Steve turned the corner of the darkened street. He froze pretty quickly, frowning at the sight in front of him.

There stood the Winter Soldier- Bucky.. staring at him with no emotion evident in his features.

Steve swallowed and stood there for a moment. He expected this; to run into his long-lost friend who had been tortured and brainwashed by Hydra, then to be sent after him. It seemed inevitable at this point in time.

Knowing the man wouldn't accept the name, Steve didn't even try. He wanted badly to get his friend back, but he knew that Bucky likely wouldn't remember.

The gun the Soldier was clutching was raised to aim at Steve. His shield quickly came up to block the bullets and he made his way toward Bucky. Once he was close enough, they fought. The Winter Soldier pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed at Steve repeatedly. It missed, and Steve pried it from the man's hands and threw it elsewhere.

His shield was quite quickly flung back as well, leaving both of them in quite a violent fist fight.

Steve caught Bucky's metal arm before it smashed into his face, grunting with the effort of doing so. He eventually let go quite quickly and grabbed Bucky by the torso, body-slamming him onto the ground. Though, he quickly swung his legs out and managed to catch Rogers off-guard, sending him onto the ground.

He grunted and threw himself up at the same time as Bucky. They both continued to fight, Bucky striking Steve in the face with his metal arm once. Not even the serum could prevent the sickly bruises from slowly appearing on his face with the strength of the hit.

Bucky flipped him over and nearly managed to twist Steve's arm in a horribly unnatural direction, but he slipped free and kicked Bucky back into a vehicle.

"Come on, man.." Steve muttered silently under his breath as he barely managed to duck yet another blow from the familiar metal fist. He slowly made his way back toward where he knew his shield lay and went to pick it up when a gunshot rang out and he felt a sudden stinging sensation in his abdomen. The man winced, but picked the shield up nonetheless and held it in front of him, protecting himself from the bullets that followed.

They fought for a long time. Neither of them were giving up, but Steve managed to land a few blows on Bucky, trying not to cause his brainwashed friend severe harm. Even though he was clearly fighting Steve to kill.

Steve's thoughts were blurred out as the attacks got incredibly faster. The Winter Soldier was definitely skilled in fist-fighting. Steve managed to catch up and dodge nonetheless.

His face was bruised, cut, and a few gashes lined his cheek. None of that stopped him, even the bullet which had inserted itself into his abdomen, which was also starting to become more painful than before. A normal human may not have been able to stand it, but having the super-soldier serum to help, Steve didn't mind 2 bullets.

Bucky picked up his pistol, which laid a few feet away and shot again. It bounced off Steve's shield harmlessly, causing him to scowl.

He charged toward his target, slamming a fist into his abdomen and suddenly getting the upper-hand.

Steve stumbled backward as Bucky's metal fist came into contact with his face, then his abdomen. It seemed to repeat itself over and over and he could feel unconsciousness tugging at him. He was struggling to keep his balance, but he couldn't let himself give up right now..

He managed to strike a blow into the Winter Soldier's stomach. It caused the man to stumble backwards slightly, but he soon came at Steve with incredible speed and agility. Once again, he found his shield about 20 feet away from him. And he knew getting to it without being badly injured, or worse, would be impossible.

The Winter Soldier was now getting the upper hand. He tackled Rogers to the ground and pounded his fist into his head, surprised at how resilient the man was.

Swiftly, he unsheathed a knife and slammed it into the man's stomach in multiple areas, hearing the pained gasps of his target. He knew that Rogers was growing weaker, but he still struggled and fought back.

The Winter Soldier threw the knife aside and pulled out a gun. He placed it at Steve's head but the man managed to knock it away. There was nothing too severe that he could do in his weakened state, though. And it gave the Asset the advantage he needed. Perfect.

Once again picking up the knife, he slammed it into his target's chest and left it there. His fist connected with the man's head again multiple times before he noticed the blood spilling over the man's lips.

Steve gasped, coughing out blood. "N-No.." he groaned, hand shakily moving to one of his wounds. Breathing became too difficult and exhausting, but this isn't how he wanted to die..

"Buck.." He took in a strangled gasp. "Bucky.."

The Winter Soldier stared down at his target. Mission accomplished.

He watched as the man's struggles began to slow, but he quickly began to think that something was strangely wrong..

Almost instantly, he was bombarded with a ray of memories, most of a small, blonde-haired and thin man, which he horribly recognized as the man he had just killed.

Everything, well, enough, came back to him.

Bucky felt the complete horror of what he did rise up inside him. He stared down at his best friend's body and felt his legs give out.

"N-No.." He whispered, crawling over and lifting Steve's body into his arms. "No..NO!"

He cradled his friend to his chest, lowering his head and sobbing. "N-No..please- Steve...STEVE!"

"I-I didn't mean to..I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry.." He placed his 2 flesh fingers on his friends neck, but there was no sign of a pulse. "P-please...come back- You can't die.."

His forehead lowered until it was touching Steve's, the tears flowed down his face at the huge realization of what he just did.

"Steve…" He choked. "Stevie.."

He practically screamed until his voice was raw. After that, he could barely talk, but he didn't care.

Bucky had just killed his best friend. The one person who had refused to give up on him, even while he was brainwashed and crazy and-

He's all he had left..and he killed him. He KILLED HIM!

Bucky tightened his grip on Steve, continuing to sob until he was too numb to even do anything anymore.

He couldn't live with himself..now, or even in 100 years.

Hydra could freeze, wipe, and repeat that process 1000 times and he'd still never forget what he just did. It was too horrible to forget. Nothing would remove that permanent stain from his mind.

"Stevie.." He rasped. "I'm sorry…"

His breath hitched and he let out a gut-wrenching sob. "I'm sorry.." He repeated those same words over and over again.

Bucky swore to never forgive himself. He couldn't. Nothing could make him forgive what he did to his own friend.

Even being brainwashed and killing people for years doesn't serve as an excuse for what he did.

Nothing will.

Bucky forced his eyes shut painfully and squeezed his friend tighter, afraid that his body would suddenly disappear if he let go.

He prayed that this was all some horrible nightmare...that he'd wake up from it with Steve by his side and comforting him.

But he opened his eyes and the same, horrific scene was still there.

It wasn't a dream.