Rise of the Champions - Chapter Twenty-Five

Author: Milady Dragon

Steve had to stand back and watch as Ianto brought Bucky out from the room that damned Zero Cabinet had been stored in.

Where Bucky had been stored.

That sounded so very wrong in his head. From what he'd heard, Ianto thought the very same.

When Ianto had given him the key, he'd been a little confused. From what Phil had intimated, Steve had believed that Ianto was going to use some sort of spell to disguise him, not this sort of thing that hid his very presence from everyone in the room. He could see the sense of it, though. After all, seeing him might very well set Bucky off, and that was the last thing Steve wanted to do, and strangers he didn't know might put back Buck's recovery in some way. Being cursed like that was bound to make a guy cautious around people he didn't know.

What he wanted more than anything was to go to his best friend, the man who could have been so much more if Steve had only been brave enough, but he'd given his word not to move from his place by the wall, no matter what. He gazed avidly at the man he'd long thought dead as he walked into the room, and it was immediately apparent that, even though it was obviously his friend, there was something off in his stride, as if he was somehow favoring his left side…

Then he realized, it was the cursed arm.

It was throwing Bucky's once-familiar way of moving out of whack. Perhaps it was the weight of the thing; it had to be heavy, having been cast of some sort of metal. Or perhaps it was the many curses that had been cast on him that was making Bucky move differently. Chances were, though, it was a combination of both.

Anyway, Steve would be glad when they were all gone. And he knew Buck felt the same way, as did everyone else in the room.

There were other changes in his best friend. His hair, which had been kept short for wearing under armor, was now long and lank, and looked as if it needed a good wash, hanging over one side of his face and almost obscuring his eyes. Those eyes, once so very bright, were so shadowed that their normal blue had been darkened that they looked nearly brown. The familiar face itself was pale, but whether that was from not getting enough sunlight, or some other reason, Steve couldn't say.

Bucky was dressed in leather armor, with only the silver of that magical arm visible through its missing sleeve. It went all the way to his shoulder, and should have glimmered under the lights in Ianto's casting chamber. However, it didn't. It seemed to soak in the light, leaving the segmented metal dull and almost tarnished-looking. That, Steve was willing to bet, had been caused by the curses on it.

That arm, from what Ianto had said, had once been created out of love. Now, it was an Artifact consumed by hate.

Steve was a silent witness as Daisy walked right up to Buck, greeting him and taking his flesh and blood hand. He longed to be the one comforting Bucky, but knew that would come later, once the Grand Masters had done their work in removing the curses and healing his friend. For now, he would rely on Daisy for that, since she really did care what happened to him.

He'd considered what would happen if Buck didn't remember him, after everything was said and done. He'd decided that he would meet Bucky once more, introduce himself, and start to rebuild the friendship that they'd had since they'd been children. He could still be that friend, to help Bucky through his recovery, even if he didn't remember Steve from before.

He could do that for the man he loved.

"James," Ianto stepped forward, "I don't believe you've been introduced to Grand Master Stephen Strange, Head of Great Order." The Grand Master moved up to stand next to Ianto. "He's going to be here for monitoring purposes, since Phil and I will be concentrating on the curses. He'll warn us if anything starts to go wrong, so we can take a step back and reassess."

Steve hadn't been aware that Grand Master Stephen was unknown to Bucky, and it irritated him a little that he would get to help and Steve himself had to keep silent. That didn't last long; after all, if Bucky was having memory flashes like he'd been told, then seeing someone that had showed up in those fractured images would have disturbed Bucky more than meeting a complete stranger. It could cause more harm than good.

It made him question the decision to use this Perception spell instead of an Illusion charm, like he'd thought would happen, because then at least he could help out if necessary. Not being able to move would be hard, even if something did go wrong. Steve was beginning to regret agreeing to anything that had him be some sort of observer, knowing it would be the hardest thing he would ever do in his entire life. Damnit, why couldn't he be more involved?

Oh right. Because no one would risk Bucky being upset by his presence, even if he looked like someone else and not himself. That was the last thing he wanted to do, to mess up Buck's recovery for anything.

