CopyCat | Bucky Barnes

81

It was a relief to feel the solid ground again, and I removed my helmet to get in some fresh air. We were all back on the platform like we'd never left. Everyone looked as worried as I felt, but we made it. We made it back.

"Did we get them all?" Bruce is the first to ask. No one said anything.

"Are you telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey laughed.

Clint dropped to his knees next to me, and I finally noticed someone was missing. Natasha. He looked beaten down, no, he looked like he was grieving.

"no...." I shook my head with a whisper.

"Clint, where's Nat?" Bruce asked him. I glanced at Steve, and he seemed to have put it together too.

Bruce knelt down and pounded a fist hard on the platform. I had so many questions, but I couldn't bring myself to ask any of them. Neither could anyone else.

He didn't say anything, he simply opened his palm and let the stone drop on the platform. He got to his feet slowly and left the room. We could still fix this. We have the stones now, we could get her back, get everyone back.

Tony, Rocket, and Dimitri took the stones to the lab while the rest of us took some time to rest and process. Although it wasn't long before Bruce and Steve couldn't stand the waiting anymore, and finally coaxed Clint out of hiding to explain what happened.

We went out to the docks, and he came out with Steve. Steve sat down to listen, but I folded my arms against the wooden support plank. I listened anxiously as he recanted what happened.

Their arrival to Vormir. His description of the red hooded man who led them to the stone. And more painfully, when Nat jumped off a cliff in sacrifice for the stone. Steve had started to cry, I didn't want to be insensitive, but it would be okay. We can bring her back.

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony finally asked after some time.

"Yeah." Steve nodded. "Us."

"What?" Thor asked.

"Huh." Tony looked up.

"What are you doing?" Thor questioned.

"Just asked him a question," Tony said.

"Yeah, no, you're acting like she's dead." Thor scoffed. "Why are we acting like she's dead?"

"Exactly." I agreed. Thor nodded at me, and I pushed off the plank. "We have the stones, don't we? We have them, so we use them to bring her back too."

"Yes, yes!" Thor chimed. "We can bring her back. So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."

"We can't get her back." Clint stated sullenly.

"Wha- what?" Thor scoffed.

"It can't be undone." His voice cracked. "It can't."

Thor only laughed. "I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way on the outside my pay grade here." Clint pulled himself together. "But she still isn't here, is she?"

"No, that's my point." Thor shrugged.

"It can't be undone." Clint said again, his voice cracking even harder. "Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer- and you go fly and you talk to him!"

That seemed to shut him down. I didn't want to be wrong, but how could I be? Thanos wielded the stones and murdered trillions of people, and we can't use that same power to bring back just one? It wasn't fair. And it wasn't right.

"It was supposed to be me..." Clint cried. "She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."

I was too stunned to speak. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was so torn by my own grief for her, for all of us. She was really gone...

Bruce snapped off a bench and launched it across the lake. "She's not coming back...." he muttered. "We have to make it worth it.... we have to."

Steve stood up, breaking out of his still trance. "We will."

We had the stones, and it seemed awful to wait any longer. What would happen when we brought them back? Pretend the last five years didn't happen? Could I rest...

Clint and Tony were the first to leave, and I sat on the bench where Steve had been. Bruce and Thor made their exits, which left Steve and me alone. It seemed like so much time had passed. He sat down next to me, and I concentrated on my knotted fingers.

"I didn't think it was possible to keep losing people." I finally spoke after some time.

"I know." he agreed. I turned my neck to look at him and continued gazing out at the water.

"You've barely said anything since we saw her," I told him. I knew it didn't have to say her name, and he knew who I meant. I was going to have my family back soon, and I didn't want to leave anything unsaid between us before that happened.

"I was... surprised," he said. I waited for something more, but he couldn't find any words.

"You've done so much for me," I said. "More than I could ever repay you for, even when I made it hell for you... you never gave up on me."

He finally turned his head to me. I stared at him and raised my hand to his cheek. "I love you so much.... which is why I'm letting you go."

He looked confused, but I stroked his cheek. "You deserve happiness, brother. And I want you to get everything you want out of life, without burden.... I'll be okay." I nodded tearfully.

His hand covered mine, and his head bent down. I pressed my forehead against his and sighed.

".... end of the line." Steve whispered. I smiled, drawing back.

"Not at all." I shook my head.

An: I have four chapters remaining, plus the epilogue. It feels amazing to finally finish this series properly. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'll have the next one up soon <3