SHIFTER ─ marvel

III. Watching Eyes

Chapter Three
Soroya

I growl at an incoming creature coming towards me, watching as it's large claws tear at the ground to get a piece of me. I slash at the creature's chest, biting into it's neck. I jump onto the back of another creature, tearing at it until it drops to the ground too.

I glance up, looking around at the millions of creatures surrounding us. They're flying through the sky, marching towards us on the ground, and at the center of them is Thanos.

I see Thanos look directly at me, smiling at me as he brings his hand up. His left hand holds the gauntlet, with all of the infinity stones shining brightly as he snaps his fingers.

He begins to laugh, watching as my teammates begin to dust away. The creatures stand by to watch also, not bothering to quench their thirst for blood. They seem to get enough pleasure from watching the horror and sorrow come across my face.

One by one everyone I know, everyone I love turns into ashes floating in the air. Bucky stands a few feet from me, his arm slowly beginning to fade away.

He holds his hand out towards me, seeming to scream my name, but no noise comes out of his mouth. I run towards him, but no matter how fast I tear at the ground, I don't seem to move at all. His face grows more frantic, practically screaming my name as his legs begin to disappear.

I shift back into human form, trying to crawl towards him, trying to get to him. I feel the screams come from my mouth, but they sound almost muffled. I dig my nails into the dirt, I kick at the ground, I try to launch myself forward in any way. But I still don't move.

Finally, with one last scream leaving his lips, Bucky fades to dust. I watch as his ashes float away in the in coming breeze. I let out another scream, hitting the ground repeatedly until my hands begin to bleed. I hear laughing come from behind me and I look back to see Thanos smiling down at me. He lifts his hand and gestures towards me. All at once, the creatures advance on me; their teeth snarling, their growls sounding like demons from hell—

I bolt up in the bed, feeling the last of a yell escape my lips. I grip the sides of my head, focusing on the pressure of my fingers on my temple, but it doesn't seem to calm me down. I try to count my breaths, but sobs begin to slip from my lips.

Bucky woke up when I did; repeatedly asking me what's wrong. His voice sounds frantic, full of fear, and it's this that makes me meet his eyes.

He's breathing very heavily, his eyes full of worry as he pushes a strand of hair from my face. I let the tears fall, trying to find the words to tell him what I just dreamt of. But I can't. It was too horrific.

Bucky knows nightmares better than anyone and he doesn't push me to talk. He pulls me towards him, wrapping his arms around me. One of his hands is rubbing my back, while the other is holding the back of my head. I have my arms wrapped tightly around his neck, and I press my face into his bare shoulder as I continue to sob.

I hear him hum something to me. It takes me a moment before I realize he's humming Moon River. It comforts me better than anything else, allowing me I find to begin to calm down.

"Thanos was back," I whisper, trying to take a deep breath. "He-he had the infinity stones again. When he snapped his fingers, you started to dust away again. I-I tried to get to you, but no matter how ha-hard I tried I couldn't. I watched you scream my name as you tried to reach for me. I could do was watch as you died again. Thanos stood there and laughed."

Bucky can't give me any words of comfort. How can he? Thanos may be dead, but he was dead once and managed to come back. He killed Bucky once, he could have a second time if not for Tony. He can never assure me nothing like that will happen again. He can't guarantee me he won't die, whether it's by Thanos or not. All I could do now was cling onto him and let the tears fall.