FORTUITY ☆ B.BARNES ✔️

48; This Will Get Way Worse Before It Gets Better

"Where the hell is she?" Sam asked, pacing around on the red soil. They have been stuck on Mars for about three hours now. Some were healing themselves and the rest were waiting around while Rocket and Bruce tended to the broken airship. Bucky had wandered off somewhere after the whole ordeal with Maeve and some were starting to wonder if he was even coming back.

The atmosphere of Mars made Bucky even angrier than he was. The ground was ridden with tremors and dust, it's fiery red color almost matched the way Bucky was feeling right now.

He kicked the dirt, hard. It was kind of childish to act this way and he probably should be staying calm in a situation like this.

Suddenly, a flash of green and purple tore through the sky. It was fast and disappeared quick, but everyone saw it as clear as day. It was Maeve!

She looked like a shooting star as she collided with the asteroids, but took no damage. The rocks, on the other hand, were broken into millions of pieces.

"Look!" Sam pointed out, his eyes were squinted because of the blinding light. Everyone's heads whipped around to look at her. Some saw Maeve thriving in the light, but most were oblivious to the fact that the most beautiful thing they saw was their friend.

"What is that?" Scott asked, eyes glued onto the light.

"That's Maeve, you moron!" Rocket answered, climbing onto some debris to get a closer look.
She looked beautiful, her purple and green colors contrasting to the black void that is space. Her silhouette was the only thing they could make of Maeve, and her signature long, flowing jet black hair that seemed to be the most defining color on the palette.

Then just like that, she was gone.

-
HOUR 4

"Done." Rocket said, as he stepped away from the Avengers Airship, and he looked at his work proudly.

"This is all I could make from the spare parts we have on our ship. It still works, though."

Sam stepped away from the boulder he was leaning on, and observed the ship. The broken parts were lazily but efficiently secured together, and the ripped out wires were taped together with scotch tape after Rocket reconnected them by hand.

"Honestly, I don't know why you guys just didn't ride with us." Peter Quill said, shrugging. Drax and Mantis agreed, nodding along.

"Well, your ship is a bit...unsanitary ." Bruce said as he peered over Drax's should to look at the very dirty ship.

Drax laughed loudly, "That's what I said!" He yelled jovially.

Bucky finally made his way back after an hour of walking and being angry. Even though he was close to the group, he sat down on a rock which kept his distance from the rest. Bucky stares into a purple fire that was most definitely caused by Maeve. Now, he was just sad. More like – depressed. What if she wasn't going to come back? She was far too powerful now.

His icy blue eyes were overtaken by the purple flame as he felt the tears threatening to spill. The fire burned bright, and it should have been blinding him. He was just too far gone to care at this point.

Why was he so sad anyways? It's not like she ever care anyways, right? What they had wasn't real, and he shouldn't even have these feelings anymore because well –

It wasn't real.

But he knew it was real to him, even if it wasn't for her. He accepted it, and so he cried. Bucky let the tears fall, and he finally let himself go. He hated crying but now, he never felt so free. To release the pent up anger and frustration and sadness his heart had been building up in him for a long time.

"Fuck." He cursed, chuckling a bit as he wiped some stray tears away. Bucky would be lying if he said that good crying session didn't help him in any way.

"Barnes? We're - we're going to board the ship now." Scott walked up behind him, only to stop a few feet away. Bucky flinched and dried his eyes, before gathering his new space gun and joining him.

"Are you good?" Scott asked, after noticing Bucky's glossy red eyes. Bucky looked to his feet, trying to get Scott's prying gaze off of him.

"Yeah...yeah." He said, choking back a cough. They walked back to the plane as the Avengers boarded it one by one. Next to their spaceship, the Guardians were starting theirs too. The two men could feel the ground shake as the planes simultaneously started up together.

"Do you hate Maeve?" Bucky asked, finally looking up. Scott didn't think he would ask him that, and was caught off-guard.

"Hm? F-for what?"

"For hurting your wrist when she...went all crazy and blasted off into space."

Scott nervously chuckled in response, before sighing.

"No. I think...I think I'm more afraid than anything."

Bucky kept his eyes glued on him, "Afraid of her?"

"I'm afraid for her."

"Scott, she's stronger than Captain Marvel now, and she might just be the strongest being in the galaxy right now."

Scott nodded unsure, "Maybe. But she's alone in this. And there is nothing worse than being alone. She needs us. She needs you."

Then, they finally got to the ship, and it was time to say goodbye to the Guardians. "See you later, Rat. Thanks for the gun" Bucky said sarcastically, smiling as Rocket gave him a high-five in return.

"No worries. Hey - grow out that hair would ya? I want to call you Fabio next time I see you." Rocket joker, earning a laugh from some Avengers.

"If you see anything on Maeve, make sure to report back immediately. The telecom's always open for you guys." Sam said, patting Nebula on the shoulder. She nodded, "Of course. We come to you first."

Groot walked up to Bruce, "I am Groot." Bruce looked at him, puzzled.

"He said 'it was nice to see you again' Rocket translated. Bruce paused for a moment, but nodded slowly with a smile.

"Yeah. It was good to see you too."

Mantis and Wanda hugged tightly. Everyone was unsure of when they were going to get a chance to fight like this again, all together. But everyone was looking for to the monthly meetings, after all, nothing could ever separate the Guardians and the Avengers.