Hello everyone and welcome back to "To Eternity, My Witch"! This is another short chapter; however, it ends with a good stopping point. Enjoy!

I DO NOT Own any of these as they are and were created by their respective creators. Marvel is owned by the late Stan Lee via Disney. Phantom of the Opera (PotO) is owned by Andrew Llyod Weber. LofZ : TP and OofT by Shigeru Miyamoto. Fire Emblem by Shouzou Kaga. Black Butler by Yana Toboso. And finally, Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 34 Going to War

~Eight days later…~

James waited patiently as Kagome and Zelda cut the last of the stitches from his last two healed wounds. They had given him a clean bill of health and allowed him to train with the others, though with limits to how long he could train and what he could train with. His body still had to heal without the stitches. Wanda stood behind him, leaning against his back as Kagome cut the last stitch and pull it out. Zelda, in turn, smeared the photoreceptors onto where the stitches were pulled to allow them to do their natural healing process. James felt almost back to normal under their care. Without them, it would have taken several months to recover.

"Thanks, you beautiful ladies. For healing me." James said with conviction and flirtation.

Kagome, Rin, and Zelda all blushed and stammered at his words, telling him he didn't have to thank them. He grunted in annoyance and gushed a little more, "I mean it."

"Yes, without him, I wouldn't want to live." Wanda said as she hugged all three women, feeling like she had gained three sisters.

Zelda smiled, blushing, "Well, why not? We cannot not help someone in need. Especially if it's someone we know and love." She hugged James, happy to know he was healed and well. He was surprised, tensing as she did so, yet he relaxed and hugged her back after a second.

"Come. Stefan wanted to get the preparations started to go to the castle grounds in two days' time. In the meantime, we want you to eat, and get your energy up. I heard that Stefan and Thor that they want you to face off with Ganondorf two or three days from now if possible." Kagome ordered as she stood.

James frowned, casting a worried look to Wanda. He put on a shirt as he asked, surprised at the quickness of the war, "Why so quickly? And why in two or three quick days when I've only have been fully healed today?"

Zelda easily pushed him out the door, closing it behind them as she explained, "With the large number of photoreceptors we put into you, between our blood and the vials, they will have your body fully healed and normal by tomorrow. Plus, as they work in tantum with your super soldier status, you'll be at full health by then. Meaning you will have the strength to face off Ganondorf in two- or three-days' time. Everyone wants this war to end as quickly as possible James. With you fully healed and our armies at full strength, we'll have the advantage. Besides, Inu and Sess are here now with Link, Stefan, and us three, and Bruce, we have even more of an advantage against Ganondorf."

James nodded, as did Wanda, both understanding. Soon they aided in the preparations where they could, and the two days went rather quickly for everyone. James felt fully well again. Not a twinge of pain. As the time drew close to marching upon the capital of Asgard, Steve asked James to speak privately for once, something they hadn't had a chance to do in several weeks, since before the Shadow Temple. It had been a little over four weeks since then.

"Are you ready to face our greatest challenge yet, James?" Steve asked, concern lacing his voice.

James shook his head, "I don't know Steve. Since the day I killed Josiah over two weeks ago, I've had much to ponder. Too much… Of all people why did Ganon target him? And why this ongoing fighting for power? I wish I could have just learned of him sooner and avoided this whole mess. I really don't know… I just want to take several more months off after this war is over. Perhaps even the rest of my life…"

Steve felt James' tiredness from all the fighting, all the evil aimed at him and Wanda. He felt the same way. Too much evil was being thrown at them, himself, and their family. Too much evil was aimed even at himself and Natasha. "Let's not ponder the why. Some things are best left to the realm of the unknown and they are topics that even the wisest leave alone. Unless the Divine wants us to know the reason and He reveals it to us. And I agree. I just want to lay low for a while. And since Wanda, Natasha, and Pepper are all pregnant, I am sure we have plenty of excuses to take off being Avengers for a while. Four months to this war. Four long, arduous, war-filled months since our weddings."

James sighed, sitting on a nearby straw bale, rubbing his temples, "I just want the fighting to be done. Since I was drafted into the US army back in the 30s, all I've done since then is fight. And every situation I seem to get into ends in a fight. I have seen and experienced far too much evil for a mortal to handle in a lifetime. Even though I have overcome all the evil HYDRA put me under, I just want some peace for once, Steve. Peace and quiet for years."

"I know, I know. I feel the same way. But… We'll get there, Buck. Don't worry," Steve clasped his shoulder. Though at that moment, the horn of war sounded and called everyone to battle, save for those staying in Trondheim, to march. James stood and with Steve at his side again as Avengers, they made their way to join the others.

Loki sat on his son, Sleipnir, with a beautiful young warrior woman, Sigurd, Sif's sister, behind him. Thor was on another horse. Thor and Loki would lead the small legion of soldiers and Avengers to assault the castle that Ganondorf forcefully took over. In an ironic twist, Steve and Buck made the joke that their forces were four of the five armies like in one of Tolkien's books that he wrote about a certain hobbit and thirteen dwarves. On horseback behind Thor and Loki, Steve, James, Scott, Sam, Pietro, Tony, Bruce, T'Challa, Peter, and Clint rode toward the capital. Charles, his elders, and warriors were at the capital with Frostein and Brunhilda and their forces already.

Stefan, Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Link, and Rin flew in dragon form above. It was an amazing sight to see five fully grown dragons flying in unison above. The males were larger than Rin by far, Stefan being the largest and most powerful. Rin, still sizeable, was slender and feminine in form, yet deadly all together with her blue and purple scales. Stefan, who was a dark forest green with brown and lighter green markings on his body, roared, much louder than Amelia the day they trained with her Wakanda.

