A/N: Happy Star Wars month folks! I'm super jazzed for the upcoming Kessel run, sounds like it will be extra fun this year! Also pretty pleased with this chapter. As you can tell I was able to get it out pretty quick it was a fun one to write.

**TW** Blood, violence, gore. (dun dun dun)

My lungs burned my muscles felt like fire but the wind in my hair and the pounding of my heart gave me life. While I was running, I could forget everything and anything else even existed except for this. I could forget that all of the world felt filled with the same burning as my lungs. Nothing else could beat the feeling of freedom as I did it and there was nothing else that I would rather be feeling at this moment. Even if everything else in my life felt crazed and raw like an open wound to the air. Maybe it was especially because of that. This was the first time in so long that I had run for the joy of it rather than merely running for my life and I gulped down the sensations that it brought. Good and bad.

I easily kept pace with Steve as his feet pounded against the pavement, as each foot hit the hard ground, I felt the jolt of it through my entire body and I bathed in the sensation. Steve too seemed to be running through his emotions just as much as I was. Neither of us spoke, there was no need to. We just worked out our issues in our own heads beside one another. We would either work them out or steep ourselves in them, which one was still undetermined. I was, however, a mixture of both.

The minutes dragged and turned into an hour on and neither of us yielded, neither of us spoke, we didn't even look at each other we just existed, and we ran.

We ran.

And ran.

And ran.

And I would have kept on running if Steve hadn't of stopped.

"You've got great endurance." He said as he slowed to a stop stepping onto the grass of some small park, he had steered us towards.

If only he knew.

I bent over my knees taking deep breaths my lungs starving. My muscles ached already I would be sore later. "It's been a long time since I've run for anything other than my life." I admitted looking up at him from my position.

He appraised me for a moment and everywhere his eyes touched suddenly felt as though it had caught on fire.

He continued on his eyes met daringly with mine, "I'm glad you came with me. Bucky doesn't like to run like this. I think it reminds him too much of the training Hydra put him through. But I find running helps me organize my thoughts."

I straightened putting my hands on my hips looking up at him my breath calming, "I get it. It was not a very fun place to be, they didn't treat us like we were humans. I know why he doesn't talk about it, why he won't... It was more than just psychological torture there- It was very much physical torture too, once they had us run to see how long we could run for before we couldn't anymore." I sat down on a nearby bench my legs beginning to shake, "it was different for the both of us there. But he took the brunt of it, if only to save me from it."

I was having a difficult time differentiating between my world and this one. My exhaustion was making it harder to decide what belonged where. Who belonged where? As I looked up at Steve, I swallowed thickly trying not to ogle him.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Steve said the apology in his tone genuine, "I'm glad you had someone to lean on, Bucky didn't have that here but I'm glad that you are here for him now."

I rested my elbows on my knees letting my head hang looking at my boots, cleaner now than they were when I fell through the portal, and I felt a little ridiculous wearing them to run now but what choice did I have it wasn't like I had options, I was lucky enough to have what James had brought me.

"Can I ask you something Steve?" I said suddenly.

He sat next to me, but I didn't look up, "Sure, go ahead."

"Why after everything were you going to go back?" The question had been eating at me because I couldn't imagine a world where Steve Rogers would just willingly leave those he cared about the most, and I thought Bucky was one of those people.

He was quiet for a long minute, and I thought that perhaps he wasn't going to answer. I finally looked up at him to find that his eyes were not on me but on something over my shoulder. A line had formed between his brows, and he stood suddenly his body taught. My heart skipped a beat, "What is it?"

"I'm not sure." He stepped towards what he saw. I turned and I could see a dark smudge through the trees.

I knew exactly what it was. "No..." my voice suddenly hoarse.

"What do you see?" He said as the smudge came closer and closer to us.

I had seen this a thousand times of over the years, but I didn't think after jumping through that portal I would ever have to see this again, "It's a Chitauri Leviathan."

"Impossible." He disagreed.

"I am seeing it just as well as you are Rogers, and I'm telling you," screaming could be heard in the distance and as the Leviathan approached the cries were only getting louder as the creature approached, "It's exactly what I think it is."

New Yorkers might be able to rebuild but they never forget, the invasion all those years ago was still fresh to so many. I turned to catch Steve's eye as he realized I was right.

"Well," he said, "Are you ready?"

