The Dark Witch: Fallen (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 53

Confusion, frustration, utter helplessness. 

These emotions seem to swirl into Bucky's throat and the hole in his chest deepened, caving in like sand. 

She would have never been able to return home if he allowed her to risk her freedom for him. She would've been cast aside, treated like a rabid animal, and locked up somewhere with no sunlight. 

That's why he wanted to stop the Doctor. That's why he left her behind.

He was doing this for her. 

Yet...

"For once in your life Soldat, be selfish, be cruel, just run, leave me behind, and get the hell out of here!"

"Did we make a mistake Steve?" Bucky asked softly, needing to see from his own eyes if his thoughts were true.

Steve doesn't respond. He looked like he wanted to, but after several moments and nothing came, he simply went back to the controls, sat down, and remain silent. 

Bucky watches the back of Steve's head from where he stands, metal arm clenching. His anger is palpable, so much so that he felt it take over him, sinking deep into his bones like lead. 

A part of him wonders why he's so angry, why he's so torn at Steve's silence until he remembers that despite the connection Bucky shared with his Dark Witch, Steve also held a place in Lorelie's heart. 

And that... that infuriates him. 

"Steve."

It was only a name.

Yet the tone that comes out of Bucky isn't something to be ignored.

Steve straightened in his seat at that. Bucky could see his fists clench around the controls. 

The former Winter Soldier steps forward, his presence ever looming. 

He needed to know.

He needed Steve to give him a reason. 

That his Dark Witch didn't suffer for nothing, that all this, the hunt for the fake Doctor, had meaning, had a point, had an end goal.

"Bucky," It was a quiet sigh. Steve glances at Bucky with the corner of his gaze, mouth turned down. "Don't."

Don't ask questions, don't do anything, we've come this far, there's no point going back.

Maybe Steve was mourning in his own way, maybe his silence is a way for him to think, or maybe, he was just too damn scared to admit all the wrongs he's done. 

Different people react differently, right? 

The air turned frigid and cold as both men say nothing. 

Bucky could feel the rage building, he could feel the Winter Soldier surfacing, a person that was him but not him at the same time.

No. This wasn't enough. This wasn't... what he wanted. 

Steve had to give him a reason, it's why he chose to follow him in the first place.

But standing there now, in the large Quinjet Bucky felt as though dozens of eyes were on him, reflecting back the choices he made that led him here.

Because at the end of the day, it was his choice. His choice to leave her.

His choice. 

Silence passed between them, neither one of them saying anything for fear of hurting one other. Bucky finally released his fists, letting the turmoil run him over because there was no point holding it back.