bucky barnes imagines #2

iii. free

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

a/n: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 4 OF THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER !! this scene made me legit sob, so why not write an imagine about it?

***

"james, it's time."

"are you sure about this?"

"i promise, we won't let you hurt anyone."

it had now been a few months since bucky had been taken out of cyro in wakanda and now the scientists, mainly shuri, there had been working tirelessly to get the trigger words out of his head. y/n was a therapist in the african country that had originally worked for SHIELD, but moved to wakanda after the murder of king t'chaka at the sokovia accords signing in vienna.

and now she was here with bucky.

the two had become pretty close and y/n had done her best to help bucky get reacquainted with everything. she sat down on the bench in front of the bonfire beside the now one-armed man and looked into his steel blue eyes.

"you can do it, james." the girl told him before ayo, one of the dora milaje, began to say the words.

"Желание." longing.

bucky looked into the fire, doing his best to focus his mind on resisting what HYDRA had programmed him to do.

"Ржавел." rusted.

y/n could see bucky's hand clench into a fist as ayo moved closer to the pair.

"Семнадцать." seventeen.

tears began to fill bucky's eyes as he worked against his normal instinct, images of his past starting to flash before his eyes.

"it's not going to work." bucky said, his voice breaking.

but she continued.

"Рассвет." daybreak.

"печь." furnace.

he was doing all he could to push back the winter soldier within him. tears streamed down his face as the dora milaje continued.

"Девять." nine.

bucky's jaw clenched, images of himself, his victims, HYDRA, all of the brainwashing and torture going through his head. only four more.

"Добросердечный." benign.

he was breathing heavily, beads of sweat falling down from his forehead. y/n wanted to hold his hand or put her hand on his shoulder, but she had to wait.

"you can do it, bucky..." she whispered softly. "i know you can."

"Возвращение домой." homecoming.

bucky fought with all of his might, knowing that in his heart that he could push through to the life that HYDRA robbed him of.

"Один." one.

"Грузовой автомобиль." freight car.

y/n looked at ayo as she finished the sequence of words and then back at bucky. he did it. the h/c haired girl smiled softly at the one-armed man. it was silent for a moment before ayo said, "you're free." a proud look on her face.

bucky looked at the two women, disbelief on his face until y/n repeated the same two words from before: "you're free." those words were enough for him to break down in tears, y/n wrapping her arms around the broken man. bucky sobbed into her shoulder as she stroked his long brown hair.

after the embrace, bucky looked at her and, for what feels like the first time in years, he smiled.

james "bucky" barnes was free.

***

ahh sorry that this on the shorter side, but this just made me want to give bucky a huge hug. i'm so proud of my boy <3. also, there will DEFINITELY be more tfatws-themed imagines coming soon :)) - nicole