Character reactions to the ending of "Leave Me Broken"
[Cover created by AFleetingDream_91]
Book One is "Leave Me Bleeding"
Book Two is "Leave Me Broken"
Spin Off One is "Reminisce: Dear O"
Spin Off Two is "Ophelia"
Book Three is "Leave Me Behind"...
Two years had gone by since Ophelia died. And Sam had long ago come to terms with it, and upon seeing Bucky before him as he stepped foot into the beautiful Wakanda, he realized that it was high time that he made amends with Bucky himself. It would take a lot out of him, how many times had he almost been killed by Bucky? But Sam understood that he suffered as much, if not more, than anyone else standing there.
After a brief and polite encounter with T'Challa, Sam looked over at Bucky. The man made eye contact with him, but dropped his gaze. Something in the way he held himself showed Sam that he saw the blame echoing in his eyes from years ago. When Bucky was being controlled by Zemo and he nearly strangled Ophelia to death, how it had been Sam who took her away, protected her as best as he could, Bucky couldn't live up to his mistakes. He knew that Sam would never see eye to eye with him, and so that was why he looked away.
Sam had to be the bigger person -if they were all going to die, the least he could do is speak his mind to Bucky, to make peace so that if they happened to perish, at least they would be on equal ground. He walked over to Bucky and nodded politely.
"I'm sorry about your girl," Sam started, feeling an anger in his chest but forced it down. "She was really something."
Bucky smiled, taking Sam's words as a peace offering. He understood that Sam wasn't trying to say anything except that Ophelia was an exceptional human being. But Bucky also felt as though they both knew it should have been the other way around. It should have been Bucky who got hit by the blast, Bucky who hit his head and suffered head trauma -maybe it would have cleared what was in his head to begin with. It should have been him, and Ophelia should be standing by Steve and Sam's side, defending the world and making the change she always wanted.
But she was six feet under now.
Bucky managed something a little more lighthearted than what ran through his mind. "She was, wasn't she?"
"You deserved her, you know?" Sam reminded him, and coming from him it had the impact of a train.
"Maybe," Bucky replied. "I'm still not sure about that."
"You did," Sam told him, having thought about it, having thought about how he kept Ophelia safe for two years, the only two years where she saw sunlight and had free range, control over her life. "You still do."
"Thank you, Sam," Bucky said softly.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
