Perfect Alliance (Bucky Barnes)

Epilogue

Kat smiled as she watched Bucky's back, now dressed in some sleep clothes as a white towel draped over her shoulders. His bicep flexed as he ran a towel over his head, ruffling the brown locks until they curled at the ends. His blue eyes lifted to meet Kat's green, her lips tilted into a soft smile. 

Neither could believe how their story had found them, nearly fifty years later and finally free. Free to be together and free to be their own person. Bucky turned, walking toward her with his own gentle smile. She looked up to him, her head tilting back, wet hair cascading down her lower back. 

"What are you smilin' at?" Bucky whispered, a slight Brooklyn drawl noticeable in his question. 

"Just you." Kat returned, grabbing both of Bucky's hands tightly. "Just us." 

Bucky's smile grew, but for a second, Kat could have sworn his face changed, his eyes growing darker, his expression more sinister. Shaking her head, she moved backward on the bed, pulling her towel from her shoulders so she could slip beneath the covers. Bucky followed her, his larger body curling up beside her, their faces inches apart. Kat's eyes closed as Bucky dragged a finger up her spine, goosebumps rising in its wake.

"One, two, three, four." Kat's eyes shot open, meeting Bucky's curious and concerned expression. 

"What did you say?" Bucky shook his head, quickly muttering a quick response which confused Kat further. "Are you sure?"

"Are you alright? You're lookin' a little pale." Kat swallowed, nodding her head as she rested her head against Bucky's chest, trying to calm her own rampaging heart but listening to the steady beats of Bucky's. 

"Up and down, up and down-" 

Hurtling into a sitting position, Kat flicked her head around, nausea settling into her stomach. "Kira." 

"What?" Kat snapped, green eyes narrowing cautiously as she stared at Bucky. The brunette frowned, looking beyond worried now. 

"I said, Kat, are you alright?" Swallowing, Kat took another look around the room, the room her and Bucky had been sharing for the last few nights, since he'd come back to her. "Come on, I think you're having some bad dreams." 

Nodding, Kat relaxed back into Bucky, focusing more on finally getting past the creeping paranoia and into slumber. Bucky continued to rub her back, his expression sad and concerned, hating the look of fear on his lover's face. 

"I'm here." He whispered, his fingers lifting into her hair. "I'll always be here." 

"I'll always be there." She snapped, a cane coming down harshly on the ballet bar, just missing Kat's fingers by a breath. "You point your toes wrong, I'm there. You clip your gun incorrectly, I'm there." Her face came close to Kat's, eyes, practically black, peering at her like a crow. "Is that clear?" 

"Yes, ma'am." Kat responded, bending down as her leg outstretched. 

"Okay, another!" She snapped, this time, the cane ricocheted across Kat's face, swiping a long red ribbon across her cheek. Holding in her cry, Kat got back into position, staring at the back of the girl in front of her as she started the routine. 

Kat got up onto her toes, spinning perfectly in time. The more she swooped and spun, the clearer things became, the more she could block out the fear induced noise in the back of her head. As if suddenly, she was one in the same as the body before her, and behind her. The group moved as one living thing, bending and turning around one another as if connected by the same brain. Their teacher watched as Kat finally accepted the methods they were instilling into the young girl, her pupils widening, black bleeding into green. 

"Number four." She shouted, immediately getting Kat into a stilled position, her hands behind her back. "Come with me." 

Kat followed her, eyes blank and unchallenging, brain suddenly not her own. They entered what seemed to be another classroom, a group of girls, slightly older than Kat herself, stood in the centre, as if they were going to perform their own routine. Kat was handed an object and guided to an empty spot in the room. 

"Follow along." Kat started, lifting the gun and carrying out a series of actions along with the other's as if she'd done the sequence a million times before. 

"She has finally accepted the way." Giovanni commented, coming up beside the old woman, an impressed expression on his face. "She belongs to us now." 

Bucky stared up at Kat in horror as she held the knife above them, his metal arm the only thing stopping her from bringing it down and into his chest. "Kat." He whispered, hoping to break the woman's trance, as she seemed to stare straight through him.

In Bucky's distracted and horrified state, the knife slipped past his defences, landing in his stomach. Bucky grunted as he felt the pain spread through his stomach, blood already oozing from the wound. 

"Tsel' ustranena. (Target eliminated.)" Kat muttered, already lifting her body from Bucky and moving toward the door. 

"Wait," Bucky croaked, wincing as he rolled over to his side, reaching for the emergency button he knew was located by his bedside. He pressed the button as Kat reached for the handle, immediately alerting the entire castle to the disturbance. The widow turned on Bucky, a sneer on her face that Bucky had never seen there before. The brunette man stumbled to his feet, already feeling his tissues knitting back together in his stomach. "Kat-" She growled as she lunged for Bucky, the man dodging her hits barely, hating that he was having to go up against her as if he wasn't just lying beside her in their bed. 

The door flew open, and Steve and Sam stood in surprise, half expecting the exact opposite of what was currently happening in their friend's bedroom. "Buck-"

"She's asleep!" Bucky called, spinning and getting behind the widow, pulling her arm behind her, firm enough to keep her still, but not enough to hurt. "Get Shuri." 

Before anyone could move, Kat slacked, falling in Bucky's arms to the ground, barely avoiding a knock on the head. Bucky stared in disbelief, as Kat stared at the ceiling, a faraway look in her eyes. Her pupils had practically swallowed the greens of her sclera, the only colour now present in her gaze being black. 

"V strakhe yest' sila." She muttered, over and over again, the feeling in Bucky's stomach morphing from pain to fear.

"What's she saying?" Steve asked cautiously, standing a few feet away from the couple. 

"There's power in fear." 

*hahahahha did i have you all fooled? there's a part two? yay! 

I had an epiphany last night, and I thought... I barely stepped into Kat and her history here... it was mostly about her and Bucky! Well guess what! Now it's time for Bucky to help miss Ekaterina. 

I think I will have the first part drafted today, most likely posted tomorrow... so look out for that! 

Thanks

Bella xoxox