DIVINE RETRIBUTION │barnes ²

twelve

How he had managed to escape was still very much a miracle.

The Soldat - or James Buchanan Barnes he had now learned, had left Steve Rogers on the bank of the river and trampled a kilometre or so to the nearest shop, where he had stolen a change of clothes and then some money from an innocent passerby.

From there, he wandered around DC for several days, sleeping in parks and alleyways and pickpocketing more money to get by. It wasn't until he had heard some tourists talk about the museum had he made his way over.

It was a culture shock. Never had he been in such a loud crowd. The amount of people bumping into him made him uneasy and it took all his willpower to not lash out with his bionic arm.

But at least he was able to learn more about his old life and where Rogers fit into it.

After leaving the museum, Bucky took the first train out of DC and found himself at a port in New York City where he was able to sneak onto a ship that took him directly to the shores of Portugal.

He realised soon enough he didn't know where he was going.

So there he was, a lost man from the 40s, the oldest prisoner of war and a father without a daughter.

Bucky thought about her often, if not almost every minute he was awake. He should never have left her on the highway but those were his superiors had said that she was most likely already compromised and that his top priority was to get himself out of the area as soon as possible.

Was she safe? Now that SHIELD had fallen and HYDRA had crawled back into the shadows where was she? He remembered Steve's words and hoped that he was with her.

And as if all of this wasn't enough, the nightmares weren't getting any better. He sees the black woman occasionally and she bears such a striking resemblance to Evgenia that he's starting to wonder - but no, that can't be the case. There was no way that he had been involved with her, HYDRA would've killed him if he had.

Even if he tries to convince himself that the dreams are nothing and he's being ridiculous, he begins jotting everything he can remember from them down into a notebook.

He's far from the Bucky that he once was, but as he looks up at the setting Portugese sun, James Buchanan Barnes lets out the smallest smile, because this is only the beginning to his journey back to Evgenia, back home.

═══════════════════════

quick update on bucky and how he's doing, which is not so good. and also yeah zhenya's half black, i feel like some of y'all have forgotten but her faceclaim is literally biracial and i've mentioned her braids.

i also have a sharon carter fic up which will delve a little bit into sharon's involvement in the winter soldier, civil war and also include parts of the falcon and the winter soldier series. the oc in that fic is sharon's little sister.

ps. sophie if you've gotten this far, i just want you to know that theoalvin is for li- OH NO WAIT THEY'RE BROTHERS