Steve waited until everyone was settled to start explaining the story. Bucky hadn't left his side which Steve was grateful about though he was worried that Bucky as well as the rest of his friends would be horrified with what he had to do. The guardians and Nebula were aware of the Normad's reputation whilst Steve was sure that the others had figured out that whatever the Normad was. It wasn't good.
"About 45 years ago for me and around five minutes ago for you, I set out to return the infinity stones to the point in time which they were taken, and I succeeded however, by removing the stones. Time started splintering and the stones were not in the places that they should have been which was making the outcome worse. I had to ensure the stones remained on this timeline by making sure they were in the right places and forms at the right time" Steve stared to explain before he was interrupted by Doctor Strange.
"These time splinters how bad were they?" Strange asked.
"The Emperor Nero got his hand on the tesseract and once he discovered what it was capable of he wanted to use it to expand the Roman Empire by throwing those who were not apart of the roman empire into space. Anyway, because I had to ensure that the stones were following the right timeline I became the cause to most of what happened. For example, Jane discovering the Aether or Thanos getting his hands on the mind stone, the first time around" Steve continued before Nebula interrupted him.
"How are you Normad? He had red hair, but the eyes are the same" Nebula questioned.
"The time stone was the last infinity stone I had to return. I kept it in case I had some issues. The Ancient One was the person who told me about having to protect the timeline, I learnt how to protect myself using the Mystic Arts which allowed me to glamour my appearance whenever I was in the past to prevent people from recognising me in the future. When I was with Thanos I glamoured my hair red and my eyes brown which is why they are brown now. Nebula you remember what happened" Steve explained, a shudder passed down his spine as he remembers how he lost his eyes.
"What happened?" Rhodey asked curiously.
"Like I said I was the cause of everything in our timeline which happened with the infinity stones. I had to make sure Thanos got the stones to wipe out half the universe, so the remaining avengers would bring them back this meant I had to prove to Thanos I was loyal to him. I fought for his cause and gave him the plans for Loki and the collection of the stones later on. During one of the fights about six months into living with Thanos I lost both my eyes" Steve explained.
"How?" Peter Quill asked.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Steve queried.
"You have been through a lot Steve, if you don't want us to know then we will understand" Wanda said to reassure Steve that he wouldn't be forced to explain anything he didn't want to.
"It's not that I don't want to it's more…" Steve started but was interrupted by Nebula.
"Normad Barnes had his eyes ripped out".
"Gruesome" Steve whispered. The room fell silent. Everyone's eyes were filled with horror as they looked at Steve.
"I thought the Normad was born with cybernetic eyes" Quill suddenly said, Steve snapped his head to look at Quill before turning to face Nebula.
"You and Rocket were right. He is an idiot" Steve said. Nebula nodded.
"Normad Barnes was found when he presented Thanos with the Mind Stone. He pled his allegiance and proved his loyalty many times during battle. He became one of the most feared assassins in the galaxy along with my sister. When Normad lost his eyes, he proved that he didn't need eyes to complete his mission he still killed all the enemies which were approaching him. After the battle was complete my father rewards Normad with some cybernetic eyes" Nebula explained.
"Okay, so you had to follow the time line. How? From what you are suggesting you had to travel through time. You wouldn't have had much Pym particles to do this constantly" Pepper asked, Steve looked over at Pepper.
"After I learnt how to use the mystic arts. I had the essence of the time stone fused which allowed me to travel back and forwards in time" Steve answered.
"Prove it" Carol spoke up. Steve locked eyes with her for a brief second before closing his eyes and started focusing a point in time. The green aura appeared around Steve then he disappeared. The others didn't have long to compensate what happened before Steve reappeared holding a cat.
"Goose" Carol said as the cat jumped out of Steve's hands and walked over to Captain Marvel.
"I had to make that flerken sick up the tesseract, that I would say was the worse experience out of everything" Steve said as he lent back onto the sofa. He saw all the guardians and Nebula tense up at the word flerken.
"You never explained how you saved Vision stone?" Bucky spoke up for the first time.
"After the first snap I met Thanos at The Garden and was able to trick him into believing that he had destroyed all six infinity stone instead of just three. I save the time, soul and mind stone. Which reminds me I should return this to you Strange" Steve answered before willing the time stone out of the pocket dimension he had hidden it in and levitated it over to Doctor strange. Doctor Strange took the stone and returned into the Eye of Agamotto before Steve stood up.
"What I have told you is a lot, so I'm going to leave and let you take everything in. If you need me I'll be in my ship" Steve said before leaving the cabin, he needed to allow everyone to talk about what he said without him being present.
