Between Life and Death

Chapter 31

"That can't seriously be the place, right?" Bucky mumbled as he looked down at his phone and saw the address that Fury gave him then back to the seemingly normal building across the street.

"Damnit, Fury. If you're wrong about this I'm going to kick your ass." Bucky grumbled as he made his way to the building. Once he was in front of the door he didn't bother knocking or ringing the doorbell and just opened it.

Bucky felt a chill as he marveled at the snow that was everywhere. "You're as rude as I remember." Someone said and Bucky's attention shifted to the man walking down the stairs. "Strange."

"I knew you were gonna come to me." Stephen said as he sipped some coffee from his mug. "You knew I was coming?" Bucky asked as he looked skeptically at the man wearing winter clothes and a cape.

"Technically, ever since y/n introduced us to each other I knew you and your sibling would come asking me for help." He said as a matter of fact but Bucky just looked at him like he was full of shit and was making it all up. "I'm a sorcerer, Bucky." Stephen said as he rolled her eyes and walked away.

"I'm capable of almost anything. Even knowing that you came here to ask for my help regarding y/n." Stephen said confidently as Bucky followed behind him. Bucky then decided to be a little more respectful since he did come to ask for help.

"So, why don't you tell me what's wrong with her." Stephen suggested as he waved his hand and a fire suddenly appeared in the fireplace which mesmerized Bucky. Unknown to all but y/n, Bucky is a nerd when it comes to magic. He loves it and wished he had magic instead of a metal arm like the sorcerer's in The Hobbit, one of his favorite books.

"Barnes." Stephen called out which snapped him out of his thoughts. "Y/n's memories aren't intact yet even after a month. It's like something's interfering with it." Bucky said his suspicions

"Or someone, right?" Stephen clarified and Bucky didn't reply and instead looked grimmer than usual. The thought of someone messing with y/n angered and scared him. It angered him he didn't like it when someone would disturb y/n's life. But it scared him since he only knew a few people that might actually be able to disturb or mess with her life.

"Look, I can't repair her mind but I can try and locate the source of the interference with a spell." Stephen suggested as Bucky looked at him. "Can you really do that?"

"Lucky for you, I can." Stephen said since even if Bucky didn't come to ask for his help he would've done it regardless since before his master, the Ancient One, passed she asked him to look after y/n. "Follow me." Stephen said as he waved his cape and suddenly his clothes changed.

Bucky who didn't have time to react, quickly followed Strange as he led Bucky to an underground dungeon. "Don't tell me this is where you torture your victims." Bucky joked as he looked around the dimly lit dungeon. "No, just spells. Torture is a more you kind of thing. Wouldn't you agree?" Stephen countered but Bucky just stayed silent.

Strange then gathered a few ingredients and placed them all on a floating table that Bucky was trying to find out how it was floating.

"Is this really going to work?" Bucky asked as Strange finished putting everything together. "Your doubts are unnecessary." Strange said with a little bit of offense as he started using his powers to cast the spell.

"This will work. So you should be grateful I'm even doing this for you." Strange said as a circle of what looked like incantations were around the two of them. "Right. Sorry."

After completing one of the circles, Stephen started to make another one. "What's that for?" Bucky asked as he looked at the spell incantations floating above him. "Y/n is— known in a lot of worlds. I'm including those worlds in my search." Strange said as he finished the second one.