Frost

Chapter 14

"But what if you are?" whispered a voice in her head. What if Ivy was a monster after all?

~°~

Ivy propped herself against the wall as she crept down the hallway. She left a red trail of blood behind her that led right back to her massacre. Her shoulder burned with pain, but she didn't dare complain about it. After all, she had just taken the lives of six men. Seven, if you count the soldier from before.

Ivy felt more than miserable. She felt guilty, guilty that a part of her didn't regret her actions. Guilty for losing control. Guilty that part of her had enjoyed it. And guilty because she knew exactly what she had done.

It was hard to find one's way around these hallways. Everything looked the same. Each hallway reminded Ivy of the hallway where the six men had been killed.

"Snowflake? Am I dreaming?" Bucky looked at Ivy with exhausted eyes. He wasn't sure if she was really here or he was suffering from some hallucination.

"Bucky?" whispered Ivy, forgetting everything around her for a moment. Steve and Bucky came limping out of a lab. Steve supported most of Bucky's weight. Bucky was weak, exhausted and had a beat up face. She probably didn't look any better, though. Ivy's heart was racing and she slumped more against the wall as her eyes tried to catch as much of him as they could.

Ivy's feet moved on their own. She didn't walk in a perfect line and kept swaying to the side, but she went to Bucky and he met her halfway. It was unclear who was hugging whom and where the boundary of the two bodies was. Ivy's head was buried in Bucky's chest, her hands were partially on his back and neck where they touched his brown hair. His one hand was pressing her back closer to him, while his other hand was in her blond hair.

Ivy's body burned and this time it wasn't from pain. His touch set her on fire. It was a feeling she had missed almost half of a year. Everything was fine, though almost nothing was fine. Because everything but Bucky didn't matter right now. All that mattered was Bucky.

Ivy whimpered as Bucky's arm accidentally touched her bleeding shoulder. Bucky pulled back immediately and dropped his gaze to the spot where he had touched her.

"Your shoulder! You're bleeding!"  Bucky panicked, looking at her with wide eyes.

"What?!" asked Steve now also concerned, stepping closer to analyze Ivy's shoulder.

"Steve don't do that!" Ivy whined, trying to pull her arm out of his grip. "I'm fine!" she lied, but not even she bought that lie.

"What are you even doing here? You took her with you and then left her alone to get shot?" Bucky looked alternately at Steve with anger and at Ivy with concern.

"Bucky," Ivy gained his attention and hissed in agony as Steve tied a piece of cloth around her arm and tried to stop the bleeding. "I'm fine," she assured him with a small smile.

"I thought I told you to be careful" Steve reminded her worriedly but also kind of in a scowled way.

"Um...no. I should just hurry up and get to you" she corrected him with a grimace as he pulled the improvised bandage tighter. Steve looked at her blearily in response, while Bucky looked at Steve in disbelief. He couldn't believe he'd left her alone, or even that he'd taken her with him to begin with. It was far too dangerous here.

"Can we argue about this later?" Ivy interrupted the awkward staring contest, gesturing around with her uninjured arm. "I don't think... this... is going to last much longer."