Lapis | Bucky Barnes.

XVII. brothers

Keira realized she wasn't dead only when she spotted Bucky protectively hovering over her.

She had carefully opened her eyes, the slight movement of her eyelids fluttering open causing a painful pang on the back of her head that made her hiss.

As soon as she did, Bucky slightly jumped and frantically moved around, looking for something to ease her growing pain although there wasn't much to do if not stand by her side and wish Sam could hurry up.

"Hey, you." Keira muttered, her eyes closing shut once again as she found it way too hard to keep them open for too long.

"How are you feeling?" Bucky asked, glancing over to Steve, who had stood up from his seat as soon as he had heard Keira talking. His eyes were worried, but they were nothing compared to what Bucky was feeling.

"Groggy." Keira grinned, opening her eyes again as they glanced up at Bucky. He looked beaten up, but overall good, thankfully.

"What you did was extremely stupid. Weren't you supposed to hate me?" Bucky said, laughing although his eyes were glassy.

"Don't cry, James. I did it because I needed someone to vent my frustration towards. Of course I still hate you."

Bucky let out a distressed laugh as he inched closer to Keira to press a kiss on her forehead. Keira could feel drops of water falling on her skin and she smiled sweetly, raising one hand to caress his cheek.

"My Bucky." She whispered, quietly enough so that only Bucky could hear her. He was feeling tremendously emotional and he knew the reason more clearly than he wanted to admit. What Keira had done had terrified him, a fear of losing her only in that moment kicking in and making him realize just how much he cared about her.

"Never do that again or I'll kill you myself." He joked, making Keira snort as she jokingly punched him, feeling a rush of strength in her veins as she tried to stand up. Bucky was immediately there, making sure she didn't hit anything with her head as she sat down, her trembling legs dangling from the seat as she rested her whole weight against Bucky.

Steve, who had remained in the same position, waiting for Keira and Bucky to be done with their little moment, now walked closer to the two, crouching down to allow Keira to look at him without having to move her head around.

"Steve." She said, slightly raising her voice. It was the closest to excitement she could get, and Steve felt content with it.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked, placing a hand on her knee.

"I'm fine, really. I'll just need some time to rest. What's the news?" She asked, her expression hardening. Steve tried to talk, to say that there was no need to burden her with uncomfortable news when she was in her weakest state but, looking closely, she really wasn't. Her face had gained a little color, and resting against Bucky was giving her a natural confidence she normally had to slightly force. Bucky looked just as determined, finding safety in the thought that he was now ready to do just about everything, to make sure Keira wouldn't find herself in a situation similar to the one in Tahoe City.

Steve inhaled deeply and stood up, walking to sit on the opposite side of the quinjet so that he could talk loudly enough to be heard by Sam, too.

"It was the government, guys. General Ross probably found out about your breakout from the SHIELD facility-" His voice seemed pained when he mentioned the event, the reason too clear for anyone of them to even wonder. "-and found out where you were hiding."

"Bucky's not a threat anymore, Fury made sure to state it when we found him." Keira claimed, the shift in behavior surprising everyone.

Bucky shook his head, scoffing. "They'll never stop considering me a threat. I've been stupid enough to think we were safe, but we weren't. We- I never will."

Keira sighed heavily, holding Bucky's hand. "I was there too, Buck. We took that decision together, don't do that, not after what happened. I'm in it as much as you are, just like Steve and Sam are."

"Not really fond of being a fugitive, but I agree with Terminator." Sam said from his spot. He hadn't said a word since Keira had woken up, and she was glad to know he had a tongue.

A heartfelt laugh filled the small space and Bucky glanced over at Steve, who looked back at him and nodded. An unfamiliar but, at the same time, too nostalgically familiar feeling filled his chest while looking at the man who had once been his brother, although he couldn't remember those moments anymore. But after what he had done to help him and Keira, Bucky couldn't help but understand why they were best friends, why he could do so much as consider him his brother, once again.

-

Bucky had decided to go catch up with Sam, while Keira was still carefully standing in the same exact position, too afraid to move. Steve was carefully changing her bandages, sighing in relief when he noticed she had long stopped bleeding. She definitely needed stitches, but the wound hadn't apparently been too severe to... well, kill her.

Keira winced slightly when Steve placed the soft material against the wound, but tried to suck it up.

"Sorry." Steve mumbled, securing the bandage before placing everything back in the medical kit. He moved it aside and sat down next to Keira, glancing down at his hands.

"Don't you dare say anything about it being your fault, Steve." She immediately said when she spotted the look in his eyes. She knew that look all too well, because it was the same one Rick wore when he was feeling particularly burdening to his sister.

"But I am, Keira. Not for this, but for the reason you had to go away from SHIELD. You know I could have prevented it from happening, somehow."

Keira shook her head imperceptibly. "My brother killed Trevor, Steve, and I was the reason why he did it. It might have been for really unfair reasons, but I don't blame them for thinking I was the one who killed Trevor. It's not like they planned it all to ruin me or anything, it just happened, and we all have to live with it."

"Just because he bullied you doesn't mean you automatically turned into a killer!" Steve reasoned, raising his eyebrows.

"That's the problem with us troubled people, Steve. Our past controls us, and decides whether to turn us into heroes or monsters. We have a fifty/fifty chance, and we can be lucky enough to find the right people at the right time, like I did, or the wrong people at the worst of times, like Rick. He's not a monster, he's not evil, but his past forged him and he didn't know how to cope. He thought fighting for me was the right way to repay me for everything I did to make sure he grew up safe and sound, and I wasn't there to-." A single tear escaped Keira's eyes and Steve eyed her pathetically, rubbing her back.

"It's not anyone's fault, if not Trevor's for picking on you for no reason at all. Although it is not a good reason to justify his murder." He mumbled, not really knowing how to comfort Keira because, although she had nothing to be blamed of, her brother had actually murdered someone and, as guilty as Trevor was for bullying Keira, it wasn't enough. Rick was a murderer, and Keira was now forced to live with this weight on her shoulders for the rest of her life.

"I didn't even stop him from going back to SHIELD. I know it was what I had to do, what was right, but I was supposed to protect him from everything, to make sure he never found himself in those types of situations. Look where it got him."

Steve's arm moved from her back to her shoulders, carefully pushing her against him to comfort silently, the only thing he could do at the moment. She wasn't crying, of course, but he could sense the distress, the desperation that all those events had caused her. He wanted to convince her that nothing bad was ever going to happen again, that she was safe, but he knew that the only person who could do that was standing on the other side of the quinjet, eyeing the two with a sad look on his face.

When Bucky noticed Steve looking at him, he sighed and stood up, reaching the two. "We're almost there. Key, you feel like walking?"

Steve felt an unfamiliar pang in his heart when he observed the attraction that moved Keira towards Bucky as if they were two magnets. She stood up and embraced him as if she was as light as a leaf moved by a soft wind, and Bucky's arms welcomed her with as much familiarity. Steve had once felt that way, and he wondered if he could ever feel that transport for someone again, like Bucky and Keira felt for each other.