What Matters {B.Barnes Daughter} ✔️

~Thirty-Two: Breaking~

Steve peeked his head around the corner to where Bruce was tending to the injured Avengers, his breath hitching in his throat.

Stephen was lying down on his side on one of the beds, knees curled slightly inward towards his chest. He hadn't uttered a word since the explosion, and had a desolate, blank look in his eyes.

Loki was lying flat on his back, unconscious, as Bruce worked on stitching him up. He had received a stab wound to his abdomen, but it was caught in enough time for Bruce to effectively heal him.

Bucky was last in the line of beds, and the back of his was elevated slightly so he was sitting up. His had been strapped of a shirt during Bruce's stitching, and a large, white bandage had been wrapped around his chest. The area where he had been shot was slightly tinted red from blood.

Steve took a deep breath, and began making slow steps over to his best friend.

As he was about halfway there, Bucky looked up and noticed him. He immediately noticed the redness in Steve's eyes, and the broken gaze that they held.

"Steve... I'm okay, pal. I'll be alright, I promise," Bucky said, nodding his head as Steve came closer.

Steve attempted to provide a comforting smile, but he was sure it was more like a grimace.

"I know, Buck. I know," he said.

Bucky smiled softly back, and suddenly his eyes grew excited.

"Where's Lizzie? I just want to make sure she's okay," he said with a small laugh, his eyes lighting up with delight.

Steve found it hard to meet Bucky's eyes after that statement, and he shifted his gaze to the floor. He felt more oncoming tears beginning to push through to the front of his eyes, but he wouldn't cry in front of Bucky. He couldn't, not now.

"Steve?" Bucky asked, becoming suspicious. "Where is she?"

Bucky looked around him, more specifically at the people around him, and his mouth fell agape.

Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Clint, and even Stephen looked absolutely grief stricken and pained, and, like Steve, had red rims around their eyes. They seemed as if they couldn't focus, and were just doing things with their hands as an attempt to keep their thoughts from drifting. He had never seen any of them look this broken, and he let out a weak gasp.

All the color drained from Bucky's face, and a lump formed in his throat.

"No," he whispered, almost inaudibly.

He whipped his head around and looked at Steve, who was glaring down at the ground and biting his lip.

"Steve?" He asked. He felt his voice growing smaller and weaker as his chest tightened, and he swallowed unevenly as Steve's eyes met his. "Please tell me she's..." the soldier trailed off.

Steve grimaced. "She didn't make it out."

At those words, it seemed as if the entire world froze. Everything grew silent, everything grew still, and then there was nothing. It seemed as if Bucky was living in a blur; he wasn't able to see, think, or hear correctly.

He had to have misheard Steve, that was the only explanation.

"What?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"She went inside to get Stephen, and they captured her. She was able to get Stephen out, I don't know how, but I found him on the grass just before we were about to leave. I was about to go back for her, and..." Steve drew in a sharp breath.

"The facility blew up, all of it. S-she never made it out."

"... No, she could've... she had to have made it out, s-she-..."

"Bucky..." Steve said, shaking his head. "There wasn't any way that she could've-..."

"Please," Bucky said, looking to Steve with pleading, heartbroken eyes. "Please tell me it's not true."

Steve simply looked away, unable to continue meeting Bucky's eyes.

That's when it all became far too real for Bucky.

Bucky screwed his eyes shut, leaning against the back of the elevated bed. He brought his hands up to his face and thoroughly wiped his eyes, seeming exhausted. He exhaled a shaky breath as Steve saw tears beginning to sprout in his eyes.

"I just got her back, Steve, I just got my little girl back... and now she's gone?" Bucky whimpered. He phrased the sentence as if it were a question, but he knew that there was no room for exception. His little girl was gone.

"Bucky, I'm so sorry... we miss her, too, pal," Steve said, sighing. A lone tear cascaded down his face, but he wiped it away hurriedly.

Bucky shook his head, burying it in both his hands.

"I'll leave you alone for a bit," Steve said, looking down to the floor. He began to take reluctant steps away from the bed, keeping his gaze locked on the floor.

"No!" Bucky cried, gasping. "I-I don't want to be alone, you can't leave me alone! Please, Stevie! Please don't l-leave me alone," he whimpered frantically.

In an instant, Steve was by Bucky's bedside, bending down and wrapping his strong arms around Bucky's shaking figure.

He buried his head into Steve's chest, and clutched onto his shirt for support. He sobbed against his will as Steve held him, fighting back tears of his own at his comrade's grief. There was a certain rawness to Bucky's sobs, as if he hadn't cried this harshly in years, and that tore Steve's heart in two. He held Bucky tight against him, and stood helplessly as he clutched onto him like it was the only thing keeping him alive.

"No..." Bucky gasped, a sob interrupting his speech. "Not my Lizzie..."

Usually when Steve would catch Bucky crying, he would collect himself in an instant, replacing his vulnerability with pride. Every time, Steve would tell him that it was okay to cry, and Bucky always responded with the same claim; "I wasn't crying."

This time, though, Bucky didn't care, not one bit. He didn't care that his best friend was holding him like a child, he didn't care that he was gasping for breath due to his raspy sobs, and he didn't care that the other Avengers saw him in this broken and vulnerable state. He felt their pitiful glares burning holes into the back of his head, and, in sorrow, he buried his head into Steve's chest further. The Avengers were watching him break down like he never had before, and he still couldn't find it in him to care.

He didn't care one bit, because he knew that they were breaking down right along with him.