Better Love || A Bucky Barnes Fanfiction

- Phoenix Rising -

Perhaps in her past life, she would not have survived such a fall. The explosion happened all around her, throwing her down, down, down, until for a moment Elena truly believed she had been cast down into the depths of Hell itself. She could hear a soft rumbling, murmurs of ghosts, perhaps, and a louder growl. The dogs, she couldn't help thinking, her head still spinning. Hades' dogs. This is the underworld. Elena let out a deep breath, coughing when she inhaled. She hurt all over, her shoulders especially. When she finally opened her eyes, she expected to see the dead watching her, waiting for her to realize that she was now one of them. But they were not there when she could finally see. In fact, she was alone. In the distance, she could hear the voices of some of the others. 

"Bruce?" Elena choked, coughing on the dust. "Rocket?? Rhodey?!"

Whether they could hear her too or not, Elena couldn't be sure. She looked around at her surroundings, finding that they all looked the same. All she could see was rubble and dust, a large piece of the complex resting on top of her shoulders that - with a grunt - Elena was able to push off her. She scrambled onto her hands and knees, looking up. There were several more pieces lying on top of each other, an overturned jigsaw puzzle of building pieces. Higher up, she could see the smallest pinch of grey brightness, cutting through the dust and darkness that she was surrounded by. She could not stand, instead kneeling on the ground as she attempted to push away the pieces of rubble. One of them budged slightly, allowing the gap above her to widen, but it came with great effort that took almost all of her strength. She panted, stumbling back onto her hands and knees. All she had to do was push pieces of the rubble this way and that, just enough for her to squeeze through the gaps and eventually climb her way out. It made her think of Alice in Wonderland. She had to make the rabbit hole herself and drag her way to the top, back to land, back to Bucky.

The thought of him made her heart contract. She had lost her phone in the explosion so had no way of contacting him, but she had seen his caller ID. Bruce had succeeded. Now, though, she had to make sure that it wouldn't be for nothing. Elena tried again, pushing her hands against a piece of concrete and shoving hard, feeling her knees dig into the ground. Again, a slight shift, but still not enough. When Elena put her hands back on the floor, she felt them grow wet. Blinking in surprise, she looked down. A trickle of water was coming from one of the cracks beside her, wetting her palms and knees. Soon, though, Elena realized that the water was not filtering off into another area. In a few short seconds, the water had started covering the surface that she knelt on, beginning to grow in depth. Elena's eyes widened and she looked up in a panic. The gap she wanted to get through only fit her head, and even then it was a tight squeeze. Once that area flooded as well, she would drown. She started pushing against the rubble again, over and over in an effort to free herself from the cave she was in. It barely budged, though.

"Shit," Elena hissed, looking down at the water that was beginning to run over her thighs. "Shit, shit, shit! Hey! Hey, help! Bruce?! Rhodey?! Steve!?"

Elena shoved her hands against the concrete slab, pushing against it so hard she felt like her fingers were digging into the concrete itself. With an exhale, she pulled her hands away again. There were small indents of her fingertips, cracked across the concrete's surface, but still no movement. Elena's hand prints were dark and wet against the dusty concrete, a constant reminder of what was happening around her. The water had reached her hips. 

"No, no, no," Elena whispered, feeling tears springing to her eyes as she looked up through the crack. The grey point of light was shifting, moving, so close in sight yet so far away. She pressed her mouth against the crack and yelled again. "Guys! Please! The water - I can't get out! Steve?! T-Tony?! Nat -"

Elena cut off with a sob, a flash of red hair passing across her vision as she fell back, the water sloshing around her movement. Looking down, Elena saw her hands lying on her lap, their image wavering in the water that was still continuing to rise. They can't hear me, Elena thought, her breathing making her chest rise and fall harder, faster, an icy fear colder than the water she was sitting in piercing her mind. God, they can't hear me. And I can't get out. The knowledge that she was trapped hit her harder than the explosion had. Everything that had happened since Bucky and Corrie had disappeared came rushing back to her. The darkness, the fear, the desperation, the sadness. God, that icy, numbing sadness that froze her to the bone more than Thomas ever could. Tears fell from her face, dropping into the water. What was it all for? What was the point? Questions she couldn't help but ask herself, memories hitting hard. She could hear her brothers laughing, her parents calling her inside for dinner. She wished she had stayed with them, thinking about the warmth of that Sacramento sun on her skin. She could smell Thomas in her memories, could feel his hand on hers. Why couldn't he have been kind, the way he had been when they had first started dating? She thought about Delilah and how she would never get to hug the older woman again. Okoye, the warrior who had passed her strength and knowledge onto Elena, one of her closest friends. Would Elena be leaving without saying goodbye? Then there was the Avengers, together then broken because of Steve's love for his best friend, reunited once more to avenge the ones they had lost. A new family she should've cherished more while she had the chance. She should've spent more time with Rhodey and Rocket and Bruce, should have comforted Thor in his depression, should have spoken with Clint, should have listened to Tony. And Steve. She should have told him that it wasn't his fault, no matter how much he believed it to be. It was no-one's fault but Thanos. Would they understand that, though, now that she was gone? The water was chest level, now, and less cold than what it had been before. Elena closed her eyes, shaking her head. She thought about the time Bucky had lost his mind, both captives of Gideon's. She felt the gun against her head, could hear herself saying out loud the things she had told him in that moment.