Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their rightful owner(s).
Timeline: Set after Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when (or if) Steve finds Bucky.
Author's Note: One of my favourite piece probs.
Posted on: July 18th 2014
Anonymous asked: What was the first thing they said/what happened after they met again when they both had their memories back?
(first.)
she knows.
(second.)
it takes him one good, defining look and he knows, that she knows. it curls him up, this realisation, after so long of that "natasha romanoff" had been out and about with the world failing on tracking her, and now she's here, (finally here, steve breathes) and bucky knows — she knows. the realisation curls, and burns.
(third.)
the way he remembers her is tragically being kept under-wrapped. he saw a picture, flipped out, and nearly killed iron man. tony told dr. banner, who told nobody, and now he's here and damaged and he remembers her in pieces, but she isn't in pieces now, and she's real (very dramatically real) with blood and green eyes and working lungs and limbs all attached healthily together.
(fourth.)
it works like this: his memory of her resulted into zero, except there's a part of him that doesn't let go of red, red, red and he thinks that somewhere, a long time ago, he might've be the one to cut her bloodied limbs into pieces while she cried out with true tears, nails scratching and tone screeching for james, james —
get us the hell out of here.
(he doesn't, and wakes up screaming.)
(fifth.)
he thinks: they've implanted a memory of her killing him too. he isn't sure. although yes, he most certainly is.
(she doesn't remember it. they never do. implanted memory have always somehow manage to fade away if you insist hard enough. she must have.)
(sixth.)
the ground shakes.
(seventh.)
something explodes, and for three seconds, bucky is blind and he cannot hear well. steve might've been screaming somewhere but when he opens his eyes, all he sees is bright, blinding light and then—
green eyes.
red.
(eight.)
"r'you okay?" he gruffly asks, hands absent-mindedly reaching out to her. she sweeps her hair away, blood smearing one edge of her lips. she blinks at him and he realises that she's the one who's doing the protecting right now and he steps back, or scurries himself back with the debris falling and dust collecting, and he doesn't see white anymore. he sees black. he sees himself.
"james."
(ninth.)
he looks up. her voice is new. her voice is familiar. her voice is —
"natalia."
safe.
(tenth.)
she nods.
(eleventh.)
"ready to get out of here?" she asks, smirking a little and he knows she knows.
(twelfth.)
nothing else matters.