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Death is not kind. Nor is He merciful. Death owns a list, has for many centuries, ever since mankind started walking the fecund soil of Earth. The list goes on and on, an endless queue of names, dates and hours; every time the wail of a newborn echoes across the planet, a name in red ink adds up to the already lengthy parchment Death carries with Him at all times. Death has seen heroes and beggars fall alike, some valiantly, some while imploring Him, to no avail.
Death is not kind. Cry and beg, tear your clothes apart, it shan't change your fate once Death has come for you: if the parchment bears your name, it shall be crossed out and you shall die.
Death is not kind but Death is not cruel either: He doesn't rejoice at the thought of taking a life, be it one that has seen many springs and too many winters or one that has not fully lived yet. Death simply does what He has always done and will always do, without mercy but also without happiness.
One day, the 4th of July 1918, somewhere in Brooklyn, an exhausted mother locks eyes for the first time with her son's, a frail child whose wail resounds surprisingly loudly in the bedroom. His thin blond hair can't hide the pallor of his scalp and Death can see blue veins under the fragile skin. Death hears the mother call her son Steve, blissful after her hard labour, happy even as she knows that her baby will never be lucky enough to meet his father. She's unaware that in this very moment, Death reads Steven Rogers' name on His parchment. The young Steve only has a few more minutes to live and yet, he cries and cries, loud and strong, and Death falters.
He should not hesitate. But as He looks at His list, Death sees the dark times that await the world, the many names that He shall cross out once 1939 comes around. And Steven Rogers, the weakling whose scream is powerful enough to impress Death Himself, might be the only light for the world once those trying times arrive.
Death lets him live.
The first six years are hard on Steve. Death lingers, ready to take his life, but the young boy fights to keep on living in spite of his many health conditions and Death can't seem to stop giving him other chances. Just one more, He tells Himself as He crosses out the dates that keep appearing next to Steve's name. Just one more chance for this little boy to grow up and change History and stories alike.
After the sixth year, Death finds Himself smiling at His little protégé when a boy named Bucky jumps into Steve's life but also into a muddy puddle, to place himself between the blond child and the older kids who were bullying him. From then on, Death isn't the only one watching over Steve anymore. It is a good change.
Steven changes many stories, just like Death had believed he would. He changes the old neighbourhood cat's story when he fights Doug Daniels, who kept pulling on the poor animal's tail. He changes Sally Warren's life, even though she will never know it, when he chooses to call out the Harris kid on his disgusting behaviour around women before he can follow her and ambush her into one of Brooklyn dark alleys.
Death cringes with every punch Steve gets in his face or his stomach, keeping track of the dates writing themselves down even as Steve lives through them all - of course, since Death seems to take days off whenever something involves Steve.
Death does not forget Bucky. The boy is as brave as His protégé, but he shows a different kind of courage than Steve's: while the blond boy stands up for what he deems right, Bucky stands up for Steve. Death wonders how long it will take those Brooklyn boys to realise that they love each other.
Only once does Death almost give in to His duty. Abraham Erskine and Howard Stark have started the procedure that should finally give Steven the body he deserved when he was born, a strong body that will match the purity and the strength of his heart. The procedure takes its toll on Steve and for a second, Death comes closer than any other time before and almost touches Steve as he grits his teeth and fights the immense pain travelling through his whole body, through his veins, under his skin.
This is it, Death thinks, this is what will finally beat Steve. It is too much for his body, no matter the strength of his heart, and Steve won't see the light again. But suddenly, Steven cries out, says that he can take it, so Death believes him.
Death never trusted anyone before Steve, He realises.
(The serum is a success, although gained through too many sacrifices. Death takes Abraham Erskine's and Heinz Kruger's lives, merciless but not happy, and He even finds Himself aching lightly as He watches Steve cry over the Professor's death.)
Neither of the boys know that but it turns out that the first story Steve ever changed was Bucky's. As soon as he was born and Death decided to spare the blond baby, the date next to James Buchanan Barnes' name changed. According to Death's parchment, Bucky was supposed to die in Azzano, on a cold table and alone with his tormentor, Zola. Even so, Steve is almost too late as he storms into the Hydra base: Death has never felt so much regrets in His cold heart before, as He slowly reaches out to grasp Bucky's hand and take him away.
"Bucky!"
Death steps back when He catches sight of Steve and his red, white and blue shield, and He heaves a sigh of relief as the blond soldier is the one to reach out for his friend. Death suddenly thinks, as a shaky smile appears on Bucky's lips, that He can't separate those boys.
Death doesn't tear them apart. A train does.
Death watches with a heavy heart as Steve tries and fails to get drunk, doing nothing to hide his tears in front of Peggy Carter. His little protégé is a wreck, still a light for the world, but his own light is gone. If Death could, He would take the young man in His strong embrace. Death only observes though, because touching the soldier would mean killing him, but He knows that Steve would welcome Him with open arms now that he has lost the man he loved.
Except that he hasn't. The parchment read no date next to Bucky's name when the boy fell, so Death didn't (couldn't) take him. Bucky still lives for now, even though Death doesn't know how long it will last: no other date has appeared beside his name on the list and it never means much good.
Still, there is a slight chance that maybe... Maybe Steve and Bucky will be reunited some day. Death has rarely seen a love like theirs, even though He has roamed the Earth for many long years.
When Steve crashes his plane and awaits his death, Death carefully steps back and crosses out the date. Just one more chance, He thinks.
Steve lives and sleeps while Bucky suffers and endures torture. He dies and comes to life again, different in ways none of them could ever have imagined. No new date appears on the parchment that Death clenches in His hands but many others change: Howard Stark's and his wife's, a future president of America's... The Winter Soldier feeds on others' deaths.
Steve is awake and Bucky asleep in the ice, until he isn't anymore. Steve's heart shatters when cold blue eyes stare at him and fail to recognise him. Death watches from afar as they fight, two lovers turned enemies in their misfortune. But when Bucky lays Steve down on the shore of the Potomac River and stares at him for a long time before limping away, Death thinks that maybe something good could come out of this.
It takes a long time to bring Bucky home and even longer to make him feel at home. For a while, Death even dreads that Steve won't succeed in bringing him back. Bucky does get better though, until he doesn't fear staying in the same room as his long-time friend anymore, until he gathers enough courage to hold Steve's hand in his own, until he fights alongside the Avengers. Until he tells Steve everything they should have told each other years before.
I love you.
Death is not kind. Nor is He merciful. Death takes lives, always has and always will, crossing out endless names once their time is up. Bucky and Steve were His only exceptions, not that He regrets that fact.
So, Death allows Himself one last exception before He leaves the Brooklyn boys: with delicate fingers, Death takes His red quill and in His neat handwriting, He gives these brave boys the honour of having their fate sealed by Death Himself.
Death writes down new dates in scarlet ink, smiling softly as He imagines Himself coming back to His boys, in over seventy years, to find them asleep in bed together: entwined just like they always were in their youth, Steve with his head on his lover's chest while Bucky's arms are tightly wrapped around his blond soldier.
This is how Death will find and take them: old, together and happy.