Relapse ★ Bucky Barnes

Consider the Consequences

"Please don't do this," Bucky pleaded with her, his eyes flashing to Wanda. She was now approaching him as well, her fingers curled around a sphere of dark red energy. "Consider the consequences of your actions."

"We have no choice," Wanda told him as she stepped closer and closer to him. "We are only trying to help you, Bucky."

Bucky looked back at Marlena, his eyes and thoughts begging for her to stop—for her to let him go. "I'm only trying to protect you two. Does that not matter to you?"

"Of course it does, but you matter more," Marlena strained as she lowered him onto his knees. "I won't let them take you away from me again."

"Neither will I," Wanda added.

Bucky struggled to break free, but it was no use; Marlena was too powerful for him.

"I'm sorry," Marlena apologized to him in an attempt to make herself feel better, though the look of betrayal on his face did nothing to ease how horrible she felt; if anything, it only made her feel worse about the situation. "Just know that we're doing this to protect you."

Before Bucky could even respond, Wanda curled her fingers in front of her, sending a wave of her own energy zipping towards him. Bucky's irises flashed with a deep red color as he looked up at the two of them, and in seconds he was falling unconscious. Marlena swallowed the lump in her throat and lowered the rest of his body onto the floor as gently as possible, gazing over at Wanda with a saddened look on her face.

"He's going to be so mad at us, Wanda," Marlena said to her.

"Maybe so," Wanda started, shifting her gaze from Marlena and down to Bucky. "But he will thank us for doing it when all of this is over."

★ ★ ★

Marlena took a deep breath and snatched her hands away from Bucky's head, running a trembling hand through her short hair. Her body felt cold, much colder than it should have been, and she knew that was because of what she had just experienced when she ventured inside his mind.

"I think—I t-think we're done f-for the d-day," Marlena spoke as she ran over to grab one of Bucky's hoodies from her dresser. She threw it on immediately, allowing the heat from the fabric to encase her trembling body.

"I would hope so," Wanda said quietly. She sat curled up on the floor against the wall with her knees pressed to her chest. She was working on recovering from her painful experience of Bucky having his arm sawed off without so much as an anesthetic to numb the pain for him. Not to mention, she had also just endured the pain of his many memory wipes. She felt as if her brain had been ran through a meat grinder over and over again, though she was thankful the sensation wasn't exactly real. She just hoped her headache went away soon.

Marlena sat down beside her, laying a head on her shoulder. "Tony said it would be overwhelming; I just wasn't aware it would be this overwhelming."

"He's been through so much," Wanda whispered. "All that pain, Marlena. . .all that guilt."

"I'm almost terrified to subject those jurors to this horror, but if we don't then they'll never see that he deserves to be free," Marlena said to her. "He didn't choose this life; Hydra chose it for him."

Wanda frowned and looked down at Marlena. "Should we, uh. . .should we wake him up?"

Marlena leaned her head up, her eyes never leaving Bucky's unconscious figure. "You know that if we do he's going to be livid with us."

"I know." Wanda sighed, "But we were only trying to help him. He needs to understand that."

Marlena shrugged and stood up, using the wall to steady herself. "Let's get to it then."