AN: Takes place immediately after Endgame, with several notable exceptions. Spoiler warning immediately if you haven't seen it yet, this will be pretty much entirely AU though.
Clint/Nat, and Rhodey/Nebula swapped teams, with Nebula sacrificing herself (the only thing she truly loved) to get the soul stone, finding it a fitting final rebellion for her father's crimes, and a way to atone for following him for so long, she is finally at peace. With her gone, her past self couldn't take over and the final battle at the avengers compound never happened.
This means Natasha and Tony are still alive. Vision was still technically dead, though as an artificial life form, destroyed would be more accurate a term. Shuri however never got snapped and spent the 5 years of the blip rebuilding his brain based on mappings she'd taken before the mind stone was removed, he was brought back to life days before everyone returned, though notably without the power of an infinity stone, he no longer has the ability to walk through solid objects or fly and is more or less fairly ordinary now.
Loki somehow survived his neck being snapped through the same tricks he always pulls and just showed up on Earth a year after the snap, knocking on Thor's door one day. Thor got a little chubby in his depression, but Loki teased him relentlessly about it and pretty immediately got back in shape.
Tony never moved to the cabin and still leads the avengers, with Steve co-leading, he still owns the cabin for vacations but mostly lives in a penthouse suite at the compound to keep an eye on things, he's selective about the missions he goes on though, mostly delegating the more dangerous ones now that he's a parent.
Because there was no final battle with Thanos, Captain America doesn't know he's worthy and Thor is the one that returns all the infinity stones (and Mjolnir) to their proper places in time the day after they bring everyone back, I'm just not planning on writing that scene.
Warning in advance, there may be the occasional dialogue in another language, but I'll always provide translations immediately after. Apologies if it's not accurate though, these are definitely coming from google translate.
Chapter 1: Panic
Bucky let out a gasp as he felt himself re-materializing. Oxygen filling lungs that hadn't existed a moment ago. It felt like only a second ago he was in the middle of battle and now he simply found himself in surrounded by trees in Wakanda, utter silence around him.
He looked around and saw Wanda, Sam and T'Challa rematerializing as well, seeming to be strung together by particles of dust floating in the air as one by one they fell to their knees gasping for air just as he'd done.
He looked out to the open field on which the battle had raged and watched half the Wakandan army doing the same, everyone looking around in confusion trying to figure out exactly where their enemies had gone and why buildings they'd all seen being destroyed in the battle were suddenly whole again.
He turned around, looking for Steve. He could swear he'd been right there a moment ago. He could feel the familiar panic creeping in, darkening the edges of his vision. He was used to losing pieces of time by this point, the disorientation of it honestly was still more familiar than the knowledge of his freedom from HYDRA, something was different about it this time, however. Something was very, very wrong.
He put his hand on his chest, struggling to calm his breathing when an old familiar Glen Miller tune drifted up from his pocket. The ringtone was a contact one that Shuri had helped him download and he knew instantly who was calling him. He plucked the device from his pocket and placed it to his ear, still struggling to get his breathing under control when Steve's voice sounded from the device's speaker, "Bucky, are you there?"
"Where are you?" Bucky said quietly, nearly a whisper. "What Happened?"
"That's a long story," Steve said, before launching into a recap of the last 5 years. He told his oldest friend about watching him disappear, along with half of the world, about the scramble the world had been in after, Thor beheading Thanos, and Tony having been alone and lost in space, coming back near on death's door, and then finally about Scott's sudden appearance, the time travel, and Bruce activating the infinity stones to bring everyone back.
"It's been 5 years?" Bucky repeated, he'd heard the rest of the explanation but that was the part that stuck out to him. He leaned back against a tree and sank slowly to the ground, feeling his legs beginning to give out beneath him.
"It's been hell, Buck," Steve admitted. "But I got you back. We got all of you back."
T'Challa walked over to Bucky, figuring the phone pressed to his ear and the shellshocked look on his face meant that he must have more information, and Sam and Wanda followed suit, he quickly ended his phone conversation with Steve, promising to call him back once they figured things out from their side, then relayed the information to his friends, starting the long walk back to the palace.
Shuri and Vision met them outside and Wanda fell to her knees weeping at the sight of her beloved, restored and alive again. "How is this possible?" she asked, as Vision sank to his knees in front of her, caressing her face gently.
Shuri gently explained the process she'd been undergoing to repair him, not wanting to go into too much detail and scar the already quite traumatized witch with the inner workings of rewiring her boyfriend's brain.
That night they all had a drink and discussed exactly what had been missed in great detail. It was a lot to process, and Bucky found himself zoning out halfway through the conversation, excusing himself to call Steve back, deciding then and there that his time in Wakanda was over.
