You wake up to an empty space next to you, Conner was nowhere in sight. You slowly sit up and look around, nothing felt right. All your thoughts were blurry like they didn't exist, like they were memories, important ones. You remove yourself from the bed and walk out into the hallway, it was empty—as always. The rotting wooden boards beneath you creaked when you made your way down to the stairs at the end of the hall, slowly creeping down the stairs you look to the front door. What was outside? You could see trees dancing through the glass and you could hear the faint howl of wind, taking cautious steps towards the door you opened it and stepped out onto the concrete floor. Leaves littered the ground and the early morning sun stung your eyes, there were trees scattered at every corner that went on for miles. You walk down the small amount of steps towards a fountain in the middle of a dirt driveway that circled it, you sit at the edge and peer into the water reflecting your face.
"N/N..." You hear Conner behind you and you look behind your shoulder, he was breathing heavily with beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. You look back to the water and drag your fingers gently over top creating small ripples that distorted your appearance, you heard his feet crunch the leaves, dirt and gravel under him. You watched him in your peripheral vision as he sat down next to you.
"Seems like your back healed quickly." You keep your eyes on the water as he sighs, you look up to him. His eyes were bouncing from one place to another like he was checking for something, he grabs your wrist before your vision goes blurry and your head spins. The blurriness vanishes but you were still slightly dazed causing your stomach to whirl, you look around to see trees surrounding you with blackness in the horizon. "Where are we? What did you do?" You hold your mouth when a wave of nausea hit and your empty stomach threatened to spew what was left from the last meal you ate, what did you eat? Did you even eat at all?
"I need to talk to you." He pulls at your shoulder harshly making you shoot your head in his direction.
"What is it?" You clear your throat and scrunch your face up.
"Please don't be mad at me." You look at him confused and slightly worried before he grabs the back of your neck as he presses his thumb and index finger into your pressure points, his left hand raises to your forehead making images and flashing lights flood your vision. Your head hurt from all the memories you gained back causing you to fall onto your knees when they buckle underneath you, you took deep breaths as an image of a man presented itself in your mind. His crystal blue eyes piercing into your heart making it flutter with love, his pearly whites shining when he grins down at you. His long soft wavy hair falling to his shoulders with his deep brown stubble that pricked at your skin when you kissed and the cold metal gripping gently to your right hand.
You gasped and held your left hand to your heart when everything came back to you. Your memories of your family, all the wars you watched on from your bedroom window, the planets you saw become fireworks in the sky, and your planet that joined them later on in the years. The memories of landing on Earth, being rescued and recruited by the Avengers, falling in love with the man you now call your fiancé and soon to be husband—your real soulmate—came flooding back into your mind.
You look up to see Conner looking down at you with brows raised and eyes glistening in worry, your face grows grim and you snarl at his form. His eyes widen when you jump up and push him against the trunk of a tree, he groans in pain and pulls his head back with his face scrunched.
"What the hell, Conner!" You growl at him, you remember what happened yesterday. "Where are we?" You had your arm pressed against his chest and your right knee poking into his gut, he looks down at you and takes a sharp breath.
"Can you let me go," he gasps and squeezes his eyes shut, "please?" He pleads with exhaustion showing in his tone. "My back..." He gently places his hand on your forearm and you could see the pain in his eyes.
"Why should I? With the amount of pain you've given me physically and emotionally, you deserve this!" You spit in his face and you feel his body flinch and tense against you.
"Be the kind, Y/N I knew, don't have revenge." He says calmly under his breath, he made you realise everything you're doing is wrong. Lately you've been fuelled with anger and revenge that you haven't been able to think clearly, all you wanted was for him to suffer the pain that he he gave you, that's when Elliore made his appearance in your head. He was back as well, Conner had your powers, what if Elliore takes them from Conner for himself, so many people would be in danger. You snap out of your thoughts and jump back from Conner letting him go, he peels himself from the tree and falls to the ground groaning.
"I won't hurt you, but if I have to, I won't hesitate to kill you." He looks up at you before dropping his head back down to the ground. "Why did you give me back my memories?" He slowly sits and takes in deep breaths as you crouch down in front of him.
"After my father ordered me to stab you in your lower part of your abdomen, I was slightly confused as to why he wanted me to do that. He had me wrapped around his pinky this whole time, making me do all his dirty work. When I brought you back into the world I created I had a small meeting with my father. I asked why I had to stab you and he said he didn't want another man's child around while you were with me. I would never of done it if I knew you were pregnant, it hurt me just as much as it hurt you and I'm sorry for that. In the last couple of days you've made me rethink everything I'm doing, I want to help you. Elliore may be my biological father, but he doesn't care for me like a father should. I don't care for how much he tortures me, I want to help you defeat him. But I need you to trust me."
You were shocked to what he just said, you sat down against a rock and thought. You had no clue if he was telling the truth, yet you had no clue whether he was telling a lie either, there was only one way to find out and that was to trust him.
"Alright." You mumble under your breath. "Why did Elliore try and trick me into thinking we were married?" You look into his eyes and he sighs.
"Because, he still believes since he first marked you on your hand and claimed you as part of Ugrarath, that even now you still belonged to us. It felt wrong. I want to help you get out of here, but he'll come after me, then you, then everyone you love." You raise your brows and look up to the sky.
"Where are we by the way? You didn't answer before." You look back down at him and he chuckles.
"We're back on Earth." Your eyes widen.
"Are you serious?" The corners of your lips curl. "If we go back to the Avengers facility they can protect us... they can protect you." You stand up and lend him a hand.
"It's not that easy, Y/N." He gasps as you pull him up off the ground.
"Your back. You realise you can just heal it?" A brow raises on your face and your hands rest on your hips.
