The Tear of Celeste

Chapter 19: Endless Stamina

You let the music carry your mind away as your body settles into a comfortable running rhythm.

You think about your time here, the friends you made. All the fun things you experienced and learned. All the special moments and you realize you were feeling comfortable. This was the first time you felt like you had a real home.

That's pretty ironic, the first place you ever felt at home was in another world.

But you knew it had nothing to do with being in another world, it was not the air or the scenery that gave you this feeling.

It's the people, the friends you made, and your interactions with them. The feeling had only started to grow more as they had pulled you into their lives, sharing their experiences and hobbies with you.

But you were still an outsider, not belonging here, and you knew that at some point you would have to go home. The thought left a burning sensation in your brain, and you shook your head slightly as you let the feeling fuel your muscles instead. No use thinking about that right now.

With the added fuel you let your speed increase, find a new comfortable rhythm, and let your mind zone out enough to not have any thoughts for a while.

You don't know how long you had been like that, how long you had been in that zone-like state of just running, but you broke out of it a bit as you saw Sam in front of you. Which surprised you, was he not supposed to have come at you from behind?

Maybe he had passed you and you just had not noticed, he might even have tried to talk to you, the music and your state of mind were too intense for you to notice.

You noticed he was a bit sweaty, slowing down slightly, so you could not help but tease him as you caught up with him. "On your left."

He looked up at you shocked, saying your name in a surprised tone and adjusting his pace to keep up with you.

You grinned at him confused. "Did you slow down for me?"

"Um." He looked sweaty, and you were thinking if maybe he had passed you multiple times without you noticing. "No?"

You shrugged and kept running, you could feel your own sweat, just some start-up. "Did you try to race Cap or something?" Why was he sweaty and out of breath?

"No?" He was now trying to keep pace with you. "I just..." He took a deep breath. "Did you take a break and start running again?"

His question confused you, you slowed down only a bit to not run from him. "What do you mean?"

Sam looked at you confused and then shocked. "You have been running all this time?"

You look at him and is now confused yourself. "Yeah?" What did he think you did? Did he think you had left? That would mean he probably did not pass you unless he was in the zone too.

Steve passed you then, slowing down his pace to look at you too, an intrigued look in his eyes. "... Sam, why don't you take a break." He looks over his shoulder at Sam and then says your name looking back at you. "Would you be up for a race?"

You look at him shocked. "But Nat said-"

He holds up a hand interrupting you. "We already gathered enough data on your endurance, I would like to see how far it can be pushed."

You roll your eyes at him. "Aren't you like a super soldier? How am I supposed to race you." You were just a normal girl!

Steve grinned at you. "I already raced Bucky, so I am starting to get out of breath," he told you honestly, "I'm not saying I'm handicapping myself, but as you said, I am a super soldier, and I wanna test something."

You roll your eyes and press the earpiece again. "Friday can you find me a playlist for sprinting?"

"Here you go," she says as the music starts up, and you give Steve a nod, closing your eyes and taking a big breath before setting your speed to match the song.

This is pushing yourself, but it also feels good, pushing the muscles in your legs a bit more than normal.

Steve also begins to run faster, and you start lagging behind. His run reminded you of a cheetah, but only in how fast he was. Where cheetahs would sprint and bounce around, Steve ran in a very smooth motion, keeping his body from bouncing and preserving energy by doing that.

You took notice of that as you looked at him, seeing how his stance affected his running, and noticed some flaws in your own, you had just tried to go at a relaxing pace to check your stamina.

Now? Now you wanted to be fast, you knew it was impossible, but you wanted to be faster than Steve.

You changed your running pace and form, sprinting after him. It felt good, and you suddenly felt like you had found a muscle that you had not used in a long time, but was warm and ready.

You felt it now, the energy and speed bursting in your body and you found yourself caught up to Steve.

And then you pass him, running a bit further ahead until you hear him calling your name.

You looked back, slowing your own run as you were starting to breathe a bit too fast, the shocked look on his face told you that he had not given up.

You just outran him.

You both stop, gasping a bit for air, him with his hands on his knees and you lean your head back, hands on your back.

"Are you sure you are not a super soldier?" Steve says with a laugh.

You roll your shoulders and sit down, getting your head between your knees to catch your breath. "No, I always just had a lot of energy!" You say, looking up after a moment. "But I don't think I ever ran so fast, or long.... How long have we been running?"

Steve gestures to one side, and you follow his gesture, finding nothing but the setting sun..... Wait, the setting sun? You started running around noon! You look shocked and turn back to him.

He grins at you and nods. "Yeah, you definitely have a supernatural amount of stamina."

"And I can tell you why." You hear Stephen, turning to look at him as he exits what you can only describe as a portal in the middle of the air. He is in a get-up you have never seen, having some fancy old-looking fighting clothing on and a red cape.

Steve looks up at him, straightening his back. "You found out what the artifact was?"

"Yes," Stephen says and looks at you. "It's called 'The Tear of Celestia.'"

Hearing the name sent a shiver up your spine.