Steve walked up the ramp and headed towards the storage area of the ship where he kept his vibranium shield. He had no use for it during his time away and he didn't feel like Captain America anymore after everything he had done. Steve knew it was time to retire. To live a normal life with Bucky which was away from the fighting. Steve was trapped in his thoughts that he didn't notice someone step into the room until they spoke.
"So, this your spaceship Steve" Bucky said drawing the other man's attention.
"Yep, what are you doing here? I thought the conversation about what I have done would have lasted longer" Steve answered.
"It's still going on. Everyone understands what you did. They knew you didn't have any choice. You had to protect our timeline. It's just when you were talking it got me thinking. Did you ever visit me?" Bucky asked. Steve sighed, he had expected Bucky to ask him, but he had thought he would have a little more time to prepare himself.
"I did. On three separate occasions" Steve replied.
"Which were?" Bucky pushed.
"The first time was not long after I had to give the Red Skull the location of the Tesseract which led to having to assassinate Erskine…" Steve started before trailing off.
"Oh my god, Stevie I'm so sorry you had to do that. I know how much Erskine meant to you" Bucky said cupping Steve's face with his hands.
"If Erskine hadn't died it was a threat to the future because HYDRA would have regained Erskine and forced him to give HYDRA the Super Soldier Serum formula which then allowed HYDRA to take over the world. I glamoured myself to look like Kruger and shot Erskine then destroyed the remainder of the serum to prevent this future happening. After I went forward in time but not by that much. It was during the war and I just appeared when you stumbled across me. You asked why I wasn't with Phillips and I told you that we were taking a break" Steve continued.
"You asked me whether you were worthy for the role and I told you that you were. I never got to question you on it because the next day I fell" Bucky answered.
"Yeah" Steve muttered.
"What was the second time?" Bucky asked.
"The second time was before the war. It was actually unintentional. I was in a bar drinking and you came over and started flirting with me. You took me by surprise that I accidently told you my real name and not a fake one…" Steve trailed off when he saw Bucky's eyes widen.
"I remember, I always though that Steve was a little strange but I guess you were so use to living in the modern day you forgot how to talk in the past. What was the last visit?" Bucky said.
"It was not long after you went back under after the fight with Tony. It had been about 25 years since I had felt. I told you about what I had been through. I also told you that…" Steve trailed off once against.
"Told me what?" Bucky asked.
"I told that I loved you" Steve confessed, Bucky's face broke out into a large smile before he pulled Steve's face close to his.
"I love you too" Bucky answered before pressing their lips together in a passionate kiss. Steve's hands clenched onto Bucky's shirt whilst he tried to push all the love he felt for Bucky into the kiss. The couple was distracted by each other they didn't notice the presence of someone else.
"Well I'm going to have nightmares now" Sam joked. Steve smiled against Bucky's lips before pulling away from his now boyfriend and turning to face his friend.
"Hey Sam" Steve said.
"I got to admit Rogers I wasn't expecting this mission to take 45 years. I'm kind of glad I didn't come I would have been old when we returned. Which makes me question how do you still look so young?" Sam questioned.
"The serum stopped me from aging" Steve answered. Sam nodded his eyes trailed over to the shield.
"So, what's Captain America going to do now he returned" Sam questioned.
"I don't know. What are you going to do Sam?" Steve contradicted. Sam froze, his head snapped over to look over at Steve shocked.
"What?" Sam muttered practically speechless.
"Over these long years I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do when I returned to my time. I knew I had to bring back Natasha and Vision. I wish I could have saved Tony but there was no way to save him from the radiation emitted by the stones. I decided I want to live my life as Steve Rogers and just Steve Rogers. I'm not Captain America, I haven't been ever since I dropped the shield in front of Tony at the HYDRA base. I want to finally live the life I missed out on when the world war started. I want to retire and live my life, but the world still needs Captain America. You deserve the shield Sam" Steve explained before grabbing the shield and handing it over to Sam.
"Steve I can't. This doesn't belong to me" Sam tried to protest, but Steve wasn't going to let that happen.
"It does not" it was Steve said.
"Take the shield Sam, you are not going to win the argument. Steve can be stubborn when he wants to be" Bucky stated. Sam sighed giving in.
"I'll make you proud. I promise" Sam promised.
"Sam you already have" Steve replied smiling. Sam look down at the shield once more before nodding.
"I leave you two alone" Sam answered and was out of the door before anything else could be said.
"So, what's the great Steve Rogers' plan now?" Bucky asked once Sam had left.
"I don't mind as long as I have you by my side" Steve replied before pressing another kiss to Bucky's lips.