Mole climbed down the back, standing at the entrance of the tent, feeling pain in his lung increasing, watching the chaotic scene as the guards went to bring Bucky off the toboggan into the bed, groaning in pain, "Jesus, that damn hurts!", feeling his sprained leg pang with pain, his crushed hand flaring in pain, his right arm itching so bad and aching something awful.
"Bucky!", yelled a long-missed and familiar voice in a sob, as Sweet ordered, "Clear out, boys! I got this!", and the guards left, splitting up to let through a beautiful sight where Bucky's heart skipped a beat upon seeing, and somehow, the pain was ignored.
"Hey...", Bucky gave a pained smile the moment he and Audrey's eyes locked. Audrey rushed up to him but quickly stopped the moment she saw him and the mess he was in. "Bucky...", she whispered as he sighed, "Yeah, I really fucked up this time... I look like hell...".
Audrey replied, "As long as you're alive, I don't care...", cradling his cheek, tears in her eyes, and Bucky whispered, "Audrey...I trusted the crystal...I listened, hmm?", giving a warm smirk, ignoring the pain in his bandaged, crushed hand as he cradled the back of her head, brushing her hair, "You're the most beautiful sight ever in my eyes, even with your hair being messy and all.", seeing how awful Audrey looks, yet he didn't care right now.
Giving a watery laugh at his trademark smirk, Audrey smiled, "You lunkhead...I love you, James Buchmann Barnes, and yes, I do.", caressing the corner of his lips.
"You do what?", Bucky asked as Audrey shook her head in amusement. "Steve told me what you had planned.", she smiled as Bucky blushed.
"Steve, you-", Bucky groaned; wanting to be the one to surprise her with all that. But he couldn't be upset, after all, Steve still thinks he probably didn't make it. He turned his attention back to Audrey and smiled, "Thank you...". He told her, "You make me the happiest man in the world by saying yes there.".
Audrey smiled, "And you make me the happiest woman in the world by coming back to me...", and Bucky replied, "I love you, Audrey Rocio Ramirez.", leaning his head up to meet her, and they kissed tenderly and deeply for a long minute before pulling back for air.
A clearing of a throat, "Alright, lovebirds, simmer that love, save it for another day.", Sweet was heard, smiling knowingly at them, and they blushed at his teasing remark, as Sweet then nodded, "Right, let's fix that hand and that leg first, and then I'll see about making it a real stump as that would be the most painful thing you will ever feel, as it can't be comfortable with that arm hanging and making a stink in that sling.".
Bucky replied, "Well, Mole didn't have your expertise or the whole memory thing, and he barely had some crude things from nature to help out. It was thanks to him that I was brought back to consciousness and all.", with a chuckle as they all looked over to Mole, and then widened their eyes in shock when they saw him leaning on the corner of the entrance, breath hitching and legs shaking, almost gripping the ledge of a shelf, yet he's smiling at them with a warm, fond look, tears in his eyes, "Ah, l'amour...", before he coughed up blood.
"Mole!", Bucky shouted as Sweet stopped working on him and rushed over to Mole. "Shit, what happened?!", Audrey swore as Sweet tried to look him over.
"Damn it... Bucky, did you notice him getting hit?", Sweet asked. Bucky shook his head, "No. He didn't say anything. Damn it, Mole, why didn't you tell me?!".
Mole weakly replied, "No man's land...Can't afford to get caught again if other Germans heard the explosion, couldn't slow down...Had to get you over the border, get you home to Audrey...Ain't a coward for saving friends...", with a peaceful smile.
Sweet replied, "Fuck, damn it, Gaetean Moliere! You foolish man, you're going to be so damn lucky if I get this fucking bullet out!", trying to bring him to another bed, and Mole pushed him away gently, looking at him solemnly, "No...You couldn't...I am dying, and the bullet has done the damage, and yes, I might have made it worse, but nothing can stop me from coming home to France and being a hero for a minute...", as he sat down against the bottom of the bed, on the earth..
Mole coughed again, blood peeking at his lips, and he whispered, "And if I'm going to die, it's on my beloved earth, not a man-made bed...I only regret not having a last wonderful meal of caviar and escargot and delicious wine...And at least I knew that love is powerful, thanks to having amazing friends who show it...", smiling at his friends, and took off his crystal.
"A-Audrey, you take this, and besides, I won't dare to expose Atlantis if anybody disturbs my grave and discovers the crystal...And I have a feeling that Bucky would want you to be safe too...", Mole gave a warm smile.
Audrey's tears came down her face as she gave a sob, coming closer, as Bucky sat up, using the pillows to prop up and watch, and took the crystal, "Oh, Mole...You are the best digger on the entire Earth...And thank you for bringing Bucky home...", before kissing his cheek as a gesture of appreciation and gratefulness, knowing that Mole never had affections of a woman, but a friend, it could be enough for him to be happy with the gesture.
