((So here goes. This one...well. There's going to be a LOT to it! Sandman/Fables/Hellboy/Good Omens/Buffy/Lots Of Things will make cameos, morphed just a bit to fit the mythology-salad that is Marvel canon. Also, there'll be lots of conjuncture, as this takes place post-Phase 2 of the movie-verse...which hasn't even happened yet. Oh, and there will be a plot! Cause you know, that's a good thing for a story to have. ANYWAY, enjoy!))

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Chapter 1

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"If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended: That you have but slumber'd here, while these visions did appear..."

~ A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare

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There's a girl all dressed in black waiting for her brother, outside of a small cafe in Dublin. She's nibbled her cookie into the shape of a bird, looking down at it thoughtfully as it sits on her plate, and stirring her coffee. After a while, a young man drops into the seat across from her, startling her slightly, and then She smiles. The smile is big and bright behind black-painted lips, and causes a man across the street to trip over his own feet.

"I'm still not used to seeing you in stuff that isn't black," She tells her brother, nodding to his crisp white shirt and khakis. The young man shrugs, smiling just slightly.

"I tried gray. It didn't work on me," He brushes platinum hair out of his dark eyes. Under her own black tresses, She smiles again.

"So bro, why'd you wanna see me? And in Ireland?" She glances around the street, busy and unassuming as it always is. People walk by quickly, with shopping bags or briefcases, the occasional worker from the docks pushing up his sleeves as he passes. There's a troubadour on the corner, strumming out a tune about his ex girlfriend, with something or other thrown in about vacuums. She shakes her head, as her brother picks up the cookie.

"Someone's coming here," He tells her, quietly. "Someone powerful and seeking allies, from the hidden places on this planet, namely the hidden places on this island..." He frowns, as much as his stoic face can. But to his sister, even the slightest flickers of emotion are brand new with him. He lifts the bird-cookie to the sky for a moment, almost as if imagining how it would look in flight, "However, their dreams are also bringing them close to the reality of -my- realm. I think they know about me, and want my assistance as well."

"Interesting," She grins, "Well if its my advice you want, your predecessor didn't much involve himself in the squabbles of mortals. But you're different, even as you're the same person," She reaches up, scratching just under the mark around her eye, "...I take it what you feel, what you've seen through your own eyes, is making you want to?"

"I know there is no good, no evil, and that balance is an illusion..." His forehead creases briefly, "...But I sense from their dreamscapes that this could be important to the cosmos." His sister chuckles.

"That is our Brother's area of expertise. Have you come back as both Dream -and- Destiny, brother?"

"I know," He smirks, "And to think that the fears of mortals can mean they know what we do not is also kind of...stupid," He looks boyish then, when he laughs lightly, and it makes his sister reach out, touching his hand. "...But I want to. You once told me what was human in me was burned away when I became your brother, but sometimes I wonder. Because I see these dreams, and their good source, and I want to help."

"...You know what? I say try," She smiles, surprising him, "Why not? Explore who you are, in this form. What you are is eternal, hun, but -who- you are is different now. Girl'd have to be blind not to see it." She winks, "Meddle in some mortals' lives, help 'em in their war, see what becomes of it. I'll be keeping an eye out."

"Thank you, Sister. I...I trust your counsel above our other siblings'," He tells her, rising, offering her back her bird-shaped cookie. She pushes it back into his hand, still smiling, soft and adoring and sweet.

"You always have. Go, be mysterious, sweetie," Death tells him, watching as he walks away down the street, turns a corner, and enters a random door in a random building. A door that takes him back into the Dreaming, and into the dreams of one Steven Rogers.

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"Yes."

"...You don't even know what the assignment is yet, Captain Rogers," Phil Coulson blinks at him across his desk, and Steve winces, silently cursing at himself. Coulson just shakes his head. He knows Steve wants out, it's clear. Maybe that was why they'd asked him, though Steve starts to think that was probably at least not the first reason, as he looks over the file.