He had an arm now, and his programming had been removed, it was time to return to the Avengers, to his oldest friend, as loathe as he was to give up the peace he had found here, evidently that peace came at a cost, and it seems war would find him no matter where he was. Living a simple life on a farm raising goats and tilling soil wasn't going to change that, no matter how much he wished it would.
Once he'd made arrangements for a room at the compound with Steve, he walked back in to the makeshift celebration, announcing that he'd be returning to New York and officially joining the Avengers, much to Sam's shock and T'Challa's delight. The king had always known Bucky was a hero at heart, he just needed to get there himself.
They made arrangements to transport Wanda, Vision, Sam and Bucky back to the compound in three days time, giving ample opportunity for him to gather his things and for his new room to be prepared.
They quickly wrapped up the evening, everyone heading their separate ways to process the day's events and Bucky headed back to his hut with boxes under one arm, his right hand shaking slightly with nerves at the huge change that was to come.
-3 Days Later-
It was about 7pm when their plane landed in New York. Sam, Wanda, and Vision were all elated to be home but Bucky was utterly exhausted. He'd been on Wakanda time for 2 years prior to his disappearance, so regardless of the sun's position just beginning to set in the sky it was roughly 2AM by his internal clock and he was desperate to go to bed.
Steve met him at the jet, helping him unload his things and was eager to catch up with his old friend, but Bucky, however thankful for the help, simply turned to him and said, "Honestly, this is like the middle of the night for me. It's going to take some time to adjust to time zones but can we catch up tomorrow? I haven't slept since I came to on an empty battlefield."
"Don't let Nat hear you say that," Steve joked, laughing and clapping his friend on the shoulder and leading him to his new room, "she's been making jokes about me being old for years, I can't imagine how she'd react to the great super soldier needing an evening nap. I'll let you get some rest, Buck, but I'm holding you to that catching up tomorrow, I want to hear all about your time in Wakanda, and there's a couple new people at the compound you haven't been introduced to yet that I'd love you to meet."
Bucky smiled at his friend, "Sure thing, Steve," he said, shutting the door behind his friend and moving over to the windows, closing the blinds.
He looked at the bed in disgust, pulling the blanket and pillow off and tossing them on the floor instead, stripping out of his shirt and jeans so that he was just in his boxer briefs, then laying down and falling asleep in seconds.
Hours later, at about 1 in the morning, Bucky sat up in a cold sweat, dragged from sleep by yet another nightmare. He'd been getting them ever since escaping HYDRA and tonight was no different, he just prayed he hadn't yelled in his sleep again. He could feel the panic attack building and quickly donned his shirt and pants, not bothering with shoes as he sprinted through the compound, desperate to get outside, hoping the cool night air would soothe his fragile nerves.
He walked out the back door, leaning against the wall when he noticed a pond in the yard that hadn't been there the last time he'd been here, not that he'd particularly had time for a tour when he was a prisoner then escaping as the winter soldier. It was deep, surrounded by some mature looking trees he swore couldn't have been there either, with large rocks surrounding roughly three quarters of the fairly circular shape. It had to have been man-made, based on the pristine layout and clean, clear water, a stark contrast to the disgusting brown colored lake located on the other side of the compound.
He was still struggling to control his pounding heart, his breathing ragged, when he noticed a shape coming out of the water. A beautiful dark haired woman, dressed in only a tan colored bikini, emerged from the water, walking slowly to the edge, dripping with water as she walked towards him. She noticed his breathing patterns and walked a little faster, until she was right by his side.
"Are you alright?" she asked, the barest hint of a Russian accent in her voice. She reached out before suddenly realizing just how dripping wet she was. She took a couple steps back and he watched in awe as she waved a hand and all the water soaking her, including what had been dripping from her hair, fell to the ground in an instant, as if a switch had been flipped, and she was utterly dry, before taking a couple steps back up to him.
"I can help you," she said gently, placing both palms on his chest, "just trust me, and don't fight it, okay?" With that he felt a strange sensation rushing through him. His breathing slowed, involuntarily, as did his heart rate, as if they were moving against his will or body's natural functions. After a minute, he felt himself calming finally and she removed her hands, stepping back with a small smile on her face.
"There's no judgements here, I get panic attacks too, neat little trick I learned a while back to stop them in their tracks. Judging by the arm, you must be Steve's friend James Buchanan Barnes, I think he said he calls you Bucky?" she asked, to which he nodded. "He's told me a lot about you. I'm Alina Volkov, everyone just calls me Lina though," she said, holding out her hand in greeting.
He shook it tentatively, looking at her warily as he asked, "How did you do that?"