"Merci...", Mole whispered as he looked up; taking small breaths as his world slowly started to dim. Sweet was trying hard to hold himself back from at least trying to perhaps buy Mole a few more days or even hours as the man took a few more breaths before finally, he gave his last one.
Sweet checked his neck for a moment before bowing his head and exhaling with tears in his eyes, and then spoke, "He's gone...", looking up at Audrey and Bucky. Audrey covered her mouth with a hand, sobbing as she turned into Bucky's chest, feeling Bucky's viable arm, ignoring the pain of his crushed hand as he hugged her, tears in his eyes, grieving for the man who was truly a hero despite his very unusual lifestyle and behavior.
Bucky closed his eyes tight, "Damn it...". The guilt was already eating away at him. Mole would've been fine if not for him. It was the same guilt he felt whenever he lost any of the men that were under his command: the burden of leadership, as it was called.
Sweet sighed deeply, and shakily got up as he picked up Mole's body, carrying him to the small section of the hospital tent that served as a morgue, and rested him with care on the earth, taking up a sheet and covering the body, murmuring, "Goodbye, my friend...I promise I'll see to find a place for you in Paris...", knowing that Mole especially loved Paris as he was born there and grew up there as well, and felt a bit relieved that he had the chance to die in his homeland like he said.
He went to wash his hands, knowing that he cannot afford to grieve when he needs to focus on healing Bucky, hearing faint sobs by Audrey as she grieved for a friend who was there for everything within Atlantis and being in the war, hearing faint murmurs of words between the couple.
It was not fair, he knew, but war seemed to have made it very personal as it was the same everywhere, with allies and enemies, and it may seem like it's a life for a life, yet Mole knew that, and he was a hero. Their other friends will be sad and shocked once they will hear the news.
Sweet turned his attention back to Bucky and took a deep breath. "I'll have someone take care of Mole, get things squared away for him to be buried. Right now, we need to focus on you.", he said as Bucky nodded. "I'm sorry...", Bucky apologized. "It's my fault...", he muttered.
Audrey looked at him, "Don't you dare blame yourself, James Buchmann Barnes! Mole knew that it was dangerous, and he knew that you deserved to come home alive or dead, not mutilated by animals or even worse, captured by Hydra or the Nazis, and if we know Hydra, they would have kept you secret, and we'd...we'd think all this time that you were dead.".
Bucky took a deep breath, his breath catching at the thought...She was right...If he was captured by Hydra, and if they had mind washed him or something, he would have forgotten about his friends, his brother, and most of all, his fiancé. He would never be able to see his friends and their families grow up, to see his niece in Brookyln grow up, perhaps having a new brother or sister over time, and he would never be able to marry Audrey, to get to know her family, to have an amazing life with her, having a brood of children with her, and stay essentially young with her in a way.
He gave a chuckle, "Well, I'd have to thank this darn good crystal and the Great Kings for saving most of me and guiding a friend to get me home...At least you'll be glad that the most important thing in me ain't broken, as I think you'd be really sad if it was broken.", cheekily smirking.
Audrey blushed hearing that as she gave him another kiss, "We can discuss all that later, alright? Right now, I just want you to be alright to pull through all this...", as she then looked at his arm.
"Yeah, I know... sucks that I lost that, but guess sort of cheating fate in a way caught up to me. If not for those crystals, I probably would've lost this thing during the Vosges raid. Then we probably never would've met, I'd just be sitting at home back stateside.", Bucky sighed.
Audrey nodded, "Maybe, through Steve would have liked to introduce the others including me if you were stuck stateside, for some cheering up and all even if you were surrounded by your sisters.".
Bucky chuckled, "Good point...", before sighing, "You think there might be something in Atlantis, Sweet?".
Sweet replied, "From having Nola's memories, there were some amputated fingers or toes, rarely an arm or a foot, through centuries, and the hunting groups, if there was a major accident, beyond hope of healing, they never had a chance to live if caught in vulnerable spots and such...".
"And now with the shields protecting them, it's less risk and less danger, but it's still dangerous nonetheless.", Audrey nodded as Sweet had told the story of Sia via having Nola's memories about it, to Steve and the others on one of their relaxing days back in Toulouse Base.
Bucky exhaled, "And now?", and Sweet replied, "Some of the areas around the city are being evacuated and investigated, well, as much as I know as it would have been a few months ago and all, so, they perhaps have found some good things by now, and if I know Nola, she would be interested and hopeful, especially when I told her that you are MIA, and that there was a chance that you have could perhaps come back alive yet not unscathed.".
"Well, I suppose anything's better than nothing.", Bucky said. "And if we can't really find anything, I can always try to fix up a prosthetic for you.", Audrey told him.
