He doesn't remember falling. He doesn't remember any pain either. He remembers the cold. The red stains in the snow.
The flower.
He wonders how long he's been here. Days? Months? Or has it only been a few hours? Its quiet. Time does not seem to exist here.
It's a bit late for that flower to be blooming.
His nose stings. The snow stopped falling hours -days?- ago but the wind still blows about what hasn't yet frozen to the ground. It covers his bare fingers. His left arm is completely numb and his right barely moves.
Or is it too early? It could be too early for flowers to bloom.
His back hurts. Intensely. Almost as though he had fallen from the mountaintops into the valley far down below.
The flower is furry.
He wonders how he got here. Also, he wonders where here is. Sure, he's lying in the snow, on a riverbank, at the bottom of a valley, next too a furry flower. Surely there is a story to that.
Who the hell put a furry flower there anyway?
But where exactly is here? He hears voices. Maybe they can tell him where he is? He tries to lift his arm to gain their attention but the damn thing won't move.
He's pretty sure the flower is mocking him.
He tries his other arm. This one lifts though it's like watching someone else's arm. He really can't feel it. A shout rings through the air. It can barely be hear above the wind. They must have seen him.
The flower is definitely mocking him.
Two men come into view. They're speaking a language he doesn't know. A lot of rolling r's and sounds coming from the mouth rather than the throat. They wear big coats and hats that remind him of the flower. Furry.
Edelweiss. That's what it's called.
The men circle him like dogs coming in for their prey. He just watches them. They converse back and forth in their strange language. He waits.
It's a furry, medicinal, flower that grows in the Swiss Alps.
The men seem to come to a decision. They position themselves at either end of him. One at his feet and one at his head. He watches the one pick up his feet and see hands snake under his shoulders.
The edelweiss is known to symbolize nobility and purity.
His left shoulder feels… strange. He blinks. Trying to clear the snowy blur from his eyes.
His arm is gone.
It looks to have been severed just above the elbow. No wonder it didn't move. That explains the stained snow as well. Curious. He watches as the men begin to carry him away.
He asks them not to step on his flower.
They trample it anyway.
A/N:
Dearest Reviewers you are so precious to me. I had a slightly rough day feeling pretty lonely and just re-reading the kind things you've said made me feel so much better. Love and virtual kisses to each of you.
So this chapter was inspired by one of my own experiences. I had one of those moments a while back where you know its you but you feel like you're watching it all from the outside. And there's that one teeny insignificant detail that you keep coming back too, almost like a coping mechanism. Something to try and ground yourself so you don't have a complete meltdown. I figured falling down a ravine from a moving train is a pretty good time to feel detached from your body.
So the next chapter will have some Civil War spoilers... ish. Kind of. It will (hopefully?) blend in seamlessly so you won't really get that its a spoiler unless you've watched the movie. But this is your warning.
If you haven't watched the movie yet then shoo! Go watch it! Its amazing! The Bucky feels are ugh! And Sam? Oh he and a certain someone are absolutely priceless together. Go watch it!