"A diplomatic mission?" He lofts a brow, and the SHIELD agent nods once.

"We've been granted a respite, or so it seems." Coulson explains, "But after the most recent incident with Thor and his brother, and a realm full of dark elves, it's been determined that it would behoove SHIELD to make nice with some of our more...reclusive neighbors, on -this- planet." Steve's brows go higher.

"...People like Thor, on Earth?"

"Somewhat," Coulson allows, "The government is already aware of a few of the more...ethereal individuals, wandering around. A couple have even been on the payroll in the past." His smile is the most guarded Steve has ever seen it, and that's saying something, "Your partner on this mission will be able to tell you much more, though. It's her area of expertise." Steve shakes his head, squinting at the file once more.

"...I'm traveling with Miss Lewis?" He frowns, "Isn't she studying physics?" Not that Steve had paid any especial attention, after spotting her in the Tower, all curves and big eyes and easy smiles. Nope, not at all, definitely not on his radar from day one. "I mean, she's Jane Foster's intern, yeah?"

"She was," Is all Phil Coulson will say, "I suggest you let her tell you about her recently acquired qualifications herself, though. I assure you though, after her last run-in with Thor's enemies, she's more than knowledgeable." Steve nods, slowly, eyes fixed on the SHIELD agent for a time, thinking.

"...And -are- you sending me because of Bucky and Sharon?" He asks then, bluntly, and unsurprisingly, Coulson's face remains neutral.

"Yes and no," He responds, honestly. "You're a good ambassador, Captain. Through and through, you're a kind, fair person, who listens to others, and to whom others respond," Coulson pauses, "The fact that you could probably use the time away from a very awkward situation, is a happy accident." Awkward is an understatement, Steve muses. Having his best friend back, but still working through memory and loyalty issues, and seeing his old flame's granddaughter in the halls every day were wearing Cap thin, getting in his head, making him irritable.

It wasn't their faults, though. Bucky was trying, and considering the years of reprogramming and being told his best friend was an enemy, the progress he's made was astonishing. And Sharon had been nothing but pleasant since she came to the New York offices, if a little bewildered as to why a superhero she'd never met before winced every time he looked at her. Nah, Steve knows he's the problem. Time away, with something new to keep him occupied, is exactly what he wants, and needs. It'll probably be good for Bucky too, let him heal up instead of feeling conflicted every time he sees Steve. By the time he gets back, maybe he'll be able to chat with Sharon too, ask her about her family, their life...

And hey, if it means getting to spend time with one of the few women he finds it easy to talk to, that's not so bad. Not that he's spoken much to Darcy Lewis, but the few times he has have been downright... normal. Complimenting her coffee, helping her with a box of files on a high shelf, or helping her hunt down Thor's cat (the man has taken a liking to strays. Tony finally had to put his foot down...and almost stepped on a kitten in doing so). Small moments, but pleasant ones. The last few weeks she has been a little reclusive, though. Steve just figured Dr. Foster was keeping her busy.

When he meets her at the airport the next day, however, he notes the subtle changes, though the friendly smile she shoots his way is the same as always. There's the necklace she's taken to wearing all the time, a tiny iron pendant on a slim silver chain. Her eyes have a guardedness that Steve doesn't remember being there, tough though she's always struck him. And there's a ring on her right middle finger, a deep blue sapphire flashing in the early autumn sunlight.

"Heya Cap," She greets him as he draws nearer to the waiting plane, waving a hand, "Ready to get your mind-hole blown?"

"I'd argue that nothing surprises me anymore, Miss Lewis, but I've already lost that bet," He smirks, automatically picking up her sliding suitcase for her as they turn to board, Agents looming at all corners.

"Darcy," She corrects him, grinning again, "And thanks, soldier! I am incapable of traveling light, especially since we're heading to Europe. It's kind of a crime not to have an outfit for everything." They settle into their seats, on a plane Steve is pretty sure SHIELD got from Tony Stark, if the huge screen, squashy seats, and track lighting are any indication. They settle into their seats, the Agents filter off the tarmac, and Steve frowns in confusion.

