𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 | bucky barnes

42: Nothing, then...

Blackness. Nothing.  Dust.

Then a second later, she could feel again.  But the wind had changed.  The trees had picked themselves back up.   No one was there.

Catarina Palmer looked around, confused.  What had happened? 

"Hello?" she called, in a weak whisper.  She attempted to get up slowly.  She heard a jingle just around her neck and looked down at Bucky's dog tag on a chain.  She held it in her hand and looked down at it, remembering what had happened only a couple seconds before. She remembered the pain—her body trying to rip her apart, then Bucky, beginning to flurry away.

"Bucky?" she called. She saw a figure on the ground in front of her as she walked a couple steps.  They picked their head up, confused.

"Cat?" questioned the figure.  It was Bucky.

Upon seeing her walking as quick a she could toward him, he hastily got up and scrambled toward her. 

"Cat," he whispered, embracing her.  They spun from the impact. 

She looked up at him while his arms were still around her.  "What happened?" she asked. 

"I don't know," said Bucky, looking around.

"Where are the others?" she asked.  She saw a blur of a person in the corner, dressed in red—it was Wanda.  Cat broke from Bucky's grip to get to her.

"What happened?" asked Wanda, holding her head.  She looked to the side of her, where Vision's body had been—it was no longer there.  She looked sadly and horrifiedly at the spot where he'd laid.   "Vis," she whispered to herself.

Cat crouched down beside her and put her arm around her friend.

"I don't know," she said. 

"Did we lose?" questioned Wanda.  "Are they gone?"

Bucky and Cat looked at each other, afraid of that possibility.

"Something's off," said Bucky.

"Indeed it is," said a voice, coming from the bushes.  The three people held up their defenses, but it was a false alarm—the voice was T'Challa's.  He was followed by Okoye and his sister, Shuri.  "We can't find anyone," said T'Challa.  "No Captain Rogers, no Dr. Banner, Ms. Romanoff... no one.  And many confused people on the battlefield.  And half of them are missing.  And everything is cleaned up.  No bodies.  No blood."

"I saw him snap," said Cat.  "I saw it.  Thanos.  What if they're -" She stopped in realization.  "That short blackout.  What if they're the ones that he wiped away?"

"That could be a possibility," agreed Okoye.  "He wanted half the universe gone."

"So they're gone?" said Wanda.  "He gets all the stones and that's it?"

Hadn't they been through enough?  All of them?

Suddenly, they heard a whooshing noise from aside, then almost a tear, and a bright orange light.  They all turned toward it.  Wanda and Cat scrambled to stand up, readying their powers for defense.

"Yes and no," said the silhouette from the glowing circle.  It closed behind him, and as it did, Cat caught a glimpse of a dark wasteland with a pink sky.   Once the portal closed, she saw his face.  Dark hair and goatee.  He wore robe - type clothes and had a golden necklace around his neck in the shape of an eye.

"You were right," said the man.  "Thanos did snap.  He did send half the universe into oblivion.  But it was us that he sent away."

"Us?" questioned Bucky.

"For five years," finished the man. 

"How do we know you're not lying to us?" said Wanda. 

"I guess you'll just have to trust me," said the man.

"Who are you, anyway?" asked Cat.

"My name is Doctor Stephen Strange," said the man.

"How do we know you're not with Thanos?" asked Bucky.

"Again, I suppose you'll just have to trust me."

"So we were gone," said Cat.  "For... five years?"

Strange nodded.

"And where are they?" she continued.  "Steve, Nat, Thor?"

"They need our help," said Strange.  "Thanos is back."

"Back?"

"I presume it's an extremely long and confusing story," said Strange.  "Given that it has everything to do with Tony Stark."

"This is crazy," said Cat, to Bucky only.

"Maybe," said Bucky.  "But given the other things we went through—whether it be five years ago or today—it can't be much of a stretch."

Cat nodded. 

"Then we have to go help them," she told everyone. "They need our help, we go help them."

"Gather your armies," Strange told T'Challa.  "Anyone and everyone you can.  I'll send them over in portals."  The king nodded in reply, and went off with Okoye and his sister to do so.

"I'm in," said Sam, as he walked into the conversation. "Just send me in on Cap's left."  Strange looked like he was about to ask why, but instead brushed it off and focused on the matter at hand. 

"What now?" asked Wanda.

"We go," said Strange.  He nodded toward where T'Challa was organizing his army.

They stood together as Strange conjured a portal.  He held one hand stationary and circled the other around it as the portal formed.  It spun smoothly with his hand, and shone orange-yellow like a sparkler.  It rotated still, even when it was fully formed.  He made multiple, lining them up for each group.  Next to Cat and Bucky stood Groot, the small tree-creature, in front of a section of the Wakandan army.

Cat could see a dark, rubble-ridden battlefield.  It was dark, and there was destruction everywhere.  There was Thanos in the distance—he looked a little different than before.  An army was behind him, as well as large ships.  Avengers turned around to face the newly opening portals. 

"You ready?" Cat asked Bucky, as they began stepping out of the portal. 

Bucky smiled, giving her a look that said, you already know the answer. But he spoke anyways. 

"As I'll ever be," he replied. 

They stepped out into the battlefield.  Out of the corner of her eye, Cat could see tens of other portals opening around her.  Many more people from the Wakandan army, people that looked to be Asgardians, and more wizards—sorcerers—like Doctor Strange.  Wanda flew down in front of the Asgardian army and more people that looked to be not from Earth, though they were on their side.  Spaceships flew overhead the hundreds of armies. 

A large figure broke through the rubble in front of them—a figure Cat knew to be Scott Lang.  Other Avengers got up from their defeated-looking spots and joined them in facing Thanos's army. 

"AVENGERS!" Steve called, holding out his hand for something.  Mjolnir flew into it, making Cat surprised, as she knew the legends. 

"Assemble."

Surely, nothing could have made them ready enough for this.

a.n.

i LITERALLY opened wattpad yesterday (monday) with the intent of posting found. and what happened? i didn't post found (wow what a surprise). i ended up re-reading one of my OWN stories. for no apparent reason. and then i didn't even think about it the rest of the day

i am so sorry

dftv, molly, who still loves you despite the fact that she doesn't ever post for you oops