While perched atop an empty table, Charlotte watched her friend buzz around the room and expertly shut down, deactivate, or reduce the power settings on various machines in the lab. Charlotte could feel the ceaseless buzzing in her mind begin to quiet as each mechanical energy sighed into a lifeless sleep. Shuri was wearing her high-necked white shirt and bleach white pants, giving her already lengthy and slender body the profile of an albino giraffe.
"…need anything, Hanta and Adili will be in the medical quarters," she was saying hurriedly. "We should be back in just a few days, but it depends on how badly those Korean scientists managed to damage their vibranium supply. Please wear your kimoyo beads – I'll put them right here – and if you need to, use them. My brother and I will both have ours."
"Did you buy goldfish for my lunches?" Charlotte said, grinning. Shuri spared her an exasperated glance. "What? Shuri, I'm not eight years old."
"No, but you have a medical history list so long my ancestors can read it. Normally I wouldn't worry, but the past few days make me a little nervous. You should still be in bed, resting."
Charlotte couldn't help but smile. "You're a good friend. The best. I promise I will wear my kimoyo beads and if I so much as sneeze, I will go see Hanta."
"Oh, he'll love that," Shuri grumbled. She stuffed a few smaller gadgets into a dark duffle bag at the bottom of the ramp. "Another thing," she said, approaching her friend with a pointed finger and a stern expression. "No more sessions with Barnes until I get back. I mean it. It's too risky for either of you."
"We could probably be done by the time you get back."
"Charlotte. Not only do I forbid it, but so does T'Challa."
"What? Why? It's not like having supervision really mattered anyway." Her own words surprised her, and she immediately regretted saying them.
"One more blow to your brain and he is without a cure for his." It put a quick end to the argument.
Charlotte opened her mouth as if to say something, then changed her mind. "Sorry," she mumbled.
Shuri sighed. "I'm sorry to leave you like this. I know you were excited about the progress we were making. I wouldn't be going if my brother wasn't insisting."
Charlotte placed both of her hands on Shuri's shoulders. "Shuri. As the lead engineer on all things vibranium, I would hope that you would prioritize damage control in Korea over our little experiment. Trust me, I've been dealing with this malfunctioning body since day one and Bucky literally has all the time in the world." Shuri chuckled. "We'll be fine."
As if on cue, T'Challa's voice cut through the air from Shuri's communicator on her wrist. "Shuri, where are you? We need to leave now, or I will leave without you."
"Coming, brother."
"Good luck," Charlotte crossed her arms and held them to her chest, giving the official Wakandan salute. Shuri mirrored the motion, then ran over to her bag, grabbed it, and darted up the ramp. Just before she disappeared up the final curve of the slope, she ducked back and opened her mouth to give a final warning. Charlotte beat her to it,
"Don't get sick, be sure to call you, and don't play with the soldier. Got it!"
Shuri laughed and ran up and out of view, leaving Charlotte alone in the quiet, empty lab. She absentmindedly stared at the black tiled floor and gently touched her jaw. The swelling was almost nonexistent now, thanks to the advanced techniques of Wakandan medicine. Pain still flashed through her at random, seizing her lungs and stopping her in her tracks until it subsided after a moment or two. She sported a dark scab across her lip and her head felt like a bowling ball. She probably should go back and lay down for a while, but the other part of her knew she would only toss and turn and imagine a pair of deep blue eyes on every wall.
It had only been a few days since their last encounter. Apparently, T'Challa had spoken with Bucky and said he was "recovering well." Did that mean he had sustained injuries? Did he remember his outburst at all? The two men were obviously on speaking terms again, but she wondered about herself and Bucky. Was he angry with her, or just afraid? Was he avoiding her out at his hut? Would he ever forgive her for dragging him through whatever horrifying demons were living just beneath his skin?
Charlotte closed her eyes against the memory of his screaming. She had never heard anyone, or anything, scream like that before.
With a deep breath, she jumped down from the table and started towards the ramp. She stopped short at the sight of her bracelet of kimoyo beads resting on another countertop, where Shuri had distinctly placed them and pointed them out earlier. Charlotte hesitated a moment before walking past them, suppressing her pang of guilt with the rest of her aches and pains.
The terrain was getting steeper and in some spots the grass nearly reached his hips. Thick, green trees still shadowed his approach, an extension of the small forest that sheltered the lake and nearby farms and huts. Up ahead, the trees fell away and the land became open fields of rock, marking the final ascent towards Mount Bashenga. In the distance, he could see the top portion of the imposing tower that rose sharply from the edge of the cliff.
Even in the shade the heat was intense and he regretted not tying back his hair before he left. He walked purposefully, unrushed, his expression drawn inward by his relentless thoughts. Hopefully Charlotte had recovered enough to receive his visitation. If she even wanted to see him. His stomach curdled at the memory of dragging her by the hair, chunks of it tangled around his fingers after he threw her into the wall. He had done it. Him. Bucky. Fear and pain had driven him mad. And that scared him even more than the mind control. If he couldn't trust himself, then what was left?
Do you still trust me?
Her voice, tight with pain, came back to him as he crossed a barrier of sunlight that marked the end of the forest. The heat instantly deepened, and he could feel the sun burying into the bones of his exposed shoulder. The other was wrapped in a shawl, as usual. He began the uphill trek, sweat quickly building on his brow and dripping down the sides of his face. The tall grasses began to fade and short, thorny bushes and sharp rocks replaced them. About halfway to the cliff edge, he noticed a small, darker shape crouched low amongst the sun-bleached land. He casually redirected his route, watching it morph into a recognizable shape as he grew closer. The shape stared back at him with bottomless eyes as he approached.
