Winter's Ghost

Chapter 8

Bucky blinked, trying to comprehend what Dora had just uttered. He knew that there'd been something off about the whole situation with the truck, and he'd expected her to look much worse after seeing the photos that Steve had sent him, but— what did she mean by contaminated? Maybe the serum in the crates was affecting her somehow, but surely it wouldn't hurt him as well. And he had to hold her again, make her feel safe. Standing about two yards away from her, he kneeled down so he could be on her level as she cowered in the corner.

"I won't— I won't touch you, Dora. You're gonna be okay, me and Steve came to get you out of here, but we have to leave right now. The police aren't very happy about us barging in. I promise you that you'll be okay, and I won't be affected as long as— I dunno you're wrapped up in something. I'm gonna keep you safe, okay?" His words seemed to reassure her somewhat and she nodded in agreement. The blanket from her bed was still hanging halfway off of her shoulder and she fumbled with it to pull it around her tightly, getting up and walking towards Bucky. He stood up and grabbed her, pulling her close to him, holding her head to his chest. Dora was past the point of being able to struggle, so she just let him, crying silently and closing her eyes.

"I am never, ever letting you go again." He whispered, choked up with tears as well. She obviously wasn't strong enough to walk so he picked her up, princess style, quickly walking out of the building the way he came and towards Steve's car that was waiting out front. Bucky got in the back seat, still holding onto Dora tightly.

"Well that went faster than I expected it to," Steve remarked as he started the car and began to drive towards a new hideout for Bucky.

"She wasn't able to put up a fight, there's something terribly wrong with her. I don't know what it is but I need to find out."

Bucky stroked her face softly as she lost consciousness in his arms. Now he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, after the long and stressful days. She still loved him, and he had her there with him. No matter what happened he wasn't going to let her go, not this time.

After Steve dropped them off, Bucky grabbed Dora and a couple of bags that he'd brought and headed inside quickly, she was shivering and she needed rest desperately, and God knows what else. Putting her down on the bed, he ran into the bathroom to wash his hands and then walked back out. Dora was awake now, standing up and looking into the mirror in a very curious way.

"Baby, what seems to be the problem? You need to lay down, get some rest. Okay?"

She merely shook her head, continuing to look at her reflection. Bucky paused with the towel in his hands, feeling like something extremely odd was occurring.

"Dora, honey—"

She cut him off.

"Bucky, look at me. Look at me right now and tell me that everything is okay." She turned towards him and looked him directly in the eyes. At first, everything seemed perfectly normal. But then Bucky realized what she meant. The skin on her face became transparent, her bones seeming like mere shadows as her body faded into nothingness and then returned in the blink of an eye.

"What the fuck?"

He exclaimed, stepping forward and grabbing her hand, looking into her eyes and trying to make sense of it all.

"Did that serum shit do this to you? Are you— dying?"

Dora rolled her eyes and blinked at him.

"Don't be stupid. If it were going to kill me, it would have done it by now. But it's doing something strange to me, and I feel like it's not done yet. Bucky, promise me something."

He nodded, listening closely to everything she said.

"If I start turning into a human-killing monster, promise me that you'll kill me before I hurt anyone."

Bucky's throat immediately tightened, not sure he could promise that. Even if Dora became someone who wasn't Dora anymore, could he really murder the creature that had once been her, no matter what the hell it was doing to humanity? But he nodded, the last thing she needed right now was him arguing with her. They had to work this out together. He'd pin her down, tie her up if she started going off the deep end.

That didn't sound too bad, either.

Not bothering to be cautious about her skin, and anything that might happen to him, Bucky pulled her closer to himself, running his fingers through her matted honey-colored hair. He had no intention of staying away from her as long as she was still herself, and once she'd had enough time to rest, he wanted to spend more time with her, talk about the reasons why she left.

But now wasn't the time to talk about that. She was fading into and out of reality at random times, and that wasn't healthy at all, whatever it was. Even as he thought, she disappeared out of his arms again for at least ten seconds, then reappeared before he could freak out too badly.

Yeah, things were starting to get pretty freaky.