Haunted | B. Barnes

Betrayal

Confusion mixed with pain washed over me as I slowly came back to consciousness. My head wasn't nearly as painful as it was before, but there was still a dull ache behind my eyes. The familiar whirring of a Quinjet engine reached my ears as I slowly opened my eyes. I winced as the bright daylight hit my eyes so I quickly closed them again. I took a moment to myself before I opened my eyes again.

"Hey, you're awake." I heard a familiar voice say from beside me. I glanced to my left and saw Bucky sitting in the chair beside me. His blue eyes reflected a small amount of worry as he looked at me.

"Hey." I said with a small smile. I shifted in my seat and winced at the tension in my neck.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked me from the front of the ship. He looked back at me for a split second before he had to look out the window again.

"Like shit. What happened?" I asked in return as I winced slightly.

"We made it out by the skin of our teeth. T'Challa almost stopped us but Nat took him out so we could get away. You collapsed after Rhodey let out a sonic explosive. Bucky managed to catch you and keep running." Steve explained

I turned to Bucky in surprise. I briefly remembered being caught by someone before I passed out, but I didn't expect it to be Bucky. "Thank you." Bucky nodded to me in return, his lips turning up into a small half smile that lightly reflected in his blue eyes.

"Where are we now?" I asked as I turned to look out the front window.

"We're in Siberia, we're almost at the Hydra facility." Steve replied, his voice tense as he thought of the oncoming fight.

The three of us fell into a relatively comfortable silence. I took the moment of silence to examine the view outside the window. There were tall mountains covered in a thick layer of snow, the tips of them were covered in thick fog, it was quite beautiful.

"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked out of the blue. I glanced over at him and saw that he was staring at the floor with a look of sadness and guilt.

Steve sighed softly. "Whatever it is...I'll deal with it."

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve." Bucky said softly. I frowned at his comment, the pain in his voice made my heart break for him.

Steve hesitated for a moment before he responded carefully. "What you did all those years...it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice."

"I know. But I did it." Bucky said with a resigned look on his face. I wanted to reach over and comfort him, to do something to ease the heavy burden that he carries. But it seemed like an impossible feat. 70 years of pain and torture won't just go away.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽ ☆ ☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Intense gusts of wind blasted the side of the plane as Steve lowered us down onto the snowy ground. The landing was rough with turbulence but Steve tried his best to keep the jet steady. I sat up in my seat and unbuckled my seat belt in preparation for exiting the plane. Bucky stood up quickly and walked towards the back of the plane where the weapons were held. He opened up a compartment that held several guns.

Steve's calm voice interrupted my attention on Bucky. "Are you sure you want to come with us?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" I asked him, taking note of his furrowed brows and concerned eyes.

"You took a hard blow. You were unconscious for at least two hours." He pointed out.

"I'm okay, Steve, really." I said with a small smile of appreciation for his concern. Steve nodded and walked past me towards the back of the ship where Bucky was checking weapons.