Haunted || Bucky Barnes

Chapter 7

A/N: FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Two chapters in one day. Yes I managed that! One step closer to being all caught up! We LOVE to see it! Hope everyone is enjoying reading this so far! 

~~~

Arriving in Baltimore, Alyssa stuck close to Bucky. She always liked being near him, but felt especially protective knowing that they would be digging into some piece of his past. That was always a slippery slope with him and she wanted to support him in whatever way she could. Sam walked on the other side of Bucky, playfully bantering with the kids in the neighborhood.

She was just as lost as Sam was as to why they were there. Bucky had opened up about some of his past to her, but this wasn't part of it. She wondered who exactly it was they were going to meet. Whoever it was, Bucky seemed on edge about it.

They finally reached their destination as they walked up the steps to a house. Bucky took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Alyssa quickly gave his hand a comforting squeeze before letting it go as a kid answered the door.

"We're here to see Isaiah." Bucky stated.

"Nobody named Isaiah lives here." The kid said defensively.

"Look, we just want to talk to him." Bucky pressed.

"You must not have heard what I just said. You're not getting in this house. You can leave now." He responded and made a shooing motion. Bucky took another deep breath, clearly relieving some sort of memory he had with whoever Isaiah was.

"Tell him the guy from the bar in Goyang is here. He'll know what that means." Bucky finally said. Alyssa thought back to the stories she had told him and even the nightmares he had opened up about. Goyang wasn't ringing a bell about any of that.

"How do you know this guy?" Sam asked as the kid went back into the house.

"I used to." Bucky answered in a haunted tone. Alyssa immediately knew what that meant. "We had a skirmish during the Korean War."

The door opened and the three of them were ushered in. The kid quickly checked the area to make sure no one was watching and shut the door once again.

"Look at you." The man, Isaiah, commented staring Bucky down.

"This is, uh, Sam and Aly. Sam, Aly, this is Isaiah." Bucky awkwardly introduced them. "He was a hero. One of the ones that Hydra feared the most. Like Steve."

This had the gears in Alyssa's head turning. The man in front of her seemed like a normal man. Then again, so did Steve and Bucky now that she thought about it. But that wasn't possible was it? Looking over at Sam, he seemed to be starting to piece things together as well.

"We met in '51." Bucky continued.

"If by met, you mean I whooped your ass then yeah." Isaiah chimed in. Yep, Alyssa had to have put it together. A small smile appeared on Bucky's face at the comment but it was gone as fast as it showed up.

As Isaiah continued the story, Alyssa's suspicions became increasingly supported. No regular man could take half of the metal arm. They'd be dead before they could even try.

"I just wanted to see if he got the arm back. Or if he'd come to kill me." Isaiah finished.

"I'm not a killer anymore." Bucky said just above a whisper. The look on his face made Alyssa's heart break. She immediately grabbed his hand again and squeezed it. If she could take the pain away she would, but she couldn't.

"You think you can wake up one day and decide who you want to be?" Isaiah asked him. "It doesn't work like that. Well, maybe it does for folks like you." He gestured towards Bucky and Alyssa. She frowned at the comment, immediately turning to look at Sam. He was still processing the whole situation and who was standing right in front of him.