The Earth's Child: A Bucky Barnes fanfiction

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The flight back to Wakanda was frustrating.

Bucky was already on an edge after carrying Bella all the way up the stairs and then into the Quinjet.

He wasn't angry because she was heavy.

He was angry because she wasn't.

He didn't even feel like he was carrying a living human being in his arms, she was so light. He couldn't see her body clearly as it was covered in dry as well as fresh blood; Bucky had put his shirt over her. But from whatever he saw, he could almost count her bones.

She wasn't completely unconscious because she groaned every time he jostled her but she didn't open her eyes. The medical experts said that it was probably because her energy levels were too low for her conscious mind to react but she could more or less feel everything happening to her.

Bucky could swear she would weight at least fifty pounds lesser than she had before leaving and that bothered him. He didn't let the doctors put Bella on a gurney to treat her. He sat down on the broad seat with Bella in his arms and asked them to treat her there. He wasn't letting go of her now.

They pulled the knife out of her swiftly as her body jerked and she moaned quietly, as if in a sleep. Bucky caressed her arms and kept telling her that it would be alright even though he knew she was asleep. He screamed at the nurse to be more careful about inserting another IV in her arm for the blood transfusion as she had missed the vein and had to pierce her thrice.

"What do they teach you in medical schools these days?" roared Bucky as the IV needle missed her vein for the second time and Bella winced in her sleep.

"I am sorry, sir," said the nurse, "but her body has so little flesh that I couldn't target correctly. And most of her veins are clogged from previous IV punctures so it is difficult to find the right vein."

"Bucky," said Steve, putting his arm over Bucky's shoulder, "you need to let them help her. She is in pain and they are doing what they have to in order to make sure she survives. No one has told you this but she won't make it to Wakanda if she doesn't get the right treatment now."

Bucky's eyes widened at Steve's words as he held Bella closer and squeezed.

"I am not letting her die," said Bucky, in a very broken voice as tears slid down his cheeks. He held her like a mother holds onto her new born baby, not willing to let go.

"Let them treat her," said Sam, standing beside Bucky.

The nurses wheeled the stretcher in front of Bucky and he stood up to put her on it as gently as possible. He felt her back touch the stretcher gently and he straightened up but was stopped by a slight tugging at the front of his shirt.

Bella.

Her eyes were slightly open as she held onto his shirt with as much power as she had. She was using all of her strength but Bucky could pry her fingers away with very little effort. He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them very lightly when she winced, as if in reflex.

Bucky looked down at her fingers to see that two of them were red and had dried blood over the tips due to her fingernails being pulled out by the roots. The ring finger was missing but the stump was still red and swollen and coated with half dried blood due to the repeated assault.

"Don't leave me," said Bella, her voice weak and breathless. Her eyes, although half closed, looked scared.

"I will not," smiled Bucky but tears rolled down his cheeks, "I am right here. And when you wake up, I will be right here. Just relax and heal, okay? It will be okay."