The Winter Soldier and Steve meet again under less than ideal circumstances
A friend asked me to do this after I told her about the prompt for Chapter 8. She wanted a different outcome though and her words were: I want Steve to accidentally kill Bucky and right before he dies he remembers.
So this is exactly that. Which means major character death ahead. Be warned.
The soldier knew that his superior strength had long gone away.
He wasn't sure how it worked exactly but it had to be something Hydra injected him with because after the disaster with the helicarrier he hadn't gone back to Hydra and he had gradually lost his strength and healing power.
It was still enough to heal his shoulder much quicker than it normally would have but if he sustained any serious damage? He wouldn't make it and he knew it.
Despite that, when he saw Captain Rogers, his target, he started to make a plan because the mission had priority. He had at least to try.
The target was coming from a huge tower and he had his shield with him but he was alone. The soldier would have preferred if the target was unarmed, because the shield was truly just a weapon, but he had to take this opportunity now. Maybe he wouldn't get another one. After all he didn't know exactly how the loss of his strength would affect him further.
He jumped down the roof noticing how different that felt now and silently made his way over to the target. He wished he had a gun on him, then this whole thing would have been much easier, but he lost all of them in the Potomac when he foolishly dived after the target.
So now he just had his knife and it had to be enough.
The target noticed him before the soldier reached him but he didn't draw the shield. He just stood there arms extended and hands open like an invitation for the soldier to kill him.
The soldier picked up his pace and he could hear that the target was talking to him but he didn't listen. The last time he listened to that man it had nearly cost him his life and it compromised the mission. And he probably wouldn't get another chance. Not with how fast he was deteriorating.
He unshed his knife and tackled the target with full speed, knife burying in his side, but he knew that it was not long enough to cause any real injuries. Especially if it was removed instantly since the serum would heal the target.
The target seemed to notice now, with blood pouring form his side, that his words had no effect and weren't even heard because he got the shield from his back and a vicious fight began.
The soldier noticed that the target still held back, probably in hope of his friend coming back, but the soldier gave everything he had.
He got a few good hits in but he also received them. He received more than his serum-deprived body could handle and he knew it. But he didn't step down because he had to finish this.
The target was still talking to him and he seemed to notice that something was off but he kept defending himself and as long as he wasn't giving up the soldier was not interested in what the target had to say.
But he got distracted by all the pain in his body so that the target could get a hold of him and soon he found himself pinned down. The soldier knew that there was no way out of this, not as weak as he was, and he could feel all the damage the target had dealt. He wouldn't walk away from this one.
He struggled one last time but the target didn't budge, the soldier had lost his only weapon and so he gave up.
He listened to the target talk to him and he knew that he should remember whatever he said but he didn't.
And then the target used that one line again, 'I'm with you till the end of the line', and while the soldier had thought about that many times, hearing it from the target made the difference.
He could already feel how the memories came back but he could also taste the blood in his mouth and he could feel his heart stuttering. He didn't have it in him to fight anymore and when he gave into the memories Bucky Barnes came back with full force.
But also with a distinct lack of memory of being the Winter Soldier and so what Bucky Barnes saw was this: Steve rogers sitting on top of him, pinning him down and he knew that the injuries he felt were deadly.
And the only thing Bucky got to say in this new world before he died was "Steve, why?"
