Awareness slowly came to Bucky Barnes. His head was pounding a little but as he came back to awareness, it started to die down. The memories came back. He remembered going to Siberia with Steve to stop Helmut Zemo from activating the other Winter Soldiers. He remembered finding them dead in their sleep. Then Iron Man showed up. Tony Stark. The son of Howard Stark. Zemo revealed the truth and all Bucky could feel was immeasurable sorrow and fear. Then the fighting started. Steve tried to buy Bucky time to escape but Stark had kept him from that. So the two old friends tag-teamed him and beat him down. The fight cost Bucky his bionic arm but Steve managed to end it by breaking Stark's arc reactor for his suit. Leaving his shield behind, Steve managed to get Bucky out of the compound where they met another of Bucky's pursuers. T'Challa, the Black Panther of Wakanda, had an unconscious Zemo in his grasp. The new King apologized for attacking Bucky multiple times under the mistaken impression he had killed his father, King T'Chaka.

T'Challa took Steve and Bucky with him back to Wakanda and it was there Bucky was put on ice once more. It was his choice. He didn't feel safe around anyone as long as HYDRA's programming was still in his head. He didn't trust himself. T'Challa promised him they would find a way to undo everything and that he now had a home in Wakanda for as long as he wished.

Opening his blue-grey eyes, Bucky looked at the ceiling before they landed on his visitor. T'Challa smiled at seeing the former Winter Soldier awake. "Welcome back, Sergeant Barnes. How do you feel?" he asked, motioning for a nurse to come and take his vitals. Bucky sat up and looked at where his left arm used to be. His torso had been wrapped up and he noted with dull interest that the remains of his Soviet arm were gone. "I feel like I got hit by a tank," he said, groggily. He looked at T'Challa. "Did it work?" he asked. "Yes. It took some time but we managed to reverse the conditioning HYDRA had put in. We also surgically removed the remnants of your destroyed arm. My sister will be designing and making you a new one but only if you want it," the King said. Bucky sat quietly as his heart rate and blood pressure were taken. "He's stable, my King. He just needs some rest and then we can start physical therapy," the nurse replied. T'Challa thanked her and turned to Bucky again.

"Are you feeling well enough to walk? There's someone here who would like to see you," he said. Curious, Bucky slowly got to his feet. "Who?" he asked, warily. Aside from Steve, who else knew he was in Wakanda? "She's a most interesting character. Arrived in Wakanda not long after the coup against me was ended. She somehow knew you were here in my care and refused to leave until she saw you again. Okoye was rather put out but she's come to respect her spunk," the King replied as he led the soldier out of the door. Bucky wondered who it could possibly be. The thought made him nervous. "How long was I out?" he asked. "About five months. We were working on you when we ran into problems with my...cousin...Erik Stevens, also known as Killmonger. Fortunately, he never found about you. Otherwise, it's likely you would've been killed in your sleep," T'Challa replied. Bucky balked at learning that. "What does it take to get some peace?" he thought.

He was still deep in thought when they exited the building. When T'Challa brought him out of it with a hand to his shoulder, Bucky looked up at him before following his gaze. He froze when he saw Phoenix grazing. It had been a year since they last met. She had come across him in Romania and it was there that they had forged a connection. All thought stopped when she raised her head to look in their direction. Even at the distance between them, Bucky could see her entire face light up before she cantered over to meet them. Bucky staggered forward, his eyes stinging. With the knowledge he was finally free of HYDRA, he finally knew her to be real. Phoenix slowed to a halt in front of him and didn't shy away as he collapsed against her side, his face to her neck.

Phoenix looked at T'Challa. "Thank you," she said. The King merely nodded before walking away to wait for Bucky at the lab. The chimera snorted as she brought her head around. She took in Bucky's appearance. His hair was longer than the last time she had seen him about a year ago in this world's time and the stubble she had seen on his face was now a full-fledged beard. All in all, he cut a handsome figure for a human. Any trace of his bionic left arm was gone. T'Challa had told her the story and her heart went out to this old soldier who was currently trying to hold it together and failing. She could empathize. Bucky was free at last. However, the trauma of everything that ever happened to him since he fell in 1944 would always be there. He would always carry those scars. It seemed the dam finally broke and he was allowed to grieve and feel relief afterward. "I can't believe you're here. Every damn time we've said good-bye, I always felt like I was just talking to a figment of my imagination. Something my mind conjured up just to keep myself sane," Bucky said against her neck.

"I was always real, Bucky. But I suppose it took having your mind taken apart and put back together correctly in order to convince you of that truth. And to be fair, we only met three times. One of those times, you tried to steal my tail," the chimera said, letting her head rest on his left shoulder. Bucky welcomed the weight of her head and groaned a bit at her words. "Don't remind me," he said. "I aim to tell the truth, though. But that's in the past. I'm just glad you're better. I asked T'Challa to bring you to me as soon as he could when you woke up," Phoenix said. Bucky pulled back so he could stroke her fur with his remaining hand. She just smiled when she saw him pointedly avoiding her gaze. "Speak your mind," she encouraged. "You're letting me touch you. Your usual aversion aside, how can you stand it...after all I did?" he asked.

