𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓷𝓲𝓪𝓬 ❖ 𝓫. 𝓫𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓼

C H A P T E R (55) - I N S O M N I A C

"What?"

The man didn't repeat himself, Cassie knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted her dead, and if she didn't succumb to his will, it would be Bucky instead of her.

Bucky had already gone through so much. He didn't deserve death - he didn't deserve any punishment. What Cassie refused to see was the pain she could cause by leaving him, but had decided her death was better than his.

"And you promise me you'll burn that book?"

"I promise." He smirked and motioned for the person holding her to let her go. She brushed herself off as she sent a frown in the direction of the man that had her in the headlock as she turned back to the others.

"Cassie-"

She interrupted Bucky's concerned voice by placing her hands on his face and tracing over his features, rubbing her thumb over his cold skin.

The situation hadn't processed in Bucky's head yet, but it had for Cassie. She could feel the tears that were wetting her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She refused to let this man get his way and inflict fear.

"Bucky..." she whispered, leaning her forehead against his. "I love you."

"I love you too, and you'll get to tell me that again when we get out of here-"

She shushed him quietly as she pressed a thumb to his lips, stopping his sentence. He looked at her with furrowed brows and ajar mouth, the situation still processing in his head.

"There's another way out of this situation...there has to be." He mumbled against her fingers.

She sighed sadly, eyes wet, "It's you or me Bucky..."

"Then let it be me."

"I can't."

Before Bucky could open his mouth again, Cassie was ripped away from him and pulled through the hallway. The man had a tight grip on her hair, and she was unable to get out of it as she was dragged away.

She couldn't even see where they were going, each turn and step blurring together. Finally, they stopped and the hand was released from her hair as she stood up and took in her surroundings.

"Welcome to the roof, Cassie."

"That might be the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"You're about to die, leave your lover behind and you're making jokes?"

"I take it back," she responded to Ryan's relative, "That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

The man sighed as he grabbed her hair aggressively and pulled her to the edge of the skyscraper, making her look down over the clouds and down at the ground. He pushed her even closer to the edge, watching how she tried her best to stop him, which only fuelled his satisfaction of finishing his grandfathers job.

He let go of Cassie's hair as she scurried away from the edge, watching as the man instead removed a gun from his jacket. He loaded it before admiring it in his hands as his eyes travelled back to where Cassie stood not so far away.

"Y'know, there was one story in particular that my grandfather used to tell me. About how he got away with something, even though your boyfriend was quick to accuse him, and rightly so, but he was never truly caught."

Cassie furrowed her brows, completely confused. When he noticed the look on her face, he let out a half laugh and half scoff, lowering his gun slightly.

"He left you a bleeding mess on the floor," he continued, "He was the one who did that to you in the forest. It's what you deserved for trying to be a hero."

Cassie let her mouth fall open as all she could do was blink, taking in the information. Ryan had been the one to give her those injuries that she couldn't solve, and suddenly the memories were rushing back to her. At the time, the memories had been blurry and completely useless, but now they were coming back, and they were all too clear. Ryan's stupid face smirking down at her, his warm breath as he whispered those two devilish words in her ear.

"I wish I could tell you all the stories, but we don't have the time," the man smiled and then smirked, "You should really listen to your brother about not jumping from buildings."

Just after his words, he pulled the trigger and watched as she yelped. The bullet had made contact with her stomach, the blood slowly beginning to soak through her shirt. She stumbled slightly from the impact, losing her footing as she tripped over the edge.

Tony had heard the commotion over comms and had been quick to get back to them, but was too late as he saw Cassie falling. He flew as fast he could in his suit, racing after her. He couldn't begin to think about what would happen if he couldn't make it, and saw as she smiled up at him as he got closer. It was a content smile, admitting death in some way. Perhaps she had always known that death was close - her job made it hard to not realise.

He reached out his hand, grazing against her fingers. He realised he wasn't close enough yet, so he boosted his jets and flew underneath her, placing his arms underneath her neck and legs. He slowly descended to the ground, kneeling down and placing her head in his lap.

"Come on Cassie," he whispered, watching as her eyes fluttered open, but then Tony noticed what had made her fall in the first place - the bullet hole in her stomach and the blood soaking through her shirt, "No...no.."

The others, with the exception of Sam and Bucky, all ran to where Tony was cradling a limp Cassie. Her body was lifeless, but her slowly rising chest confirmed she was still breathing.

Steve was at the front of the group, and he choked out a sob at the sight of his sister. He dropped to her side as Tony placed her head in his arms, moving away. A singular tear had dropped from Tony's chin as he removed himself from the ground, his breathing now rapid and his anger rising.

"Steve..." Cassie murmured quietly, ignoring the pain it caused, "I'll tell mom and dad you love them when I see them..."

Steve let the tears fall at her words, wanting nothing more than to kill the person who had done this to her. Whoever had caused the loss of his sister would pay.

His attention was brought away from her when Sam flew down and grounded himself, Bucky in arms. Bucky immediately shrugged off Sam's attempts to keep him back and ran to where Cassie lay in Steve's arms with the rest of the team circling them.

When he noticed her pale skin and blood-soaked shirt, he dropped to his knees at her side and ignored Steve's pained face. Steve gently moved his sisters head from his lap and into Bucky's, knowing he was the one she would want to be in the arms of when the time came.

Bucky softly moved a few strands of hair from her face and cradled her gently, adverting his eyes from the blood.

"Remember...remember when I told you I had a theory in 1943? It was that you could uh...sleep better, if I was around..." he stuttered, trying to remind her of happy things whilst she was in pain.

Her glossy eyes looked into his, blinking slowly. He refused to admit that anything was going to happen to her, but Cassie was thinking the opposite. She used the little energy she had left to bring the dog tag out from her shirt and ripped it from her neck, grabbing Bucky's hand and enclosing it in his palm.

"I love you...I love you..." He mumbled into the nook of her neck, feeling the words that tried to make their way out of her throat, but couldn't. "Don't talk, don't talk. You'll be fine."

He cradled her body with her head in his lap, her cold and shallow breaths causing a small mist above her lips. He watched as her glossy eyes let a single tear run down her cheek, both of them knowing that one of her next breaths would be her last. Through many shaky breaths and sobs, he managed to whisper a few words, and no more than a few.

"You can finally sleep now, Cass..."

His insomniac had finally been granted permission to rest.

She could sleep now.