A/N: I'm sorry for the late update, but everything has been crazy with the holiday.

This is the final chapter of my story. I hope you all have enjoyed it! Please read, review, favorite, or follow!

A flash of light and a blast of air swept across the jungle.

James put his arm around Danielle and turned them away from the blast as the air whipped their hair and clothes against them.

Another whooshing sound came from behind them, and they turned back to see the gray and blue portal disappearing. James started towards Thor, walking carefully through the foliage. Danielle hesitated only a moment before starting after him. She looked up to see Steve appear from the trees, holding his ribs like he was still waiting for them to heal.

"Where'd he go?" Steve asked Thor.

The god of thunder stared in disbelief, unable to speak.

"Steve?" James spoke.

Danielle turned her attention back to James who was a few steps in front of her. Particles seemed to be floating around him, but before she could question him his gun fell to the ground, then he followed shortly after, disappearing into a cloud of dust.

Danielle stared at the spot where she had just seen him fall, but he wasn't there.

"James!" She screamed as she ran forward and collapsed to her knees next to the space he had been in. She pressed her hand into the dust gingerly, hoping he had turned invisible and not into soot.

Steve kneeled across from her looking at the empty space between them and then back to her.

Across the jungle the wailing of names and cries for help echoed through the trees. The other Avengers slowly made their way toward Steve, circling around their Captain, waiting for orders. Steve got to his feet, looking around for the next task, but he was as lost as the rest of them. He noticed a gray form lying in the grass and approached it. His fears were confirmed when he saw Vision's face, now a dark gray with open, pale white eyes, a serious contrast from the striking red and blue he normally exhibited.

Danielle couldn't move.

She knelt on the ground, permanently fixed to that point, staring at the empty space that used to be the love of her life. Tears threatened to fall the longer she looked at that point. Her eyes scanned the jungle around her, only for her to see Steve kneeling next to the lifeless body of Vision. Thor, Natasha, Rhodey, and others stood around, lost for words in the realization of what had happened.

The Avengers had lost.

After the shock and horror of what had happened settled in, what was left of the Avengers reported back to the palace to attend to injuries and determine who was left. Steve did as he always did and moved around the room taking care of everyone else before he took care of himself. Danielle stood near the wall, watching him go person to person. As he neared her, she could see the pain in his eyes.

Before he could pass by her, Danielle reached out and grabbed his arm. He stopped beside her, but his eyes stared ahead, not daring to look at her. Danielle could feel new tears threatening her eyes, waiting to spill from the corners.

"Steve," Danielle spoke softly, "you need to rest."

"I can't." His soldier voice came out stronger than he looked. "We have to regroup. Count survivors. Create a crisis center."

"Steve, look at me." Danielle pulled on his arm, urging him to face her.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and faced her. Tears spilled down both cheeks as the realization that he had lost his closest friend once more settled in.

Danielle threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her to comfort him. Steve wrapped his arms around her ribs and buried his head into her shoulder, the tears falling faster from his eyes. Steve had learned to control his emotions after the first time he thought he had lost James, but this pain was a collection of 70 years of never feeling anything overtaking him all at once.

Supporting the weight of a supersoldier was nothing new to Danielle, and she knew Steve needed her in that moment more than she needed him. She had loved and lost before, and now loved and lost again, but she wouldn't allow herself to break, when so many needed her strength to carry them. She could hear James in her head saying "Don't cry for me. There are others who need you." As much as she hated him for his lessons in emotional control, she thanked him now for giving her the strength to control the situation and help those around her.

Danielle stroked the back of Steve's head as he cried. "You don't always have to be the strongest one around. It's okay to ask others for support."

Steve took a long breath, then pulled away from Danielle to wipe his eyes. He straightened his back and returned to the soldier mode he had been relying on all day.

"I need to organize a crisis center for survivors. I'll come back around and find you later." He reached out and grabbed her arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Go take a minute for yourself."

Danielle nodded and Steve was off once more to take charge of the situation. She didn't try to argue with him, or stop him from his mission. She knew there would be no point. Instead, she entered the hallway and began walking the long corridor of the palace.

The quiet within the palace was deafening. Halls that usually supported the deadliest army and technological geniuses stood silent as many of the occupants had disintegrated into piles of dust. Danielle had always liked the quiet, but this type of quiet, filled with so much unknown, was unsettling.

She didn't know where she was going as she turned down another hallway, away from the others. The corridors seemed to go on forever as she passed door after door. One door in particular made her stop before she passed it. On the right of the door was a keypad with a name displayed in blue letters.

J. Barnes.

Her hand rose to touch the letters on the keypad and when they pressed into it, the door slid open. Danielle looked within the room and knew it was the one James had stayed in when he was in the palace. He had told her about the small window on the back wall above the bed that looked out onto the open plain. She found the scratches he had made into the wall counting the days he had experienced an episode. Beyond the stories he had told her about this room, Danielle could feel his presence in it.

She took a seat on the bed, reveling in the feeling of James. But it was just a feeling. He wasn't there with her. He wasn't running from her around the world. He was gone.

"I don't know where you are, or if you can hear me," she spoke to the empty room, "but if you can hear me, we're going to figure this out. We are going to find you and the others."

Danielle wiped a tear from her cheek. "I can't let you go. I love you."

After hours of holding it together for others, Danielle broke down completely. The pain in her chest that had been a dull ache for most of the day, threatened to rip her open from the inside. Her heart was split by a canyon deeper than the ocean. It had hurt when James had left her, but she would trade this pain for that pain in a heartbeat.

With her body giving up after hours of pushing through injuries and heartbreak, Danielle collapsed onto the pillow and curled up into a ball. She took shallow breaths between sobs and tears. The one thing she wanted most was for James to lay behind her and wrap her in his arms. She could imagine his solid frame pressed against her and his gentle breaths tickling her ear. It only made the anguish more unbearable. Danielle couldn't let go, but it hurt too much to hold on. She didn't know how she would survive this if they couldn't fix it.

For the first time since their formation, the Avengers had been beaten. No amount of heart or determination could erase this loss. It would take something much stronger to reverse the damage that had been done. The team needed to heal, physically and emotionally, before taking on the challenge of restoring those they had lost. It would take all of them together. One team united against the forces of evil.