Driven Mad (Book 1 in the MAD Series)(An Avengers Fan Fiction)

Steve Rogers

Steve was used to being confused. In the past few years, everything felt foreign and weird, and plain futuristic. He was used to the confusion. He was still having a tough time, even though he’d been living in this weird future for nearly 3 years. It seemed like he’d taken a short nap and in the time while he was sleeping, life had went from having hardly-functional cars to having sleek, thin, shiny cars. While he was asleep he went from being the only bright light of hope to a world at war to being nothing but an icon, a person parents told their children about once when they were little and then they forgot about him, and he was nothing but a dead hero until a few years ago when he finally awoke from his nap. Even then, he was the news for a few days and then people went back to their regular lives.  But this alternate universe became a home to Steve, even though he longed desperately for the days when he fought in the war and he had Howard Stark and Peggy Carter. Instead all he had was Howard’s son and Peggy’s voice haunting him in the silence.

But this was becoming more and more confusing. There was someone new, someone who longed for his affection. He hadn’t had that in years, or if he had, he had never noticed. But this girl, Darcy, was different. She was different than Peggy, a lot different. Peggy was tough, and so was this Darcy, he could tell that she was fearless. But Peggy had this no-nonsense attitude, just like his. Darcy wasn’t ever totally serious. Instead she was happy and a little bit crazy. Steve could tell that she was a little bit confused in life, like she didn’t know what she was doing where she was and she didn’t know why she was there, just like him. She seemed oblivious to the outside world, and even though she’d been born and raised in the more modern era, she seemed just as lost as Steve was.

He was at a crossroad. He loved Peggy with all that was within him. He wanted her so badly. He wanted to hear her British accent again. He wanted to see her running toward him, wearing that brown leather jacket that he loved for no real reason. Her wavy hair and bright red lips and the way she stood with her hands on her hips. The way she could point a gun at someone like it was no big deal. The way she wasn’t afraid to stand up to anyone. Those little things were what made up who she was, and those little things are what made Steve love Peggy more and more, and those were the things he missed most. They could talk for endless hours or simply sit in silence, and either way everything felt perfect. He missed the way her lips felt against his. He missed the warm feeling he got around her. He missed every inch of her, and he wished that he’d just listened to her and figured out how to turn the plane around. He wanted to just go back in time. If he’d figured a way to change that disaster of a fate, then maybe he would still be with Peggy…

But then there was Darcy. Darcy was there and Steve could be with her. There was a strange innocence yet maturity in her, yet he knew that the maturity in her really wasn’t something you could see at first glance. But he’d talked to her for countless, endless hours that day. She was kind and funny and smart. He could tell that she wasn’t afraid to stand up to him, or anyone for that matter. She was just as confused as him and he liked that. She was weird, but so was he. Their strangeness gave them something to talk about. They could talk for endless hours and never get bored. Darcy had little quirks about her that normal people would never notice, like how she always seemed to be a little bit dreamy, how she never seemed to be quite in touch with reality. He liked how she pushed up her glasses when she talked about something she was passionate about. He liked the way she boldly walked up to him and just listed some small details about herself in hopes to make a good impression. He liked how she kicked her feet back and forth when she sat down and talked. Those little things were the smallest, most unnoticed details, but they didn’t go unnoticed by Steve. And that made his heart feel like it was being pulled in two different directions, and it’d eventually have to rip in half.

He sighed and leaned back on his hands. He studied Darcy’s face as she told him about her life. He stared at her, and he smiled. Her big eyes were twinkling, and she looked like she could talk forever. He listened to every word, remembering everything she said. “I always loved the stars. When I was sixteen I met Jane and Erik. Jane was four years older than me but she became my best friend. We started working together about a year after I met her. I’ve been working as an astrophysicist ever since.” She said.