"Because I believe as your friend, Steve, does. You know that I know everything you have done. Yes, you did all those things. Yes, you killed countless humans and yes, you tried to kill me once. But that doesn't change the simple truth that you were not in control. How do we judge anything in your case? You have to understand that I'm not a human. My standards are completely different. A dog wouldn't care what you did in your past as long as you show it kindness today. That's how I view the world. I'm sapient and think on a human level but that doesn't change what I am. I can never look at the world the way a human does and I can never look at you the way a human does," she explained. Bucky still looked unsure and the chimera sighed. She pulled away so she could face him head-on.

"James Buchanan Barnes, I want you to think about what I'm going to say and take it to heart. The man who upended so many lives, shot my tail off, and threatened to kill me was the Winter Soldier. He is not you. You are not him. You never were him. He was a weapon someone was pointing at me from the shadows. You have never laid a hand on me without my consent. If I can separate the two sides that make you, then I hope you'll come to do the same. I hope that someday, you'll come to see yourself the way I see you," she said. The former Soldier looked at her with those soulful eyes she had grown fond of. "And how do you see me?" he asked. "I see a man who has more in common with me then he knows. I was created by combining the genetic traits of three different animal species and granted life through alchemy. I was made. You were torn apart and made into something else. We're abominations on some level. But that's what makes us...well, us. You're the only one, human or otherwise, that I identify with on that level. I don't even identify that well with my own kind. I was the only one who was...born, not grown in a test tube," she replied.

Phoenix turned to look at the land around them, a gentle look on her face as she took in the beauty of the world she was in. "I've been to many places and met many people, Bucky. But you're the first human I've made this kind of a connection with. I look at you and see myself, a soul who just wants peace and rest. A soul who wants to find a place in this world," she mused. She had taken a step away as she spoke before she swung her head to look at him. "Answer me this, Bucky. Do you blame me for abandoning you to your fate in 1944?" she asked. When he slowly shook his head, she closed her eyes. "There you go. Just as you don't blame me for leaving you to your fate back then, I don't blame you for anything you had done since then," she said.

"I didn't know you were real then," Bucky pointed out. "But now you know I am and it changes nothing," she countered. Turning to face him again, she had a playful look on her face. She brought her tail up and gently tapped his heart with the stinger. "I know it will take time for you to come to terms with everything you did and I hope that in some small way, I helped you down the road of healing. This heart of yours still retains the kindness and ability to love within it. HYDRA could never take it from you. I can't prove your worth to you but know that your worth to me is beyond measure," she said, bringing her tail back to rest position. Bucky blinked for a moment before he closed his eyes with a small smile. He closed the small distance and brought his forehead to rest on her face.

"Thank you,"

The late afternoon sun peeked through the trees, falling on the dozing forms of Phoenix and Bucky. They had whiled away a lot of time talking before quiet settled in and they fell asleep. The man woke up first, sighing and feeling more rested than he had in a long time. He took stock of things and noticed he had been sleeping against the chimera's side. She was lying with her forelegs folded under her, her hind legs out a little, and her head rested on the ground, leaning against one of her horns. Her horns were glowing curiously. His brow furrowed at that, remembering he had seen that glow once before in Romania. Why were her horns glowing? From the snatches of conversations they had before dozing off, she said her magic was limited to healing and some other ability she declined to share. Had she been healing him while they slept or was this normal for her regardless? Her face had the ghost of sadness on it and her ears were twitching a little.

He just looked upon her, taking in the wild beauty there was to see in such an unusual and unnatural animal. He wondered what disturbed her sleep because it became apparent to him that she was dreaming. He tilted his head in surprise when he saw legitimate tears force themselves out from under her eyes. That wasn't normal by any stretch. Nonhuman mammals couldn't cry as an emotional response. Unsure if he should rouse her from whatever she was dreaming about, Bucky just allowed his remaining hand to rhythmically run itself across the plane of her neck. He felt tight muscle under his fingers, familiar to him because take away the horns, the scales, and the tail, Phoenix was just a horse. In the sun, her fur glistened like liquid silver and it was soft as expected.

He paused when he saw the glow fade out and she opened her violet eyes, staring out into the distance as she came back to reality. "You okay?" he asked, softly. The eye he could see shifted to look at him. "I'm sorry...for robbing you of your future. I'm so sorry," she said, just as softly with a distinct crack to her voice. Bucky just smiled gently, leaning his forehead to the powerful neck. "What are you talking about?" he asked, even though he had a rough idea already. "If I had just...intervened all those years ago, you could've lived your best life. Coming home from war, finding someone to form a pair-bond with, having a family. My inaction that day cost you so much," she explained, keeping her head on the ground.