Bucky smiled warmly, "I have no doubt of that...I'd be more than happy to have a personalized prosthetic by you, Audrey.".
Audrey blushed, smiling, feeling the trust and love in Bucky's voice, and gently squeezed his good shoulder that led to his bandaged, crushed hand which is being checked by Sweet, "At least your charms are intact, Bucky.".
It took a good hour for Sweet to give anti-infection shots into the hand and the stump, pressing anti-swelling-soaked herbal medicine into the hand and the sprained leg, splinting every finger of the crushed hand, aligning the bones and bandaging the hand again, this time with a crystal-touched cast, determining the hand to get back to normal within a few days.
And for the sprained leg, it was re-splinted, with the bones aligning, and seeing that it was less painful of sorts than the hand, it was extremely bandaged with crystal-touched splint branches, and bandages into the sprained leg, determining to be back to normal within a day.
The next 30 minutes was healing the bruised ribs even though they were healing already, giving anti-inflammatory herbal cream into the skin, and for Audrey to grab a shoulder crutch for him to use the bathroom with some difficulty and frustration, but managed to do it without embarrassing himself in front of Audrey who didn't care about being in the men's bathroom, since Sweet is now prepping some things for the worst thing to come, which is entirely cutting the last of the muscles and skin and such to the arm that is barely holding on from the stump, and planning to wrap the arm in preservation bandages and such to stop the smell and all, figuring that Atlantis would need it as a sample to copy to help Bucky have an arm again in a prosthetic or something similar.
"Could you be willing to give me some whiskey or something fairly strong before you do this?", Bucky asked Sweet as he was getting the last things needed for the amputation.
"You want to be awake for this part? I've got some anesthesia that I'll use.", Sweet said as Bucky chuckled. "No, but I'm dying for at least a good drink beforehand.", Bucky teased as Sweet rolled his eyes.
Audrey snorted, "You wouldn't want to mix whiskey with anesthesia, Bucky...But would you be willing to have a really good kiss while Sweet gives you the anesthesia, to make it really count?".
Bucky smiled, "I wouldn't turn that down, mi amor...Did I say that right? Had a few lessons with Sweet while on the mission before the train...".
"He actually did, for the whole month.", Sweet chuckled as Audrey was stunned to hear Spanish coming from Bucky, with that term of affection she'd never thought to hear him speak.
"Of course, it's not perfect.", Bucky said. "I'd need a lot of time to get really good at it...", with a nod. "Hey, it's a start.", Audrey smiled. "Besides, that would certainly impress my old man.", she winked.
Bucky chuckled, "Good...", grinning at her, and Audrey went to kiss him really good for a long minute as he wrapped his arm around her while Sweet went to inject the anesthesia into a vein of the shoulder above the stump, using the distraction.
Bucky groaned as Audrey kissed him again. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere.", she assured him as Sweet glanced over to her, "You sure? It's going to not be pretty...".
"I've already seen what's almost left of it; simply removing what remains isn't going to mess me up.", Audrey told Sweet. Sweet nodded, and replied, "Count down from 60, Bucky.", and Bucky nodded, counting down as Audrey caressed his cheek, smiling reassuringly at him, "I love you, Bucky Barnes...I'll be the first face you see when this is done, I promise...".
Bucky smiled as he slowly felt lightheaded, seeing her face and Sweet becoming blurs as his eyes became heavy, and before he knew it, he was out unconscious.
"This won't take too long at least...", Sweet said as he moved to get to work. "It's amazing that this isn't really worse than it could be. Mole did a decent job keeping this from...", he shook his head, "Being worse.".
Audrey replied, patting his shoulder, "He...Mole was taken for granted often, but he was loyal to his friends, and he knew that he had to make it easy for you, well, more or less easy to get to this than it would be without the crystal.".
Sweet gave a small smile, "I know...Now, no more talking, until necessary...We have to make it clean and good to make it decent and healthy without threat of infection.", and Audrey nodded, sitting on the side of the bed, watching for any sign of pain or discomfort from Bucky even if he's really out, deep asleep, listening to Sweet's instructions as she passed a medical instrument to him as he worked.
It didn't take too long as Audrey kept glancing away as she heard Sweet grunt with a bit of struggle as it wasn't the easiest sort of thing to remove. "How much longer should he be out?", Audrey asked as Sweet sighed, "Should be some hours... but plenty of time to quickly get word back to Steve and Peggy, sure they'd want to know.".
Audrey nodded, "Yeah, of course...I sure wish we could have instant communication in a device or something than having them wait and such, wondering and worrying about things, but it'd be bittersweet...To hear that Bucky's alive and kicking, mostly himself with half an arm gone, and to hear that Mole saved him, yet losing his life during it all...", with a sigh.