Still with Infinity War...sorry, but I'm trying to make it better!

Steve didn't know where he was; all he knew was that he had been walking for what felt like forever, to a destination that would never be found. All around him were vague images and voices that sounded to be years away; his vision was hazy as it had been seventy some years ago before the serum. Now the haze was something much different; it gave off a warm, orange hue that couldn't simply be attributed to poor eyesight. Everything around him was covered in that warmth, despite the chill of loneliness and unfamiliarity.

As he continued on, he kept looking down and his hands, almost as if he were convincing himself that they were still there; he couldn't feel them. In fact, he couldn't feel anything. The last time he had looked down at his hands, they were broken and whisked away with the breeze. Steve wasn't sure if this could be heaven or hell or somewhere in between, and the idea that he might still be alive was slowly slipping away as a ridiculous wish never to come true.

His mind wandered to those lost as he watched, and the terror of seeing Vision destroyed before his eyes. Steve tried to push away the memory of Bucky's last moments, but the replay was incessant and cruel, exactly as it was with the first time he saw that same loss.

"Steve?"

"Buck?" he gasped, turning to the voice behind him. When he saw his friend looking back, he began to believe once again in the fleeting idea of hope. "How did you find me? I was just thinking about you and then...then there you were."

"Steve, what the hell happened? Where are we? Are we dead?"

"I don't know, Buck...I don't think so? I don't feel dead, although I'm not sure I really would. Have you seen anyone else?"

"Who else is there?"

"Before I got my turn, I remember seeing Sam, Wanda, Thor's friend Tree, and Okoye-" he stopped suddenly, unable to utter another sound as the people who carried those names in life began to appear around him as if they were summoned. "Sam!" he yelled out, rushing to take his friend in a crushing hug before turning to the next victim of his strength. "Wanda! Oh my god, I can't believe this! I mean...I can't really understand either, but I'm so relieved that I'm not alone."

"I am Groot!"

The five friends took the quickest of moments to greet each other, though there was barely any semblance of joy in their reunion, given the circumstances. Mumbles of relief amongst the unease were welcomed, and questions left unanswered didn't feel so final. It was decided by several of them that if this is the afterlife or heaven or hell, then at least they were together. When the next member of the party stepped into the light, Steve could barely hold himself up at what he was witnessing.

"C-captain," Okoye whispered, her voice trembling, "what has happened to us?"

"General, we don't know, but...is that..." Steve tried, stammering and failing in his words. "Please don't tell me that's who I think it is...please..."

"Yes, Captain, you are correct." She paused and turned to face him and held out her arms, allowing him to get a closer look to remove any doubt from his already tortured mind. "This is the Prince of Wakanda. King T'Challa and (Y/N)'s son. I had sworn on my life an oath to protect him, and as I woke here, he was with me."

"No. No, no, no," he whimpered in reply, and his knees finally gave way when Bucky wasn't fast enough to catch him. "She has to be devastated. I'm not there to be with her. Is T'Challa here? Please tell me that he made it and is still alive."

"He is not here, that I have seen," she answered. The strikingly little baby in her arms began to fuss, so she pulled him close, rocking him gently back and forth and singing quietly under her breath to soothe him. "Excuse me," she whispered, "I have a duty to fulfill."

Steve couldn't do anything but to watch her walk away, keeping her promise of protection to your son. His eyes were filled with tears that wouldn't spill, and a cry that had no sound in this place. He took Sam's offered hand of support to help him stand, and turned to the group as a realization came into his mind. "It seems like anyone here can be found by saying or thinking their name. That's how I found you guys. Do you think there's anyone else that we know?"

"Give it a try," Bucky shrugged.

"Here goes," Steve sighed heavily. He wanted to know who was stuck in this purgatory with him, but in the same conceit, he didn't want to know. He almost preferred to believe that anyone who wasn't standing here now had made it and was alive on Earth. One by one, he ran through the names of his teammates, and only one became visible to him as their name was called. "Parker?"

"Steve!" the boy gasped and broke into a sprint to meet him. The two had never been close, but that was thrown aside as Peter slammed into him with a hug so desperate for something real that it nearly crushed even the super soldier. "Cap, what's happening? Where are we? Did we die? If we're not dead, can we get back? Mr. Stark is stuck on this planet called Titan and I don't know if he can get home, and there's this big purple jerk named Thanos with a shiny gauntlet-"

"Woah, kid, slow down. Let's calm down, alright? I've got you, you're okay," Steve tried to console, taking the young man in his hold as he pushed him back just enough to see his face. "Thanos came to Earth, and he got all six stones. He snapped his fingers and half of the universe is...it's just gone. Or maybe they're here, we don't know for sure. For all I know, I'm dreaming this and none of you are really here. But if you are, I think that we're it for our group, from what we can figure out."

