Ashes to Ashes

Endgame

Those words gave you chills and you took off into flight once more. As much as you had wanted to look for Sam and Bucky, it was obviously not the time to do so. As your army ran towards Thanos', you flew above Steve and T'Challa.

"I knew you were worthy," you yelled down to Steve with a small, tired smile before flying off into battle.

You weren't sure what to do or where to even begin. You chose to take the rear on Thanos' army and took your pistols out as you flew above them, firing to take out some of the outriders. Sam had looped around from the other side, following your lead.

"How is it that these things are uglier than I remember?" You groaned over your headset, causing Thor to laugh.

At least someone else had a sense of humor right now.

"Forget those things. When did you start pretending to be as cool as me?" Sam asked you with a smirk, flying near you, attacking with his pistols in hand.

"Oh, this little thing?" You asked, regarding your pack. "Just a little gift from Tony. I had been using your old ones before yesterday."

"You hate flying," Sam replied, making you laugh softly.

"I guess I don't anymore."

You continued to fly low and high, trying to take out every enemy you saw. Just as you were about to fly up, an outrider jumped up and grabbed hold of your right wing, dragging you down to the ground.

You luckily killed the outrider before getting to your feet and looking around. Everywhere you turned, you saw your friends, acquaintances, and even strangers to you battling against Thanos and his army.

Luckily, adrenaline was still running through your veins because you were close to passing out from exhaustion without it. As you looked around, Sam landed near you and quickly pulled you into his arms.

"I have so many emotions running through me right now," you said with soft, almost maniacal, laughter as you hugged Sam tight.

For five years, you dreamt of this moment and it was finally here, just not how you had imagined it. You didn't think you'd be holding Sam in your arms in the middle of a battle against Thanos but here you were, doing just that.

"I missed you so damn much, Samuel Thomas Wilson. So damn much," you said as he pulled back far enough to kiss you.

There was that stinging guilt again.

"Come on. We have a battle to win," Sam said, grinning at you before flying off once again.

You watched him for a moment before taking off in the opposite direction and landing near Thor.

"Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?" Clint asked over his headset, referring to the gauntlet.

While Steve and Bruce bantered over where the stones should go, you helped Clint as air support until the gauntlet was passed to T'Challa and he took off with it.

As you fought alongside Thor once more, missiles were suddenly raining from the sky, threatening the lives of members from both sides. You felt fortunate that Wong was nearby and suddenly offered protection.

You watched the sky as the cannons began firing upwards.

"What the hell is this? A comet?" Sam asked.

A comet shot through Thanos' ship, rendering it useless.

"Sure. That comet's name is Carol," you said with a smirk. "Just like you to show up late to the party, Danvers."

"Oh, you know. I haven't been busy at all," she teased back.

"We could use your assistance," Steve said to her and she flew down to where Peter had been hiding the the gauntlet.

Peter questioned how she planned to get through a wall of their enemies when you and almost every other female that was fighting showed up. You had never felt more powerful than that moment when you all teamed up.

As Carol flew towards Scott's van, you hesitated but chose to use your power to bring Thanos to his knees. He used all of his mighty to throw his weapon into the van, rendering it completely useless.

Carol and everybody else that was around were thrown back from the force of the quantum tunnel being destroyed. The gauntlet had been thrown too and Thanos spotted it at the same time Tony did. They both tried to grab it but you managed to quickly swoop down and grab the gauntlet.

"What the hell do I do with it now?" You asked as an attack from Thanos' army was focused on you.

Nobody answered. They were all desperate to keep Thanos from getting the gauntlet once more.

"Guys?!" You called out, only to have one of your wings taken out and you were grounded and suddenly surrounded.

You knew at that moment that you didn't have a choice. You moved to put the gauntlet on your own hand and as you were about to slip it on, Tony flew overhead and snatched it from you before pulling it onto his own hand.

"Tony, no!" You screamed out but it was too late. He snapped.

After he snapped, Thanos' army began to turn to ash in front of your eyes. It started with ashes and now it was ending the same way, only you had won.

Instead of celebrating, everybody had looked to Tony. Those of you who saw Bruce snap knew what effect it had on him so you were terrified for Tony. You saw Peter and Pepper near him and then Pepper began to sob. Tony was holding on to whatever strength he had left and emergency medical services showed up.

Stark had been in extremely rough shape but was able to get him off of the premises and to the hospital where Pepper, Rhodey, and Steve had gone to wait.

The events of the last thirty six or so hours caught up with you and you collapsed to the ground in tears. Sam landed beside you and knelt down to make sure you were okay, cradling your face in his hands.

"Why would you try to do that?" Sam asked, his brows pulled together in concern.

"Because I'm tired of people trying to protect me. I'm tired of people dying because of me," you said softly as tears spilled over. "It was my turn."

Your words broke Sam's heart. He had no clue what you or the others had been through within the last five years, much less the last few days, but he knew it couldn't have been good. Unsure of what else to do in that moment, he pulled you tight against his chest as you cried.