[2] instability ▷ bucky barnes

[12] ▷ reunited

ARTEMIS' face was consumed in shock. That was all she could feel. That, and the confusion and anger, and pain, and every other emotion that went along with it.

He cowered below her, tears of happiness cascading down his cheeks. He hadn't been in her presence in what felt like millenniums, eons, ages, and it seemed like he was being graced with the sight of an angel, a hallucination to show that he was close to death.

After all, people always told him that before he died, his life would flash before his eyes.

Artemis was his life. From as far back as he could remember, she was there, along with that butterfly feeling that he could never shake off when she was around. The temptation to kiss every inch of her face over and over again. To tell her that he loved her since the very beginning.

Artemis' knees fell from under her as she crawled back towards him, her hands shaking as they cowered over his wound like they had before, only this time filled with more anticipation and fright.

"What happened to you?" She croaked out, only there was no reply. She looked into his eyes, to see them staring back at her, the blue that she always knew silently fading, but his smile molded by the shine of his tears.

"You're just as beautiful now since the first time I saw you." He sputtered, which caused tears of her own to fill her eyes. "You need to tell me what happened to you, we need to get you out of here so you can be helped." She said, grabbing his hand to attempt hoisting him up. It failed.

"You were so innocent and young then. Your hair was red, your eyes as blue as they've ever been. Even though you were their devil, you were my angel." He slurred again, his head bobbing back as he looked up at Artemis.

She was now sobbing as the excruciating pain of gaining a memory hit her like a truck, but she pushed that aside as she tugged at his arm once more. "Please, please, snap out of it. You can't die, I just found you. You can't die." Now, she had knelt down to cup his face.

"Let me help you." She pleaded, her own tears now soaking the collar of her black t-shirt. When he didn't reply, only simply giving her a pained smile, she frantically shook her coat off and, from one of the many holes in her shirt, ripped a long strip from it. Gathering it in a ball, she stuck it to the gushing wound, earning a gasp of sheer agony from Bucky.

"It's okay, Buck. Just keep it held as tight to the wound as possible, okay?" She said, and he quietly nodded as she began to gently take his coat off of his arms. She balled her coat up and put it under his head as she dug her hands into his pockets, searching for a phone or something to contact anyone who could help.

When her hand reached in and felt a rectangular-shaped, thick piece of metal, she whipped it out and frantically slid the unlock button, searching through his recent call list.

Once she saw a name that was familiar, she clicked on it and mentally prayed that someone would answer.

After the first couple of rings, a voice that was familiar to her spoke. "Buck? Is everything alright? You usually don't call me while I'm working unless it's importan-" "This isn't Bucky." She spoke sternly, then refrained herself.