"I can't. Your powers don't heal everything... you know that right?" He asks and you tilt your head a few degrees to the side.
"What do you mean?" You ask him, he looks around and clenches his jaw.
"You know what the teglar whip is?" You hummed in thought and shook your head. "Ugrarath always used that whip when torturing prisoners, they used it on your people more than they did anyone else. The flames from the whip created wounds that couldn't be healed, not even by your new powers." He looks down at you, you didn't realise how close he was until you felt the warm air escape his nose and brush against your skin. He took a step closer and you looked away, you walked towards a tree and looked out into the darkness.
"Why is it so dark?" He walks towards you and you could feel his body heat radiating.
"Have you never tried this spell before?" He asks and you look up to your left with furrowed brows.
"No... what is it?" He raises a brow at you and chuckles.
"Let's just say, nobody can see or hear us in here. The darkness is endless, you can create different realms and places whenever you want. If you walk that way and don't stop, nothing will change. It will just be forests and black horizons for miles." He points in front of you.
"And you did this just so we could talk?" He scoffs at your questions and you look up at him from the darkness hundreds of metres away.
"No, there's more than just talking that I brought you here for." Your heart skipped a beat when he grabbed your elbow and turned you towards him, you looked into his eyes trying to pull your head into your body like a turtle. He places his left hand onto the side of your neck and forced his lips onto yours, you felt a tingling sensation flow through you and you felt everything become lighter the longer he kissed you. His lips were gentle on yours as he slowly moved and deepened the kiss, you had no clue where this was coming from all of a sudden.
You pull away startled and angered. You slap his shoulder and point your finger in his face.
"I have a fiancé you dumbass!" You growl at him as he mouths an 'ow' and laughs.
"I know. I had to give you your powers back somehow, and I've missed kissing your lips." He smirks down at you, your face turns into disgust.
"Just because you miss it doesn't mean it's right. You could've given them back the same way you took them." You cross your arms and wobble your head.
"By choking you? Do you really like being choked that much?" Your eyes widen and he chuckles.
"Conner! Shut up!" You slap him on the shoulder again and he squirms before freezing because of his back, you look at him blankly. As much as you believed he wanted to help, you could still sense part of the evil Conner lingering inside him.
"Not even a thank you for giving you your powers back?" He toys and you roll your eyes.
"I don't have to thank you, they were mine and you stole them from me. You don't thank a thief when they give you back what rightfully belongs to you." He raises his brows at your comment.
"That's new. Usually you'd thank anyone and everyone." You glare daggers up at him and he freezes.
"I'm a different person now, thanks to you." You could feel the tension rising in the air around you. "Why'd you give them back?" He shrugs his shoulders.
"Not my thing, I like fire better." You roll your eyes. "And also you're more experienced with them, you're gonna need them to get us out of here." He takes a deep breath and you raise a brow.
"So you're willing to come to the facility with me?" You ask him and part your feet as your arms fall to your side.
"As long as your friends don't try and kill me, sure." You scoff.
"I can't promise you anything." You grab his hand and hold him tight. "Close your eyes. You tend to wanna throw up when you don't do this often." He nods his head and squeezes his eyes shut, his fingers grip tightly to your skin and you look down. Taking a deep breath you think of the facility and teleport outside of the large building, the energy that came from you created a small explosion of wind causing you and Conner to fly apart and onto the hard ground. You coughed and looked up to see Conner struggling on the ground because of the raw blistered and scarred skin on his back, you get up and run towards him. "C'mon, get up." You grab his wrist and he grabs yours, you help him off the ground and turn around to see Wanda run out of the glass doors.
"Y/N!" She smiles at you before her face drops into a death stare when she looks to Conner.
"No! He's not going to hurt anyone! He needs medical assistance." You put an arm out as she creates red wisps in her hands, she looks to you before sighing.
"You better know what you're doing." You smile at her and make your way towards the door.
"Trust me."
Conner follows behind you limping with a stiff upper body, you barge in through the doors towards the medical bay to find Bruce talking with multiple people. He turns around with wide eyes.
"Y/N!" He smiles, you move out of the way to show Conner. His arm was clutching over his stomach and you saw the back of his dark grey shirt soaked in sweat and red blood.
"Whose this?" Bruce asks confused as Wanda walks out in front of you and next to Bruce.
"That's Conner. The one Bucky told us about." She folds her arms and you smile.
"Where is Bucky?" She looks at you before dropping her head with a frown, you look at her confused as tension rose. Your eyes moved to Conner and his jaw clenched tight. "What did you do?" He looked down and slowly turned his head towards you.
"I'm sorry." He looks into your eyes and you begin to worry.
"Where is he?" You turn back to Wanda and she points down a hallway not removing her deadly gaze from Conner.
"Second door to the right." You run towards where she pointed and quickly make your way to his room, you run in through the doors to see his calm body laying on a hospital bed with a white blanket over him. You slowly walk towards him and your eyes glisten with tears, you take his hand in yours and trace your thumb over the lines in the black metal. His eyes flutter open into slits and he looks at you confused before happiness took over his tired body.
"Y/N..." He coughed and struggled on his words.
"Hey baby, it's alright. Just, stay calm. I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." You smile warmly at him as a tear escapes your eye and falls onto the blanket covering him.
"Good," he breathed out, "I've missed you." His eyes shut and you frown, you bite your lip trying not to cry but the beads of salty tears found their way out of the cage you called eyelids. What happened when you were gone? Was it Conner who hurt him? You had so many questions to ask but you just wanted to stay next to Bucky, he needed you right now. You had to get used to your powers again, you didn't want to use them on him just in case something happened like they did when you teleported here. For now you just had to wait.