"Charlotte?"
She was sitting in the narrow shade of a twisted, dead tree that was little more than a stick in the sand. Her chestnut hair was piled in a bun on top of her head. She was wearing a high-necked, sleeveless top with leggings and a sand colored Wakandan skirt, embellished with red and amber beads, wrapped around her hips.
A stiff "hey" was all that she offered.
Bucky's chest tightened. Was she angry with him? Was she going to ask him to leave?
"What are you doing out here?"
"I thought I'd take myself for a walk. Just got a little tired. Where are you headed?"
Bucky eyed her carefully for a moment before responding. "I was coming to see you, actually." Damn, he thought he was going to have more time to finish rehearsing whatever it was he planned on saying.
"Well, you found me," she said, offering a small grin and he felt his shoulders relax. She patted the ground next to her. "Come, sit."
He lowered himself to the ground and stole a quick glance at her face, noting the dark scab on her bottom lip.
"Are you…are you ok?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said, trying to reassure him with another smile. "Actually, this is all very normal for me." He frowned, which seemed to amuse her. "I'm usually in the hospital every few months or so with seizures and heart irregularities and other various problems. Turns out even if you survive lightning, it messes up your body for life. You may have…induced some of it, but you don't get to take all the credit. Except this," she motioned to her healing lip. "I'll blame you for this."
Bucky gave a half-hearted grin for her attempt at diverting humor but couldn't think of anything to say. Even if she was a chronic hospital patient, it didn't change the fact that he had taken his fear out on her. Violently.
"How about you? Are you ok?" she spun his own question back at him.
He nodded slowly. "I will be. I feel better knowing you're all right." He paused. "Why did you say the next word in the sequence?"
"I was just trying to get the two of you to stop fighting. I couldn't stop T'Challa, but I knew I could distract you." She looked over at him. "I hope it wasn't too harsh of a defeat."
He shook his head. "I've had worse."
They sat in silence for a moment, each of them pondering the meaning of "worse." There was a hot, dry breeze beginning to blow in from the west and Bucky hoped it would help to dry the tips of his hair that were still wet with sweat. He spared Charlotte another sideways glance and noticed the sweat trails streaking her cheeks and temples. Why the hell did she stop to rest under the shade of nothing but a dead branch?
"I'm so sorry, Bucky," she almost whispered.
"You keep saying that. What the hell are you sorry for? I'm the one who…"
She cut in before he could finish his sentence. "For whatever it was they did to you. For having to put you through it again. For all of it."
He looked over at her. Her elbows were resting on her knees, her chin on top of her forearms and loose, wavy tendrils of hair flowed about her face. His thoughts traced back to the sensation of her fingers tenderly grazing his mouth. The softest touch he'd experienced in over half a century had proven difficult to put from his mind.
"You weren't scared," he mumbled, unsure if it was a question or not.
Charlotte turned to look at him, her cheek squished against her arm as she shook her head. "Should I have been?" He ignored her question. "I was scared for you. Afraid that whatever I was undoing was undoing you in the process. But was I afraid of you? No. I told you. You wouldn't hurt me."
Bucky glanced at her lip again, doubtful. As he allowed his gaze to linger, he noticed a few strands of straw and grass stuck in her hair. Curiosity struck him, along with a small twinge of guilt at his willingness to experiment with her. Without warning, he fluidly lifted his hand to her hair and grasped at a piece of straw. She never flinched, or even blinked. Those doe eyes stared evenly back at him, unfazed, and he retrieved the brittle yellow twig much slower than he reached for it.
He grinned, pleased with her reaction. Or lack thereof.
"Steve has already allowed me beat him within an inch of his life," he said, flicking the straw away. "I don't need another friend doing the same."
"Fair enough. You hit me, I hit you back."
Bucky shook his head and chuckled, while Charlotte openly laughed.
"You're something else, you know that?" Bucky said.
"Mm." Charlotte looked out at the desert before them, combing loose hairs away from her mouth. "Can I ask you something? When was the last time you did something halfway normal? Like, ate a batch of cookies or planted in a garden or saw a movie?"
"Ate an entire batch of cookies?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that what you consider halfway normal?"
"In my world, yes." Her warm smile was infectious. "If you don't eat the dough and half of the cookies while baking, you're not doing it right." She looked over at him, waiting patiently for an answer, he realized. "Can you remember? What does Bucky enjoy?"
He thought for a moment, then gave a huff through his nose and stood. "At the moment, I would thoroughly enjoy air conditioning. Come on."
He extended his hand towards her, frowning when he thought he saw her hesitate ever so slightly. Was she annoyed that he had skirted her question? Once she was on her feet, he began to walk away. He made it hardly two steps before she collided into him, her hands gripping tightly around his sides and her legs awkwardly far apart in an unsteady stance. Bucky spun around and caught her.
"Shit," she hissed. "Sorry."
With a clearing understanding, Bucky helped straighten her, keeping his hand on her shoulder the entire time for balance.
"You got tired and decided to take a break." He made sure his skepticism was heard. "I got a little dizzy and I fell. Same thing."
"And what were you planning on doing if I hadn't of walked up here?"
"I'm fine," she insisted. She gently covered his hand with her own and removed it from her shoulder. "Not the first time it's happened. Probably not going to be the last."
She started walking up the hill towards Bashenga, leaving him no room to argue. Bucky followed close behind, watching her feet carefully as she picked her way around rocks and shrubs. The tail of her skirt swayed light in the breeze, the red and amber beads glinting in the sunlight.
"See?" she said after a few minutes. "All better. Just needed a break."
Bucky shook his head, grinning tiredly at her stubbornness. "Whatever you say, lightning bug."