The others followed suit and most below paused a moment to stare up in awe as the five dragons flew past. Like in days of old. Their scales would act as their armor, being much harder than diamonds. Just like Mithril in Lord of the Rings. Only equipment they wore were wing and tail blades like Amelia.

Stefan entered all their minds effortlessly, We will be arriving to the city in less than a half hour. Thor, Frostein is at base camp and has his army ready. Sif is there with him, and she and Brunhilda have the Asgardian army at a ready with the Valkyries acting as the flying warriors. Charles and his warriors will support us as we battle. I suspect we will start the assault on the city within the next hour or so.

Avengers, you all will take the underground tunnels to allow James and Wanda access to the front of the castle. Once the barrier is broken, the lot of you will need to go forward with caution. I again suspect there are many even more difficult enemies within the castle itself between Ganondorf and the front. We would take riders, but I see fell beasts and fire demons flying around the city's towers. It would be a death sentence for riders if we had them.

"Let's get this over with." James murmured back, clearly tired of all the fighting and wanting it to end.

Stefan snorted green flames, agreeing, before he flew off and towards the northern fields of Asgard Castle. Upon arriving at the makeshift war camp, the Avengers went to the command center, a tent near the back of the camp. An hour later with feverish activity and commotion, they were all in their gear and in their perspective places to start the assault. The dragons stood behind the front lines, ready to fly into battle at the call.

Steve and James, Wanda floating near his left shoulder, regarded the city and palace of Asgard. The barrier was still up and around the castle. Somewhere inside Ganondorf holed himself up, waiting.

"Ready for this?" Steve mumbled out as he looked out over the battlefield, just like the day they faced Thanos and his army.

"Until the end of the line, Steve." James replied as he and the other Avengers and the combined armies watched the approaching army of Ganondorf. His army was a mix of corrupted Twili, bokoblins, moblins, several large fire demons, a battalion of dark elves, Stalfos knights, and Dinolfos, all enemies that the Avengers battled the last four months. Monstrous fell beasts and several flying fire demons flew around the palace, something that the dragons would deal with.

Stefan, Thor, Valkyrie, Charles, and Frostein shouted ordered and soon the armies were in complete formation. Ganon's army soon charged due to an unheard command, and the armies engaged in battle. Within moments the five armies met in battle. The dragons effectively destroyed most all the monstrous fell beasts in the air and were helping with battling the ground units. They even killed most of the fire demons in moments due to their elemental ice breaths.

Throughout the battle James and Wanda paused, when they didn't have an enemy bearing down on them and looked to see where their fellow Avengers were. Above the battlefield, near James and Wanda, Stefan slammed into a fell beast with his earth powers and torched it down after it became stunned. It was awe-inspiring as Stefan destroyed it utterly, without any shrapnel falling on his comrades. Their attention shifted again to the battle. The battle took hours and into the next day, until Thor let out a torrent of lightning on a fell beast, destroying it. He paused and shouted.

"TO ME! TO ME FELLOW AVENGERS! To the tunnels! We have them on the run!" Thor boomed suddenly across the battlefield, just as he let out a torrent of lighting on several dozen dark elves, killing them. The Avengers finished battling their current enemies and battled others as they converged on Thor. During the fight to the tunnels, Stefan and Link, from above, helped torch or freeze several high-ranking Dinolfos and their minions blocking the path to the entrance. They even helped in keeping enemies at bay as they worked on the chains. Between Thor using Trygve and Steve Mjolnir, they broke the chains locking the tunnels.

Quickly getting inside the tunnels, the Avengers barricaded the doors to prevent enemies from following. As the Avengers advanced, they found the tunnels themselves were deserted aside from the occasional Stalfos which they quickly dispatched to its unfortunate dismay.

"Ugh! These tunnels are horribly dank, and they smell terrible." Peter said.

James growled, "Peter, Wanda and I had to wade through here to get to Amelia. Twice. And as a wolf. The first time was to start our journey to this completion. And the second? The second time, I had to carry Wanda through here while she was mortally wounded and barely able to hang onto my back. Imagine that. Plus, why wouldn't they be such?" Peter blanched, clearly agreeing, seeing James' point.

Thor snorted, "The tunnels and sewers are technically from before my father's life, and many of them were forgotten to time. They're bound to be dank and smell. Fortunately, my mother made me learn of the architect of Asgard in full before I turned 500. Loki and I even made a habit of using these tunnels for adventuring and hide and seek, so I know it well." He led them to through the labyrinth sewer to a door leading out of the tunnels. Here they paused and spoke on how to get to the castle without issue from corrupted Twili.

However, after several more words between all the Avengers, it was decided they needed some sleep for the battle ahead. For several hours, the group rested and ate from their rations before Thor woke them to the early morning hours. Once ready to face the castle, Thor opened the door to the city. Past the door, was a quiet courtyard. Beyond that gate was the street nearest to the path leading to castle barrier.

"Come. We're not that far from the castle itself. Hopefully, Ganondorf didn't get wind of our interlude into the tunnels to get here." Thor ordered quietly as he gestured to the others to follow him. James and Wanda shared a look, knowing they needed to figure out a way past the barrier. I'll need to use the fused shadows again, my Bucky. Along with the power from the Triforce of Wisdom, I should be able to break through it…

"Be careful, doll, as you do so. We cannot have you useless to us if you get hurt because of it." James warned through their bond.

Wanda snorted quietly as they walked, Indeed. I will be careful.

Hope y'all are doing well. I put a small update on my other story 'Redemption and Chasms' and I have decided to discontinue it until further notice as I am having serious writer's block with it. Unless I have some serious inspiration, it will remain discontinued.

Please, like and leave a review to the story.

Until next time,

WS. Z.