Variation - W.M.

Chapter 56 - December 29, 2016

I cleared my throat, slowly walking into the room that surrounded Bucky's cell. I had ditched the wheelchair a while ago as well as Wanda and Pietro, knowing they would strongly disapprove of where I was.

"Hey, uh, Bucky? Are you good?"

The man's head turned towards me, his face stoic and eyes boring into me. "Who are you?"

"We met very briefly before the whole incident? I was there with Steve to get you. Then we fought which wasn't very fun and hurt but" I stopped my rambling, clearing my throat and continuing to the reason I was here. "It kinda sucks that you had to spend Christmas in a cell so I brought you a present. Steve mentioned you liked these so..." I took a breath, phasing through the clear wall before setting down the gift bag on the floor.

Bucky's eyes widened momentarily at my powers before the emotionless mask returned. He stared at both me and the bag, making no move to grab it.

"You broke me and I almost died, you have to take my present" I huffed, scooting it closer to him. He hesitated slightly before reaching over and grabbing the bag, pulling it to his spot on the floor. I watched as he stared into it, blinking being the only movement from him until he finally reached in and pulled out one of the suckers.

I ungracefully lowered myself onto the floor, wincing at the pain in my side before clearing my throat. "I dug through like seven bags and I took out all the orange ones. There's a surprising lack of them" I commented, pulling a sucker out of my own pocket and twisting off the wrapper before popping it in my mouth. Bucky watched me for a second before doing the same to his.

"I haven't had these since I was young." His voice was so soft I was sure I would have missed it had I not been looking at him. I simply hummed, scooting a little closer so that I could lean against the frame of the bed but still remained far enough that the man wouldn't feel too uncomfortable.

We sat in silence, something I found myself grateful for. While I loved everyone here and I loved being around them it had been awhile since I was given time with my thoughts; given a second of silence to simply reflect on all that had happened.

"Do you remember much from when you were a kid?" I asked softly, finally piercing the silence.

Bucky shook his head, his brow furrowing. It took him a minute to finally say "they wiped my memories a lot. It comes back slowly."

"Ah" I breathed, nodding in understanding. But I didn't understand; not really anyways. I understood the trouble remembering things but it seemed to be the opposite for me. The longer I stayed in this timeline the more my old memories were overwritten, replaced by new things my brain seemed to find more relevant. Why did I need to remember what flowers I last left at my family's graves if I wasn't going back, and what did it matter what other Wanda was wearing when I first met her?

As much as I enjoyed the silence it soon grew too suffocating, and I recalled why I hated being left alone with my thoughts.

"I should probably go before I get in trouble for being down here. You're kinda cool, though, so I'll come back. You need anything for next time?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet. Bucky shook his head and I nodded, waving before I phased out of the small jail box and started on my way.

"Where did you go? Are you okay?" Wanda fretted once I showed back up in the main room. Her frantic worry quickly turned sour as she picked up on my current stream of thoughts. "Why were you with the Winter Soldier?"

"I just wanted to see how he was doing" I grumbled, mentally cursing myself for not shoving my visit back into the vault of private thoughts I held.

"He's almost killed you, you shouldn't be down there with him. You also shouldn't be walking around."

"He's stuck in a cell in a place he doesn't know. He deserves a little bit of friendliness" I argued, recalling the way I felt when I had first gotten popped into a room. Wanda caught the feeling, her face softening. I sighed, getting slightly annoyed with the fact that my thoughts weren't private unless I actively made them. "I was careful, alright? I'm healing thanks to Cho and Bruce and Bucky's in a giant cell that I'm pretty sure could hold Hulk. I'm fine."

I left out the part where I had entered said cell, cozying up to the man and bringing him a christmas present. That part I carefully tucked away into the back of my mind.

Wanda eyed me before sighing and nodding. "You promise you're being safe?"

I nodded, pressing my lips to her forehead so that I could avoid eye contact. It really was getting pathetic how many times I would break that promise.