Hey all, I'm back! I saw Endgame and all I can say is that I was not ready. I thought I was. I wasn't.

It has however given me a tonne of new inspirartion for this series and I now know that I am declaring Endgame as the end of this series too,bringing the total stories to 8. It's going to be a hell of a journey and I hope you stay with me through it!

On with the show...

...

April 4th, 2014. Helicarrier Charlie, Washington DC

The first blast struck the ship seconds later, knocking Beth to her knees and Steve into the rail in front of him. Not one to sit and wait for her death, Beth pushed herself up bolted for the final ladder, her hand clutching it as another blast shook her balance. Halfway up, a hole tore through the hull a meter above her head, the structure containing the control panel crumbling to the ground with a deafening shriek of metal against metal. Jagged shards rained down on her, slicing her hands and into the jacket she'd been so careful to protect. A pained cry filled the air, turning her blood to ice. Looking back, her gaze landed on Bucky's prone form, a large steel beam pinning him to the glass. It didn't matter that he had just tried to kill her, the second she saw the agony on his face, her legs began to ready a jump down, as her hands held tighter to the rungs in a reminder of her brother. Steve solved the dilemma for her, meeting her eyes to cast an apologetic glance before jumping over the rail.

Not missing a beat, Beth followed suit, sliding across the glass to avoid a second falling beam landing mere millimetres behind her. She didn't care that there were chunks of glass and metal embedding themselves in her skin, she only cared about reaching the two men in front of her.

The soldier stared at the siblings with wide eyes as they grasped the beam, though whether it was fear they would kill him or confusion over them helping him, even he didn't know. He'd already tried to pull the metal off himself to no avail and despite the fact the male was his mission, a tiny voice in his head urged to let them help.

When Beth reached out a hand for him, he didn't hesitate, grasping the arm he'd almost snapped only a few moments earlier. Despite the pain on her face as she grimaced, she pulled as hard as she could and he felt himself come free from the beam, his mission dropping it down again the moment he was safely out.

"You know me." His mission stated once he was on his feet and the female dropped her grip.

The soldier paused for a second as a cascade of images threatened to overwhelm him. He pushed them back, his mind blanking with rage.

"No I don't!"

Bucky swung out and Steve grabbed the back of Beth's jacket, hoisting her behind him. She barely kept herself balanced as he let her go to use his shield to block the punch heading his way.

"Bucky, don't!" she yelled as he continued trying to hit Steve, though she didn't come any closer to him.

"Bucky. You've known me your whole life." Steve said, his voice begging him to see they weren't lying.

This time, Bucky's fist connected with Steve's face. Beth stepped towards them but Steve raised his hand to stop her. It didn't matter that she could take just as many hits as he could, he couldn't bare the thought of seeing Bucky hurt the woman he'd once cherished.

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." He pressed, pleading.

"Shut up!" Bucky screamed at him, swinging his fist once more.

This time, Beth ignored Steve and moved closer, allowing her brother to hold her back only because she didn't have the energy to fight him any longer..

"It's true Bucky! You and I were engaged before HYDRA took you!" she cried, tears streaming down her face as she reached for her chain once more.

Steve's grip loosened and a crazy idea popped into Beth's head when she saw Bucky seemed to be struggling to believe her outburst. Knowing she was already likely to die today and desperate for him to remember, she decided 'what the hell' and rushed forward, ignoring Steve's shout. Her mouth slammed her mouth against his, an echo of their very first kiss seventy years earlier when Bucky had been the instigator. She felt him freeze, then for a blissful split second, his lips pressed back. The overwhelming joy that washed over her was short lived, his hand clamping onto her arm to wrench her away from him. The already damaged bones finally gave way, the bones snapping loudly enough to be heard over the racket around them. Dropping to the floor, she cradled her arm to her chest, refusing to show him the tears as they started falling. Nothing else could have made it clearer; Bucky was gone. Bucky coldly turned his attention back to Steve, who was watching his sister with a look of anguish.

"I'm not gonna fight you" Steve said, reluctantly turning his attention back to the threat still at hand.

He let go of his shield and Beth watched through blurred eyes as it disappeared into the river below.

"Steve…" she gasped, reaching out to her brother.

"You're my friend." He finished, not looking at Beth for fear he would start crying along with her.

It was brief, but there was a hesitancy in Bucky's eyes, his guard dropping, only to instead lunge at Steve once more.

"You're my mission." Bucky spat.

His fists began to connect with flesh, blood splattering and bones crunching. Beth crawled over to them, begging over and over again through her screams to stop. Her pleas fell on deaf ears, batting her away with a blow to her cheek when her hands clamped onto his metal arm in a bid to halt him. It was enough of a distraction for him to look down at the now battered face of his mission, shocked to see a single piercing eye looking up at him with an emotion he wasn't able to process.

"Then finish it. Coz I'm with you till the end of the line."

