EPILOGUE

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His first awareness was of his own breathing, slow and peaceful. His fingers twitched and he noticed they were moving and touching something soft.

Once he realized that, he knew he had been sleeping and now he was waking up.

Next he heard the quiet murmur of a baseball game on the radio...

He opened his eyes, blinking when his eyelids felt sticky and heavy, until he was able to see. Above him was a pale ceiling. Slow fan blades turning, hypnotically, around and around...

He was Steve Rogers, he remembered that.

That memory brought others: Schmidt's plane. Talking to Peggy on the radio. Saying goodbye.

The cold. Darkness.

There was nothing after that.

His muscles moved reluctantly, aching when he tried, but nothing hurt, which was surprising, because surely the crash had injured him. And, God, it had been so cold. He'd thought for sure he would freeze to death. He hadn't expected to wake up.

Apparently someone had found him and brought him... here. Wherever 'here' was.

A hospital? This felt like a hospital.

He slowly turned his head to see his surroundings. Maybe he could reach the radio and turn it up.

Lukas was there, sitting in a small chair by the side of the bed and reading from a book in his lap. Steve was not surprised to see him. When Lukas had jumped out of the plane after the tesseract, Steve had hoped he would survive and be rescued, which obviously he had. Then he had told the rescuers where the plane went down, which was why Steve was alive, too.

Lukas had shed the military trappings he'd worn while hunting Schmidt, and was wearing civilian clothes of a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms, and a green necktie. That long hair with a touch of curl to it was hanging in his face, and he hadn't noticed Steve was awake yet. Steve smiled; Lukas did tend to get absorbed in his books.

"What're you reading?" Steve asked, and had to clear his throat when his voice came out all scratchy like he hadn't spoken in a while.

Lukas' head snapped up and he turned to see Steve. "Steven! You awaken! How do you feel?" he asked anxiously, pale eyes fixed on Steve as if he looked away Steve might disappear.

Steve evaluated his physical condition. "All right. Tired. Achy. Nothing hurts though."

"Good, good, I'm glad," Lukas said. His tone was mild, but the way he was clutching his book between his hands and staring were making Steve concerned.

"Is everything okay?" Steve asked. "You seem a little… upset."

"No, I'm fine. I just… I thought…" His voice grew unsteady and his mouth worked without anything coming out. Until he drew a ragged breath and admitted, "I thought you were dead." His eyes gleamed with a sheen of tears he tried to blink back. "I thought - I thought I killed you."

The distress in his face was heart-wrenching and Steve sat up, reaching out for him. "No, no, that's not-"

"I should never have left you alone," Lukas whispered. "I was stupid and reckless and you- and I lost you, and it was my fault…" His face crumpled and he shut his eyes, bending down to hide his face in his hands, gasping for breath as the book thumped to the floor.

"Hey, no," Steve reassured him, "No, Lukas. It's okay, it's all right." Not sure what to do, he gripped Lukas' shoulder, rubbing in gentle soothing circles. It was worrisome that Lukas had believed he was dead - how long had he been unconscious? - but Steve waited him out, not trying to rush him into calming down.

He choked out, "It should have been me…"

"Hey, no, don't say that. It's not your fault, Lukas. I'm here, you're here – I'm glad you're all right." Lukas shook his head, long hair hanging down in his face, swinging with the motion, as he caught his breath. "It's okay, Lukas. You saved me."

"No, I didn't," Lukas insisted. He rubbed at his eyes and wiped his cheeks with his palms before lifting his head again. "You don't know, Steven. You don't know what's happened."

Steve frowned, not understanding. "Know what?"

Lukas glanced at the door, distress still drawing his brows together as he bit his lip. But he turned back, inhaled a settling breath, and told Steve in a level tone, "The year is 2011. You were preserved in the ice, asleep, for sixty-seven years."