Bucky was looking the Grand Master over, trying to decide if the man was friend or foe. He could tell the moment his friend accepted Grand Master Stephen, in the slight relaxing of his posture and the tiny nod he gave the other Wizard. Then, he started in surprise.

"Did your cloak just wave at me?" he asked incredulously.

Grand Master Stephen smirked. "It does that."

"I…see."

Steve wanted to laugh, because he could remember the first time the Cloak of Levitation had reacted to him. He'd been just as startled by what looked like a normal garment suddenly come to life and greet him.

Magic was amazing. There were times when he wished he had it, and then there were times when he was glad he didn't.

"And the Elf is here to stop me if I get triggered." Bucky stated it as if he'd been expecting to have a guard on him.

"Yes. We thought it would be better if it was someone you've met before."

Bucky nodded. "I'm surprised it's not the soldier who remembered me."

That would have been Jack. Steve was curious about that, as well. It seemed to him that having the Deathless around would have made a better bodyguard.

"Jack is on a mission at the moment," Phil answered. "He and Toshiko couldn't make it."

Ah, that explained it. Steve wondered just what this mission was, that was keeping Jack and Toshiko away. He'd have to ask about it.

"Should I be insulted that you'd want someone else here?" Clint asked lightly, not insulted at all.

Bucky barked a laugh; it was rusty sounding, as if he hadn't laughed in a very long time. Which, of course, it had been. "Nah. I trust you to take action if you need to."

Clint nodded once in acknowledgement of that statement. Steve was hoping that that sort of thing wouldn't be necessary.

"Now," Ianto said, breaking the sudden heaviness of the atmosphere, "we want to explain what's going to happen today."

"Alright." Bucky had all his attention on Ianto, although Daisy kept a hold of his hand. Steve found himself feeling a little jealous at that, because he wanted to be the one to do that, but quashed it ruthlessly. Daisy didn't deserve that; she was being a good friend when Steve couldn't, and he appreciated that far more than he could say.

"We're going to need to work in steps," Ianto began. "First, the Berserker spells. Those are what give you the ability to lift the obvious weight of the arm in the first place. They also give you enhanced strength, and it only makes sense to dispense with those before anything else."

Bucky considered. "Yeah. That way I can't lash out as easily."

"Exactly. Now, before we do that, we have to make sure that removing it isn't going to trigger something worse. Which is why we have this." He removed something from his pocket.

Steve saw that it was a metallic disc, about the size of his palm, looking innocuous in the Grand Master's hand. It had to have been anything but, and he couldn't help but tense slightly at the idea of them using yet another Artifact on his friend.

Then he relaxed…well, as much as he could in these circumstances. At least they were telling Buck what they were doing, which was more than what Hydra had done. These people had Bucky's best interests at heart, and were doing the best they could to make him comfortable.

"This is a magical Containment pod," Ianto went on. "This is why it's taken us three weeks to get to this point; I had to wait for it to arrive from another Archive. But it's going to be our best hope of keeping you subdued in case removing the curses trigger you to attack."

Bucky examined it. "How does it work?" He didn't look bothered; in fact, he relaxed even more.

"We're going to have you sit for this." The Cardinal Wizard gestured toward an overstuffed chair that Steve hadn't paid any attention to, placed in a cleared-off space toward the side of the room. Now that he was looking, he could see symbols in chalk around the chair, each one drawn painstakingly and in a perfect circle. "Once you're seated, we'll put this underneath the chair. It will hold you in place while we work."

"What makes this so perfect," Phil spoke up, "is that it will allow us to work magic on you and we don't have to work around any other Confinement magic that we'd normally have used. It is separate from our own spells. We don't dare put you into the Zero Cabinet for this, because its very nature is to suspend things. Our magic simply wouldn't work."

"And," Ianto said, "if for some reason the pod doesn't hold you, we have Clint and Stephen as back-up."

"You'll keep me in that thing for the entire procedure." It wasn't a question.

"We plan on it, yes."

"Good." Bucky looked satisfied. "I don't want to hurt anyone, even by accident."

