Destruction ━ Bucky Barnes [2]

25 ━ SANCTIFY

DESTRUCTION.
( chapter twenty-five. )

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EDITED 08/17/2025 @2:49 AM

  DONNING HER SUIT LEFT ANDREA with something to focus on.

With every adjustment to her personal arsenal, she was distracted enough not to ponder the inevitable fight ahead. Or the fight that had come before it. She wouldn't deny it; she was running. It seemed easier to ignore every warning sign blaring in her head.

  When she was done fiddling with the straps and testing out her range of movement, Andy moved onto the next excuse. Ones that would keep her from thinking. Worrying. Her every action was a deliberate refusal to face her fear and the way it left her fingers trembling.

In her head, inventory of her ammunition sounded reasonable enough.

It wasn't until Tony found her sitting on the floor counting bullets that she realized how stupid she looked. Andy tried her best not to seem like she was ignoring him— like she wasn't afraid. As if lining up those bullets were somehow more important than getting to her feet to fight.

It didn't take long for him to realize she wouldn't engage. "I'm sorry," he said. The tone alone was enough to stop her in her tracks. Desolate and mournful and trying desperately not to show it.

Andy looked up, one hand still poised to lay out another bullet. "You have nothing to apologize to me for." Her voice was stern, because a part of her felt like she had to be.

It was something of an unspoken rule between them. They had never apologized to each other before, simply because so few instances had ever called for it. That was just how they worked; never needing the other to know when the guilt weighed on them. Never doubting the sincerity of each other's character.

And right now, before this fight, it felt too much like a goodbye— like the closure you seek before loss.

  Tony shook his head. "You got hurt, Andrea. You got hurt because I hurt you."

  His distress stole the air from her lungs. Andy felt suddenly nauseated, remembering the feel of those burns. The sickening sensation of her skin healing over.

  Something had snapped in that moment. She'd felt it— and not just between Tony and Steve. There were cracks starting to show. Fractures between friends and allies yawning wide enough that they'd turned on each other.

  "You didn't know," was all she could think to say. "You didn't know that I was going to step in to take that shot."

  "That's the thing," Tony spoke quickly. "I should've known, because it's exactly what I would've done for you. For any one of us."