His eyes finally landed on her, as bits and pieces came back to him. He vaguely recalled seeing the brunette at the street market. In fact, Magna's face was the last he remembered before everything faded into blackness. He remembered the concern in...
— Have faith.- was all the warrior said, and headed outside after that, leaving Magna completely alone.
— Now what?- she asked herself, feeling utterly lost. Silence was the only response she got. And now we wait, was the best answer her inner voice could come up with.
Magna let the gravity of the situation drag her down in front of the crackling blaze on the hearth. The young woman didn't even have the strength to pull up the bedside chair to sit down, but squatted on the floor and hugged her legs.
— And now we wait.
»»————- ✼ ————-««
The pair walked in silence for what felt like hours until they finally reached the outskirts of the city, where an abandoned hut awaited. Bucky looked around. They had stopped halfway up one of the highest hills; a location that was covered with rocky surfaces, tall trees and an impenetrable mass of vegetation meant to deter its intruders with dense, tangled thickets, rapierlike thorns and prickly foliage. Entering it, the dense shade of the jungle gave a blacker blackness to the night.
It was late now, and a weird, wild night, for the wind didn't blow steadily with a strong blast, but came in fitful gusts and passed on with a distant echo, leaving all still again. The light, too, came occasionally; away from the flickering lights shed by the Citadel, the quiet night was lit by the soft splendour of the moon. Its majesty every now and then obscured behind thick, dark clouds that sometimes burst out, illuminating all, and then, again, cloaked over. It was like a midnight traveller carrying a dark lantern, which he suddenly turned for an instant on his way.
A log fell in the enormous fire and sent up a spray of glowing sparks. Bucky sat, silent, and couldn't help but feel that their location had been selected a while ago. Bringing him out there, far away from the city and innocent civilians... Nothing about the events of that night felt random nor arranged last-minute; Part of him wondered if perhaps that final test should have already taken place and for some reason Shuri and T'Challa had mercily granted him delaying it as much as possible.
That was probably the case, given Shuri trusted Magna and it was perfectly obvious that the two agreed on not running away from risks. Plus, the princess thought of the pair as her friends, people she truly cared about. However, friendship or not, Bucky was also her responsibility. And despite all the time the teen genius could have bought them... it was time.
— It's time.- Ayo announced, breaking the silence, and interrupting his train of thought. He fought the lump in his throat. She was right. Those were the final days of his deprogramming. And now it was time to face his demons. It was time to test the Winter Soldier's code words that once triggered him.
— ... You sure about this?- this was it. And if things were to turn ugly... Well, he was probably never gonna make it back home to Magna.
»»————- ✼ ————-««
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