Mosaic (Bucky Barnes X OC / Winter Soldier x OC)

Chapter 19: Bucky Barnes - Cinnamon Buns (Part I)

Author's Note:

I'm always trying to improve my ability to pull a person into a character's headspace or feel their emotions, and your feedback will help me know if what I'm trying for is working or not. Even an emoticon or button smashing tells me something useful and can influence what I write more or less of.

I respond to all comments and it's always fun to hear your thoughts ^^

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Forty years....

Forty years....

Forty years....

But I was already active by then. A monster. A tool. Destroying whoever and whatever they ordered. Didn't even have the brains to think of leaving. A thoughtless weapon....

Forty years....

"Can't un-know things, so be careful what you ask."

If I didn't ask... I wouldn't have known. I wouldn't have known what I could have had. What could have been.

Forty years....

I could have seen my sisters grow old....

Forty years...

Of blood that wouldn't have been spilled by me....

But it was too late. For all of them.

A snap of a twig had me glancing down from my perfect vantage point of the town, perched on a branch. A skunk tripping face first into the dirt.

Another quick sweep of the surroundings and my eyes returned to the star littered skies. It hadn't changed in all these years. Not enough to feel unfamiliar. There may have been more. There may have been less. But not so vastly different as everything else in this world.

I could almost feel the warmth of a fire on my skin. On my face. Even if it was a cool breeze that surrounded me.

I could barely hear the words chattering in my head. With my own voice.

"...ee that cluster of stars in Taurus, Ste –"

"There he goes again," a gruff voice. A voice I knew I should know... but....

"Buck, what about those seven stars?" another familiar voice. One that left an empty hole when I couldn't find a face to go with it....

"That's the Pleiades. Sailors use it back in...."

A memory of faceless voices. Not even searching out the mentioned stars could fill in the blanks. The cluster of blue stayed silent in my head.

Stretching out my stiff muscles, I dropped to the dirt below and headed towards the town. Holding down the button on the earbud.

Fifteen minutes left to find the hat I stole and Valeriy's hair, as per orders.

"Northwest by west. 1.1 Kilometers. She's settled there for the night."

Just as I was about to end the call, I dropped my hand and asked, "There was a male.... Early twenties. Could be late teens. April sixth. Is he...?"

"One of mine? He is and is an adult. Had him step in from observations when you weren't eating. Told you about the soup kitchen and got you to the library. And yes, he was the one to slip the jammer into your arm."