AN: So I told myself I wouldn't start posting this until I was done with it for the sake of no one being disappointed if it was never completed. I'm 93% sure that I'll finish it so here goes nothing.
True to Arianna's prediction it did in fact rain that night. The pair of strangers had kept fairly dry thanks to a makeshift shelter constructed from fallen branches. However, it didn't stop them from being cold. When it was finally light enough to see they both gave up on sleep entirely. Arianna rummaged through her pack. "I know there are two apple in here somewhere…" She broke into a triumphant grin. "Ah ha!" She tossed a green apple to Bucky, "Breakfast." They ate their apples quickly, whilst dismantling their little lean to. "When we get back to the treehouse we can get some more food," Arianna said distractedly while checking the contents of her backpack.
"What makes you think I'm coming with you? And where is this treehouse?"
"The treehouse is my home. It's about 7 miles to the southeast. I'm assuming you're coming because you still have questions so you'd probably just follow me anyways. I am going home because I am hungry, tired and cold. And I hate being hungry, tired and cold, especially cold."
Bucky didn't respond.
"I'm going to take that as a stop blathering and get a move on or maybe you've just decided to freeze over into a coma-like state."
At that off-handed comment Bucky visibly flinched. Her words brought feelings of never being warm again, panic, and fear back to the front and center of his mind. Arianna peered confusedly at him for half a second before a look of realization dawned on her face. "I triggered a bad memory. I'm so sorry. If I ever blather on about something you'd rather me not to, just tell me to shut up."
"Noted." Bucky let out a deep breath he'd been subconsciously holding before running his hand over his face. "Alright, I'm fine now."
Arianna's eyes flashed green. A small smile brightened her face. "You will be." She said this quiet enough that Bucky couldn't hear. She hoisted her bag onto her shoulders. "Let's get going then. It'll take a while to get home. The walk is completely uphill." She grimaced slightly. "I wish I knew how to teleport. I should ask if that's possible." She glared at the sky and muttered under her breath "If he'd ever come back that is."
They'd been hiking for half an hour so far in complete silence. Arianna had been exaggerating, It wasn't entirely uphill. Bucky wondered if she just liked complaining, especially
after he caught her griping about her growling stomach.
"Here." Bucky threw a half empty bag of jerky to her.
She caught it and shot him a grateful look. "Thanks." She took out a stick and munched on it.
Bucky decided to call out the elephant in the room. "If you're psychic why didn't you know you'd get stuck out in the rain? How does it work? Not that I believe you I'm just curious as to how you're going to try to convince me."
"It's hard to explain,"s he replied between mouthfuls of jerky. She thought about her answer for a full minute before addressing his questions. "I usually get random visions. I can look for specific things but that takes more concentration and a good deal of my energy to do. Plus I always end up with a headache if I do it too much. So I don't usually bother with trivial things like getting caught in the rain. How it works is a boring question. The real question is, why? I'll tell you that later. How it works is easy, the random visions just come, my sight tunnels and I see the scene the universe decided to show me at that instant. If you've noticed my eyes turning green that's what's going on."
Bucky nodded a few times digesting this new information. "Alright." he stated simply. For part of the journey Arianna asked Bucky about his story. Correctly interpreting his silence as a desire to not talk about it, she started telling him a story about a prince who went on a long journey to reclaim his honor. After she finished the prince's tale Bucky surprised her by asking.
"Why didn't the prince realize that his father couldn't take his honor from him at the beginning?"
"Because hindsight is twenty-twenty. Plus if he had the story would have been completely different."
They crossed over a small stream and came to a dead end as far as Bucky could tell. They were surrounded by vine covered cliffs on three sides.
"I assume the entrance is hidden?"
"Yup." Arianna swept aside a curtain of vines to reveal a sturdy looking door set into the cliff. Her back hid what her hands were doing. Bucky thought he might have seen a small flash of light before she stood back and the door swung open. The psychic and the soldier went through the small tunnel.
When Bucky emerged and stepped back into the light all he could do was stare. Arianna spread her arms out as if showcasing the scene. "Welcome to the Treehouse."
