𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓷𝓲𝓪𝓬 ❖ 𝓫. 𝓫𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓼

C H A P T E R (30) - L O S S

Cassie had never looked at her damaged arm, she was assured it was only a slice and nothing more, but looking made the pain worse. Psychological or not, that's what would happen, so she never dared to look. Bucky had been her main inspiration to not do so, although her eyes were always glued onto the bandage wrapped around her forearm.

For the first few days that the bandage was on, blood would eventually seep through the cloth and it would have to be changed.

"Ouch."

"That was very monotone for the situation at hand."

Bucky was slowly unwrapping the bandage from Cassie's arm, and it was hurting less than it used to, but she was still in pain.

"I don't even know the situation at hand. Monotone is all I've got for you."

Bucky let out a breathy laugh and smiled as he shook his head. He continued to peel back the fabric and throw it on the floor next to them, and Cassie leaned her head back against the wall in an attempt to help the pain. She was clenching her jaw, doing anything to help, but it didn't.

Bucky noticed her discomfort as he wrapped a clean bandage around her arm, wanting to take it all away. He knew he couldn't, so he settled on making it as easy as he could. So when the bandage was securely wrapped, he placed a hand on her cheek with his thumb close to her bottom lip, bring her gaze down from the ceiling to where he crouched at her side.

"Done." He smiled.

She gave a small smile in response, letting his thumb trace the outline of her lip. Steve came bursting into the room, and Bucky jumped at the sudden entrance before placing himself down on the seat next to Cassie.

"We know where Doctor Zola is, he's on a train headed somewhere they need him desperately."

Bucky and Cassie shared a look before turning back to Steve and nodding reluctantly. As they stood up to get prepared, Bucky grabbed her hand to catch her attention.

"I love you."

He had picked up the habit of telling her he loved her before every mission, making sure she knew it in case anything happened. Nothing apart from minor injuries ever did happen, but he wanted to make sure.

"I love you, too."

**

Despite Cassie's pain and Bucky's attempts to get her to stay behind, she had tagged along anyway. She was under orders to not put herself in danger or help with the fight, which contradicted her presence, but she didn't argue.

Cassie was slowly walking through an empty carriage on the train, tracing her fingers over some storage boxes. She was fascinated by the German words written on them and tried to pronounce a few but failed badly. She eventually turned around, being met with Steve who stood over a few bodies, placing his shield on his back.

"A little help would've been nice."

"You told me not to help you son of a-"

She was cut off by a loud slam, and Cassie turned to see the door between her compartment and Bucky's closed shut. She tried opening it, but to no avail. Steve's shield was no good either.

"Cassie get down!" Steve shouted, and before she could process the situation, he had pushed her to the ground and behind a few of the boxes, covering her from the heavy gunfire.

After it had ended, he turned to where she was sat in the corner and looked down at her condescendingly.

"I told you to not put yourself in danger."

"We zip-lined onto a moving train where we had a ten second window to not get splattered by it, and I've been reading German words I don't understand ever since. I've avoided danger the best I could."

Steve stared at her blankly before shaking his head, a small smile playing on his lips. That smile quickly faded as a loud sound could be heard in the nearby carriage, the one Bucky was on. The door was now open, and helping Cassie to her feet, Steve dashed through with his sister on his trail.

There was somehow a large hole in the side of the train, and when Cassie couldn't see Bucky anywhere on the inside, her heart began to race. She ran over to the unexplained hole and there was a slight relief in her system as she saw Bucky clinging on before it was quickly replaced by fear.

Bucky held onto the metal rod with his arm, his knuckles turning white at the strength of his grasp. Cassie made sure she was attached to the train where she was secure and couldn't fall as she extended her pain-filled arm out, watching as a piece of snow briefly landed on her hand.

Her thoughts were disrupted by this snowflake. It was only momentarily, but her eyes admired every little part of it. Every indent, every little piece of snow that made up this beautiful piece of nature. So fragile and easily broken if touched, but it stayed on her skin nonetheless, leaving a small patch of water as it melted away.

She brought her gaze back to Bucky, reaching out as far as she could. She couldn't lose him. He was going to be okay. He had to be okay.

She felt her brother approach her from behind as he assessed the situation, not knowing what to do. There were a few noises from the train, the metal rod Bucky was clinging onto beginning to shake. She tried to extend her arm out further, but because of the pain, she couldn't reach him without her arm completely burning - despite how much she tried.

It wasn't long before the rod completely detached, taking Bucky down with it.

"NO!" Cassie screamed, finding herself weak in the legs.

The pain Cassie felt burn her body made her drop to her knees. It was as if the part of her that kept her functional was gone, and her body didn't want to work anymore. Not without him.

The tears streamed down her face without her permission, but she didn't care as she let out a scream for all to hear as it echoed throughout the mountains.

Her first thought was to follow him down, like a captain going down with the ship, but a strong arm she had barely made out to be her brothers had gripped her tightly, preventing her from going. Whether she wanted the death part of jumping, she didn't know at the time.

She just wanted him.

Cassie knew Steve was struggling with it too, but he didn't remove his grasp from her as he slung her over his shoulder, carrying her off of the train. She kicked at him, crying and screaming, but it was of no use. He wasn't letting go.

In Steve's mind, his thoughts were going too fast for him to comprehend it all. He had just lost his best friend and had to prevent his sister from going as well. Of course he was feeling the pain from watching Bucky fall, but he could do nothing. He was useless. Instead, he did what Bucky would have wanted him to do and save Cassie before she did something he couldn't save her from this time. Rescue her, per say, before she needed rescuing.

Returning and having to explain what happened was going to hurt the siblings in a way they did not know, and did not want to know.