It kind of surprised Bucky how torn up she sounded despite delivering her words in a calm manner. "I don't blame you," he said, trying to sound convincing. Another person would've bought his words without a second thought but Phoenix was different. She was a wild animal who just happened to think on the same intellectual level as human beings and was able to verbalize. She could still sense his own uncertainty despite this having been the second time he had assured her she had no fault to be absolved of. Bucky didn't think he had lied either time but maybe she thought differently. He decided to lead the conversation where it needed to go.

"I saw your horns glowing when I woke up. Is that normal?" he asked. The creature took a deep breath, making him smile a little as her belly pushed against his back. "I might as well come clean and tell you I was using magic to ease your own rest," she answered. Somehow, that didn't surprise the former assassin. It certainly explained why he felt so rested after decades of being on ice or the months he spent as a fugitive when the nightmares were almost nightly. It also meant she had done the same thing in Romania. "And why were you crying?" he asked. Phoenix shifted her head away from him, guilt gnawing at her insides. "I couldn't turn them off. The dreams that filtered from you to me. I had to watch you fall...over and over and over. I had to watch more victims than I could count beg for their lives before the Winter Soldier ended them. I even got a look at the mission HYDRA sent him on to take my telson. Sometimes, I was seeing everything as a third party. In some cases, I was in the victims' shoes. Others...I was seeing it from your perspective. I felt so many things," she said, her voice growing quieter with each word.

Bucky was knocked forward suddenly when she shot onto her hooves. Her tail was curling between rest and full mast agitatedly. Bucky recognized the signs of a mental breakdown a mile off and got to his feet. He reached out and grasped one of her horns, forcing her to hold still. "Calm down, sweetheart. Focus on my voice," he said. "I should've stopped it back then. I never should've let them take you away," she muttered, her eyes staring off to a point down her nose. "Do you think I blame you?" he asked. "You say you don't...but you're lying," she replied, still not entirely there. "I don't. What happened happened. We can't change it and you can't carry that with you. I have enough on my conscience without you adding to it, blaming yourself for things out of your control," Bucky said.

The tears were falling again but he gently stroked the plane of her cheek, offhandedly wishing he had a left hand to properly do this. She closed her eyes and he wondered how often she felt gentleness. Of course, the husband she had spoken of would have shown her such things but it always a different story when it came to humans. It struck him that he was seeing her less as an animal and more as a woman. Her body obviously wasn't changing but just the overall impression she was leaving was more womanly than animalistic. "God, you're beautiful," he said, quietly. Whether that had been the thing that got through to her, he couldn't guess. All Bucky knew was it had the intended effect of bringing Phoenix out of her head.

She swung her head slowly to look at him. Taking a deep breath, she rested her head against him of her own accord. He could tell she was still destabilized from taking on his nightmares unfiltered. He wasn't sure how it worked but that didn't make it any less real. He swung his arm across her withers and leaned his face into her. Her tail finally came to rest position and stayed. "The dream of the Winter Soldier confronting me was always from a third party perspective. I'd see him trailing me, making calculations, lining up the shot, and then pulling the trigger. I'd see myself crash to the ground and then he'd jump from the tree he sniped me from. Onto his mechanical horse and closing the distance," she said, quietly.

Bucky remembered that mission. HYDRA had taken advantage of his training as a sniper during the war and used it to terrible effect. He had been up a tree about five hundred yards from where she had been grazing at the time before the alarms in her head went off. He still managed to peg the shot before she got too far. Once he confirmed her crash through his scope, he had wasted no time getting onto his motorbike (hearing what she called it almost made him laugh) and heading to her location. He privately wished Phoenix wouldn't speak of his other side as if he was a separate entity. She knew it had been him who pulled the trigger. He came to realize it was just easier for her to separate his two sides, refusing to cave to the truth but contrarily accepting it all the same. He said nothing as Phoenix continued to speak. He found her voice soothing. "Damn, he was mad when I crushed my telson underhoof. He didn't show it but I could feel it. I'll admit the rush of defiance made me feel invincible," she said with a shaky laugh.

The old soldier could tell she was still wasn't completely over the things she had stolen from him. Her head was lowering a bit and she was crying silently again. He settled for leaning against her, whispering how beautiful she was over and over again, how she would be just fine, that the nightmare was over. She had willingly taken on his burdens just so he could have peace in rest. "Thank you, Phoenix. And I forgive you. I hope you know that," he said. She looked at him and just nodded. He pulled back, running his hand through his hair. He watched the chimera turn away and walk off, needing some solitude. Once again, he marveled at how naturally all her traits fell into place. Whoever had made her had done her wrong in subjecting her to a life she didn't believe she had a right to but at the same time, he was grateful all the same. She was a rock, keeping him grounded and he had helped her when she needed him just then. Bucky headed back into the lab. He knew he had a round of tests that needed to be done and he hadn't meant to doze off earlier. The fact no one came for him was proof that T'Challa knew both he and Phoenix needed that time alone together. They really were two peas in a pod and Bucky felt that their bond had grown a little stronger.