Title: Rage Against the Dying of the Light
Fandom: MCU
Rating: General
Length: 590 words
Content notes: Steve calls Carol Danvers "Air Force" in the Avengers Assemble cartoon and I liked it.
Author notes: This one might be quite personal.
Summary: In the aftermath of Endgame, Steve is a lot of things, but miostly he's furious.




Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
~ Dylan Thomas


Steve Rogers stood on the field of battle, bloody, bruised and covered in grime. His shield was broken, his heart was, too. He ached all over, but that pain was only physical and he’d heal rather quickly.. He knew he would soon feel Tony’s loss like it was the end of the world all over again.

Right now, he was filled with rage.

His whole fucking life had been a battle. When he was small, he fought to be heard, seen and not killed by the neighborhood bullies. He’d wanted to be soldier and when he became one, he had to fight to get a chance to actually BE one. Then he’d lost Bucky and Peggy and, finally, 75 years in the ice.

At the end of those 75 years, he was rudely awakened to a new world in a new century. He’d barely been awake when they sent him to fight aliens and gods. After that, it never let up.

It hadn’t been a battle every second. There were people he’d come to love .- Natasha, Bucky, Sam, Tont, and two of them were gone now. He simply didn’t know what he’d do in a world without Tony.

He felt the rage in his bones, his blood, as his heart pounded and he gripped his shield with a death grip. He wanted to scream to the heavens. He wanted to burn it all down, all he worked to save in the 11 years he’d been back. He wanted a life of his own.

Despire his anger, he began to notice a lot of activity around him. They came in helicopters, in trucks, and in ambulances to take the warriors all away from the carnage of the battlefield. It had been day light when Thanos attacked. He was sure of it and it was almost dawn now. It seemed as if he’d spent a lifetime here at this battle already.

“You all right, Rogers?” someone asked him.

He turned toward them, ready to attack. It was Danvers.

“Hey!” she said, putting up one hand. “I get it.”

“Do you?”

She nodded. “You’re angry. The only thing you remember is war and loss. And they all want more and you simply have nothing left to give them.”

He hung his head. She did understand. It didn’t make him less angry, but he was able to take a breath. He breathed deep once, then again. The rage still smoldered, hot and painful, but it was contained.

Danvers turned to goi. He touched her arm. “Hey, Air Force, thanks.”

She nodded and headed back toward the battlefield.

He took a few more deep breaths and watched as another medevac chopper landed. The horizon was getting lighter. It would be full daylight soon. Tony had been loaded on one of the first helicopters. Pepper and Rhodes had gone with his body.

“Hey, Rogers, me and Sam are gonna go to the Wakandan consulate. They’re gonna put us up and feed us there. Come with us.” Bucky put his real arm around Steve’s shoulder.

He started to refuse, but thought better of it. His anger would always be there, deep inside him. But today, he was alive, as were Bucky and Sam. They all needed a little rest before they could bury their dead and mourn them.

He nodded and let Bucky lead him to the King’s small ship.