Till the End of Time-

Chapter 33: In the Dark

"Oof!", I let out as I slam down on the mat. I look up and shoot him a dirty look, before touching my lip and seeing a small amount of blood.

"I'm sorry Rosaleen, I thought you had it! You let your guard down", he pants before reaching a hand out for me to take.

I hit it away and stand up on my own. He wanted to practice combat without my powers, which I was fine with. But even though I'm a good fighter, I wasn't able to get the upper hand with him of course. Typically, when I fight against Steve he goes a little easier, but Bucky did no such thing. Instead it was like he went full winter solider mode on me, which completely caught me off guard.

I huff off towards Steve and plop down next to him angrily grabbing my water and drinking from it. "Take a breath Rosie, he's only trying to help", Steve calmly tells me.

I don't answer nor do I look at him, since I'm too angry. From the corner of my eye I can see Steve look at his friend before getting up and going over.

"You could ease up on her. She's not able to fight against a super solider without her powers and you know that", he tells him in a serious tone.

"She was doing good until she left herself wide open in the end", he comes back.

Steve gives him a firm meaningful look, and Bucky softens up before walking over to me.

"I didn't mean to hit you so hard Rosie, I honestly thought you were going to block the hit. You were doing good though. Not many are able to last as long as you without being like me and Steve", he says trying to get me to lighten up.

I stand up and glare up at him, and as I do I can't fully figure out why I'm so upset with him. I mean part of it is because he was going way too hard on me and I felt like I was fighting for my life against him. But the other part of me is angry at him for some subconscious reason that I haven't figured out just yet.

As he looks at me his eyes soften and the pupils dilate the longer he stares.

After a moment when I don't respond to him, he continues to speak softly to me, "Go take a break, Rosaleen. Meet back here in 10".

I don't reply as I turn on my heel and make for the bathrooms, once I'm there I turn on the facet to splash some water on my face. The water soothes my thoughts and cools me down, that's when I get the flashes of images in my mind. Bucky and I are fighting against each other, except that this time I can practically feel my heart beat fast in my chest with fear. I protect myself from his blows and try to counter back, but this Bucky in my mind has longer hair and seems cold, distant and threatening.

I shake my head trying to get the images out, when a hand touches my shoulder making me jump. "Rosie, are you okay?", Steve says turning me around and looking at me full of worry in his eyes.

I let a breath of relief out and clutch my chest to settle myself, "Yeah, I was just...", I pause not finishing my sentence.

"I was calling you and you didn't answer for a solid minute", he tells me scanning every part of my face, "Did you have a vision?".

"No. No it wasn't a vision... I think that hit just got to me", I tell him forcing a smile. I decide not to tell him what I saw since it didn't feel like a vision, and it's not much to tell.

He takes a paper towel and wets it before holding it up to my lip, "Here take this. I'll go tell Bucky we're done for the day".

I grab his arm stopping him, "No, no I'm fine. Really I am", I reassure him.

"Are you sure?", he asks again.

I nod my head, "Yes I'm sure. I just need some water and then I'll be ready to go".