"How long will we run?" Bucky asks him.

Steve considers that, looking out across the snow-covered landscape. "Until they give up."

"And if they never give up?"

Steve looks at the other wolf, standing next to him on the hill. The wind scatters rich chestnut curls into his eyes. Eyes that lock with Steve's, the shade of winter ice and the first thaw. He laces their fingers together and presses a kiss to wind-chilled skin. "We run even further, my love."

Bucky's lips twitch. "And when we can run no longer?"

"We bare our teeth and claw our way from damnation."

His eyes drop away to survey the landscape. Snow begins to fall, a gentle sprinkle, decorating his hair in shoulders with specks of white. "Is it worth it?" He asks quietly.

"Is what worth it?" Steve asks gently.

Bucky furrows his brows, a soft expression of unsureness. "The day we can stop running."

"Oh," Steve breathes, tucking a loose strand of hair behind Bucky's ear. "That's worth everything and more."

Bucky nods, and they elapse into silence, looking out across the fields and woodland. Snow drifts down from the heavens, unhurried.

Bucky once more breaks the silence with a question. "Are we good people?"

Steve smiles. "You're the best person I know."

"And you?"

Steve's smile grows strained. He shakes his head. "I don't think so."

"Oh," Bucky says, frowning. He looks up at him, and Steve can almost see the gears turning. "I do."

Steve grins and wraps his arms around Bucky, nuzzling into the crook of his neck. "Yeah?"

Bucky chirrups, a short, melodic sound that should be physically impossible for him to make. Bucky would make lots of weird noises, but Steve doesn't mind. He finds it kind of cute, actually.

"Then I can't be all that bad," Steve says.

Bucky laughs, bringing a hand up to bury in Steve's hair. He doesn't say anything, but his smile says enough to Steve.

Steve sighs, pressing a kiss into the side of Bucky's neck. "We'll rest one day, my love. We will patch ourselves back together and wash the blood from our hands, and we will reclaim ourselves."

"And until then, we run?"

"Until then, we run," Steve agrees. The snow dances in the air, moving to the song of howling wind and winter birds. And, for the first time in a very, very long time, Steve believes what's coming out of his mouth.