Y/N and the Multiverse

where

Felix looked nervous when he sat down on his bed and you decided to stay close to his door.
"I... I'm sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have said that. But what would you think if you were me? What would you do?", he asked.
"Of course, it sounds weird... I know that. Yet it doesn't change the fact of how things are. And even if this whole thing would be a big hallucination... why are you trying so hard to be against me?"
"I'm not against you", Felix said sighing, "I'm scared to lose you which is why I want to make sure you stay in reality... and don't drift away completely..."
"However, it's not helping if you shut me down right away. All I wanted was to share my struggle, and all I got was getting pushed away... It hurt. It still hurts."
"Tell me now. I am listening. I won't interrupt, I promise."
"I... I am just so overwhelmed... it's all so much lately, you know...? And there are so many problems to solve on top of my everyday life. I am... I don't know... it's just too much...", you told him and began to cry, so he stood up and hugged you.
"It's okay. I'm sorry you're having a hard time..."
"I just don't understand why it has to be me? I mean... Of course, I don't want anyone else to go through this therefore it's better it's me, but... but... why...?"
"Don't say that... I know what you want to imply with that and it's not true... you don't deserve it. And you've been through so much already, and it's not fair. I can't tell you why, but I can tell you that it sucks and I wish I could take it away from you."
"Thank you..."
"I'll try to be better from now on. I'm really sorry I used the wrong approach."
"It's okay... I better take care of my friend now or else he might do something stupid."
"Please, take care. I know there is more to it but you don't have to talk about it now. Just... take care."
"I will. Good night", you said with a warm smile and left.

Coming back to your room you ran into a big mess.
"What the fuck?! Who the hell permitted you to search my room? Huh?!", you exclaimed angrily while Dr. Strange continued looking through one of your cupboards and threw everything on the floor.
"It has to be here...", Strange mumbled.
"What does?", you asked irritated but he didn't answer until he found something and exclaimed "Ha!".
"What?!", you asked even angrier.
"Here", he said and held up a gem.
"So what? I have a lot of those in every color I could get and had the money for. It's not special, I have like 10 of the one you're holding up."
"I don't think so", he said and opened his necklace, the Eye of Agamotto, to get out his time stone. They looked identical.
"Where did you get it?", he asked and held up the stone he found in your room.
"I don't know."
"Hm... I'm wondering why it's not glowing", he said and studied both stones. Putting away 'your' stone, he inspected his and concluded that something was off.
"What's wrong?", you asked and watched him.
"They both work but they don't show any sign of doing so. It's very confusing", Strange explained.
"So?"
"I think your universe is on another wave than ours, so the stones work differently. How many people have abilities? How common is it?"
"How common? Not at all. It's actually not possible."
"Seems like that's not true", he said, raising a brow. "However, you never found or got this stone from someone? I think a stone like this isn't an easy gift to buy."
"Besides the infinity stones not being a thing here, I would pretty much remember if there'd be a story behind getting a gem."
"Maybe it is fate then. Here", he said and gave you the stone from your universe.
"Why? I expected you to keep it."
"It's not mine to keep, I have mine here", he said and put his stone back into the necklace, "this is yours so you have to take care of that. Otherwise, it could get us in trouble."
"Why?"
"There are people like you and me who have to take care of the different stones, and especially the time stone is something to take care of. In the wrong hands, it could destroy everything. Not just the human race but every planet, every timeline, everything that ever existed. And if the time stone is in your hands, it's not by accident. It's because you got selected. So it's not my business to take that away from you when we are in the same boat."
"Hmm... wait... no. I am not- I cannot- it's not possible."
"But we are here with each a stone, aren't we?"
"But why me? I could go back in time and just mess with my timeline. Do you know what a shitty life I had? I could simply misuse it for that and make things better for myself while I simply couldn't give a fuck about others."
"But would you?", he asked and raised a brow even though he knew the answer.
"N-no."
"Why not? You just said you could simply do that."
"I don't know how it works, so it's not as simple", you said and hoped he would take it away and deal with that problem alone. You didn't want any more problems and couldn't believe that someone trusted you enough to be the keeper of the time stone. It just couldn't be true.
"I don't think that's a big problem. With time you will figure it out just like with multiverse traveling. Especially since multiverse traveling sounds way more difficult. Traveling through time is easy as long as you know how."
"But I don't. So I guess I shouldn't keep the stone to find out."
"What would you do if you'd go back in time?", he asked interested.
"I would save myself, I suppose."
"You suppose? How?"
"I would... I... would... be there for me? Would call CPS? There are a few things I could do."
"But... would you?"
You sighed. No, you wouldn't. You didn't know what it meant if you'd do it and you didn't want to risk messing with time. You knew this life. It wasn't great, but it was what you knew and how to handle to survive. What if you wouldn't like the person you'd become if you'd change something? What if other people would get hurt by it? What if Felix would suffer instead of you? No, you couldn't do that. Changing the time would mean messing with time.
"I told you. You're the right person for that", he said with an almost warm tone and you sighed.
"But nobody asked me", you said low.
"Nobody ever gets asked when it's about life."
"But I don't-...", you whispered and tears rushed down your face. Dr. Strange looked a bit helpless while your sobs and crying worsened.

