha yelled at him and handled the enemies that got by him while he followed the soul animal with his eyes.

After the battle was won and Loki apprehended, the thoughts of two men went to the soul animals they had seen earlier that day. They had both recognised the other and known what it meant but an alien invasion was not the most opportune time to meet a soulmate. The same thoughts on both minds caused the soul animals to circle around their respective charges until said charges finally got a hint and followed their companions.

The panther and retriever raced towards each other, their human counterparts following behind. The streets were still covered in debris and dead bodies of alien and human origin. The two men did their best to ignore the destruction as they made their way to each other. The both of them were no strangers to war, New York was yet another battlefield they walked across.

When, finally, they arrived at the same point, it was with surprise and understanding that they recognised the other from the last war they had been in. Steve Rogers stared at the man who looked just as he had so many years ago, he hadn't aged a day and Steve highly doubted that was because of some super serum and ice.

Henry Morgan merely uttered a small, "Ah," when he saw the soldier that had returned to the world just when they had needed him.

"Doctor," Steve greeted, and Henry returned the greeting with a small quirk of his lips.

"Captain."

Ignoring the stilted conversation their humans were having, the soul animals coiled around each other and let out contented noises. "How…" Steve started to ask, letting the question trail off as he simply gestured towards the ever-young doctor.

"It's a long story," Henry stated simply. "Although I'm sure it's not nearly as interesting as to how you are still here. Perhaps, a trade is in order?"