"You won't hurt anyone," Daisy said stoutly. Steve loved her in that moment, for reassuring Buck that everything would work out for the best.

Bucky glanced down at her. "I like it that you say that, but Daisy…we can't be sure until all the curses are gone. I won't risk it. You've all been so good to me, even after what I did to you and Clint…"

"Hey," Clint called, "it's forgiven. You weren't in control. If anyone in this room understands that, it's me." There was a fierceness about him, as well as old pain, as if he really could empathize with what Buck had been through.

Steve frowned. What had he meant by that? Had there been a time when…

Ah.

Loki had been able to control people with his magical spear, he'd been told. Had Clint been a victim of that control? With everything he'd learned about the mad Asgardian and what he'd done, he could easily see that the Elf may very well have been involved in all of that in some way. He certainly seemed old enough, if Steve was any judge. Although he couldn't so easily work out Elven ages as well as he could human.

Sure, he could be wrong. But something was telling him that he wasn't, that Clint had been hurt by Loki. That he'd been one of the people who'd been turned into puppets by the Wizard. It made sense that he had been, because that also would have explained his comment to Bucky. He certainly didn't have any proof, and made a note to himself to ask when he had the chance.

"After we remove the Berserker magicks," Ianto continued, "then we need to work on the geas. It's the magic that allows you to control the arm. There's also a second geas that was laid upon you, but that one was what Hydra used to keep you under their thumbs. We won't be able to work on that one until after the stronger geas has been removed."

"There's something you do need to be aware of," Stephen said. "You've had this geas cast upon you for a very long time. Removing it with send you into a form of withdrawal. It's going to be painful, but it needs to be done before we can completely remove the arm."

Steve's heart clenched in his chest. Hadn't Bucky been through enough pain? Ianto had warned him about this, but it was different hearing the Grand Master telling Buck what to expect.

"We would put you to sleep," Phil added, "but we really need to monitor you while the curses come off." He sounded so apologetic, like the last thing he wanted to do was cause Bucky pain, that Steve found himself liking the Wizard all over again. This was the man who'd saved him from the Void, who cared about those around him, and now he was caring about Buck even though he didn't know Steve's friend. It was just because he was that good a person.

He remembered every single clue he'd heard about Phil Coulson having a past he wasn't proud of, and made a vow to himself never to judge the Grand Master for anything he'd ever done. Everyone had things they'd done that they weren't proud of – certainly Steve did – and if they were all judged for it there wouldn't be any good people out there at all. He only hoped that Phil would tell him, one day, that he would be able to trust Steve with the truth.

"No," Bucky growled. "You do what you need to do to get me uncursed. I can deal with the pain if it means I get to have some sort of normal life after you're done."

Phil nodded, a short, sharp jerk of his head, acknowledging the words but not liking the need for them. "I did manage to mix up some Healing potions. They won't be as efficacious as anything coming from a trained healer, but they should help."

"Phil is the best potion maker amongst us," Ianto confided. "So trust that he's done what he can to make you as comfortable as possible when the time comes."

"I do." Buck's voice was quiet. "I do trust you." Then his mouth quirked upward in a tiny smile. "For the first time in a long time, I can finally trust people not to torture me or treat me like I don't matter."

There was silence in the room for a few heartbeats. Steve felt tears prickling his eyes, and he didn't dare move to wipe them away. Bucky had been through every single level of every single hell, and now he was going to get the chance to live, uncursed, and as the man he was meant to be. Even if that man never remembered a single moment of their past together, Steve was going to be there, to recreate some of the links they'd had between each other, and do the best he could to help his best friend heal.

He felt eyes on him, and looked up to see Phil gazing right at him. Steve gave him a nod, and the Void Wizard's eyes softened a little. Then, with only that tiny acknowledgement of the silent promise Steve had just made, Phil's attention was back on the others, as Ianto began to explain more about what they were going to be doing.

Still, when they actually began, with Bucky confined to the chair, Steve realized that all the talking about it in the world hadn't prepared him for the reality.

And he knew, as he wasn't a Wizard, that he hadn't been able to see everything that occurred.