A few minutes later, Dr. Strange said warmly: "Look, you did it."
But you didn't care, it was too much and it wasn't new to you anyways.
"Y/n...", someone said which you didn't really realize and walked up to you. "Hey... it's okay, I'm here...", he said low and warm, then proceeded in an angry tone, "and you better leave now!"
"Take care of her, she's important", Dr. Strange said and sighed a minute later.
"He's gone", the man said, "what happened?"
"B-Bucky?", you asked.
"Yes, it's me. I'm here."
But you didn't say anything else so eventually Bucky stood up, scooped you up from the floor, and put you down in your bed.
"I took care of your bunnies. They have their place in the corner over there. I hope I didn't forget anything. Took me a bit to figure out what they need. This internet thing can be pretty confusing yet helpful."
You chuckled softly and looked to the corner he had pointed at. Your bunnies had a big open cage and a fence was keeping them from running around the room yet having enough space for having a good life.
"They are lovely, your bunnies I mean", he said and you hummed in agreement.
"Bucky...?", you asked low and his gaze immediately met yours but your eyes wandered down as soon as you noticed. "I... I mean...", you began but stopped.
"What is it, love?"
"Forget it..."
"No, tell me."
"I...", you sighed and paused for a moment, "I don't know what to do." Your voice was barely a whisper.
"It's okay. We'll be going to get through this, alright? You're not alone."
"But... I am", you said with a broken voice and new tears rushed down your face.
"Hey...", Bucky said softly and put his hand on the side of your face, caressing your cheek gently with his thumb, "I'm with you, okay?"
"But I-"
"No. Listen... I won't leave you and I am here for you whenever you need me."
"But why...?"
"I can't quite explain... there is just this deep feeling telling me that you are a special person and... well you're a kind and wonderful person."
You chuckled softly and when you sat up, Bucky pulled back his hand.
"I don't think you should feel that way towards me... I think that should belong to someone who actually lives in this universe..."
"You are living in this universe", he responded.
"Just temporary."
"But isn't that enough?"
"Why should it? One day I'm gonna be gone and you can't protect me."
"Why are you so sure about it? Don't you think you might get your ability under control and be where you want to be?"
But instead of answering, you just looked down and avoided his gaze.
"What do you know that I don't?"
"One day... I don't think I will come back the way you wish me to."
"Y/n, you're scaring me. What do you know?"
"I'm the protector of the time stone. Of my time stone."
"Which means?"
"More problems and a big ass responsibility."
Bucky was examining you, then sighed. "Y/n, tell me what you're hiding. It's not about the stones."
"Isn't everything about the stones?"
"Maybe. However, tell me what is dragging you down."
"Do you want a list? Might take a while though. There is pretty much."
"Y/n."
"Bucky."
He took a deep breath and tried again: "Y/n, I'd happily drop any topic you don't want to talk about. Except for this one. Tell me."
Looking around like anything would be of help, you took a deep breath. "I... I saw something. There is this client who... says she has visions. And they are about me... and... they are not quite good."
"But that's not the whole story, is it?"
"In our last appointment, we had some topics, you know... normal ones. Parents, friends,... stuff like that. Then she talked about her visions again and I tried to help her. Tried to give her some coping skills. We ran out of time...", you explained and paused, "and she shook my hand where I saw something. It was so fast but detailed that it's burnt in my mind now. It happened while she was talking, told me they are there suddenly. I don't think she knows I was able to see it."
"So you're worried about others with abilities?"
"That's just the cherry on top..."
"Are you worried others might hurt her?"
"Didn't think about that one yet... but now I do."
"Sorry... what is it then? What did you see?"
"Myself. Steve. Fuck... I..." Your breath quickened, but you tried to force yourself to stay focused. "I think Hydra erased my memory", you whispered and Bucky's face turned from worried to shocked to even more worried.
"I'll protect you and do whatever I have to."
You smiled sadly because you knew that Bucky couldn't be there for you forever. Of course, the vision didn't have to mean something, but if it did... not even Bucky might stop it. 'The future is fluid', you remembered but still weren't convinced.
Bucky stroked your hair strand softly behind your ear, put his finger under your chin and lifted your head so you were looking into his eyes.
"It's going to be okay", he said.