Chapter 3 :: I Found You. Well, You Found Me. ::
The Soldier was regretting his decision. He had made the choice to run from them, the red headed women, the man with the wings, and Bucky. He had thought them a threat, that they were going to take him back to his prison. As the weeks went by thought and his memories began to become clear he knew that it had been a mistake.
He still wasn't sure who exactly Bucky was, but his memories told him that he would never hurt him. That he had at one point protected the Soldier from being hurt. The more and more he remembered he only became more certain that this Bucky man was his friend.
He sat on the fence though, not sure if he could really trust somebody in this world. Were their people that weren't out to hurt the Soldier and bring him back to HYDRA? He didn't know until one day.
Sitting in a small café in Tennessee, the sun was blinding during the afternoon but the Soldier was sitting in the corner of the store, sheltered by the shadows and a canopy overhead. The mug by his hand was still full of the black liquid but had long since gone cold. As he sat in his chair though, watching the people walking about the memory suddenly flooded back to him.
The Soldier was wearing the Captain America uniform. The famous shield was held in his right hand when he was suddenly blasted back. He heard a grunt besides him and saw the Bucky man fly backwards as well.
The Soldier crashed into the wall, landing on the ground on his side. As he turned around slightly he saw Bucky pick up his shield and fire at the robot that stood 20 feet from them. It's arms were some kind of gun, filled with some blue energy.
He watched Bucky walk towards the robot, firing off bullet after bullet but causing no real damage. The Soldier was suddenly filled with a sense of a dread and a second later a bright blue light was flashed and he saw Bucky fly backwards, out the train.
He let out a yell and found himself moving, standing up and grabbing his shield he quickly threw it at the robot. The disk hit the robot in full force and it flew backwards, falling apart. He was all eyes for Bucky though.
"Bucky!" he yelled, dropping his shield quickly and moving towards the gap in the train. He could hear the wind whistling around them, the train hurtling down the tracks at a dangerously high speed. Snow was flurrying all around them but the Soldier barely noticed it.
He quickly grabbed the metal bar closest to him and began inching his way off the train, moving towards Bucky quickly. His feet were sure as he moved along the edge of the train, he could feel the drop below him but his eyes never wavered from Bucky.
"Bucky hold on." he pleaded with the other man, coming to stand on the edge of his piece of wreckage. He quickly put out his arm, reaching for the other man his fingers stretched as far as he could reach. He had to save him, couldn't bear to watch him die while he stood there.
He watched as the man's hand fell from the pole, he heard the scream emit from his mouth and before the Soldier knew what he was doing he launched himself towards the man. He quickly grabbed him and threw him much like his shield. He watched the man fly forward and come to lay on the ground of the train. He was safe.
The thought gave the soldier peace as he fell towards the ground. His eyes were trained upwards, locked onto Bucky. He could feel his coat flapping around him and he felt his helmet fall off, exposing his blonde hair. Right before the train disappeared from sight his eyes locked onto the other man's chocolate brown ones.
When the figure disappeared he felt nothing but peace, knowing that he would survive and that he would live to fight for another day. He expected to die, go to where ever he would go and hopefully see his parents again. What he didn't expect was the violent scream that erupted his throat as his arm was caught on the cliff.
The pain was like fire, like his skin was being torn apart and hot coals were being shoved in. It was unbearable and as he landed on the ground he could only clutch his arm desperately, yelling as he watched the blood fall quickly. Right before his vision went dark he saw a dark figure approaching, come to rest besides him.
Then there was nothing.
The cup was crushed in between his metal fingers, the shard flying everywhere as everybody turned their heads to stare at the Soldier. Their eyes going between the pieces of the mug that littered the table, to his metal arm, to his blue eyes, and back to the metal arm.
He didn't notice though, his eyes were trained forward and they were wide with shock. He'd given his life to the man, he'd been prepared to die to ensure that the other man was safe. That the other man was alive and happy.
It must not have been easy for him. Form a couple hazy memories he knew that he'd been in love once, a women whose name he still had to figure out. He knew he'd loved her though, from the way all his memories of her usually involved a smile, a laugh, and his eyes trailing her.
Yet he'd fallen from that train willingly, had known that he was falling to his doom but chose to rescue the other man instead.
In the moment he knew, knew that he could trust the man entirely. If he had been prepared to give his life for the man then he must have trusted him wholly. It had been love. Not the same kind that he'd felt for the women but he had loved this man at one point. Had put his safety above his own. The Soldier didn't know much but he knew that it was love.
So he stood abruptly, the shards falling from his palm as he quickly walked away from the café. He wasn't sure where to go but he knew that he had to find the man. He still wasn't entirely sure who exactly he was but he knew that he needed to be around him. They were to halves that had been separated for long enough. Now that he knew about the man he felt the need to find him, as if he wouldn't be able to function properly without him.
As he quickly grabbed his few things from where he'd been staying he heard his arm screech loudly, the metal one of course. It had been doing that for some time now, he needed to check and clean it, but he couldn't. Only the handlers had been able to check it.
"Last check up on arm, 93.48 days ago." he muttered, stuffing everything into his pockets as he quickly loaded his gun just in case they thought about coming after him for breaking the mug. "Check up is overdue by 63.48 days." he recited, his voice quiet as it echoed loudly in the abandoned and boarded up building.
"Stark could probably fix whatever the hell is wrong with your arm you know." a voice suddenly said from behind him.
