"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience."
Victoria Holt
His eyes were closed, but when he opened them, Steve was not on the mountain of Vormir, he was somewhere else entirely. Seemingly endless water surrounded him, the sky met with the water, each reflecting the other making Steve feel dizzy and uncoordinated. It too had a faint orange glow, just as the stone itself did. Steve took a few steps, water splashing around him – he felt as if he was inside the stone, though he still held it in his palm.
He had asked it for Ophelia, and had yet to receive an answer. His focus was on her, he remembered what she looked like, how her voice sounded. Her smile, and how she could light up a room, how she could light up Bucky. Finding his strength and determination despite being out of his depth, Steve was ready to do anything to get her back.
"Whatever it takes," he told himself again.
He heard the stone whisper back to him, "You cannot have her."
The words shocked him, even though Steve had known it would not be easy. Nothing Steve had ever done had been easy. Joining the army had been near impossible, stopping HYDRA had been a lifelong struggle, coping with the loss of half the universe had broken him, losing Tony and Natasha to get them back had felt like an impossible ultimatum.
"What reason do you have for keeping her?" Steve challenged.
"What reason do you have for thinking you can get her back?" The stone spoke all around him, and yet the voice was only in his head.
"Her life was ended too early, she never reached her full potential," Steve said, looking around as if hoping for some form or shape to take place. Something he could fight, something solid he could defeat. But the stone was more than that, and they both knew it.
"Not many have, Steven Rogers."
"What will it take?" Steve asked, getting right to the point.
"What would you sacrifice?"
Steve thought about that. What would he sacrifice to save Ophelia? What would he give up to bring Bucky back the one person who meant more to him than anything else? Steve thought about the life that he wanted, the one where he showed up to that dance, where his date with Peggy would have gone wonderfully, and he knew how it would have played out from there. That was why he went back through the time portal on his own, so that he could live that life.
"Do you mean it?"
Steve dipped his head. Did he mean it? Would he give up that life for Bucky's happiness?
"Yes," he replied without much more hesitation. Even though it was the life he longed for, he had been happy throughout his time since waking up from the ice. He had many solid friendships, people he loved. Bucky didn't really get much of that. So Steve said again, "Yes, I would."
"Your intentions are true," the stone accepted. "But that is not for me to take."
"You gave yourself to Thanos to take half the universe, why can't you give one more life back for all the harm you caused."
The stone laughed; the stone did not have feelings. It did not care for the people it stole, nor the ones who it gave back. The stone collected souls and did not relinquish them with ease.
"Give me back Ophelia, she will live out her life, and you will be here. For the next person to come along and sacrifice their loved one for you and your power. I have earned the right to take Ophelia back from you, I have lost time and time again. This is something I've earned. You will live until the end of time, to take souls -what is one less soul in your collection?" Steve debated.
The stone went quiet.
Steve still had it in his hand, he could feel it -there was a tingling sensation from his palm, and he quickly opened it to ensure the stone hadn't decided to take his life. A light glow was emitting from it in pulses. It was impossible to tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Though he had dealt with the Tesseract back when his biggest threat was Red Skull, Steve had known nothing of Infinity Stones. Even now, he still felt ill prepared for what they were and what they could do. He had a feeling the other stones were easier to comprehend, but the soul stone seemed to have a mind of its own.
"I will return Ophelia Ivanova to you," the stone decided at last. "But it will come at a cost."
"Anything," Steve replied quickly; he was beginning to grow impatient.
"Not from you," the stone countered. "No... It is a price she must pay."
Steve was unsure -he dared not ask the stone what the price was, he suspected it would not tell him. This was all a game to the stone, it didn't care if it relinquished Ophelia, but it enjoyed the worry it would instill in Steve. He would go back in time to live with Peggy -hopefully- and it would haunt him to not know what that price was.
But he knew one thing; Ophelia would choose the payment to be with Bucky.
And so, his decision was settled.
Steve looked up, though there was nothing to look up at. No person that the stone was, just miles of water and sky all around him. There were no distant mountains, there were no rolling hills. He was on another plane of existence, arguing with a rock. Still, there had been weirder things to happen in his life, and he wasn't about to back down.
Taking one more glance around, as if waiting for a sign, Steve looked back down at his hand.
"I accept the cost for Ophelia, for I know she too will accept it," Steve announced, even though he knew the stone was already aware of his decision. It was inside his head, just as it had been inside Clint's before him, and Thanos before that.
"Regret is a terrible thing."
Steve's regret wasn't going to be bringing her back, he knew it -his regret was letting her die. And of all the places for her last moments, Siberia, the place where she was kept. She died in Wakanda, but she never got to see the beauty of it. Now she would get that chance, Steve knew she would thrive there. The beauty of the place, the safety of it -Bucky had mentioned how Ophelia would have loved it, and now he would get the chance to know first-hand just how much.
Opening his palm, Steve found it empty. The stone left, disappeared forever. Gone back to where no one would ever find again -he so hoped. The water around him was still, there was not even the gentlest of breezes in the realm. It was too quiet, suddenly, there was no drip of water, not even the ominous feeling of the stone's presence was still there.
Then, a ripple in the water passed Steve's feet, followed by the rest of them. He turned, looking around the vast realm, and that's when he saw her. She was outfitted in all black, just like what she was wearing the last time Steve saw her alive. Her hair hung in loose waves over her shoulders, but her head was hanging down, her hands extended before her. Her hands shook as she stared at them.
"Ophelia?" Steve asked, taking a quick step towards her but quickly stopping herself so that he didn't startle her.
Slowly her head lifted. Wide eyes. Her big green eyes bore into him. Her head cocked to the side as she blinked at last, as though she had just woken up.
"S-Steve?" she whispered.