"I suppose Steve hasn't given you the rundown yet," she smiled, waving her hand behind her at the puddle of water, raising it into a ball of liquid that floated in the air before sending it splashing back down into the pond. "I manipulate elements," she said, as if that explained everything. She flicked her fingers and a cool breeze ruffled his hair gently, tendrils of air tucking a strand of it behind his ear in a gentle caress. "Basically, I forced you to breathe slower, and willed the blood in your veins to slow down, not a trick I'd try on a normal person, definitely have slowed it a bit too much before and made someone pass out, but I've practiced on Steve a couple times, he gets them too, so super soldiers I know I'm not going to hurt."
She offered him a dazzling smile at that and it was then, with calm settling in, that he took the time to really notice her. She had dark brown, nearly black hair that fell in loose curls around her shoulders, reaching the upper part of her chest. Cool green almond shaped eyes met his, rimmed with full dark lashes. She had a small button nose, covered in a smattering of freckles and full deep pink lips, with perfect teeth. He was trying hard not to stare at her body, which was absolutely stunning. She had sun kissed skin and curves that would make a pinup model jealous and he found his heart racing for an entirely different reason now. He wasn't entirely convinced this wasn't a fever dream until she spoke up again.
"Do you smoke?" she asked, a packet of menthol cigarettes floating over from the lakeside on a conjured wind.
"Not since the war, but I wouldn't say no to a cigarette tonight if you're offering," he admitted. She opened the pack, taking a cigarette and balancing it between her lips before offering it to him, as he did the same. She held up her hand and snapped her fingers and a small flame appeared over her index finger. She lit his cigarette first, then her own before simply placing her hand down, the flame extinguishing on it's own.
"My little party trick," she said smiling at him as she blew out smoke. He took a long pull of the cigarette, the old familiar burn of smoke and nicotine filling his lungs, calming him further. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the building again, savoring the moment of peace this strange beautiful woman had bought him.
They finished their cigarettes in silence, Lina pinching out the flame of hers when it got too low before dropping it in an ash tray and walking back towards the pond. He put out his cigarette against the cool metal of his left hand, watching her walk, shamelessly checking her out now that her back was turned. He found himself walking after her, entranced, entirely unsure why he was so mesmerized by this girl. He'd seen plenty of beautiful women before, though they weren't typically as kind to him these days.
He watched animatedly as she dove back into the water, resurfacing a moment later and looking at him questioningly. "Would you like to swim? Or would you like to stand there?" she asked, jokingly.
He looked at her for a moment, only just now realizing he'd managed to walk all the way to the edge of the pond and had no idea how to talk his way out of this one. "I don't exactly have swim trunks," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, which was met with light laughter.
"I mean if you're worried about getting wet, I can dry you off in an instant, that's not a big deal. Swim in your underwear, swim naked, or hell swim in all your clothes for all I care, it doesn't make a difference to me. I can turn around if you're shy."
He thought about it for a moment, before deciding fuck it, he was already awake and definitely wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon, considering this was about 8am Wakanda time and his brain was telling him he was already late for chores, so he stripped his shirt off, then dropped his pants, diving into the clear water himself, reveling in the feeling of the cool water against his skin, chilled by the crisp October night air, washing away the last remnants of the horrible memories from his nightmare.
He resurfaced to find Lina had swam to the far edge of the pond and was perched on a rock below the water, still submerged up to her shoulders, and was resting her head on a long rock that spanned part of the distance of the back edge of the pond. She was just gazing up at the stars, a serene look on her face and he swam over to join her, sitting on her right side gazing up at the stars himself.
There were certainly less stars here than in Wakanda, though these were not obstructed by the protective barrier that spans over the reclusive nation, the sight of them, however, still hit the same. Looking up into the vastness of the universe always made him feel small, as if his problems were insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and it was a comfort unlike any other. She didn't try to make conversation, which he appreciated as he hadn't been feeling particularly talkative when he came outside, and for half an hour or so they just sat there, soaking in the cool water in silence, admiring the beautiful tapestry that was the night sky.
They heard a slight rustling by the door Bucky had come out of, and he turned to look, seeing a tall, thin man with long dark hair walking towards the pond. He glanced at Lina, who hadn't even turned to see who it was before calling out, "You're later than usual Mischeif, did you actually get some sleep for once?"
The man walked to the edge of the water, then waved a hand in front of himself, his simple black long sleeved shirt, dark jeans and combat boots suddenly disappearing in a haze of green magic to reveal just a pair of black swim trunks before he stepped into the lake, quickly swimming over to where they were perched and taking up the place on Lina's left hand side. "I certainly made an effort to," he said in a soft English sounding accent. "I see you have other company tonight."
She leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek before nodding her head at Bucky, "We have another member of the sleepless club. Loki, this is the marshmallow's friend Bucky," she turned to Bucky with a smile, nodding her head back to Loki, "Bucky, this is Thor's brother Loki, you've met Thor, right?"
