High above the Nine Realms, where the Bifrost resides, stands a magnificent golden palace.
This is Asgard, a divine realm that has ruled countless civilizations and races, its ancient and immortal legends revered throughout the cosmos, feared and worshipped by countless lifeforms.
Tonight, however, the normally lofty and supreme Asgard is shrouded in an atmosphere of oppression and mourning, from the divine palace to the civilian streets.
Asgardian citizens of all ages came out of their homes and into the streets. With sad faces and candles in their hands, they made their way to the Bifrost Lake to bid farewell to the people's beloved Queen Frigga.
In front of the palace hall, the Allfathers Odin and Thor stood side by side, with a line of soldiers and sorcerers behind them, including the human woman Jane. They watched in silence as the palace maidens carried the sleeping Frigga in her flower-decorated coffin to the lake.
The burial of the Queen of Asgard had begun.
Even the heavens seemed to mourn, for the normally brilliant night skies of Asgard were dimmed, and the starlight over Bifrost River was barely visible.
No one noticed that on top of one of the golden palace towers, two tall young men with silver and blond hair and starlike eyes sat in the whistling wind, gazing down at the starlit and candlelit funeral scene below.
"Steve."
Kyle waved his left hand gently, summoning two bottles of fine wine from his map room into reality and tossing one to Steve.
"Thank you."
Steve, who had removed his protective hood, caught the bottle and, seeing the 1944 label, couldn't help but smile. "You remembered, Kyle. It's been a long time since we drank together, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, it still tastes the same. Would you like to try it now?" Kyle smiled calmly, lightly pressing his fingernail to burn the wooden cork with a controlled flame.
"Sure, why not."
Steve smiled and uncorked his bottle, and the two raised their bottles like glasses, clinking them in the air.
'Clink.'
'Gulp, gulp!'
After the toast, Kyle and Steve drank the entire bottle in one go, as if in friendly competition, braving the cool night breeze.
"Ah, refreshing." Setting the bottle down, Steve exhaled deeply and looked at Kyle with complex emotions in his blue eyes.
Who would have thought that Steve and Kyle, as comrades, had shared a drink only three times in their lives.
The first was in a European bar during World War II, when Kyle and Steve were the rising stars of the military, with Howard as chief scientist and Agent Carter in her prime.
The second was in the twenty-first century, after Steve had been thawed and revived, drinking with Kyle in front of Peggy's grave.
The third is now. One man from a few years in the future, the other from the present, meeting in a unique way, able to put aside their worries and struggles to sit peacefully and drink together.
Life is truly miraculous.
After setting down his bottle, Kyle pondered, "You say you're from the future after 2025, that the Avengers collected the Infinity Gems from different timelines, and now you're here to return them - so you won in the end?"
"We both won and lost. What matters is not the outcome, but the journey we took."
Steve gave a vague answer, lowering his head to watch solemnly as the flower-decorated coffin carried the Queen to the lake below.
The flower-laden coffin drifted along the lake toward the waterfall at the end of the Bifrost, watched by countless Asgardians.
Kyle calmly said, "Regardless of the outcome, you still suffered a significant defeat, or you wouldn't have risked traveling to other timelines to borrow the Infinity Gems.
That was the one thing Kyle couldn't accept.
It must have been a desperate gamble to reverse a hopeless and disastrous future that caused future Steve and others to travel back in time.
This implies that the Avengers, the Carl family, and even Kyle himself suffered a crushing defeat in the future.
Is that possible?
No matter how much Kyle doubted it, the presence of future Steve indicated that certain events had already become history in the future timeline.
They had truly lost, utterly defeated.
Steve sighed quietly, "Kyle, that's what worries me. If I told you about our failure in advance, you might start to doubt yourself excessively or feel hopeless about achieving victory.
Facing a future known to be brutally defeated would break even the strongest of superheroes.
Kyle remained silent, not saying a word.
"But I told you anyway, why? Because I trust you."
Steve looked at Kyle with the utmost seriousness and turned to him with a smile, "I trust you more than I trust myself."
"Is it really good for you to have so much trust in me?"
Kyle shrugged and said, "I failed too! Back then, before you crashed that out-of-control plane into the ocean, you trusted me with Peggy. But I still let you down and failed to protect her."
"I completely failed."
Kyle felt a faint pain in his heart, it was, after all an unfulfilled regret in his life.
Hearing Kyle's self-blame, Steve smiled instead, "Kyle, you never asked her yourself. How do you know she didn't feel safe? How do you know how she felt in her last moments?"
Kyle shivered slightly as he looked at Steve, "Steve, do you mean..."
"That's right. During the journey to return the Infinity Gems, I went back in time to a few months after the end of World War II and your departure from Earth. I stayed there for six months until Peggy died in childbirth."
Steve looked up, patted Kyle on the shoulder, and said admiringly, "Peggy said she never regretted loving you. It was the only thing in her life she never regretted."
"Is that so..."
Kyle muttered to himself, feeling the long-standing burden in his heart finally being lifted.
Steve smiled, "Kyle, I really envy you. Not just because of Peggy, but because we both came from the same military camp, yet you became the symbol of peace while I remained Captain America. You're the shining sun of the world, and I'm just a relatively bright star. If even you don't believe in yourself, who will believe in this world and its future?"
"I see what you mean."
Kyle smiled, suddenly standing up from the tower to face the relentless wind.
"Don't worry, I never intended to give up the fight."
"Your future timeline may have suffered a crushing defeat, but that doesn't mean the future of my timeline will be the same. If we are destined to fail, then I will rewrite that harsh fate!"
As Kyle's resolute words fell, countless rockets shot toward the lake below like a brilliant meteor shower, following the flower-laden coffin into the end of the Bifrost.
(End of Chapter)
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