a/n: there will be switched third-person point of views, but it'll be combined later in the story. third person limited for now, but third person omission later on! cool? how are you enjoying it?
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bucky:
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bucky looked up at the never ending red and orange of the world around him, a small stream of light from the cracked stone him and half of what thanos had destroyed inside. buck's arms around his knees that were brought to his chest. hadn't he seen enough for his lifetime? or did god have more plans for the killing machine he had been?
he rocked himself forward and back, in a trance. not a crimson one, a navy one. one of fear, complete discomfort throughout. his arm was broken, only his shoulder part would work. red and yellow swirled throughout his chest in a hurricane's format. killing him anxiously. brown, black, and blue vomit in his throat. his steel blue eyes not focused on a thing, other than one thought.
to get the hell home.
"uh, dr. strange sir, is he okay?" the young peter parker asked, groot pouting in the corner of the small cave they were all in. dr. strange sighed, looking down at the teenager. wondering how tony dealt with the constantly curious and awkward boy. full of sky blue and red, matching the hero's palate that he was.
"no peter, he isn't" the doctor replied, he tapped bucky on the shoulder, who shook out of his trance, his breathing quicken, dr. strange knelt down to him, holding him still in an awkward, yet warm hug.
"shh, it's okay. bucky, right? it's not as bad as it seems." he assured, buck'y eyes locked with the cloaked man's lighter blues. his cheekbones well defined, bucky's eyes started to line with red, rain pouring from his steal clouds. vulnerability taking over him.
"b-but they're d-d-dying strange. people a-are dying!" bucky said, peter laughed to himself at that, bucky held up a fist, the fifteen year old gulped, the doctor continued to hold the solider.
"i know. i know calm down bucky. we're going to get out of here sooner or later." he said, bucky nuzzled into his chest, imagining he was steve. he knew he should've told him before they went out. but of course, being his constantly torn self, he couldn't.
"it's all k-karma." the solider said, dr. strange sighed.
"i'm sorry you had no control over any of it. just breath now. count slowly and go along with it. please. we don't need you dying from your post traumatic stress." he said, bucky caught his breathing in his grasp, slowing the overly-quickened puffs of air to a minimum, the doctor letting go after enough time had passed, holding the older man's shoulders. forever torn inside his mind, world war two never ended for him. never.
"better?" he asked, peter looked over with concerned, feelings of regret in his facial expression.
"sorry mr. barnes. i-i" "it's fine kid. just think before you speak, got it?" he said sternly. the red coming out from the walls through bucky's tone. not like him. he wanted to cry right there from it. it wasn't him.
"got it s-sir. i still think your arm's really cool. maybe we can fix it with-" "peter, we don't have time for repairs. we need to get to... wherever the universe is. favorably; earth." dr. strange cut in, peter sighed in blue. knowing he's never been able to speak a full sentence with anyone in this stone, bucky took notice.
"strange, let the kid talk. you've been cutting him off for three weeks like he's five." bucky said, root perked up in the corner.
"i am groot." he mumbled, peter looked over his shoulder, and back to the crying half robot, and wizard in front of him.
"well, he's rambling!" strange yelled, bucky's brows furrowed. red still surging in anger. his gut was missing what it needed. an addiction of thought, and the presence wasn't there.
"so what? he's a teenager, let him! we don't know if we're getting out alive. and frankly, i don't want him to die!" bucky yelled.
"well maybe we won't if he actually shut up!" he said, root stood up, dropping the rock he was 'playing' with.
"i am groot!" he yelled in anger, stomping a foot. the two men stopped. silence fell over the cave, a child's scream fell through from the outside. a slow death awaiting them all.
"groot's right, we need to cooperate and shut up." peter said, strange and bucky looked over to him in confusion.
"and since when did you speak groot?" strange asked, his cloak mimicking hands on his hips.
"well... his tone was really stern.." he said, bucky realized it and went with it, understanding it. strange grunted, accepting the cause.
"alright, i'll give it to ya kid. how are we going to get out of here?" he asked, they all sat in silence once more.