"They're not sending any Agents with us?"

"I'm the Agent, genius," Darcy says it with that perpetual smirk though, and Steve smiles back even as he ducks his head in apology. "Nah don't feel bad, I just barely passed combat training. No, see, the people we're gonna be tracking down? Most of 'em aren't huge fans of organizations, government run shit, you know," She shrugs, "One on one will be way more effective."

"Well, not like most of the Avengers are big fans either," Steve has to admit, and his companion chuckles.

"Just be your charming self, big guy," She tells him, and he finds himself wondering if her list of nicknames for him is endless. "Especially when we land in England. They dig charming in England."

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Somewhere over the Atlantic, Steve decides to let himself take a nap. Not that he needs much sleep most days, but it's for that very reason that he's trained himself to stock up when things are quiet, because they so rarely are sometimes. So while Darcy Lewis gives him a smile before digging into the book in her lap, he leans back in the cozy seat, shutting his eyes and clearing his mind, focusing only on the white noise produced by the engines outside.

Steve Dreams.

He's used to the icy landscape that still stubbornly lingers in his dreamscape by now, despite the therapy he's been to, the talking it out. The ice and snow are a steady backdrop to even the most innocent of his slumbering meandering, at this point he'd probably wonder what was wrong if he went to sleep and things weren't white-washed and cold. He's walking this time, following lights that hover over his trail through the snow, distant music from his era just out of hearing...Rosemary Clooney, he's pretty sure. The wind garbles it a bit too much to be certain.

It's simple. Steve doesn't need a shrink to tell him what a dream about wandering, searching for something he can't fine, could mean. He's all right with being lost. It's getting better every day spent in this new world, honestly, lonely as it is most of the time. What he can't really explain, though, is the figure lingering just outside of his periphery, watching him steadily with deep, fathomless black eyes.

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Darcy likes Steve, a lot. For a handsome hunk of hero-meat, he's also really down to earth and nice, when you get to talking with him. He looks a little lost on this mission as well, as if he's not quite sure what, exactly, it's going to entail and is therefore perfectly happy to defer to her. That's another thing that Darcy appreciates, though. Plenty of people had raised eyebrows at work, when they found out that Darcy was kind of in charge on this one, had been put there by Coulson himself. Her expertise wasn't in question for most of them...plenty of the lab monkeys knew what had been done to her a few months ago. No, it was more the fact that SHIELD thought she could handle herself that had throats clearing in disbelief.

Well, screw 'em all, Darcy figured. She'd so far faced down a Destroyer, a Dark Elf, and Director Fury with a flu. She'd show whoever thought that she was just a piece of office candy whom SHIELD had been forced to keep on for security reasons. Damn right she'd been assigned to tell Captain America what to do on a diplomatic mission. Because she could, in fact, do her damn job (which they'd notice as soon as she was gone and as such, the filing systems went to shit). And also, he seemed totally cool with letting her do it. Steve had some sad edges to him, that was clear, maybe she'd be able to cheer him up a little.

Of course, Darcy had some sad edges of her own these days.

"We're getting ready to land," She tells him, waking him up with a hand on his arm. Steve jumps a little, looking around, and then over his shoulder, blinking a few times. Darcy grins, cause it's kind of adorable, "You alright, man? You were kinda mumbling in your sleep a little."

"Yeah I do that sometimes," He says ruefully, yawning, sitting up. "So, our first stop is England, you were saying?" Darcy nods, tilting her head. She contemplates asking what he'd been dreaming about, but they weren't really at that level of friendship yet. Plus it was nosy, even for her.

"London is first, actually, we've got a bookstore in Soho to visit," Her grin widens, "And fish and chips to stuff in your face, because life is too short to skip some real, honest-to-Thor fish and chips when in London." Cap looks politely confused by this, but gives her a smile anyway.

This is another thing Darcy likes about this guy. He rolls with the weird.

And things were going to get very, very weird.

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