I nodded a grim expression on my face, "Always." My stomach dropped when I said it, because it had been so easy to say it, and it hurt me deeply because he didn't really understand the implications of that word.

"Are you ready?" Steve would look at me worry in his eyes. Worry, and love and determination.

"Always." I would say watching Thanos' army approach.

"I love you, Sunshine." unclamping his broken shield from his back he would cast another worried look in my direction as if this battle would be our last.

"Till the end of the line." I would reply because his worries might always become reality.

"Always." He would say back.

"Evelyn," Steve's deep tone broke me from my reverie when he realized I didn't move from where I was standing, "We need to get all these people out of here."

I nodded helping him clear out the civilians, it didn't take much convincing, "I take it the Chitauri aren't regular visitors here?" I shouted to Steve.

"No not since twenty-twelve and not since Thanos was defeated, but then we were at the compound; far enough from the city that there were no civilian casualties." He replied as he moved back towards me.

The Leviathan was close enough now I could see the rows and rows of spiked armour that covered its body. I wondered how many soldiers it carried, I wondered if I would see a laser cannon strapped to its back. Strangely the beat of my heart was steady, my fingers itched eagerly.

This was what was normal for me.

This had been my normal for five years.

I was more than ready, because this was the first normal thing for me in the last seventy-two hours.

I walked to the side of the road and pulled a street sign from the pavement to use as my weapon, that is until I could disarm a Chitauri and take theirs. "Alright, let's do this."

Steve followed my lead as we approached the slowing behemoth, I caught him fall into the familiar battle stance out of the corner of my eye. The sight made my heart skip a beat. The world had seemed too quiet, and everything seemed to move in slow motion just like the first moments of battle did, the birds that had been chirping in the trees deadly quiet now.

"What the-" Steve said, and I took a step back horrified at what spewed from the creature.

A horde of black winged demons burst from the Leviathan, thin emaciated taloned beasts that came straight at us as though they had erupted from the very depths of hell. We had not even a single second to get our bearings before they came down upon us. Their taloned hands and feet ripped at our flesh and clothes, their spiked wings sliced at us like knives and their screeching cries deafened out ears but neither of us hesitated.

I swung my weapon easily slicing through the air knocking beasts to the ground where I impaled them with the end. They turned to dust upon impact, their ashes burning embers in the wind. The heavy scent of sulphur clung in the air choking down our throats.

I repeated the same attack a few more times before the beasts caught on to my tactics and I had found myself disposed of my weapon. Angry black claws dug onto my flesh ripping the pole away, blood seeped down my arms as I raised them to protect my eyes. Steve barreled into them knocking them askew,

"Alright?" he asked.

I nodded, "Thanks."

While the winged beasts flew around us screeching at us wreaking havoc, large, muscled demons with twisted horns landed on the ground. Their well-muscled arms longer than their legs hung past their knees, and they came down upon us like a horde of disfigured gorillas.

"What are these things!" Steve shouted to me over the screeching of the beast I'd just downed. I dodged a swinging fist from one of the gorilla-like beasts.

"I have no idea. All I know-," I flinched as a fist connected with my jaw and I bit my tongue, "All I know is that they're not attacking anything else but us."

Steve looked around hastily as he dodged an oncoming attack, "You're right." He reared back and punched a flying demon so hard that it turned into a whisp of smoke that seemed to smoulder out of existence, "They are not invincible at least. Just have to hit them hard enough." He punched a horned beast next, and it too imploded into the fiery smoke, "You think these were sent from the guy Strange warned you about."

"Mordo," I shouted, "Yes I think that this is exactly what this is." I aimed my fists to come into contact with the next beast who attempted to get to me and with a punch that sent my bones rattling it too was dispatched.

"Watch out!" Steve called just as I was set upon by a massive beast easily the size of the Hulk wielding a massive, spiked club. I barely dodged the enormous weapon as it collided with the road sending concrete debris into the air making it harder for us to see who was coming at us next. Again, and again the beast slung it's weapon in my direction, again and again I barely dodged each strike and again and again our view was absconded. But I knew the strategy, they were trying to separate us, and I couldn't let that happen.

"Steve!" I shouted.

"I'm here," he called somewhere to my right, "I'm trying to get to you."

