The White Wolf

XXIX

Ayo tipped her head forward, keeping her eyes on him. "We won't let you hurt anyone." She said, giving him a moment to breathe before she took a slow, predator-like step toward him. Ava watched his expression as he stared into the fire again, too afraid to look at them. She was glad she wasn't the one to say the words, knowing that if for some reason they triggered him again, the trauma would increase because the woman he loved had been the one to change him into a monster again. 

She held her fists tight at her sides, stepping right as Ayo stepped left, spreading out in case he did change. She didn't want to, it didn't feel good, but she had to be ready to fight him- to hurt him if she had to. 

"Zhelaniye." Ayo said calmly, making Bucky grimace at the sound of the first word. Ava felt herself grimace, too, seeing his hand start to tremble.

"Rzhavyi."

His head tilted down, his fist clenching up again as his breath got heavier, anxiety coursing through his veins.

"Semnatsat'."

His chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, pushing all of the air from his lungs and making it hard to inhale. Tears began to sting in his eyes, his head shaking slightly. He was changing and he could feel it. "It's not gonna work." His voice trembled. 

Ayo pressed on, stepping closer with each word. Ava bit down on the inside of her cheek, inhaling deep through her nose as she crept closer, keeping pace with Ayo.

"Rassvet."

Flashes of his past went through is mind. The red book his handlers would read from, and the stinging sensation on his face and head from the memory wipe machinery. 

"Pech."

Flashes of Zemo. Of the anger and terror in his body as he fought to escape his glass box as Zemo read those words. Flashes of shooting down planes on a helicarrier and tearing the wings from Sam's flight suit. A tear rolled down Bucky's cheek, his nose scrunching in a grimace, eyes fixed on the fire for the fear of Ava's expression if she saw him changing. But, Ava didn't see that. To her, he just seemed scared. Scared and lonely. There was nothing she could do but watch. 

"Devet'."

Images of choking Steve. Staring down his best friend as if he were a stranger. Bucky grit his teeth harder, another tear making its way across his skin as his body began to shake. 

"Dabraserdechnyi."

Images of having his memory wiped. Of riding alongside Howard Stark's car and causing it to crash- a man he considered a friend in World War Two. The feeling of his restricting mask. The feeling of Maria Stark suffocating under his own hand.

"Vosraschenie na rodinu."

Memories of clawing out the arc reactor on Tony's suit. Of a beaten, bloody, and bruised Steve Rogers under his grip. The tears began to fall faster and fatter, his body trembling enough that Ava could see it, and it made her heart ache. They were almost at the end, and Bucky only grew more and more afraid after each word, each inhale he took was almost a gasp for air like a helpless, drowning man.

"Adin."

Ava and Ayo stood still when they were only a few feet away from him. His lip trembled and chin quivered as he glared into the fire, brow creased. Ava's heart was in her throat, tears burning at her own eyes seeing him so broken and vulnerable.

"Gruzavoy vagon."

Quiet. One second. Two seconds. Three. He remained a troubled, trembling man, expecting to become something he wasn't. But... Nothing. Ava sucked in a shaking breath, a feathery smile coming to her lips. "You're free." She said, her voice a whisper on the wind. Ayo had a small, close lipped smile, watching the realization hit Bucky that he didn't turn into the Winter Soldier.