Steve heard the words, individually he knew what they all meant, but together, he couldn't understand. 2011? How could it be 2011? "But- but you're here?" Steve said, as if it was some sort of proof that it was untrue. "You only look a little older..."

Lukas' eyes cut to him as if he objected to that observation, but he said only, "I don't age. They wanted to ease you into it, with a familiar face and familiar surroundings."

Steve's gaze traveled the room, looking for something out of place. But the lamp, the table, the radio – it was all what it should be. This had to be some sort of terrible joke. It was impossible, wasn't it? A year maybe, he could believe. Two. But sixty-seven? That was ridiculous.

Lukas read his doubt, and said, "Perhaps it is more confusing, than comforting, that I am the same. Can you stand? I will demonstrate time has passed. There are shoes on the floor."

Steve wasn't sure he wanted to know this, but he bent to look for the shoes.

The door opened and a woman dressed in a familiar women's uniform, rushed in and objected, "Mister Onsdag, you were not supposed to-"

"He needs to see the truth, not this pantomime," Lukas told her, rising to meet her at the door. "Out of the way, Agent Van Pelt."

She didn't move, confronting him. "Captain Rogers is not supposed to leave the facility."

"Captain Rogers is going to do what he wants," Lukas said. Before she could try to resist, he seized her upper arms, saying briefly, "Pardon me" and he set her down to the side. Steve opened his mouth to object, but Lukas turned to him. "Come, Steven, follow me. Can you run before they catch us?"

Steve met his eyes, remembering a run through the snowy woods. "I can."

"Follow me."

Steve's legs were a bit rubbery to start, but once the serum kicked in, he felt fine.

They hit the door together, slamming not only the door right off the hinges but the wall as well. It crashed to the floor, showing that he'd been inside a theater set, not a real hospital room at all. Outside, it was a large open air hall or hangar with a high ceiling. The massive glass windows rising several floors and visible steel girders were enough to tell him he was in the future.

"Captain Rogers!" Other people were shouting and running after them, and a few had weapons. Steve wanted his shield but didn't need it, since no one seemed intending to shoot at them, only stop them. But Lukas didn't stop, heading for a spacious lobby. The high glass wall allowed a view of the sidewalk and busy street outside, and people walking along tending their own business.

A metal net fell down across the entry door, but Lukas laughed as if it were nothing. "Give me your hand, Steven. "

So Steve did, as they ran straight at the glass wall. He braced to crash through, gritting his teeth against the impact, but instead... there was nothing. The air turned cold and weirdly colored, as if he was looking through a kaleidoscope, and then...

They were on the pavement outside.

Steve lost a step. Lukas had failed to reveal that particular talent. It was not quite as impressive as the fire coming off his hands on Schmidt's plane, but still, something that would have been useful to know.

But there was no time to be amazed, as Lukas told him with a grin, "They cannot hold us, Steven, if we wish not to be held. Follow me." They ran again.

The cars were different, but not so strange … traffic was similar on the street.

He followed Lukas, both of them running easily and swiftly on the sidewalk and crossing the traffic, vaulting as necessary to avoid aggressive cabs. But he wasn't paying attention to the signs, concentrating on the traffic and following Lukas, until he recognized where Lukas had brought him, and his feet stumbled to a halt.

Times Square. They were in Times Square.

It was a blinding display of lights and signs, fantastically tall buildings, too many cars... Too much. Too different.

He stayed on his feet, though his knees wobbled like he might crash to the ground, as he looked upward. He seized Lukas' shoulder, as the towering heights of the buildings and the flashing lights whirled and smeared with strangeness.

He looked into Lukas' face, glad to see something familiar. Lukas gave a brief smile, amused but understanding of his confusion as well. He gripped Steve's arm with a reassuring, solid connection of past and present.

"Welcome to the future, Steven."

the end.

The Ice Demon saga will continue in The Ice Demon and the Captain.

In the aftermath, Loki and Steve deal with finding themselves in this strange new Earth, with the help of old friends and new family.

Summer/Fall 2016.