This time as the beast struck the ground, I timed it so when its club smashed into the road it would give me a few moments as it attempted to pull it free to pounce. With a burst of speed, I barrelled straight for the beast using its own arm as my way to get onto its onyx coloured back. Wrapping my arms tightly around its thick neck I did not let go. It was all I could do stay upon the beast as it flailed about. But tighter and tighter I pressed my arms around its throat to no avail. Then it struck me that a beast like this did not need to breathe even if my own breath felt like glass in my throat at the moment. I pulled myself up climbing the beasts head attempting to get higher to wrap my legs around its neck. Once I locked my thighs around it. I began to punch and pound into it as hard as I could in the eye socket with my fist.

It screamed.

I screamed too.

Putting everything I could into those punches all while it tried to pull me away. My knuckles split as it connected over and over with the rough leathery flesh. It's ragged fingers tore at my legs and my arms, its claws digging painfully into my thighs. My blood already slick, wetting and soaking through my clothes. The gold of the shield spell sparking with each deep gash that tore into my flesh. It would only hold for so long against attacks like this. The spell had been meant as more of a cloaking shield and not a shield against physical attack, but it was doing a small part to make sure I wasn't dismembered even if its claws painfully dug deeper and deeper across my thigh.

"Evelyn!" Steve shouted throwing me a piece of rebar from the broken road before he was tackled to the ground by no less than ten more foes.

He found his mark the metal felt warm in my hand slick with blood, mine most likely and even warmer yet as I plunged it through the eye of the demon, black ichor splurging before coating my hand making it slippery. I let go of the rebar after plunging it deeply into the demon's eye and it fell to its knees. Beneath me the beast began to glow, his form began to disperse into thick oily smoke. I could feel the heat begin to rise beneath me and I dove away just before it exploded in a ball of flame. My shoulder collided painfully with the pavement, and I groaned.

"You alright?" Steve asked at my side helping me stand.

"Not dead." I confirmed pulling off the shredded ruins of James' t-shirt and throwing them to the ruined road. The smaller beasts gave pause most likely regrouping after the larger one had been bested. Steve gave me a strange sort of look as I dove back into battle.

"We have to get rid of the Leviathan." I shouted at him as I tore the wings from two creatures and impaled a third with them before they dissolved.

He looked up at the beast in the sky before back to me, "Any ideas?"

"I have a few," I eyed another one of the flying demons.

He caught on and gave me a wary look. "I don't know."

"Trust me."

He dispatched one of the gorilla demons, his mouth like a slash across his face his version of a bland look at the moment.

"Right..." I grinned wiping a hair out of my face that had fallen from my bun smearing black sludge across my cheek. "...we aren't quite at the trust part yet... Ok how about this?" I fought through a horde of the gorilla beasts shouting over their unearthly cries all of them easily dispatched, "I know what I'm doing Rogers, just give me a boost. Aim for one of those winged assholes." I pointed up the winged demons flying up with the Leviathan.

His jaw tensed as he looked between me and the Leviathan, he dispatched three more demons before he begrudgingly knelt on the ground intertwining his fingers. I put a hand on his shoulder squeezing out of habit more than anything else before stepping into his grip and shouting for him to go.

One moment I was on the road with Steve, the next I was soaring through the air right at one of the spindly winged demons. I grasped onto its legs as it flew erratically, the beast did as I predicted and flew higher and higher in hopes it could shake me off, sending me to plummet to my death. It brought me closer to the Leviathan. When close enough I yanked the creature roughly to my left, towards the beast.

I let go.

My feet were aimed to land on the centre of its armoured back but when they did not find purchase my stomach dropped and I found myself falling through the creature.

Impossible.

I couldn't see.

Everything was set into pitch blackness for a moment before the darkness flickered and dissipated, and I could see the rushing ground coming up at me father than I could safely land.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I yelled grasping for something, anything. My hands fell onto a pair of leathery wings slowing my fall before my weight and the velocity of my fall ripped the wings from the creature and I continued my fall surrounded by burning smoke.

"Gotcha!" Steve grunted as he caught me awkwardly the pair of us slamming into the ground my teeth clattering together, he winched as my knee landed in the centre of his thigh taking him the rest of the way to the ground beneath me.

I didn't have time to worry about my singed ruined clothing or awkward positions as I looked to where Steve's eyes were trained widening with surprise, anger simmering around him.