"That's the blonde with the lightning and the axe, right?" Bucky asked, trying to recall. They'd met briefly on the battlefield what seemed like only days ago, but in reality he guessed was several years before.
"That'd be the one," Loki said, laughing gently. "My brother, the insufferable God of Thunder."
"As in literal god?" Bucky asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Evidently," Lina laughed, "You get used to it though when you hang around the God of Mischief here." She nodded back at Loki for a second, smiling at Bucky before leaning over and whispering conspiratorially, "If you ask me though, I'd say they let the title go to their heads a bit too much."
"I heard that," Loki grumbled, resting his head back and closing his eyes, just enjoying the water and the cool night air.
They were quiet again for a few minutes before a thought struck Bucky, "Why did you call Steve 'the marshmallow'?" he asked in confusion.
Loki choked on a laugh he tried hard to hide as Lina covered her face, which was bright red. "He hates when we call him that, which of course means we take every opportunity to," she laughed. "I wasn't always on the good guys side and the good Captain and half the remaining crew were sent to arrest me a couple years ago. It didn't exactly go as planned for them and I may have set Steve on fire… He looked like a roasted marshmallow that sat in the campfire a bit too long. It gave Clint the opportunity to knock me out with what I thought was a sedative dart while I was distracted turning him into a human torch, however, so I mean he wasn't on fire that long, he had to shave his head after that one though and was missing both his eyebrows for a month," she laughed.
"After that they brought me back here and threw me in a cell that apparently was built for the Hulk. They were a bit freaked out when I started tearing it apart and just pumped a steady stream of high dose sedative gas in there long enough to have a civil conversation where they realized I wasn't entirely in control of my powers and was just afraid. I was given a choice to join up and learn some control or get shipped off to Wakanda and put in cryo indefinitely until they figured out how to neutralize my powers to send me to the raft, and obviously that wasn't much of a choice. Once I realized they didn't actually intend to hurt me, however, we figured things out. Took a while, but we're all friends now, more or less. The name stuck though because beneath his tough exterior, Steve is all sweet, soft and gooey inside, or at least that's what we tell him."
Bucky laughed at that, mentally storing the nickname for later, he was definitely going to give Steve hell for that one. After a minute they all calmed down and relaxed again, admiring the night sky.
Several long minutes later, Lina's laughter broke the silence.
"What now?" Loki questioned, almost afraid to ask.
"The winter soldier and a frost giant, swimming with a human matchstick. It just sounds like the setup for a really terrible joke, does it not?" she said, holding her sides she was laughing so hard.
Loki smirked, Lina was one of few people who knew his secret, but she'd never judged him for it and rarely brought it up.
Bucky looked at her with wide eyes as he thought about it for a moment, then laughed himself, "I have to give it to you, that's a good one," he admitted, even though he hated to be called the winter soldier, he found he didn't so much mind it in this context.
Given what he'd been told of Loki and the battle of New York in his time in Wakanda prior to the showdown with Thanos, everyone present was a reformed villain, and there wasn't any judgement in the way she said it, just a simple statement of fact.
They relaxed a while longer, enjoying the companionable silence before Lina decided it was time to try to get some rest. "I think I'm going to hit the showers and head to bed finally," she said, slipping off the rock and turning to both of them. "Thank you for the company, as always," she said to Loki, placing another gentle kiss on his cheek. She looked at Bucky with a small smile on her face, "And you, if you ever can't sleep, or need help calming down, we're out here most nights, and my door is always open if you can't find me here. I honestly don't sleep much these days anyway." She leaned forward placing a gentle kiss on his cheek as well before swimming back towards the shore. Bucky followed her out of the water, followed by Loki, and they all stood on the shore for a moment as Lina waved a hand and dried the trio off in an instant, then turned and gently propelled herself on a breeze up into the air to gently land on her third floor balcony, turning and waving at the pair still stood on the banks of the pond before disappearing through her doorway.
"Beautiful creature, isn't she?" Loki said, following Bucky's gaze, which had yet to leave the sliding glass door she'd disappeared through.
Bucky was silent at that, not sure what the dynamic between the two was and not wanting to step on any toes. He tore his gaze away from her door finally and reached down to collect his clothes, instead of answering choosing to simply jog back to his room.
He slowed as he entered the residential hallway, not wanting to wake anyone, still unsure of whose rooms were where other than his own. As he put his hand on the door, he heard the shower running in the room next to his and paused to listen for a moment as a soft voice sang a haunting wordless melody. Evidently Lina's room was directly next to his.
He walked into his room again, shutting the door and setting his clothes down before laying down on the couch, enjoying listening to her sing through the wall before gently dozing off to sleep again.