The Witch and the Soldier

Dangerous Games

"I'm a time bomb," she whispered. Everything about her was too fragile and would shatter at even the slightest touch. At any moment, her volatility would violently shift and everyone she loved was in the imminent path of destruction. "We're playing dangerous games even considering this."

Bucky chewed his lip, weighing the words in his mind. He was met with a stalemate. He knew the strength she possessed and how much fallout a breakdown would cause. "I know this, Wanda. I am, too. With only a couple of words, I turn into a killing machine." His eyes searched hers for any sign of hesitance but he found none. "We're one in the same, you and I. We battle the same fucked up minds every goddamned second but we're still here."

"It isn't that easy, James," she countered, her gaze cold and unwavering. "If you play with fire, the flame will burn. I already told you that it's a matter of time before I shatter. I don't want to hurt you."

"You aren't going to." During his time with HYDRA, Bucky had become numb to any sort of pain. The bastards had robbed him of something others would gladly give up. They transformed him into an unfeeling automaton. He had forgotten the warmth of pure bliss and the cold solitude that accompanied sadness. Instead, he lived his days in a bleak, emotionless state of apathy.

Wanda, though, managed to spark a remnant of the happiness he once knew and easily bestowed upon others. With just her smile, she made him feel like a schoolboy after his first dance with his favorite girl. "Why won't you give me one chance?" he asked, his words veering into the territory of pleading. "I'll show you that you aren't the person you say you are."

She ruminated on the possibilities of a cataclysmic reaction, many immediately jumping to mind. As loud as these thoughts were screaming at her, her voice was louder, easily drowning out the polyphonous sound. "Fine." She felt a weight lift off her shoulders once her agreement was out in the open. From the beginning, even before he had begun asking her, she had wanted to say yes. Every fiber of her being told her to give into him but her common sense told her not to. For once in her life, though, she rebelled against everything she knew to be right.