CHAPTER TWENTY:
COME HOME

SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO tell Evelyn that she was the reason that Bucky was dead. That she had been so close, that their fingers had touched, before she watched Evelyn's best friend―︎her second brother―︎fall to his death. She could hear Peggy and Evelyn talking, and she couldn't control the tears that strolled down her cheeks as she silently entered the tent.

     "Evelyn." Her voice was a whisper, but it was loud enough to grab their attention. Noticing the look covering Celeste's face, Evelyn slowly stood up, placing her cup down in the process.

     "Celeste, hey. What's wrong? Is Steve alright?" Evelyn immediately became panicked but stopped when Celeste nodded her head. A fresh wave of tears seemed to fall over the blonde as she shook her head, trying her hardest to hold back her sobs.

     "It's not Steve. It's Bucky." Celeste paused. "Evelyn. . . Bucky's dead." She watched the blonde freeze, shoulder's tensing as shock seemed to start to crawl its way through her body.

     "How'd it happen?" Evelyn softly asked.

     Celeste wiped her tears. "We were on the train, fighting. Steve, Bucky, and I got knocked down by this robot thing. Bucky wanted to be the hero, picked up Steve's shield, robot blasted him right out of the train. He held on. . . I was so close to reaching him. My fingers were touching his, but the railing he was holding broke and he. . . and he fell. Evelyn, I'm so sorry."

Celeste couldn't help herself as she broke into sobs, her heart seemed tos hatter over and over as the image of Bucky falling repeated itself in her mind. Evelyn's arms automatically reached out, pulling Celeste to her chest and hugging the angel as she sobbed. Reality seemed to slam into Evelyn at full force as she let the tears take over her body as she sobbed, holding tightly onto Celeste as the two comforted one another.

     "It's not your fault." Evelyn managed to say after catching her breath. "You hear me?" She pulled away, forcing Celeste to look at her. Celeste shook her head in denial whilst Evelyn wiped away the tears from the angels cheeks. "It is not your fault that he's dead."

     "He was so close. I was so close." Celeste whimpered. "Why aren't you yelling at me? Hitting me? Blaming me? I could have saved him."

     "There was nothing that you could have done, Celeste." Evelyn swallowed thickly, shaking her head.

     "Evelyn's right." Peggy softly spoke, causing Celeste to look at her. "His death isn't your fault."

     "I gotta. . ." Evelyn took a step back, jutting her thumb towards the opening of the tent. "Steve. I gotta go find my brother." She clenched her jaw for a moment before turning on her heel and walking out of the tent. Leaving the two women.

      Peggy looked at Celeste. She watched as a fresh wave of tears seemed to fill her eyes. "Oh, darling," Peggy whispered before quickly embracing her friend and holding her tightly. Celeste had watched the person she loved die. She had watched him fall to his death. The man that she had come to earth to protect, the man that she had accidentally fallen in love with, was gone. And she didn't know what to do, or how to cope.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

     "Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse." Colonel Phillips started. "He thinks he's a god, and he's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA." He pointed to the map that was placed on the wall.

     "Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities." Howard made his way over to the table, sitting down on one of the chairs. "He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour."

     There was a pause before Gabe asked, "How much time we got?"

     "According to my new best friend, under twenty-four hours." Phillips answered.

     "Where is he now?" One of the men asked.

     "HYDRA'S last base is here." He held up a picture and pointed at it. "In the Alps, 500 feet below the surface." He threw the pictures onto the table. Jim Morita picked up the phots and paused for a moment to look at them.

     "So, what are we supposed to do?" He placed the photos back down and Celeste took it upon herself to take them and look at them. "I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door."

     "Why not?" Steve finally asked, causing everyone to look at him. "That's exactly what we're going to do."

And like Steve said, that's exactly what they did. Steve, of course, went in first, taking out the ones outside before he was surrounded and taken inside. They started infiltrating when the time was right, with the Howling Commandoes saving Steve's ass and everyone else fighting any soldiers that made it towards them. Shots were thrown that completely obliterated the person that it hit.

Everything was a blur to Celeste, she barely remembered the fight, she barely remembered the gun shots, she seemed to be blocking everything out to the point that Peggy was the one to fill her in on what had went down. How they had managed to get Steve on the jet that Schmidt was on, and now all they were waiting for was a response from him.

     "Celeste." The sound of her father's voice filled her head, causing her eyes to tightly close. She tried to shake his voice away, but he wouldn't leave her alone. "Celeste, it's time for you to come home now."

     "No." Celeste hissed. "I'm not leaving."

     "Celeste, come home. Now."

      "Father―︎"

     "I'm sorry that you had to endure so much pain, I truly am, but it is time to say goodbye my child, and it's time for you to come home."

She knew that there was no point in arguing, and with a defeated sigh she simply nodded, knowing he would see it. She would simply leave a note, letting her friends know where it was that she had gone. And just as she was about to start writing, the woman glanced up when she saw Peggy standing there in the doorway, tears in her eyes. Celeste frowned, standing up to look at her before carefully making her way over to her.

     "Peggy? What's wrong?"

     "It's Steve." Peggy whispered. "He's dead." And suddenly, leaving a note didn't seem appropriate anymore. She needed to say goodbye to her friends, to the people that had quickly become her family. She wished she didn't have to leave them, silently cursing her father before making her way towards Evelyn's current location.

     When she found her, Celeste decided to rip off the band aid. "I have to go." Celeste's voice filled the room, causing Evelyn to look at her. "I was going to leave a note, but that just didn't feel right." She made her way closer to the woman that she had been quick to grow close to. "I wish I could stay, I want to, because you don't deserve to be alone right now. But. . . my family needs me."

     "You don't have to explain it to me." Evelyn assured, nodding her head. She was quick to pull Celeste into a hug. "I'll miss you, Celeste."

     "I'll miss you too." Celeste whispered, nodding her head as tears came to her eyes. She pulled away.

     "Promise to visit?"

     "As often as possible." Celeste nodded. "Goodbye, Evelyn.

     "Bye." Evelyn softly replied before watching as Celeste turned on her heel and walked out of the room. And little did Celeste know that as soon as she left the room, more terrible things were about to happen. Because as she was walking to the outskirts of town, she hadn't been given enough time to protect herself before she felt a needle sink its way into her neck, and then suddenly her vision turned black.

END OF PART TWO!
Y'all are not ready for what I have planned. As usual this story will be placed on hold until another part of another story or another story all together is finished! I hope you've enjoyed part two!