"i don't know mr-dr. strange." he said in a shivering fashion, bucky reached a hand out to him, the one that wasn't broken. the real one, with flesh under his fingerless gloves. as if it were lost in the fire. this was hell. not heaven.
maybe he won't end up there, since he was here now?
"maybe we're dead." bucky suggested, the three looked at him in navy, but a crimson undertone. terrified.
"no."
"that's impossible."
"i am g-groot."
"well, then were are the dead going mr. barnes?" peter suggested, the doctor was astonished at the question, wanting to know more.
"if this is hell, then heaven. but i don't know." he said, peter shook his head.
"that's impossible. if we were dead, then our ashes wouldn't have turned to thin air. they'd be piled. we'd be there, in remnants. not disappeared." he said, bucky sighed.
"listen kid, i just don't want to face any more thoughts on top of every other traumatic thing in my head of my best friend not knowing if i'm dead or not, when i don't eve know if i'm dead myself. so, we don't know kid. not until we find a way out." bucky explains existentially. his navy thoughts were always taking tolls on him with harsh winds and thunderstorms. too harsh, but he deserved it. he didn't deserve it. not bucky. hydra did. but he ended it up wit hit, all because it took over him.
another tear, slowly falling down his face.
"so, i-i might b-be dead." he said, bucky nodded in shame. hugging the boy.
"maybe. i don't know. i'm sorry kid." he said, peter's hands went to hold his head, as he started to cry.
"nice. real smooth barnes." dr. strange said, playing with his rattling necklace. rattling...
"like you did better strange." he said, holding a sobbing peter parker, who wrapped his arms around the veteran. they stayed like this, sitting on the stones of the cave around them.
"i-i don't wanna die mr. barnes." he said, bucky rubbed peter;s back.
"me neither kid." he said.
"i had a test a week ago, a big one. now i missed it." he said, bucky chuckled at the small dilemma.
"i'm sure you were excused. half your class are out there." he said, the doctor shook his necklace, playing with the now rattle. assuming it was the insides broken up.
"lemme ask, why is that thing rattling strange?" bucky asked, the doctor stopped, and looked down. realizing it wasn't broken.
he opened it up, revealing small, glowing, green shards in the hole. bucky and peter's steel eyes grew, groot's beatle eyes woke in confusion, and dr. strange's light blue beads closed the necklace immediately.
"he d-doesnt. he doesn't have the whole stone." peter stuttered, staring in awe at the glowing green shards in the doctor's necklace. bucky sat there, his growing hair a little past his shoulders now, and it was blowing around from the hot breeze of the stone they'd reside in.
"n-no kid. i guess he doesn't." strange said, bucky walked over to the doctor, holding the necklace in his real hand, rocking the shards back and forth with careful, pastel blue gestures. he looked up at the tall doctor.
"so... now what?" bucky asked, groot looked on in amazement, mesmerized by the green shards. the black shadows on the inside of the crystals reflecting white light, the power was still there. yet hardly alive, but clinging on.
"well, we can use it for power. time beats the soul, even if a soul can live in time. time can destroy a soul if it's old enough." dr. strange said philosophically. bucky looked at him with red and yellow, not hurricane.
"that's the wisest thing i've heard out of that ratty mouth of yours so far for the past three weeks." bucky said, peter sniggered behind them, playing with a stone from the ground. matching the colors of the walls around him.
"thanks traumatized one. seems like you do have a light side under all that pain." the doctor slyly replied, bucky choked up, peter quickly got up and put a hand on the robotic arm shoulder, for moral support. buck's eyes watered, but he swallowed the metaphorical pill down. steve would want him to.
"sorry, i didn't know-" "it's fine. just can any of you think before you speak!" bucky yelled, the walls echoed his navy tones, coming right from the pain of his brain. he wanted it all to end. he scrunched his working hand through his this hair in anger. the scents of newspaper filling his nose. everyone stayed silent beside him, not daring to touch the cracked glass.
"i am groot." groot mumbled, the three humans of the four looked over to the teenage root alien. he looked up with his black eyes in wonder and sorrow, peter sniffed, going to hug the tree trunk.
