Bring Me Home // Bucky Barnes

Chapter XL - Reach and Rein

He trudged forwards, exhausted, desperate, alone. His muscles ached. His mind raced. Bucky felt himself slip and fall. He rose again. His hands gripped the rifle as if letting go of it would leave him unguarded. He would not let go. He would keep moving. Mud clung to his boots, to his slacks, to his skin. His body was burnt and beaten and he could feel the pull of torn skin, the pain of torture. With every heavy step his body screamed out for him to stop and rest. Every silent scream fuelled his desire. He had to keep walking. He had to keep moving. He had to get to her.

His whimpers echoed around the empty room.

He was cold. So cold. It had been so long since he knew the touch of warmth. His muscles ached in the ice. His brain was scorched from the flames they pushed through his veins. His screams were muffled. His screams were never ending. Days had blurred into weeks which had shifted into months. Time had lost its meaning. Space had ceased to contain him. His body was no longer his. His mind was being stolen and he could feel it. He could do nothing but scream into the pain as they tore who he was from him. He clung to the last shred of memory. The last glimmer of hope. The determined desire to never stop moving forwards. He had to keep moving. Why did he have to keep moving?

Bucky shot up as he cried out, his body shaking violently in the dead of night as he grasped the thin sheets around him. His breath was thick like smoke as he choked on screams that had haunted his mind. Screams of his own. Screams of his victims. He heaved in the air as he sought solace in the space he occupied. His hand clung to  the tags Lizzie had given to him, cold against the warmth of his skin. He gripped them now as he counted. In for four. Out for four. In for four. Out.

He was okay. He was safe. He was not their toy to torture anymore. They could not strip her from his mind again. He would not let them steal her from his mind again.

*

She woke with a start, pulling at the sheets beside her. Her mind groggily searched for the memory of why she woke. She hadn't had a nightmare. She hadn't had a fear. Elizabeth closed her eyes again, focusing on the pit in her stomach, confused but exhausted, and let the pull of sleep drag her under once again.

*

The smell of bacon clung to the air as Elizabeth stretched and smiled. Despite her waking in the night she felt well rested. She felt calm. Hopping out of the bed she turned on the radio and danced her way into the closet, laughing to herself as she picked out some leggings and a cropped workout top for training.

Today, she thought, is going to be a good day.

*

In the kitchen Bucky stood over the stove, grumbling and hitting Sam away as he tried and failed to reach around Bucky to turn down the heat. Lizzie giggled to herself as she watched the two push at each other from the doorway. She realised they were behaving like children who didn't know they were being watched and wondered if it meant they might one day get along.

"You're burning it Cyborg!" Sam moaned.

"I swear to God Bird Brains," the subtle drag of exasperation in his voice only made Lizzie smile more, "if you don't stop telling me how to cook I will go Winter Soldier on your ass. Understand?"

Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge Elizabeth grinned before bouncing over to the two men and ducking under Bucky's arm. She felt him relax against her as his hand instinctively found its place against her waist, squeezing gently as he held onto her. He watched her with a gentle smile that danced across his face as she stretched across him and lowered the heat under the pancakes that were now blackened on the edges.

"Sorry Buck," she smiled up at him through thick, dark lashes as she turned to face him. "Sam's right. But if you do manage to make a good pancake I'm training with Wanda and I want one please."

Without another word she slipped back out from where she stood and made her way out of the room, humming to herself as she held her bottle against her lips, her mind preoccupied with the thought of his hand gently gripping onto her waist.

Bucky grunted, letting the mop of hair he sported fall over his eyes, hiding the smile he couldn't control from the irritation that was Sam Wilson.

*

In the training room Wanda manipulated the air around her, creating waves of red that washed over the machines and weights, tornados of mist and magic span around her as she lifted from the ground and moved through the air. Elizabeth watched in awe as the woman before her glowed in the glory of power and control. She span as she rose and fell, completely at ease with the scarlet that ebbed and flowed from her, and when she closed her eyes it was as if the power itself was what guided her through the training room, protecting her from harm while showcasing the true extent of its reach and rein.

Wanda's eyes were crimson and her smile was electric as she danced through the space, lowering herself effortlessly before Elizabeth and holding out shimmering a hand for her to take.

"Are you ready?"