They stood in a small valley, created by the steep cliffs on all four sides. It was filled with towering pine trees, underbrush, ivy, and who knew what type of animals. On the far cliff, Bucky could see a shining waterfall cascading down the hundred foot wall. He could also hear a river running nearby that must turn into the stream they had crossed before. Despite all this beauty around him, it was the thing in front of him that held his attention.
In one word, it was impressive. And Bucky hadn't been impressed in a long time.
A few more adjectives that ran through his head were stunning, magnificent, and how-the-heck-did-she-build-this.
The tree in front of him could not have been natural. It was a huge oak tree that towered at least sixty feet in the air and would've taken five of him to reach all the way around. It was in a clearing with about five feet of clear space surrounding it on each side. There was a vegetable garden next to a large boulder on the left side of the tree.
Then there was the thing in the tree. Arianna may have called it a treehouse, but that did it no justice. A beautiful two story wooden building sat in the branches, looking like it had grown there.
Maybe it did, thought Bucky.
Two balconies encircled the building; one on the first floor and one on the second.
"Well, you coming?"
"How are we supposed to get all the way up there?"
"Like this," she placed her hand over a spot on the trunk free of knots or anything really to mark a button. The moment she did a rope ladder unfurled from the bottom balcony.
On the opposite side of the treehouse from the rope ladder was an inconspicuous door that blended in so well Bucky didn't even notice it until Arianna opened it. Once through the door the psychic tossed her bag without looking onto a huge pile of blankets, pillows and general warm fuzzy things and headed straight for a cupboard on the far wall. While she rummaged through it looking for something Bucky took in his surroundings. On the other side of the room, directly across from the door was a spiral staircase heading to the second floor. Directly to the left of the doorway was a small kitchenette. A round table and two chairs sat to his right, with a perfect view out the window. Overall, it just felt very friendly. He passed the table and pile of fuzzy things to his right, to get to the stairs. He peered up then glanced at Arianna.
"Oh, you can go up there if you want. Just don't go in the curtained off area," she said. Bucky nodded and headed on up.
The second floor had a slightly classier feeling than the first floor. On the far wall was a beautiful grand piano next to a large window. To his right was the curtained off area and to his left was a wall of cabinets which he assumed were storage. Somewhat cautiously, Bucky approached the piano. With his flesh hand he pressed a key, eliciting a sweet note. A little braver this time, he pressed another key. Somewhere in the back of his memory, a song began to play.
Arianna came up the stairs with something in her hand and had to stifle a giggle at the ex-assassin playing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
"It's funny how music sticks in our heads when nothing else will," she commented sagely.
Bucky stopped playing immediately. He hadn't heard her come up the stairs. "Do you ever make noise when you move or is that just your natural state?" he said frustratedly.
"It became a natural state." She shook away a forlorn thought. "Anyway, you're going to need this." She held a leather cuff out to him.
"Why?"
"It's one of the ways I protect my home from invaders. Anyone not wearing one doesn't stay very long." She pulled her sleeve up slightly to reveal that she wore one to.
"How so?" Bucky took the cuff dubiously, but didn't put it on his wrist.
"How to explain... As you probably noticed this area isn't natural, not just how the tree grew around this place, the whole valley is too green to be natural. The thing that keeps this place pristine also has a way of dealing with invaders. If someone were to come in here with malicious intent they would find themselves hopelessly lost as soon as they crossed the stream. Anyone else finds themselves at the bottom of the mountain and they think that this valley was part of a crazy dream. Long story short just wear the cuff."
"Fine," Bucky muttered. He snapped the cuff closed over his right wrist. Together they descended the stairs Arianna led Bucky to the counter under the window where she left a half loaf of bread, lettuce tomatoes and some sort of sliced meat. "Sorry I don't have any cheese, goat cheese is disgusting so I don't bother to make it." Ari quickly threw together four sandwiches and handed three of them to Bucky.
"You know how to make cheese?"
"I have a lot of time on my hands being a hermit who lives by herself and avoids normal people."
"How long have you been living up here? You don't look older much older than 20…"
Arianna laughed at some private joke. "I think we've gotten to the "here's my story, what's yours?" part of this relationship," She took a seat at the table. "Would you feel more comfortable if you shared first or if I do?"
"You first." Bucky spoke almost before Arianna finished.
She smiled knowingly. "Thought so. Alright, my story."