It wasn't fright that made the others stand this time.
At this point, it was obvious that Thanos was killing at a rapid rate. And that somehow, those he killed ended up here. Wherever here was.
The newcomer of course, didn't know that yet.
He looked around frantically, his eyes always glossing over the other three as if he didn't see them. He was very obviously looking for a specific thing. A specific person.
Probably this Steve whose name he kept calling.
The others just stood watching him as he orientated himself. Eyes wide and body stiff.
It wasn't long until he finally focused enough to see that he wasn't alone.
He blinked at the trio standing by lone couches in the middle of this nothing.
"Oh. H-Hi."
Gamora tilted her head at him. Loki raised an eyebrow. Vision stepped forward.
"Sergeant Barnes." he greeted, "The Winter Soldier."
The man immediately shook his head, "It's… it's just Bucky, actually."
"Oh, I see." Vision said, "My apologies, Bucky. Tony only ever referred to you as The Winter Soldier."
Bucky nodded in understanding. He guessed that made sense.
"You two know each other then?"
Bucky looked behind Vision at the tall man with black hair. And knives at his side.
"We fought on opposite sides in a German airport almost two years ago." Vision informed him, "It was a very heated disagreement between Iron Man and Captain America."
"Captain America." Loki cut in, "That would be Steve, if I'm not mistaken." He looked at this Winter Soldier… this Bucky, who started looking around again.
"Where… where is Steve?" he asked, his voice small, "What is this? Where… where am I?"
"You're dead." The man said simply, "Killed by Thanos, we presume."
Bucky blinked at him some more.
"Okay." He said slowly, "Alright."
He took another turn, looking around. He nodded again, "Okay."
Gamora was surprised, to say the least. She hadn't expected a human to react so well to finding out that they were dead. Provided that this man was human. She had never met one with an arm made of metal before.
Rocket would have gone crazy for this.
As it turned out, Gamora wasn't the only one who thought his reaction was unsatisfactory.
"Okay?" Loki asked him, "That's all you have to say? You're dead."
The man was still looking around as he gave a slight shrug, "Yes well, I just came out of a fight with a purple monster and his alien army in a secret African Planet, next to a lightning god, a raccoon with a gun, and a talking tree. And now I'm talking to a green woman." he sighed as he finally stopped turning around to face the three, "So you could say my perspective on the unbelievable has changed a bit."
Loki stepped towards the man with newly focused eyes. He had already filtered out what he had just heard, focusing on the only important that had come out of this Bucky's mouth.
"Lightning god." He repeated, coming closer, "You say you fought with a lightning god."
Bucky was still very aware of the knives at the man's side as he approached him. He straightened himself up, his stance ready, just in case. But despite the obviously manic look on his face or the weapons he held, the way he asked about the 'Lightning god', made Bucky hold back a little.
"Yeah." He answered him, "Thor."
The man exhaled, as if he had been holding a breath. It's only then that the knives at his sides disappeared back into his sleeves.
Bucky pretended that that was normal, as he had been doing a lot that day.
"Yeah, Thor saved all our asses when he showed up," Bucky continued. It seemed as if this guy needed to know a bit more, but couldn't, or wouldn't, ask, "We were losing. Badly. And then he just came outta the sky with the raccoon and the little tree guy."
Gamora's face broke into a sad smile at hearing about her family, "Rocket and Groot," she said with a sigh.
"Yeah," Bucky nodded, "Yeah, them. You know 'em?" Once again, he was telling himself that there was absolutely nothing strange about any of this. Talking to this green lady about Flora and Fauna was fine. Completely normal.
"Never mind them," Loki cut in, claiming Bucky's attention again, "What of Thor? Tell me about my brother! What happened?"
Bucky was at his full height again. Brother. Well that made his frantic behavior understandable.
"Like I said. He showed up and kicked ass. He turned the whole thing around. And we finally had the upper hand. And then Thanos showed up and beat us down. Again. And then Thor…" Bucky shook his head, still in awe of what he had seen, "Thor tuck that Axe of his right into his chest."
Gamora's hopeful gasp rang out. She remembered Thor promising to do just that, "He did? He… he killed him? He actually killed him?"
Bucky saw the hopeful looks on their faces. He sighed softly, "I… No. No I… I don't think he did."
"But you just said-"
"He stopped him from killing us all, right there and then but… but Thanos didn't die. He just disappeared. He snapped his fingers and then he disappeared." Bucky stared down at his hands, thinking back. Still not understanding how it had happened. Not understanding what had happened.
"He snapped his fingers." Bucky said quietly, still looking down at his hands, "He just snapped his fingers."
Seconds passed in silence, and then Bucky looked up, "I…I remember seeing my hands just... just disappear. Turn to dust." he swallowed hard, "And then I was looking at... at Steve and then... this. Here."
Gamora hadn't needed to hear the rest. As soon as she heard that Thanos snapped his fingers, her heart sank to the floor.
"What... what does this mean?" Vision asked, seeing her distress.
"His plan was to vanish half the Universe," her voice was monotone as she spoke to the floor, "Make them disappear. Into dust."
"And he's done it?" Bucky asked, "That's what that snap was? Destroying half the Universe?"
No one answered him. Perhaps they didn't know how to.
In front of Bucky, Loki sat down on a chair that had appeared suddenly beneath him. It was jarring how quickly his expression had changed from one of hope, to one that could only be described as utter defeat.
"Hey..." Bucky called to him softly, "Maybe... maybe we're wrong. Maybe-"
The dark chuckle that escaped Loki was almost cruel as his eyes flashed up to the human, "No. No, you imbecile, we are not wrong. Thanos has done it. He has won. He had beaten every single one of us and now..."
He stopped abruptly, his clenched fists shaking. He fell back onto his chair, a fist over his mouth.
Bucky blinked at him, and then up at the other two, "And now?"
This time it was Vision who spoke, he too looking as if the world were on his shoulders.
"And now," he said softly, "People will die. All over the Universe, people will die."
His eyes stared at nothing as he shook his head slightly, "We failed."
Bucky looked at the faces around him. The hopelessness radiating from all of them.
And now, radiating from him as well.
"It's about to get a lot more crowded in here, isn't it." he said quietly.
The words were barely out of this mouth when a sharp gasp was heard.
He turned to see a man in a crouch, head snapping from side to side before dark eyes landed on him.
"Bucky?"