The chapter titels are from the Jabberwock poem by Lewis Carroll solely because I could not think of a title for this.
See end of story for notes.
Steve didn't bother to calculate the angle of return for the shield, just hurling it towards the Hydra solider to take him out of the fight. All his thoughts where on his friend that had just been knocked out of the moving train. Ignoring the downed enemy he scrambled to the edge.
"Bucky!" Steve yelled at the same time his phoenix dæmon yelled, "Elena!"
Steve's heart was in his throat as he spotted Bucky clinging to railing dangling over the empty space. His lioness dæmon had managed to grab the back of his jacket in her jaws but she had been dragged out by the force of the blow and was now more weight dragging him down. Her front claws were digging into his legs hard enough to draw blood as she desperately tried not to struggle as her human gripped the metal as hard as he could.
Climbing out the side of the carriage Steve yelled, "Hang on!"
His dæmon, Aideen, dived for Elena.
They never really managed to test how much she could carry or how fast she could fly but she had kept pace when they slid down to the train and she was desperate.
A harsh moan escaped the lioness' clenched jaws as the phoenix's talons dug into her back but she did nothing else as the flying dæmon franticly tried to drag her back into the train.
Steve stretched out as far as he could to Bucky, "Grab my hand".
A horrible metallic noise screeched and the raining gave way.
Bucky's screamed as gravity ripped him from both the train and his dæmon's grasp.
For one impossible moment Elena hung suspended in the air held only by Aideen as Bucky fell down into the icy gorge miles below. Steve barely had time for the terrible thought that he would have to watch his oldest friend's soul turn to Dust before his eyes when reality caught up and the lioness was torn from the phoenix's talons. No longer weighed down, Aideen was flung back into the train. The pain of her hitting the opposite wall paled in comparison to the numb horror that overtook Steve as the shape of his friends disappeared, out of view of even his enhanced eyesight.
Steve snapped awake.
He'd had this nightmare enough times that it wasn't a dramatic awaking anymore.
No leaping off the bed or screaming for Buckly. Not even any tears. He simply breathed deeply and tried to relax from the tense plank his body had become.
There was a sound of large flapping wings as Aideen landed on the bed next to him.
"I couldn't reach him," Steve whispered, "It was my fault."
"It was my fault they couldn't even die together." She replied.