Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel comics or characters or movies, and am making no money off of this fic. I also don't own any Star Wars comics or characters or movies, either.
AN: Written for the May 10th Winterhawk Mandatory Fun Day prompt: Star Wars AU.
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Inside (It's All a Dream of Mine) by luvsanime02
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Clint Barton is not a Jedi.
Bucky Barnes is a Jedi, or was a Jedi, or is a Jedi again? Clint's not too sure about how that works. Because Clint is not a Jedi. Clint flies the ship, or he shoots things, and Clint is very good at what he does. This does not include feeling the Force rise up within him, and around him, part of everything and nothing at all, and he's almost breathless from the sudden surge of awareness.
He is breathless.
Trapped, really. Why is everything so blue? The color floats through his mind, and all around him, and he can barely see anything else through its glow. How can anyone focus on anything through all of this? With the knowledge within them that they are part of everything, and nothing, and that everyone else is exactly the same?
Clint doesn't know what's happening, and he can't focus on his targets - What is he even doing here? - and then there's a voice shouting his name. Clint hears, and knows that it's Bucky, and looks over at him. And then, Clint sees. For the first time, Clint understands Bucky, in a way that he's never understood his lover before. Clint can see the rot and the darkness pulsing within him, the black shadow of Death covering his left arm.
And he can see the light within Bucky's soul, the Life in him that is equal to the darkness, neither overpowering it or being swept underneath its pull. Bucky looks like he's a perfect balance of all that exists.
"You're beautiful," Clint whispers, hardly even knowing that he's saying anything.
Bucky stops yelling, stares at Clint, and then smirks. "I know," he says smugly, though he still looks relieved and embarrassed all at once. The Force wraps around Bucky, just for an instant, as though coddling a favored child. Clint can't breathe again, because are those his feelings for Bucky manifesting within the Force?
He'll have to decide later, because there's still a fight going on around them, and Loki is snarling at their team now. Clint still has no control, though, and doesn't know what to do. He closes his eyes and tries to let go, tries to give in and think only of protecting his team, and there's no time for Clint to get a handle on all of this. He needs to act now.
Except Loki is suddenly standing in front of him, and he's red all over, and his smile cuts deeper than a lightsaber. Clint raises his bow and shoots, but the arrow strikes nowhere near all of that darkness, and why can't Clint hit him? Why isn't he really trying? What's going on?
Red. Clint doesn't see the blue. He never thought that he'd miss its light, but now, everything is red, red, red, and he can't see or hear or feel Bucky at all anymore.
Clint can't feel anything anymore.
Clint Barton is not a Jedi. No, he's something much, much more - and much, much worse - now.