𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 | bucky barnes

40: No time at all

"Bucky," she said, out of breath.  Cat had run to the trees to go and meet him—it seemed that's where everyone was now.

"Oh, thank God, Cat," he said.  He grabbed ahold of her hand. 

"Worried about me?" she asked, smiling. 

"Too much," he said.

Cat smiled with relief.

Suddenly, they heard a rumbling noise in the clearing.  It was coming from somewhere near them — though they couldn't see what was making it. The rumbling stopped.. and in came the sounds of struggle. Then wooshes of a magical noise, the sound of something being hit off of a tree, the shaking of the ground.

Cat looked over as a cloud of gray cleared up and there stood a big, purple titan. Tall, muscular, and had a gold metal glove. On it was shining gems of multiple colors—only one spot missing. For Vision's stone.

"I really hate today," whispered Cat to herself, tiredly.

A cloud of blue encased Bruce in the Hulkbuster suit, floating him through Thanos and over to a build of rock and encasing him into it. Cat widened her eyes at the feat. As Steve ran toward the titan, he was pulled into a cloud of purple and forced to the side hard. T'Challa jumped forward— but was easily defeated by Thanos, who grabbed him by the neck and punched him to the ground with a flash of purple. Sam flew forward, shooting guns at the alien, but was pushed down with only a swoosh of the gauntlet.

Some feet away, Wanda and Vision argued longingly, but soon, the woman realized she had to give in. Because it was the right thing to do. And the only thing to do. A stem of red began to emerge from her hand as her eyes welled with tears, looking at her love. She aimed it at the stone, ready to destroy it.

Rhodey flew ahead, firing everything he had at Thanos, but with a close of a fist, the titan crushed the metal of the War Machine suit, rendering it unusable and pushing it fas aside. Shouting, Bucky ran forward, aiming right at the alien's head. Cat followed, using her powers to try and bend his gloved hand away. Both attempts were fruitless — in a flash of purple, the two were slammed against the ground.

Okoye threw her spear at him, but it was whisked away by a cloud of blue light and she was slammed aside. Natasha was trapped under a bed of rocks made with only the holding of a fist by Thanos. The tree alien that had come along with Thor tried and failed to encase Thanos in vines— the titan easily broke free and punched him away.

Steve, back on his feet, slid over to the action. He punched and clawed with both the new shields at Thanos's gloved hand. As the alien reached to punch him back, Cap caught his hand with great strength. He held it for a long moment as Thanos looked slightly aghast at Steve's strength. With a yell, he pushed the golden encased hand aside— but this gave way for Thanos to punch him in the head with his other hand— enough to knock Rogers out.

Walking towards his last obstacle, Wanda, Thanos looked determined. Cat couldn't turn her head that way—she was extremely sore—but she heard the struggle of both Thanos and Wanda. She heard the pulsing of her friend's magic—then a small crack—and a large noise and rumbling throughout the forest.

She had done it. She'd stopped him. No halving the population.

"Wanda," breathed Cat in relief, finally turning to the side. Wanda had fallen to the ground in distress.

"Today I lost more than you can know," said a deep voice. Thanos's voice. "But now is not the time to mourn," he completed. He walked forward to the spot where Vision had been. "Now is no time at all."

Cat heard a pulsing noise, then saw a ring of green around Thanos's wrist. He spun his hand and a yellow cloud formed, attracting pieces of debris from everywhere. The forest shook again, and the yellow light spread...

Vision was back.

"NO!" screamed Wanda, running forward. She was slammed aside easily by Thanos. He then picked up Vision by the neck — and with almost no struggle, pulled the Mind Stone out of the android's head. Vision's colors turned muted and gray.

Thanos put the stone in the gauntlet, and with a shout, let its energy run through him. Then another loud shout — from somewhere far away—and a flash of lighting—through which flew a large axe and Thor. The unstoppable axe flew straight into the titan's chest.

"I told you," said Thor, getting closer to Thanos threateningly.  "You'd die for that."

He pushed the axe deeper into Thanos's chest.  He shouted with pain... but soon the cries became quieter.

"You sho..." he began.  "You should have gone for the head."

And before Thor could even realize what he was doing, Thanos snapped his fingers.

Cat became afraid.  She felt a tingling sensation in her fingers.

"Bucky," she whispered.  He opened his eyes beside her.  "Bucky, something's happening."

She held up her hands. The tops of her fingertips flurried away at will. There was a tingling sensation all throughout her body, and it was almost painful — like something was trying to rip her apart.

Bucky sat up in front of her.  "What is..." He examined her hands — her fingertips flurried away to dust.  Cat's hands were shaking; she was using all her strength to hold herself together with her powers.  He became worried.

"I'm trying to hold it," she said.  "But it's tearing at me, it's..."

"Just hold yourself together Cat, okay?" he said comfortingly.  He put his hand on her shoulder.  He didn't want to lose her.  "Hold yourself together."

Cat nodded, a worried look still on her face. 

"I love you," he whispered to her.

Cat smiled.  But before she could answer back, she saw Bucky's shoulder's beginning to flurry away.   He was going faster, too.

"Bucky!" she shouted, taking the focus off herself, and reaching for him with one last, desperate hand.  But as she had stopped using her powers on herself, she faded away immediately into nothing, left as dust on the grass.

"Cat?" Bucky whispered.  His hand touched the ground where his girlfriend had once been.  It began to fade into the pile of dust on the grass. He looked down at his fingers as they began flurrying away just like Cat had. 

He turned around and got up, trying to walk toward the action.  Maybe there was a way to fix this.  A way to reverse it. 

He walked toward Steve and Thor, looking at his hands as they faded away. 

"Steve?" he said, turning to his friend, who had an almost horrified look on his face.  As his leg began to disappear, he tripped over and fell, and soon, everything faded into nothing.

a.n.

leaving you guys on a cliffhanger look at me go.  ofc you know what's going to happen basically but pretend you think that she's never coming back oh no

i love you guys, don't forget to vote!!

molly, whose birthday is tomorrow ahhhh screaming!