I have a surprise for you all this week:
I'm actually posting on time! Who'da thunk it?
Thanks so much for all the love last chapter, and special shoutout to my home skillet Triumphant Valkyrie this chapter
They weren't Steve's screams, as he normally heard when he closed his eyes, but shriller, higher.
He was drowning in darkness, but he could feel the need to protect whoever was screaming. He fought through the darkness, and felt a glimmer of satisfaction when his hands began colliding with flesh and bone. That satisfaction was quickly ripped away as he was pinned down, and he couldn't regain control no matter how hard he tried. He struggled and yelled as he was forced back into the familiar chair and locked in place.
The darkness was ripped off of his eyes and he adjusted to the light to see he wasn't in the chair at all, he was still standing, locked in a glass cage now. In his place in the chair, still screaming in agony he knew only too well, was a female figure with a bag over her head. Her clothing was nondescript, and he didn't recognize her at first, until he saw the red mist trapped in concentrated balls under her hands.
No.
No, this wasn't how it was supposed to go, this wasn't how it went, Steve was the one who was tortured in his dreams, Steve was strong, Steve fought, Steve only screamed when he could absolutely no longer bear it. The sister in front of him had been writhing in her restraints for hours in screaming pain. Her wrists and ankles were bleeding from her attempts to escape, and there were bruises covering her exposed skin from the beatings she must have gotten in an attempt to quiet her.
He smashed his hands against his cage and it began cracking. He smashed against it again, but the glass began repairing itself. He screamed in frustration and kept trying to break his cage, only to writhe with electric shock and collapse to the ground.
He looked up to see two backs in front of him, one male and one female. The male was non-descript, short dark blond hair, but he knew who it was in association with the familiar red haired female.
He renewed his attempts to break through his cage as they approached the chair. The screams morphed from those of pain to more fearful ones, and the bag was ripped off of her head. Bucky could see the panic in her eyes, and he realized quickly that she couldn't see him as she looked everywhere for some escape. She was quickly beaten into a cowering mess by the duo in front of him, and Bucky screamed for them to stop, to torture him, to let her go, anything if they would just stop.
He almost missed the small piece of glass that fell out of his cage in the center of where his fists were landing. The glass stopped repairing itself.
Bucky lashed out with all of his strength to break himself out.
He bolted up the moment he felt something touching him and it flew into the wall near his door with a crunch the moment he lashed out at it. He caught his breath slowly, and it wasn't until he heard the whimpers of pain that he remembered he was in his room with the -
No.
He ran to the wall and knelt down quickly to see the small animal curled up in pain on the ground, one of its legs splayed out at an unnatural angle. The sounds coming from the small animal's body drove into him like knives.
He barely even registered the fact that he was screaming for Steve as he slowly reached to the small animal. He couldn't bring himself to touch it. He had done this, he had hurt it, he was the reason it was crying out weakly in pain.
Steve ran to his side. "Bucky what happened?!"
"The small animal, I, it, dream, I thought, I-" Bucky didn't know how to form any kind of coherent speech, his voice and breath were both shaking. Steve saw the small animal and picked it up gently, and Bucky cringed as it cried out in pain.
"Bucky, it's gonna be okay, we'll get it taken care of." Steve tried to assure him.
"No, I-"
Steve cut him off in his distress. "Bucky, come with me, don't worry, he's gonna be fine. Come on." He helped Bucky up, and together they ran to medical, and Steve pounded an alarm inside the door. Medical personnel ran in quickly and Steve set the small animal down.
People were talking, but Bucky couldn't make out any of their words, he was too concentrated on his own panic spiral. It was only broken by light running footsteps running in behind him.
"What happened?" Wanda asked worriedly as she reached his side. Bucky had forgotten his nightmare entirely, but the moment he heard her voice it all came back, and he turned and wrapped her in his arms tightly, burying his face in her hair in an attempt to surround himself with her to reassure himself she was indeed alright.
She hugged him back tightly. "Bucky, what's wrong? What happened?"
He slowly managed to get himself calmed down enough to speak, though he expected she had loaned a bit of her powers towards that cause. "The- the small animal. Nightmare. I lashed out. I didn't mean to." He realized frustratedly water was coming out of his eyes, and Wanda held him tighter.
"It will be okay. It isn't your fault, you know that. You cannot control your fear just out of a nightmare, it is understandable. Do not blame yourself Bucky." She said gently, and he could feel her extending her powers to calm him. His breathing started evening out.
That ended the minute Natasha walked in the door.
He pulled Wanda behind him quickly, and no one in the room even had time to register what was happening before Bucky's hand had her neck pinned to a wall.
She tried to pry his hand off and he squeezed harder, watching her start to lose oxygen with a calm determination to make her pay for hurting Wanda.
Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky's from behind and managed to tear him off of Natasha, letting her fall to the ground gasping. The small part of him that wasn't still screaming derived some dark pleasure from her weakened state.
"Bucky what the hell?!" Steve quickly got in between him and Natasha.
"She hurt Wanda." He explained simply, glaring at her.
"What?" Steve looked confused.
"She and Clint tortured her." He growled frustratedly. He wished sometimes Steve could be telepathic as well, and this was one such occasion.
"Bucky, I'm alright." Wanda put a gentle hand on his arm, and he paused and turned his head to look at her. "Calm down? Please? I'm not hurt. It was just a nightmare."
He looked back at Natasha, who was standing up behind Steve, and he could feel his aggression rising until Wanda forced him to turn his head to look back at her.
"Please Bucky, I need you to be calm. I need you Bucky. Just please calm down." He could see the worry in her eyes. Wanda needed him to calm down.
He turned and hugged her close, and she wrapped her arms around him quickly. He heard Steve and Natasha leave and squeezed Wanda a little.
"It will be alright. Say it with me. Things will be okay." She said gently.
"Things will be okay." He repeated slowly. His breathing managed to calm down, and Wanda led him to a chair. The doctors were scanning the small animal and saying words he didn't entirely understand.
Wanda sat curled up in his lap, and he rubbed her back gently like he did with the small animal, taking some comfort in the familiar range of motion.
Wanda watched him as he watched the small animal. He could feel himself crashing from the heat of the moment, but he forced his eyes to stay open and firmly affixed to the small animal.
"Bucky, you're tired." Wanda said gently.
"I will not sleep." He insisted. He did not want to dream, and see her in pain, or hurt her because of his dreams.
"I can give you a dreamless sleep, if you let me. For this one night. You need to rest. I promise you, they will do nothing to the small animal that you would not allow."
He looked down at her, and she put a small hand on the side of his face.
He could only ever trust her or Steve with this.
He sighed softly and closed his eyes, and he could feel her begin working in his mind.
"Good night Bucky." She said gently, and he started drifting off.
"Good night Wanda." He mumbled. With that, he was out.
I'm so sorry.
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