Love in the Dark (Steve Rogers fanfiction )

Chapter 30: Epilogue

"It's not Over" - Daughtry

Running. That's all he can think about. Running. He doesn't know where, he doesn't know why, but there's something inside of him, urging, begging him to keep going.

The branches of the trees hit him as he passes by, but he barely feels the sting with his mind so focused on getting where he needs to go.

Close. He's close. He knows it. But close to where.

Suddenly he halts to a stop, seeing something in front of him. Something he hadn't noticed before despite the fact that he had been going in one direction the entire time. The trees clear away and all he sees is the back of this figure, and the closer he gets, the clearer she becomes.

No. It can't be. Life would never be this kind to him. It's done nothing but kick him down and take away everything he has ever loved. And yet as he slowly walks forward, the figure starts to become more and more familiar.

Until she finally turns around.

Her soft eyes light up as a smile comes over her face, and she looks genuinely happy to see him.

"Hi." she whispers, her beautiful voice echoing around him and penetrating his heart.

"Hi." he replies, but the small word is lost in his breathless voice. He looks over her entire being, trying to understand what's happening. This can't be real. This can't be her.

"Are you going to stand gawking at me or are you going to come over here?" she says with the sly smile he always loved on her.

Oh yeah, it's definitely her.

He slowly walks over, afraid that if he makes any sudden movement she'll disappear. He'd imagined this day so many times, what he would do, what he would say. But once he's standing in front of her he finds himself at a loss for words.

"What?" she asks, finding his reaction kind of adorable.

"I just thought..." he says, but closes his mouth as he starts to get emotional.

"I told you." she says as she gives him a small smile. "No matter where we are, we'll always come back to each other."

He feels a tear escape as gazes into her eyes. "My love." he whispers as he reaches his hand up to try and rest it on her cheek. Finally daring to say her name again.

"Mia."

A pain shoots through his chest as he jolts awake, sitting up as he struggles to catch his breath.

They always end before he can actually touch her.

He runs a hand over his forehead and through his hair, feeling the layer of sweat that's broken out through his entire body.

They're getting more intense. His dreams about her.

He always dreamt about her. Ever since he met her his days and nights were filled with nothing but her. Even after he lost her she invaded his every waking thoughts, and at night the memories he had with her played in an endless loop. With the occasional nightmares of the last day he saw her. And the regret he feels that he ever let her go.

But a few months ago something changed. The dreams were no longer memories on playback, but rather new moments. Most of them being him finding her again, reuniting with her once more. And they were getting more and more intense. He wanted to believe that they meant something, that they were maybe some kind of sign.

But of what? She's gone. Killed by the merciless tyrant who wanted to take over her world.

But what else did he expect? When has life ever been kind to him? He always lived in the shadow of his brother, yearning for the acceptance of his father who never saw him worthy enough to rule the throne. There were only two people who ever saw him as more than just a troublemaker, the only two who ever really loved him without any judgment. And when he lost one of them, the love of his life, the other, his mother, was the only thing that helped him get through it. Even after he fell to darkness, his mother never gave up on him. Then he lost her too.