Instantly he whirled around, gun in hand as he pointed it at the source of the noise. It was the red headed women.. Natalia he thought her name was. There were vague memories of her, most involving a room filled with dancers. There was one though that was hazy, he was pretty sure he'd shot a person straight though her.
"You can put the gun down." she told him quietly, holding her hands up in surrender. The Soldier couldn't see any weapons on her so he lowered it slightly but his finger was still wrapped around the trigger in case she tried anything.
"BARNES! I FOUND HIM!" she suddenly yelled, glancing over her shoulder as he she did so.
The Soldier flinched ever so slightly at her loud voice. Raised voices usually meant pain. He took a step backwards suddenly, the gun clattering to the ground as he backed up against the wall. "No." he pleaded, covering his face with his hands against some invisible force.
Loud voices, yelling. He'd failed at something and now they were going to punish him. He sank to the floor quietly, his face still covered with his arms as he desperately tried to protect himself from the attacks that would never come. "Please no!" he pleaded with them. He hadn't meant to fail his mission, he hadn't meant to mess up.
"Your worthless!" the man yelled, pressing the electric stick to his side. The current ran through him but he didn't flinch. The Soldier never flinched. It would only bring more pain, more punishment for being weak.
"You can't seem to do anything right can you?" he sneered at him, jabbing at him again as the electric current ran through the Soldier's body. He bit his lower lip tightly, keeping in the groan of pain that wanted to escape.
"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" the man suddenly roared, throwing the Soldier to the ground as he fell ungraciously onto the cold stone.
Instead of giving him time to answer though the man started kicking him, his boot digging into the Soldier. He brought his hands up quickly, desperate to protect his face from the oncoming onslaught of boots.
"Please! Stop!" he pleaded with the guards, curling in on himself as the boot struck his ribcage for the 10th time.
The man only laughed though and the Soldier heard a new voice from the corner of the room. "He'd absolutely pathetic isn't he?" the new voice sneered, the other man laughing in agreement as the Soldier felt a boot collide with his nose, blood starting to drip.
"Get up!" the man commanded him. As the Soldier went to stand up though the man threw him to the ground again, laughing as the Soldier continued to attempt to get up. Every time he was close to standing though he crumpled again, the man laughing and yelling at him over and over.
"Stevie! Stevie snap out of it!" a new voice told him gently, shaking him ever so slightly. Stevie? It took him a moment to process that he wasn't in the prison. It took him another moment to remember that he was Steve, he had a name. He was a person.
After a couple of seconds he got his ragged breathing under control and he let his arms drop from his face slowly. He was greeted by a surprising and pleasant sight.
Bucky was sitting in front of him, his brown eyes gazing at him in worry and concern. He seemed to focus only on the Soldier, nothing else. As he gazed around slightly he saw Natalia standing behind Bucky on his right side, the man with wings was standing to the left. Both were looking down at him in worry but neither of their gazes held the same concern that Bucky's did.
"Bucky?" the Soldier said uncertainly his eyes coming back to rest on the man that was in front of him. He..he was Bucky wasn't he? He certainly looked like the Bucky that walked in so many of his returning memories.
In return the man's face broke into a relieved and joyous smile. The Soldier felt a smile tugging at his lips, simply at the sight of the other man smiling. He didn't smile though, the act was foreign to him but he did feel a small piece of happiness, he was glad that the man was happy.
"Ya. It's Bucky Steve. Don't worry, your safe now Steve. Understand? Your safe with me. With us." he told the man quietly, reaching forward gently, his hand coming to rest against the Soldier's cheek. He made no move to push the man away, the touch felt comforting.
"Safe." the Soldier repeated the word quietly. "Safe." he confirmed again, looking at Bucky with pleading eyes. He wished, wished with all his heart that it was true. He was safe though, he could feel it. He was safe with this man.
Bucky nodded, and the Soldier noticed the tears glistening in his eyes. "Your safe." he promised, leaning forward so that his forehead rested against the Soldiers. As they sat there he saw that Bucky had started to cry, the tears leaking out of his eyes softly.
The Soldier and Bucky stayed like that for a while, pressed against each other as Bucky cried tears of happiness and the Soldier tried to get used to the feeling of nice physical contact. Apparently when somebody touched you it didn't mean they were going to hurt him. He liked this.
After a while though Bucky's eyes were dry once more and he leaned back with a smile, he hadn't stopped smiling since the Soldier had spoken. "Come on, we're going to take you somewhere safe. They'll never touch you again." he promised, standing up and offering the Soldier a hand to help him up too.
The Soldier pushed his hand away though and stood on his own, he was strong. He didn't reply to his words only nodded and followed him out of the building to where Natalia and the man with wings were waiting silently.
"We going back to the tower?" the winged man asked, glancing at the Soldier for a moment before his eyes went back to Bucky.
Bucky nodded, and started walking away. The winged man fell in step next to him but the Soldier trailed behind slightly. He walked behind the other three for a moment before Natalia fell back next to him. The Soldier didn't know her, didn't trust her but he let her walk besides him.
Happy that he'd found Bucky and that he had been promised that he was safe. He believed him too, he was pretty sure he would believe anything that Bucky said.
That tended to happen when you were in love.
So chapter 3! I'm updating really often… like I don't usually do this but I'm loving this story and inspiration just hit me again so have another chapter lol.
As always comments are greatly appreciated and criticism is always welcome, as long as it's phrased nicely.
Lots of Love - F.Q.