A portal.

I gasped. The portal was open to some sort of hellscape crawling with a demon army the likes of which I had never seen and standing at their forefront was a man. Dressed similarly to Stephen Strange and the sorcerers of the Sanctum Santorum. This man's face set in anger, magic swirling familiarly with glowing yellow sparks at his fingertips.

Mordo.

A cry fell from my lips. As a winged demon flew so close to my face his wing cut my cheek.

With a flick of the wrist the portal closed, and Steve and I were left with the remnants of his demon army dissolving into smouldering vapour around us.

*~*~*

I stayed frozen for a moment just staring at the spot where the portal had been my hand fisting below me. I was furious, there was one thing to come after me, that I could handle but there was no need to put other lives in danger.

"Evelyn," Steve's voice broke through my thoughts.

I looked down realizing I was still on top of him, straddling him in fact my hand balled into his t-shirt roughly. "I'm sorry," I said hurriedly and attempted to stand but the only thing I accomplished was trying to pull myself up realizing I had a deep slash down my leg that chose now to protest moving.

He caught me as I almost went face first into a pile of broken concrete. His hands felt like fire on my skin, I could feel where each and every finger dug into my middle, I felt it all over my entire body, it was like electricity burning beneath my skin.

"I'm ok," I said pushing his hands away.

He did not fight me.

"We should get in contact with someone who can help clean this up." I looked around at the devastation that had been wrought because of the demons.

"I'm sure help is well under way already," Steve began brushing rubble from his hair as he stood, "We should get back to the apartment and get cleaned up. If you heal like I do, you will want to make sure that all of the stones are out of your wounds."

I nodded, he was not wrong not in the slightest, it was very uncomfortable to heal around debris beneath your skin. "So, they just send people to clean this up no questions asked huh?"

He grinned pulling a large piece of metal from his forearm, "It's an entire business apparently."

We slowly started walking towards the apartment, my wounds healing but my leg was a little worse for wear, I limped. Very glad that the black fabric of my leggings hid most of the blood that was dripping down my leg and into my boot. Everything was aching. The fighting I did today was different than the fighting that I did on the regular. The Chitauri were tough, but they were an army their moves predictable, the demons were unruly, and my bones ached from the erratic fighting.

"I've never seen anything like that," Steve said more to himself than to me.

I looked towards him, he had soot stains on his face and his usually neat hair was askew, he was beautiful, and he didn't even know it, "I haven't seen anything like that either." I said ripping my eyes away.

I tried my best to keep my eyes away from him but still I could feel his on me. I swallowed knowing where a battle like this would lead my Steve and I...

I swallowed thickly.

Most likely pressed against rubble or the side of a ruined building my leggings down around my ankles him buried deep within me. Our wounds would be slowly healing, and the adrenaline and pleasure would be burning brightly within our blood. I squeezed my eyes closed for a second and shook my head to in hopes to ebb the desire in my blood.

It didn't work.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I opened my eyes an turned to face him as he asked me the question.

I nodded, "Nothing a little rest won't fix up." I stumbled over debris, and he caught me before I fell.

"Do you need me to carry you?" He asked his tone genuine.

I practically tore myself from his grip. I would like nothing more, "No, of course not I will be fine." The truth was my leg was burning and I suspected the demons claws weren't the most sanitary things around. I would have to make sure it was cleaned out properly.

"You don't have to be like that you know," his tone was hard, and I could not help but think he was angry with me, offended even.

"Like what?" I felt my own anger rising at his tone. I was too tired for a fight.

"You don't have to flinch away like that, I'm not going to hurt you." If I didn't know any better, I would say he was hurt by my actions.

Did he seriously think that?

"I think you should think before you say things Rogers." I ground out before turning away to limp down the road and away from all the destruction. This Steve rogers really was oblivious, I supposed I would have to be more obvious, "Don't be ridiculous I don't think you are going to hurt me. I just can't let you touch me without my body responding in a way I am most certain you would not be very pleased about."

Damn my leg was throbbing.

I could practically taste his embarrassment at my words, the high flush on his cheeks said that he'd not expected my forwardness and it was enough to make me uncomfortable too because of his unease. Maybe he had not expected me to say that, maybe it was the pain or the adrenaline still pumping through me that made me so bold- Maybe I just didn't give that much of a shit at the moment.