"No, Cap, there's more," Peter continued, just as rushed, "ugh! I wish I was better at names! It was all so crazy...so fast..." he snapped, looking into his mind to remember each one he had known on Titan. He brought back the pictures in his mind, of the fight that nearly worked to rip the gauntlet from the beast's hand, and who was there to fight alongside of him and his mentor. As he muttered the names under his breath, even with uncertainty, they began to arrive one by one.

"Drax."

"I am Mantis."

"Gamora."

"Peter Quill, but everyone calls me Star Lord. I'd appreciate it if you did too, but I'm pretty much gonna answer to anything right about now."

"Dr. Stephen Strange."

"Woah, no way! Hold on," Parker dared to chuckle despite the despondency and fear looking back from the group around him, "you mean that really is your real name? Oh man, that's so embarrassing! For me, I mean! Not for you, Mr...Doctor Strange...sir. Good work back there, by the way," he stumbled over his words, giving the wizard an awkward tap on the shoulder, "love your cloak."

~~~

Back in Wakanda, the ground had barely stilled from the raging battle it had just endured, but the air carried only a tragic silence of what the light of day had shown. Warriors were left stumbling back to their tribes with their numbers dwindled in half and with no real explanation as to what had just happened. T'Challa was doing his best to keep you calm, but given the circumstances, he knew that his efforts were like a dam ready to break, and that you were barely holding the massive flood back from destroying everything in its path. Including you.

He led you back to the palace without words when there weren't any that could possibly mean anything to either of you now. His grip on your hand was tight, as if he still worried that you could disappear too, even though the wave of terror seemed to have stopped; he wasn't taking any chances with letting you go and his own anxieties heartily agreed with him.

Each step that you left in the grass and dirt merely reminded you of who had been standing on it before, and that they were now gone while you were fortunate enough to have been left behind. Or was it truly fortunate? This pain that remained was shredding your mind and stabbing your heart so heavily that you were physically suffering. You couldn't bring yourself to allow your hands anywhere close to your stomach, as if making that contact would make it real; for now, you could still trick yourself into believing that this was all just a nightmare and you had yet to wake. Your feet felt like lead weights at the end of your legs, and the images of the lost that kept replaying in your memory nearly buckled your knees as you moved.

As much as you loved and needed the man next to you, you couldn't help but want Steve there instead. It was likely the loss of him that made you feel that way, but it was there nonetheless and it wouldn't relent.

"Are you alright?" T'Challa asked urgently, his grip ever tighter.

"I'm fine," you lied, "I just need to lie down."

"I will bring you to our room so that you can rest. I need to meet with the remaining tribal leaders and the elders to decide what will be our next step. I promise to not take long and I can join you."

"I'm sorry, but I just want to be left alone."

T'Challa stopped his feet and held you back, turning you to look at him with eyes filled with worry and pain, though he knew that the pain you carried was so much heavier. "(Y/N), now is not the time for solitude, and please forgive me, but I cannot bring myself to leave you for any longer than is absolutely necessary. What we've seen here today...it panics me to think that it might happen again at any moment."

"It won't," you sighed, turning away again to walk, "but if it does, it can't feel any worse than this. I can't imagine any death feeling worse-"

Your words were quickly cut off by the sounds of something coming towards the city in the sky above, looking similar to the quinjet but much larger. T'Challa's logical mind rushed back to the forefront and set him into motion as he watched the vessel come closer with each second.

"The dome isn't functional. Shuri is trying to repair it."

"Don't you think we should we move?"

"Their trajectory looks to bring them to land just beyond those trees," he pointed away, "so I believe we are safe here." He raised his hand to use his comm, but he never had the chance; his interpretation of trajectory was quite a bit incorrect; the ship rocked and swayed as if it was losing control over the landing. If left the two of you with barely the time to duck next to one of the massive ground-destroying machines that Thanos had left behind. "Stay behind me!"

But you wouldn't follow this order; you couldn't. Your body moved autonomously of your direction, with nothing that could stop you from getting a better view. As soon as the ship came close enough, you could see into the cockpit; you saw a face that you could never mistake for anyone else, and your heart had the first pangs of hope since this whole ordeal began.

"Oh my god, it's Tony!"