Soul Stealer ~ (A Bucky Barnes Love Story)

Fix You

I jolted awake a few hours later, peeling my tear stained face off the couch with a groan. Sitting up I rubbed my hands on my face, trying to pinpoint what woke me while dealing with the growing ache in my neck. The apartment was quiet, too quiet. I was used to noise, chaos even, but quiet was something else entirely. Music blaring through the paper thin walls of our rundown apartment or drunk bystanders screaming in the middle of the night was familiar. This, this was unsettling.

Without warning my chest constricted so suddenly and painfully I winced, hunching over with my hand on my chest like it might somehow ease the discomfort. Breathing hard I scrambled to my feet, reaching for the door, acutely aware of what had driven me from my fitful sleep. It was the bond, more specifically the pain I was feeling through it, Bucky's pain. Another round of heightened emotions slammed into me as I swung open the door, coming face-to-face with a worried Steve.

"Evelyn, are you alright?" His hair was standing on end, his long pajama pants and t-shirt rumpled from sleep. I ground my teeth together and nodded, ignoring the way my legs trembled as I made my way to Bucky's door. "Jarvis woke me and said he was having a nightmare."

"I know," I said through clenched teeth, another bout of agony pumping through our connection. I could hear him shouting from the hallway and opened the door. "Jarvis, lights."

"Maybe you should let me handle it," Steve suggested, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"He can't hurt me," I replied, already making my way to the bedroom. "Stay back. That's not Bucky in there."

"Who is it?"

"The Winter Soldier."

His bedroom was in disarray. The sheets and comforter were twisted and lying on the floor in a heap, a lamp lying in broken pieces from when he'd thrown it against the wall near the bathroom door. The Soldier was pacing on the opposite end of the room, pulling his hair and mumbling in Russian.

"Who are you?" he barked, rounding on us with blazing eyes.

I faced him head on, pushing back against the confusion and aggression saturating the bond, replacing it with tranquility. "You know who I am Soldier."

He recoiled at the feelings I pushed into him, back slamming against the wall. "Soul Stealer," he murmured."

"Yes."

The bond was wide open, flooding him with serenity, memories of the two of us, of our escape from HYDRA. It'd been a long time since he'd been in such a state of confusion so I did my best to paint a rushed picture of our newfound freedom.

He panted, trying to reconcile what his mind was telling him with what the bond was showing him. Steve hovered nearby, watching the scene with a perplexed expression though it was obvious he was ready to intervene at a moment's notice.

"What's my mission?"

My heart broke at the expression on his face and the desperation in his voice. The fiercest weapon HYDRA ever created was shaking like a leaf, lost, helpless, and terrified. It was my undoing.

"No more missions. No more HYDRA."

His feet couldn't support him anymore and he slid down the wall. "Who am I?"

I stepped forward and Steve's hand clamped down on my arm. I glanced up at him and he nodded sharply, scared to let me near Bucky in his current condition, but I simply pried his fingers off my arm. Right now I was the only person who could help him.