A/N: Sorry for the longer wait time with this chapter. Was on holiday in the Netherlands. Enjoy! ^_^
"Rzhavyy."
Bucky shut his eyes against the word. It did nothing to quell the sudden onset of lightheadedness. His teeth ground together as he fought the blank, white edges that threatened to swell and drown him. It was a futile battle, one that he had lost many times before. Panic began to seep in.
"Stop."
Charlotte instinctively opened her eyes at the command. He hadn't moved, standing rigidly almost halfway across the room from her, his one hand clenched into a fist. Chiding herself for hesitating, she closed her eyes again and refocused.
His world turned white and gray. His lungs took in bitingly cold air. Snowflakes whirled past, dampening his hair as they melted on his scalp. Bucky frantically tried to dislodge the world that was closing in around him.
"It's ok, Bucky," he heard her say from some distant place. "You're safe."
The ground beneath his feet shuddered and clacked noisily, rhythmically. He carried a heavy, metallic object as a darkly dressed figure led him through gray tunnels. A door suddenly shut, separating them, and flashes of bright, loud light began to explode close enough that he could feel the heat on his face.
"Rzhavyy."
A flash of blue light and the world suddenly sharpened into definition. To his right was the gaping wound in the side of the train car, its metallic outer wall peeled back like a gray lily. Hot smoke filled his lungs while the scent of burning diesel fuel mixed with the frigid winter wind. To his left was a man in a blue suit crawling along the floor, still shaking his head from the blast. In front of him on the floor was an upturned shield.
Reaching out, he grabbed the shield off the floor and quickly stood. Aiming his pistol for the monstrous shadow in the far doorway, he shot once, twice. His opponent retaliated with a single blue discharge and Bucky braced himself against the impact, tucking himself in behind the round shield.
The ground beneath him disappeared. He slammed into the dislocated wall of the freight car, air tearing from his lungs as several ribs snapped. His hands seized a frozen pole and he clenched his fingers around its girth so tightly his fingernails split into bloody ravines. Snow and ice scraped at his face. Bucky looked down into the gray chasm of ice and water far below, his boots suddenly impossibly heavy as they swayed in midair. While his mind struggled to comprehend his imminent death, his heart flailed wildly inside his chest.
"Bucky!"
He barely heard his name being called over the roaring wind. Looking up, he saw the man in the blue suit. Unable to breathe, Bucky watched as he began to crawl towards him along the exposed side of the car.
"Hang on!"
Bucky inched along the frozen railing, his skin sticking to the metal and then ripping every time he lifted his hands. The bar quivered under his free-swinging weight. His right hand suddenly slipped. Ignoring the excruciating fire in his ribs, Bucky flung his arm up and reattached his hand to the railing. It groaned in protest.
"Grab my hand!"
Bucky looked up again, choking on the snow and ice that pummeled its way down his nose and throat. A single leather glove was outstretched towards him, only inches away from his right hand. He was so close. He could do this.
Bucky reached out. The railing jerked downwards.
"No!"
His chest turned inside out as the world fell away. Snow and gray rock streaked past as he fell. Even as his scream subsided, his lungs failed to draw more breath. A dense cold rushed up to meet him. And a sound.
River water.
"Bucky!"
She grabbed a fistful of his shirt, but it wasn't enough. His knees buckled beneath him and he fell back, his weight dragging Charlotte down with him. Thinking fast, she cupped her hand behind his head, then instantly regretted it when her fingers nearly snapped between his scalp and the hard floor.
"Shit!"
Wincing and trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her hand, she rolled over on her side before sitting up on her knees and looking down at his face. His blue eyes were pinned to a distant ceiling.
"Bucky?"
He blinked a few times before orienting his gaze on her. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she replied, still searching his face for…she didn't know what for. Distress? Pain? Drool from the corner of his mouth? Some sort of indication that she had irrevocably scrambled the brain of Captain America's best friend. "Do you know who I am?"
He nodded. "You're Charlotte." He was quiet for a moment as his thoughts seemed to turn far and inward. Then, "I remember."
Uncertainty made Charlotte's heart flutter and dip. Bucky propped himself up with his one arm until he was sitting nearly shoulder to shoulder with Charlotte, each of them facing an opposite end of the room. She hoped he couldn't sense the tension in her body, the coil that was ready to spring if need be.
"I remember how I died. How I should've died. But I didn't."
Charlotte looked over at him and her rigidity instantly melted. His eyes were heavy and dark. A few strands of hair fell across his stubbled cheek, curling slightly at the tip of his nose. His eyes found hers. Feeling suddenly foolish for staring, Charlotte quickly looked at the ground.
"Steve was there," he added.
When he failed to elaborate, Charlotte said, "It makes sense that they'd keep that memory from you. The point of evolution. The end of James Barnes. The beginning of the Winter Soldier. How do you feel?"
Bucky smirked and looked at her. "Like a fried egg."
"Very funny," she grinned. "But really, ho—"
"I'm fine. Not even a headache."
Charlotte paused. She wanted to believe him, and he looked well enough. Reaching inward, she extended her energy current over his and felt for erratic patterns. It was low and quiet.
"I need to try one more thing," she said. "To see if it worked."
Bucky's expression hardened, but he waited wordlessly.
"Rzhavyy."
She could see the fear flare in his eyes, the anticipation knotting the muscles in his forearm. Charlotte held her breath as she felt the gravity of his current briefly warp around him. A moment passed.
Bucky faintly shook his head. "Nothing. I don't feel anything."
Charlotte winced as Shuri hissed a triumphant, "Yesss!" through her earpiece loud enough for Bucky to hear.
"I take it that means it's working," he said, amusedly watching as Charlotte pulled the miniscule transmitter out of her ear.
Charlotte nodded, finally allowing herself to relax and smile. "Yeah. It's working."