Find Me / Save Me (Bucky x Reader)

Seventeen

I was empty. Broken. I didn't even notice when STRIKE agents surrounded us. When they tied us up, put us in the back of a van. It didn't register. The pain in my chest from the bullet barely even mattered. All that I could feel was my broken heart and the tears streaming down my face. My breath was ragged, I started to wonder if everything was a dream. If any of this was real.

I could hear voices talking, but they seemed distant. Was it Steve talking? Sam? I couldn't make out the words. Nothing seemed real, nothing seemed right.

Bucky. It was him. But it wasn't my Bucky. He shot at Steve, at me. He didn't register anything. I could feel myself being moved from my seat, but my mind swirled with flashes of Bucky. Bucky smiling at me in bed. Bucky and I dancing on the field. Bucky holding me close. Then the flashes grew dark. Seeing him fall. Losing the man I loved. Feeling broken and lost. Cold shallow pools instead of my deep oceans. I felt myself let go. No longer wanting to think.

(Steve's POV)

"Bucky?"

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

It happened so fast. I was in shock seeing my best friend standing in front of me. I didn't see it. I couldn't stop it. (Y/N) screamed my name, but I didn't register it. Before I knew it she was in front of me, shielding me, looking at Bucky. She took a bullet to the chest, a bullet meant for me.

"(Y/N)!!" I scream from the realization, the impact making her stumble into my chest. Her wings disappear, and I can't help but think she looks like a broken fallen angel. I follow her gaze, still stuck on Bucky. Before anything else could happen, an explosion sends us flying. I hold (Y/N) close, shielding her from the blow. I can see (Y/N) staring at the same spot Bucky has been. I hear a faint whisper escape her lips, "Bucky..."

She looks like she did back in 1945. Broken and lost. I try to help her stand, but I'm brought down to my knees by Rumlow and the STRIKE team. "Drop the shield, Cap! On your knees! Get on your knees! Now! Get down! Get down!" Rumlow demands. I hold my hands up, my mind racing. "Don't move." I feel a gun on my head. "Put the gun down. Not here. Not here!" I hear Rumlow say. They take my arms and tie them up. I watch them still in shock as they grab (Y/N) off the floor, putting her on her knees, tying her arms.

The lead us into the back of a van. I glance at (Y/N) and she has a faraway look in her eyes. I don't understand, I can't comprehend what I just witnessed.

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." I find myself actually saying out loud.

Sam looks at me, I know he's worried about me and (Y/N). "How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago."

How was it even possible? It clicks. "Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..." I can't finish the sentence. What have they done to him? My best friend. He's been alive this whole time. Suffering. Being subjected to god knows what.

"None of that's your fault, Steve." Natasha says looking at me worriedly. She can read me like a book.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." I say looking at her sadly. Then looking at (Y/N), she was so gone, she hadn't even spoken up. It hurt to see her this way. I couldn't even imagine how she was feeling.

Sam then speaks up, getting my attention. "We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on these wounds their both gonna bleed out here in the truck." I look at Natasha and realize she's been shot. I glance worriedly between her and (Y/N).

Suddenly one of the guards pulls out an electric rod and neutralizes the other guard and knocks him out. Taking off their helmet, we're greeted by Maria Hill. "Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain."