When We Were Young

Prologue

"We don't have time, Steve," you cried, panicking as Steve talked to Peggy over comms.

"Peggy, I have to put it down in the water," Steve said over comms.

You felt your heart ache as you took your earpiece out, giving Steve and Peggy privacy on comms, before you buckled in your seatbelt.

In what you believed were your final moments, you thought back to what the past several years had offered you.

You had helped your older brother Bucky to train and win three welterweight championships and were extremely tough for someone your size.

After Bucky had enlisted in the Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor, you were finishing school and wanted to enlist as a nurse but Bucky refused to allow you to enlist.  You respected his wishes but felt heartbroken to be losing your partner in crime and best friend to help the country.

While you felt like you didn't have anybody after Bucky left, you came to find that you had Steve Rogers. He had stepped up and into the position of older brother and you stayed by his side to support him through his transition from a wimp who couldn't throw a proper punch to Captain America.

When Bucky had been killed in action, Steve did all that he could to get you to him overseas. While you were on foreign soil, Peggy had taken you under her wing until Steve was able to get to both of you.

From that point on, you and Steve had been inseparable. You both fought like brother and sister and he was your fiercest protector. 

You had begun to try to fight alongside Steve and eventually found yourself as a his partner in crime on what would be his final mission.

"Y/N," Steve called to you, breaking your concentration.

"Yes, Steve?" You questioned, your heart racing as he began his descent.

"I'm sorry that it's ending like this."

"You always told Buck you would be there til the end of the line. I guess that the same goes for me too," you replied, frowning deeply.

Steve looked to you and his frown mirrored yours.

"It's okay, Steve. You'll be with your parents again and I'll be with mine and my brother. Just do it."

Steve maneuvered the plane and it began to do a nosedive, causing you to grip the arms of your seat.

"I'm sorry," Steve called to you again just as the nose of the Valkyrie hit the ice of the Arctic shelf, throwing both yours and Steve's bodies into the shallow but frigid water on top of the shelf.

As you struggled in the water, you felt like you were being stabbed all over your body by millions of knives. The worst pain wasn't from the water— it was that you didn't see Steve anywhere and you came to realize that you was about to die alone. You knew your body had started to freeze and within minutes, your eyes shut as you took your last breath.