BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart,

The holy tree is growing there;

From joy the holy branches start,

And all the trembling flowers they bear.

The changing colours of its fruit

The Two Trees – W.

Bucky stared up at the ceiling of his room, his chest rising and falling with each hurried breath he took. He could feel the burn in his lungs and the thud of the ground against his feet as though his dream had been real. It wasn't the first time he had experienced the dream or the sensation, but each time it became stronger until in the first moments after he awoke he became unsure which was reality.

Blinking, Bucky tried to push away the feeling in his chest, but the tightness only grew worse. He had been having the dreams for the past six months, once every week or so. It was just within the last two weeks that things had changed, the dreams increasing until he had them every night.

He huffed out a harsh breath as he slipped from the bed, his feet coming in contact with the rough carpet covering the floor. The place wasn't what anyone would call home, but the little roadside motel was cheap and inconspicuous. The place was filled with all sorts of lowlifes, what was one more unwashed body finding rest in that little hell-hole?

He ignored the feel of the old carpet as he entered the bathroom, though he did appreciate the switch to the cool tile. The water pressure left much to be desired, but the trickling stream worked well enough for him as he gathered a handful of water to splash over his face.

His eyes traveled upward until the rested on his reflected. It should have surprised him how worn he looked, but after his last mission nothing surprised him anymore. He should have felt anger at having been used all those years, having his very name taken from him, but he only felt tired. He wanted it to all be over with. That was why he had left behind Hydra, left behind the man… Steve. He had just left. Now here he was in the middle of nowhere, stuck in some shit-hole, and suffering from dreams that bordered on nightmares.

There wasn't anything really frightening about the dreams, they were only about him running. Though whether it was from or to sometime he didn't know. He always woke before he got to that bit, all he could remember was the need to run and the feeling that something important was close.

Barefooted and chested, he left his room and walked the parameter of the motel. Though close to three in the morning, many of the residents were out and about. Not that any of them gave him a second glance. He would have questioned it, why no one seemed concerned about a man with a metal arm, but he was pretty sure most of them didn't want to call attention to themselves by calling attention to him.

The motel sat on the edge of a wood, half the rooms facing the pitch blackness of the trees. It was there that Bucky lodged, the one crusty window by his door looking out towards the forest. He had rented the room a week before, having stumbled across the place in the middle of the night. He had already stayed longer than he normally did at any given place, and the only explanation he could give was that something felt right about it.

Standing now before the woods, he once again felt that rightness crawl up through his feet and into his chest. His breathing increased, his heart racing as he felt a pull into that darkness. Not taking the time to think about his actions, Bucky slipped into the trees.

His feet slapped against the underbrush as he ran. The further and further into the forest he moved, the more his dream made sense. The danger he had felt in those nights fell away as he realized what the feeling had truly been. He ignored everything around him as he ran, branches cut into his skin, stones slashed his feet, but he refused to stop. There was something there, something that could explain his dreams, and he was determined to find it.

He stumbled over a large stone, his body crashing to the ground. The feeling within him urging him to run had completely fled. His lungs burned as though consumed by fire, never before had he pushed himself so far. He remained kneeled on the ground, his hands curling into the moist earth beneath him.

The wind rose around him; a soft whisper rushing past his ears. Taking a deep breath in he looked up, his eyes landing on a single tree tucked away amidst the others. Most of the trees in the wood were tall, their branches widening out as they reached the sky. The tree before him however grew much shorter, its boughs thick and heavy with red berries.

Bucky's mouth watered at the sight of the vibrant fruit. He suddenly felt the desire to know the taste of the ruby berries on his tongue. He longed to feel the fullness of them between his cheeks, to feel the gush of juice down his throat as he bit into them.

Moving slowly, he made his way to the tree, his back resting against its rough bark. He closed his eyes, a feeling of peace falling over him.

"Rest my Wolf, no harm will befall you here."

Bucky's eyes flew open at the voice, his head turning this way and that as he searched for the source.

"I am here, Beloved."

Moving back, Bucky turned his gaze on the tree. He watched wide-eyed as a ghostly hand appeared from the trunk of the tree followed quickly by a body. Before him stood a woman composed of mist and moonlight. She seemed to float midair for a moment before her small feet touched the ground. While he watched on the ghost-like woman solidified until a being of flesh and blood stood in front of him.

"What… who are you?" Bucky had seen many strange things in his life, but this probably had to take the cake. Still, nothing about her screamed danger. Even if she did just appear out of nothing.

"I have gone by many names, some given to me and others I have chosen. But to you, you may call me Darcy. It is a name I have heard many maidens utter under my boughs, one spoken highly of." The woman… Darcy moved forward until she stood directly before him. She fell to her knees as gracefully as a falling autumn leaf, one delicate hand moving up to cup his cheek.

"You… it was you in my dreams…" He couldn't explain how he knew, but all those nights he had been running towards that tree, toward her.

"My Beloved needed me, so I called." Darcy reached up with her free hand and grasped ahold of several berries. She brought them down to Bucky, slowly feeding them to him berry by berry, her thumb running along his lips as he chewed each one. "You have lost your way, my dear Wolf. You have lost your fight."

"I'm tired, they have taken so much from me." Bucky leaned into the touch as he took another berry between his lips. With each small fruit he felt something inside him lift.

"Then you must take it all back. You, my dear Wolf, are no coward. You are the great predator, and they the prey." Darcy slipped her hand behind Bucky's neck, pulling him down until he rested in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair, her nails lightly scraping his scalp. "But for now you will rest here in my arms, and my boughs will protect you. So sleep my precious Winter Wolf, my Beloved; the world will feel your tooth and claw in time and it will cower at your might."

Bucky pressed further into Darcy's lap, his nose filling with her green scent as he drifted off to sleep. For the first time in months his dreams were still… and he slept.


Author's Note: So if any of you have actually stuck with me through the years and several fandoms, you will recognize the use of the Rowan and the Wolf. I love using the imagery of those two, and in this case Darcy is the Rowan and Bucky her wolf, two lovers destained to be together. I had this image pop in my head years ago of a Rowan tree with a wolf standing at its base protecting it. I thought the idea worked well for this, though the end did get a bit darker than I had planned.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.