"it's alright bud. he's not mad. he's just scared." peter said, doctor strange looked at bucky and back to peter, confused. bucky felt as if he had been stabbed by the sun.
"w-what?' bucky asked, peter gulped and turned around, groot holding him for orange comfort.
"when you do that, get mad because of your problems. you're not mad. you're just scared, at least from what i can see anyway." he said, the red and blue coming out of him, with a blanket of total snow, although he likes to hide it. innocence.
buck's eyes started to water, it was the truth no one ever told him that before. no one got it.
"t-thanks kid." he said, then went down and hugged the boy, with both his limp and alive arms. peter slowly hugged him back, strange had his hands on his hips with a brown, yellow tone. not understanding how much of deal it was.
"alright, if you haven't noticed we have a job to do. so let's try and have emotional time later." he said, buck's eyes narrowed. he wanted to wrap his hand around his long neck, the same color of steve's, only a little more sickly; explained his mentality perfectly to bucky at least. he'd never choke steve. never again. the highlighted cheekbones of the bearded man's face glowed from the harsh orange light from the cave.
"honestly, did anyone ever tell you you're a sociopath?" bucky asked, his steal eyes in wonder. the doctor laughed.
"high functioning." he stated, chuckling. bucky sniggered, lifting his chin a little. cocky, yellow and orange smirk.
"yeah, alright sherlock holmes, figure this out doctor." bucky said, root played with his roots, that he sometimes liked to dig into the ground, just to make sure he could do it.
"well, maybe the trunk can help." he suggested, groot looked up, ready for the task at hand.
"how?" peter asked.
"he can use his roots as a base." doctor strange said, bucky looked at him, ignoring the suggestion completely. talking about limes instead of apples. a kid wanting chocolate at a store, not veggies.
"do you have a name besides doctor strange so i can call you with a one or two syllable name instead of a long one?" bucky asked sarcastically. it always came out, on rare occasions. when his orange and yellow levels were at the same height with water in his system. when he had the power to distract himself from the trauma, just for a while.
"you're real awake today. yes, it's steve. steve strange. i'm a neuro-surgeon." he said, peter nodded, taking a mental note with his perfect blue eyes. bucky chuckled to himself. steve. he was stuck with the wrong one in here. in this red, orange, stuffy place. not crisp at all in the air, no grey, unless it were rocks. no weather but a hot breeze from other's breathing. no rain to fit the colors. sharpness was replaced with stuffiness.
"what?' steve asked, bucky laughed again.
"you don't look like a steve. you look like a ricardo." he said, peter laughed out very loud, root smiling at the joke he couldn't comprehend perfectly.
"and since when did you wake up barnes? regenerate strength did you?" steve said, buck's yellow and orange glowed.
"this doesn't happen often, probably over tired, new steve. i miss rodgers. you're ricardo now." bucky said, peter laughed again. the pink tones filling the small area they were in.
"fine barnes, whatever floats your boat. while you do that, who wants to be my test dummy to get back to home?" steve asked, all three in front of him raised their hands, strange looks at what he had.
"peter, no chance. too young, can't risk it. groot, i need you for this. that leaves... bucky." he said, bucky stepped forward, his yellow going down, orange rising up. it was too stuffy for him. too stuffy to be a normal blue. the opposite, it was too orange.
"wanna do it buck?" steve asked, in more of the blueberry tone steve rodgers owned. bucky flinched at the sound, wishing it were real. the pain overrided him once more.
"why not throw another thing on the pile? right? what have i got to loose?" he asked, strange chuckled, but kept a straight face.
"your life is on the line here." he said.
"yeah, and I'm a hundred or so years old, do i look like i care? ricardo. let me, i can hand a little more weight on my pounded self." he said, strange sighed, knowing he'd never had a chance if he wanted to.
"fine you win soldier." he said, bucky winced at the nickname, as he always did.
"so, what were you thinking doc?" he asked, strange kicked bucky a sitting rock.
"alright, here's the plan."