Chapter One - A Day to Remember
Bucky didn't know how long he'd been asleep. His whole being ached. His mechanical arm twitched. Slowly, Bucky opened his eyes.
"You awake?" Asked Natasha. Bucky groaned, and attempted to sit up.
"I think..." He said, falling backwards and lying down again. Natasha smiled faintly.
"Well, I hope you're not too comfortable; we have to go see the others."
"Which others are you referring to again? There are too many people to just say 'the others'."
"The other Avengers. We're the ones who brought all of you back."
"What does that mean?"
"Walk and talk. Let's go."
Bucky again attempted to sit up, finally remaining upright. He slowly slid off the bed in what appeared to be a small hospital room. Natasha led him down a hallway into a larger chamber. Tony was already inside, pacing across the room. He looked like a nervous wreck. His hair wasn't smoothed back like it normally was, he had a streak of oil on his nose, and his eyes kept on flickering from one spot to another.
"We're all nervous," Natasha said, clearly trying to defend Tony. "Pepper turned to dust. He's a mess without her around."
Bucky merely nodded, scanning the room. "Where's Sam?"
"Dust."
"Black Panther?"
"Dust."
"Spiderboy?"
"Dust."
"Ant-Man?"
Natasha stayed quiet for a moment. "We think he turned to dust, because we can't find him, but there was nothing that says he turned to dust, either."
"Hmm," Bucky said, still scanning the room, thinking maybe he had missed him.
"...Did Steve…?" Bucky didn't dare finish the question, fearing the answer.
"No, he's still alive, to the best of our knowledge."
"What, you haven't seen him?"
"No. He helped when we tried to win against Thanos the first few times, but he couldn't take it after that."
Bucky tried to find a reason Steve stopped. He couldn't think of anything. "Why?" He asked after a few moments.
"I think watching your best friend die over and over in what seems to be an unbeatable loop doesn't help much."
Bucky turned his attention to Clint, who was sitting on a window ledge, looking out, subconsciously twisting an arrowhead on an arrow he was holding.
"Okay, I'm here, what'd I miss?" Bruce said, walking in. He turned to watch Tony.
"Ah, Tony, you can't do this to yourself," Bruce said, walking over to Tony, grabbing a tissue on the way. He wiped the oil of Tony's nose.
"Jeez, Banner, you're like a mother hen," said Tony, trying to bat away at Bruce's hand.
"Cluck cluck," said Bruce, continuing to try and at least somewhat fix Tony's hair before giving up and just tossing Tony a comb. He walked over to Thor, who was sitting on a chair in the corner, staring out a window, curled up nearly into a ball.
"What's new with you, Thor?" Bruce said gently, pulling a chair next to Thor's.
"How about you ask what hasn't changed, friend."
"...is your mom okay?"
"She died a few years ago."
"Oh. Dad?"
"Died just before the dusting."
"Loki?"
"Murdered by Thanos."
"Best friend?"
"Also murdered by Thanos."
"How's Asgard?"
"Completely destroyed, place and people."
"...Hammer?"
"Gone."
"Well, you have that new ax, right?"
"Yes, but it can't replace the fact that everyone is dead."
"God, Thor, you sound like everything is over. You're alive," Tony said, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Like you're any better," Natasha said. "Guys, everyone is going to come back. It might take a few days, but trust me, they will come."
Thor continued to look gloomily out the window. Tony paused his pacing. He glanced down at himself.
"If Pepper is coming back, she'd kill me for being like this."
"So you're finally going to actually take care of yourself?" Bruce asked.
"I guess I kinda have to, don't I?" Tony huffed.
Bruce all but shoved Tony down the hall towards the bathroom. "Yes, very much."
Just as Tony walked into the bathroom, Clint seemed to snap back to reality.
"They're all coming back?" He turned to look at Natasha, and noticed Bucky. "I guess that proves it, doesn't it? We finally won!" Clint suddenly seemed euphoric.
Rhodey, who'd been silent until then in a corner, noticed, saying, "You look like you could be singing 'Good Morning' in Singing in the Rain."
Bucky smiled slightly. The motion startled him. He hadn't smiled since… he didn't even remember.
Clint seemed to bounce on his heels. "That means Laura and the kids will be back soon, right?"
Natasha smiled, and nodded. "We just have to wait, Clint."
Clint sat a down on the window ledge again, cheerfully looking up at the few clouds that scuttled across the sky.
Bucky turned to Natasha. "If you let me go, I can find you Steve. I bet. The second I call he will be freaking out."
Natasha gave him a worried look, before pulling an envelope out of seemingly nowhere. It was adressed To Bucky. She handed it to him. "Steve told me that if you came back, I was to give you that. He said I was the only one he trusted wouldn't open it. I don't know what it says. But I don't think it's good, whatever it is.
Bucky took the letter, thinking what could that little punk have done now?
He tucked it inside a pocket of the jacket he was wearing.
"Where is everyone else?"
"The others who were dusted?"
"Yeah."
"We don't know. Most of the civilians have come back. No one but you has come back yet, for our people."
At that precise moment, Tony came back out of the bathroom with his hair combed, clean clothes, and an oil-free nose. He seemed to look better emotionally as well.
"Anyone come back yet?"
"Not that we've noticed," Bruce said.
"I'll go check," Clint said hopefully, walking down the hall Natasha and Bucky had just come from.
Bucky sat down on a chair, and turned to Natasha. "Should I read this now?"
"Does it say it's to me?"
"Fair enough," Bucky said. He stood, and walked down the hall he came from. He passed an open door. He leaned forward, and saw Clint sitting in a chair next to the same kind of hospital bed Bucky had been in, gazing affectionately at a woman with dark brown hair. Bucky felt a pang in his chest, and continued down the hall.
Where did that come from? He thought, wondering why he'd felt a pang.
He opened the door to an empty room, sat down in a chair, and opened the letter. He pulled out a letter, unfolded it, and read the message, parts of which seemed to have been rewritten a few times, judging from the faint words under the new ones.
June 8th, 2019
Dear Bucky,
I miss you. It has been about a year since I last saw you. I thought watching you fall off the train was bad. I thought after that I'd be able to cope with it again, handle it, maybe bring you back with the others. But every time we tried to save you and the other half of the universe, it never works. He always wins. No matter what we do.
I decided I'm not going to deal with it anymore. I don't want to be without you, Buck. That's the point, right? We were supposed to go together. You already got off, see. I missed the stop. I'm late. I don't want to keep you waiting. I'm giving you sixth months to come back. At that point, they will have given up. If you come back after that point, I'm sorry. I'll wait up there for you. Just know I miss you more than anything else Thanos could have taken.
Yours, till the end of the line,
Stevie