"he looked at her
the way she needed to be looked at
like the whole world could crumble
and he wouldn't blink."
-atticus
In which a mercenary and a super soldier meet through extraordinary circumstances.
Marvel | Bucky Barnes
Cover by @blis...
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"You are at war with yourself. Caught between what you truly are, And what you're supposed to be."
BUCKY
He was so close.
Everything kept replaying in his head. He was going to pull himself up to the roof to save Nadine. He'd grabbed Kaia and pulled her away from gunfire when a flash of orange exploded over them. The ground rumbled beneath them, like a giant serpent was crawling underneath. The men started shooting before he could even react and Kaia convinced Bucky to flee.
He was so close to saving her.
Now, they were sitting across from each other in another tiny room in Istanbul. Bucky was sewing Kaia's injury up in hopes that she wouldn't bleed out. Fortunately for her, he was able to extract the bullet, which didn't hit any major arteries. Nonetheless, the woman was still weakened from the blood loss and though Bucky didn't doubt his abilities to stitch wounds up, he still considered that the best option was getting her checked to ensure that she was properly taken care of.
The silence was killing him. Nadine's absence hurt more than someone crushing his chest inwards.
"There," he muttered under his breath. Kaia blew out a breath, her left hand loosening the grip it had on the armrest to grab the bottle of alcohol on her lap and took selfish gulps. "Jesus, Kaia, take it easy."
She made a face as she swallowed the hard drink, her dark skin shining with sweat. Her eyes looked at him, then at the gauze in his hand. "M-Merde... Are you finished?"
Even injured, Kaia Labonair was difficult to read. She only seemed disgusted by the poor choice of liquor that was comforting her during this ordeal. It irritated him that she didn't even seem to be angry at Nadine's disappearance. "I just need to patch it up," he replied, hoping he didn't sound too harsh. The hot lump in his throat made it difficult to be civil.
"There was no other choice," she said suddenly. He was trying to ignore that she was staring at him as he cut the gauze.
"Kaia," Bucky warned. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want her to reason with him. What good was there? Nadine was still gone.
And if he was being honest, part of him blamed the French woman. He knew his anger was misplaced, but his head wouldn't stop thinking about all the possible ways he could have helped Nadine escape if it wasn't for Kaia convincing him to follow through with the plan.
Another part blamed Nadine, too. Nadine, with her reckless need to throw herself in harm's way, especially if it meant the salvation of others. He loathed that she always seemed to be ready to get shot, that she didn't seem to fear death.
Kaia's gaze didn't lower. Instead, he felt like she was challenging him, but not in the way Nadine or Emilia would. "You know it's true, Soldat. There was no other choice."
