|Second in the Timeline Series|
For everyone else it's been seventy years since Sergeant James Barnes of the 107th was killed in action, for Clara it's been 2 seconds. Somehow she manages to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, stick them all tog...
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Hill must have done her part as the helicarrier was bombarded with bullets. The roaring silence was replaced by a din of shattering glass and explosions. Clara wished it were too loud to hear herself think but her mind kept ticking away. She was going to die here. There was no escape, no extraction plan, nothing. She was going to die staring into the eyes of the love she hadn't managed to let go. It would have been tragically romantic if he even knew who she was. Alas it was just tragic.
The metal mesh of the bridge groaned under the new found pressure of a ceiling beam that had fallen in all the chaos. Clara had only just managed to dive out of the way and grab onto the railing or she would have been crushed. Surprisingly she felt no fear. Clara was immersed in a strange wave of calm. Everything around her seemed to move in a haze of slow motion. What was happening was simply happening and whatever happened to her, so be. She was in a state of complete passivity but she had never felt more in control. As a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, her life was bent to the will of S.H.I.E.L.D, or HYDRA, which had somehow become one and the same. But now S.H.I.E.L.D had fallen, and Hill had left them on their own, Clara's life was truly in her own hands. But her hands were tied.
The bridge clattered and fell from beneath her feet. The railing was still fastened to the wall at the other end, but how long it would support her weight, Clara had no idea. Steve was still immobile, clutching weakly at his bullet wounds, still glistening with fresh blood. He struggled to stagger over to her and extend his hand for her to grab onto. But it was futile. Steve had arrived too late and would never had summoned the strength to support the both of them. Clara's grip on the railing slipped. The bolts holding it together, creaked and failed.
And she fell.
The Winter Soldier watched them as the turmoil unfolded before his eyes. The man was dying. He was seriously injured, any exertion would surely kill him but he still made the attempt to save the girl from falling. It wasn't a big drop. He'd made the fall only moments ago. She was considerably smaller, weaker, than he was, but the drop wouldn't kill her. Had he succeeded in reaching her, holding her up, the man would have suffered too much pain and would die within minutes. His mission would be complete. Then why did a sigh of- no it couldn't be relief- leave his lips when the girl fell and groaned in agony, but still lived, and the man carried on grunting in pain as he moved, but was still alive...
A huge creaking from above him indicated the imminent fall of one of the ceiling beams. He was stuck in a trance of observation and had no time to move. He should have been able to get out of the way, to safety. Had he been with any other people, he would have done. But the beam fell straight into his path, knocking him to the ground. It wasn't the first time he had cursed his abilities. Had he not died at his first fall, none of this would ever had happened to him.
Why couldn't the world just leave him be?
Clara could see him struggling under the incredible weight of the beam. Had she lost consciousness? She could have sworn the last time she had seen him he had been standing. Ignoring the pounding in her head and the unsettling warmth of her own blood trickling down the side of her face, she reeled to her feet. The helicarrier's turbines were failing. It lurched down, almost careening Clara of course. She stumbled, steadying herself on the glass floor with her hands so she didn't topple over. But the debris was also on a downwards course. It grated across the floor, sending up shards of glass as it flew down the length of the deck. Clara propelled herself forward with the little strength she had left, narrowly avoiding decapitation.
Once again she was by his side. He was helpless, completely pinned under the colossal weight of the beam. His frantic eyes darted from the beam up to her and back again. That look of total incapacity. For once, he was powerless. She'd only ever seen him this vulnerable when he first told her he loved her. It was so long ago now it was like it had never happened.
For him it hadn't. He remembered none of it.
"Steve!" She called up to the man on the bridge. Steve: he repeated in his mind. Over and over, willing a memory to come back. Steve. But nothing came.
"Steve, help me!" She called out, desperately. The anguish in her voice was enough to make him forget. Forget HYDRA, forget his torture. But not being able to remember her name was torture enough for him.
"Steve, please." She spoke, barely a whisper. Helplessly, she tugged at the beam. It was redundant. Nothing happened. Her influence of the situation was void. The beam didn't move. And he couldn't remember.
"Bucky..." She sighed, the word leaving her lips as a faint memory. He tried to hold onto it. The sound of her voice when she said his name. His name. It was his name. He had to remember.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud thumb as the man from the bridge jumped down to the lower level. The noise had distracted him. He had to remember his name...he had to remember before it was lost...
Hey everyone!
This book just keeps getting more and more emotional,
