Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Eighteen

We make our way out of the HYDRA facility and toward the quinjet, freezing at the sight that greets us. Another jet sits beside our own, and between them, T'Challa stands, still dressed in his Black Panther suit, his mask nowhere to be found. On the ground beside him, sits Zemo, his arms bound behind his back. I step in front of my friends, hands glowing in threat as I face T'Challa.

"I'm not here to fight you," he assures me, raising his hands in defense. "I heard everything inside. I know your friend did not kill my father."

"Then what are you doing here?" Steve asks.

"I want to offer you my services," T'Challa replies. "My younger sister is a bit of a genius, I'm sure she would be able to figure out a way to help Barnes."

"Why help us now?" I question, still suspicious. "How do we know you're not just trying to arrest us too?"

"Because you were right," T'Challa admits. "I was so consumed by vengeance that I never gave you a chance to explain your side of the story. You had no choice but to run. But I'm done letting vengeance consume me."

I turn to Steve, letting him make the decision, and he nods to me.

Steve and I stand in the Wakandan medical facility, Bucky sitting on the gurney in front of us as a doctor checks his vitals. I glance around anxiously, still not fond of hospitals, and Bucky notices, taking my hand to keep me calm.

"Are you sure about this?" I ask him.

Bucky smiles weakly. "I love you, Y/n, but I can't trust my own mind, I can't risk the Winter Soldier hurting you. So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing. For everybody."

I stare in shock for a moment as I take in his words, a slow smile spreading across my face as a few tears slide down my cheeks. "I love you too."

Bucky pulls me closer, dropping my hand to place his against my cheek.

Steve clears his throat. "If you two want some privacy, I can step away for a few minutes..."

I chuckle, heat rising in my cheeks. "No, no... We're okay."

"Oh good," Steve teases. "For a moment there, I thought I was going to end up reliving some moments during the war... Which reminds me, I believe these belong to you."

Steve pulls a small object from his pocket, the thin chain dropping from the metal tags as he places them in Bucky's outstretched hand.

"My dog tags?" Bucky asks. "I though I lost these the day I fell from the train."

"When I started looking for the two of you a few years ago, Natasha managed to get me your file from the KGB," Steve explains. "The tags were with them."

"I can't believe HYDRA kept them," I say. "I figured they would've destroyed them."

Bucky nods in agreement, looking down at the tags as he thinks.

"Here," he finally says, slipping the chain around my neck. "Keep them safe for me, okay?"

"Of course," I reply, clasping the tags in my hand. "But don't you want to wear them?"

"You helped me find myself again," Bucky states. "You helped keep me sane when my memories started coming back. You never lost hope that James Buchanan Barnes was still in me, somewhere. I don't know a better person to keep my identity safe."

I smile as T'Challa's sister, Shuri, approaches us, her dark skin contrasted by the white dress she wears, and her braided hair piled high on top of her head.

"Sorry to interrupt," she apologizes, her brown eyes turning to Bucky. "Sergeant Barnes, we are ready for you."

Bucky takes my hand as he hops off the gurney, guiding us over to the centre of the room where a white and blue cryogenic chamber awaits. He pulls me in for one last hug before climbing in, and I take a step back to give the medical aides room to prepare. The chamber door slides closed, and Bucky gives me one last smile before closing his eyes, the chamber filling with gas and freezing him inside.

A short while later, Steve and I stand in the hallway, gazing out the windows to the jungle beyond when T'Challa wanders over to join us.

"Thank you for this," Steve says to him.

"Your friend and my father, they were both victims," T'Challa replies. "If I can help one of them find peace..."

"You know," Steve warns, "if they find out he's here... They'll come for him."

"Let them try," T'Challa declares before turning to me. "And you are more than welcome to stay here as well, Lieutenant Y/l/n."

"Thank you, I would love to come back," I tell him before glancing at Steve. "But we have some unfinished business to take care of first."