Remembering the day Bucky had said the same thing to them both after their mother's funeral, Beth choked back a sob. Bucky's eyes darted to her at the sound, an image of her laughing in his arms, a ring on her left finger flashing up at him as he danced with her round a room hazily breaking through. His eyes drifted down to see that very ring currently swinging on a chain along with a set of dog tags engraved with the name Steve had just called him, telling him that maybe, just maybe, the memory was real and they told him the truth.

"What…" he mumbled, the rest of his words cut off by a roar from above.

Beth looked up at the source of the noise and her eyes widened. With a yelp, she scrambled away from the falling chunk of metal. As it punctured through the glass, she watched in horror as Steve and Bucky dropped from the ship.

"Steve! Bucky!"

A heartbeat later, the floor beneath her began to crack, tilting too steeply for her to do anything but slide down to the same fate. She tried to latch on to anything that would stop the fall, her hands only succeeding in slicing open on a piece of metal she attempted to grasp. She cursed, the blood slickening her palms, rendering the one chance she had useless. Realising there was no way of avoiding this, she braced herself. It wouldn't damage her enough to kill her, she hoped, but it was still going to hurt like hell. Plus, there was the slight fear of falling she'd held since her days in the war. The last time she'd fallen like this, she'd ended up in the hands of HYDRA. Biting back a scream, she squeezed her eyes shut as she ran out of floor, her stomach lurching as she began to drop into nothing.

"Beth!"

A hand grasped her own, her remaining good arm threatening to rip from its socket as she ground to a halt. A second later and she was crushed against a very solid chest, swaying gently in the wind, no longer free falling through the air. She clutched the first thing her hands touched, only then noticing the unnatural solidness of the arm around her waist. Eyes snapping open, she gaped up at Bucky, her brain turning a thousand thoughts around.

"Hold on to me." Bucky said, voice calm, eyes gentle.

The first thing she noticed was that all traces of his Russian accent had gone, the slightest hint of her Bucky coming through. Deciding she was probably dead or dying and this could only be a hallucination, she wrapped her arms round his neck, hissing as she looped her broken arm round his neck.

"Don't let go of me and when I shout, take a deep breath and kick up okay? Even if I let go, you keep kicking and you get out of the water."

She nodded, unable to verbalise that she would never let him go given the chance. Instead, her mouth stayed shut, the hint of hysteria threatening to force a laugh from her at the absurdity. Surely she was hallucinating, because why else would he suddenly be saving her life? Her thoughts only increased when the pressure of his lips on her forehead sent a jolt straight to her heart. A broken sob tore from her, her lips instantly searching for his own. For one fleeting moment, he was hers again, no repulsion on his face as he stred down at her, only the slightest confusion. Before she had time to speak, his arms tightened, his body tensing in readiness. She'd done enough jumps herself to recognise the signs and held tighter, the briefest caress of her lips on his cheek the signal to move.

And move he did. With a lunge she knew she'd be hard pressed to rival, they shot out as far away from the wreckage as possible. He turned them mid-air, so his back was first to hit the water, the shock from the impact too great for him to cushion. With a gargled cry, Beth was torn from his grasp, her body screaming out as it smacked into the water with the force of a bullet.

She'd never before been hit by a moving train, but if she had to guess, this was the thing she'd guess it to feel like. Her lungs threatened to burst as she sank into the water, the little air she'd managed to gulp shooting out fom the force. She didn't get a chance to panic, Bucky reaching her within seconds, his hands holding her waist in a punishing grasp. The next second, she was vaulted upwards, breaking through the surface with a gasp, her bruised lungs sucking in air even as her broken ribs protested the abuse. Her injuries almost unbearable, she began half swimming, half floating towards the shore, her eyes vigilantly seeking the familiar blue of Steve's outfit and the black of Bucky's clothing after the latter had failed to surface alongside her. The only thing she successfully spotted was the red and blue shield she had feared was lost. Reaching out, she grasped it and used it as a float to help her get the land. Too weak to pull herself up, she simply allowed herself to wash up on the river bank, a death grip on the shield, her lifeline to Steve. She took deep shuddering breaths, fighting to control her shivering from the icy water. Coughing, she winced at the pain it caused, noting with grim realisation that she was wiping blood as well as water off her mouth. She groaned. That would explain the breathlessness and pain. She'd likely punctured lung as a result of hitting the water. Her vision was beginning to grow fuzzy and she fought against unconsciousness, forcing herself to sit up to look for her brother.

"Come on Steve." She pleaded, hoping he was okay.

One second. Two. They continued ticking, until she was ready to give in to despair. The blackness of unconsciousness increased, and when she saw movement in the river at first she thought it was actually the spots. With great effort, she focused and saw the familiar blue clad body of her brother being dragged through the water by a flash of metal that could only be Bucky. She couldn't call out, couldn't even move as the darkness overtook her. The last thing she was vaguely aware of was being lifted off the ground and a slight pressure on her forehead before she was laid back on something soft. After that, her world became black, and for once, she welcomed it, allowing her body the oblivion it sought.