My back was starting to ache, and my thigh felt like there was acid under my skin.

"Right..." his eyes moved to look ahead of us and his expression showing a sliver of relief as he saw who was approaching, "Sam," he called, "Bucky." He waved them over.

I turned my head to look where he was looking and indeed, I found the two other men jogging towards us in full regalia. I was impressed as I watched their quick approach, I forgot how beautiful it was to watch Sam fly. I rose my brows in appreciation. I stopped walking, mostly because they were near and perhaps a little bit because my thigh hurt awfully.

James's eyes first fell on Steve then to me his face hardened as he saw the dark stain on my thigh. Without a word he strode to me and picked me up one hand beneath my knees the other around my shoulders, "You shouldn't be walking," he gave Steve a pointed look, "What happened?" I didn't miss the accusation in his tone as though a small part of him thought this could somehow be Steve's fault. I brushed the thought away instantly because that would be impossible. Wouldn't it? Even I knew that with this Steve that I might not be at the top of his friends list, but I knew that he wouldn't hurt me. He had said so himself the night before

Steve grit his teeth the muscle in his jaw ticking, I realized he thought the same thing as I did, "Demons are what happened. Demons and what looked like a portal to hell."

Sam's brows rose above his goggles, "Demons? Like from the bible demons?"

I shrugged, "I don't think so. A hell world or demon realm maybe... Mordo, it was Mordo for certain though."

James looked around at the destruction behind us and whistled low, "We saw the Leviathan, we were expecting to see Chitauri."

"So were we." folding his arms across his chest Steve turned to where James was looking. "We managed to hold them off but turns out the Leviathan was some kind of illusion. As soon as Evelyn touched it-"

"I fell through it," I interrupted, "Hurt like hell." Steve nodded in agreement, "Luckily Rogers broke my fall or else it probably would have hurt more."

James looked at me amusement licked his features his shoulders becoming marginally less tense, he raised a brow at me, "You not fast enough anymore pal? Too much R and R or what?"

Steve shook his head, "Let's just get back to the apartment and get Evelyn's leg looked at."

I was surprised he noticed because he hadn't mentioned it. I was limping after all. Maybe it was more for my sake that he hadn't, and I couldn't say that I wasn't thankful.

"Car is just around the corner." Sam said. I was thankful that James didn't have to carry me all the way back. I most likely wouldn't have let him anyway but my leg would have been worse off by the time we got back. "You doing, ok?" Sam's dark eyes turned towards me concern crossed his features, "You're looking a little pale."

"I'm fine."

I was not fine.

"You don't look fine to me," James inferred his tone hard his eyes boring into my own the steel blue of them was intense in the way he silently demanded the truth.

My head was starting to feel a bit fuzzy my mind couldn't quite focus as well as it normally could.

I crossed my arms and glared half-heartedly, "I said I am fine."

He raised a brow as he walked towards the vehicle, "I don't care if you say your fine, I know that you're not, super soldier or not that is a lot of blood outside of your body that should still be inside of it."

He wasn't wrong but I would never admit it. I looked away tilting my chin towards the sky my arms still folded. My leg was paining profusely, and the blood was still seeping from the wound. I knew it was only going to be moments before it would start dripping from the sodden fabric. I was also not likely to admit out loud that the edges of my vision were starting to become edged with black. My heart was also beating a little erratically and a cold sweat was forming on my brow line and on my upper lip.

I took my lip between my teeth realizing how much of a brat I was being, "Hey James," I called my voice hoarse, "Something is not right." A wave of cold chills washed over me, and my muscles started to tremble.

We were almost at the car, he looked down at me and his mouth drew into a tight line, "I knew I should have gone with you." He mumbled under his breath but loud enough for only me to hear. "We've got to get her to a doctor." He called to the others.

"You think Bruce could help?" Steve said.

"Better him than trying to explain her situation at a hospital." Sam answered.

"Let's just get her in the car and get her to Bruce." James cursed again tremors began to shake my muscles a cold rush spreading over my body again as the tremors increased. I squeezed my eyes closed as the world lurched abruptly making my stomach turn.

"I'm sure it was the claws." I said through clenched teeth, "Demon claws have to be poison tipped right?"

"I hope you're wrong." He said his face grim. "Steve, try getting a hold of Strange again, I think he might be the better Doctor for this."