Saving Bucky (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 86 - Tortured Remembrances

The walk to Shuri's lab is silent. James doesn't say a word. But neither does he let go of your hand.

As you step from the elevator Shuri waits by her lab tables, Steve standing by her side. Your gaze cuts to his, narrowing in what you know is a look of contempt. He withers slightly, looking down at his feet.

"You are certain you wish to do this again tonight?" Shuri asks, fixated on James.

"I won't sleep," he grunts. "Might as well keep going."

"Mhm," Shuri frowns, disapprovingly. "You may have the serum coursing through your veins, Bucky Barnes, but you are still a man. You need rest."

Your cheek twitches when you hear Shuri call him 'Bucky'. Envy threatens your already precarious calm. What has Shuri done to deserve to call him that? She's known him only a few weeks. It had taken you months of trial, tribulations, and intimacy to earn that right.

"I need to end this," James retorts. "Tonight, if we can."

"Fine," Shuri shrugs. "It's only your sanity I am trying to preserve, after all."

"Buck," Steve says gently. "Maybe we should pick up again in the morning."

"Not your call, Steve," James grumbles.

Steve takes a breath as if to speak, but James shoots him a sharp glare and he falls silent, his shoulders sagging as he shakes his head and shrugs towards Shuri. "Fine," he says. "Then I guess we keep going. How far did you get today? Did you make it through the-,"

"Yeah," James interrupts harshly. "We pick up after."

"After," Steve says quietly, swallowing as his face tightens. "Right."

You glance between James and Steve, trying to get a read on the situation. Whatever James has been doing today, he hadn't allowed Steve to witness. Steve had told you as much upstairs. But you're not sure what 'after' means. After what?

"And her?" Shuri asks, nodding to you. "You wish her to stay?"

You bite your tongue, sick of letting others speak for you. But James gives your hand a reassuring squeeze. "I want her to know," he says quietly.

"That is not the same thing," Shuri challenges.

"It's where we start," James grunts.

Shuri sighs. "Very well. If you're ready to begin," she says, scanning her palm atop a large panel near her display of monitors. You gasp in surprise when up pops the holographic projection of James' brain - the one you had seen several weeks ago. But those tiny threads have changed colors. Most of the strands that were previously gray are now gold. Many remain outlined in that hazy darkness, but overall it looks...better.

"What happened?" you ask, taking a step forward to better see the image as it spins slowly.

"You will see," Shuri says gravely. "If you will, Sergeant."

James drops your hand and moves away. You turn and reach for him but your hands grasp at air as he walks towards the metal chair you had spied on your first visit. You watch, stunned, as James willingly sits - his jaw tense and his teeth clenched tight.

"Try to relax," Shuri says, moving to his side and securing his arms with thick, metal bands.

"Wait," you say, eyes flaring wide as the truth of the situation crashes into you. "What the hell are you doing?!" you seethe, rushing to James' side and batting Shuri's hands away.

"Y/n, stop," James says. "It's okay."

"No!" you hiss, tugging at the restraints. "I-it's not okay! What the fuck is this?!" you cry out, growing more panicked as you pull and claw at the metal cuffs around his wrists.