Scary Love | Bucky Barnes - [COMPLETED]

15 - The Snap

"Hey, Lil. I'm going to our usual place for lunch, are you sure you don't want anything? I can get you some chicken or whatever you want."

Raj's loud voice came out of the phone's speaker and Lily had to get it away from her face—like usual. She forgot to lower the volume, but she soon did and quickly answered.

"I'm fine, Raj. I'm just not hungry."

"Alright, I'll see you soon then."

"Yeah, drive safe," she said and hung up the phone.

Lily stretched her arms out and massaged her left shoulder. She felt sore after sitting on her desk for a long time, and finally decided to go grab some water in the pantry. Most of her coworkers were having lunch outside; there were only a few people there, focused on their own monitors. They were doing overtime work for the sake of the object recognition AI, which was nearly finished.

Soon enough she finished a full glass of water, and almost at the same time her phone vibrated. "Why does Raj keep calling me?" She grumbled to herself and pulled her phone out of her pocket, but turned out that it wasn't Raj—it was Steve.

Her heart beat faster, hoping that Steve may bring some news about Bucky. She hadn't had the chance to talk to him again since a long time ago—since Bucky told her he was going to recover in Wakanda. Steve was the one who went back and forth there, just to keep an eye at his best friend. Mostly Steve said the same thing: "They said he's getting better, but I couldn't talk to him this time."

The girl eagerly picked the phone up. "Hello?" She tried to be as calm as possible and waited for Steve's voice to answer.

"Hey, Lil. Listen, there's someone who wants to talk to you here." She could imagine Steve grinning over there through the tone of his voice, and her heart almost skipped a beat.

"Who?" She closed her eyes and waited for her dreams to come true—she already knew the answer.

"Lilya?" Bucky called softly, and she couldn't help but smile. She smiled so widely that her cheeks hurt.

"I've missed you," she whispered sincerely. "So much."

She could hear Bucky's soft breaths as she imagined the blue of his eyes and how much she loved it. "How have you been?" Bucky asked.

"Well enough, I think. Steve always got my back—he helped me through some hard times," her smile bloomed again. "How are you? Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I feel much better now. They gave me a new arm and everything."

"That's awesome!" She squealed, feeling really excited and happy. "I can't wait to see it."

"Lilya," Bucky's tone suddenly changed into a heavy, serious one. "I'm... going to fight some bad guys real soon. Me and Steve—and everybody else here. I—"

Bucky seemed to stumble with his words—probably he was having a difficulty explaining it to her. He simply didn't want her to feel concerned.

"I understand. You need to save the world, right?" She understood and nodded her head, even though Bucky couldn't see it.

"I'll get back to you as soon as this is over. I promise."

It went silent for a bit. Lily was indeed worried—she had been worrying for him non-stop for a long time—and to let him go into the battlefield was hard. Again, she was frustrated at the fact that there was nothing she could do.

Eventually, she sighed and forced herself to speak in an upbeat manner. "You'll have to win that war, then."

"I will. We'll win and I'll get back to you real soon."

"I'll be waiting for you, then," they both chuckled.

"Lilya," Bucky called once again. "I love you."

She blinked, not expecting him to say those words at all—suddenly all was well. She looked over to the windows where she could see the clouds moving. Slowly but surely, like how her feelings grew over the years.

"I love you too."

They stopped to hear each other breathing for a while before finally hanging up the phone, both smiling with everlasting warmth in their hearts.

***

More than two hours after Raj went out for dinner—and he still hadn't come back to the office yet. This was unusual, since Raj wasn't the type of person to slack around. He moves fast, he speaks fast, and he eats fast—he usually finishes his meal even before Lily had finished half of hers. She somehow felt very uneasy; more probably because of her worry over Bucky, work deadlines, and other various things. Her mind was scattered and messy. She decided to take a break and call Raj. It rang, but there was no answer.

She had to try three times before Raj finally picked up. "Hey, where are you?"

"Lily? Lil, where are you?" Raj sounded panicked, and it got her anxious as well. He was out of breath, as if he had been running.

"I'm still upstairs, why?" She jolted up from her chair and looked around reluctantly—only to find the room completely empty. "Raj? Where are you?"

"It's weird—it's all a chaos on the streets, I don't know what happened!" He almost screamed, and that scared the crap out of her.

"Raj! Where are you? Answer me!" She ran outside towards the stairs, and as she was running downstairs she could hear someone's footsteps, just as hurried and loud as hers. They both stopped in shock when Lily's eyes met Raj's, looking morbidly horrified.

"What the hell is happening?" Lily asked in panic, but as she approached Raj, he froze and his right hand started turning to dust—then his legs, his body, and after exchanging a terrified look—his head.

"Raj!" The girl screamed, and tried to grasp whatever was left of her best friend, but he was gone. She limped—her legs were weak—and fell onto the floor, crying in fear, shock, and sadness. "Raj!!" She called again desperately, even after knowing that she'd get no answer.

She slowly tried to get up and walked out of the front door, still crying and sobbing uncontrollably. Raj was right—everything was in chaos. Cars were hitting each other and everything in their way since the drivers turned to dust. Everywhere she looked she could see more people gone, and the ones who remained could only scream and cry.

She went back inside and leaned against the wall, trying to pull her phone out of her pocket with her trembling hands. She had to call Steve—is Bucky gone? Is Steve gone too? She called him and it rang—it kept ringing—Steve didn't answer the phone. She was so afraid. She didn't want to lose him again. He was this close to getting back to her—now it seemed like an impossible dream.

After possibly fifty tries, she threw her phone to the wall in frustration. She cried and cried, feeling completely alone. She wasn't only crushed, but furious too—why? Is she not meant to be with him? Then why did the universe conspire to let them meet—and fall for each other? She sat on the floor, hugging her knees, her body rocking back and forth because of the pain.

Yet again, she felt completely helpless and lost.

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[Author's Note]: I had to torture myself and rewatch the death scenes in Infinity War for this chapter! I could remember how angry and frustrated I was when I saw Bucky and the others die in the cinema. I still don't know how the Russos managed to be so cruel :( Anyway, thanks for reading the story! Votes and comments are very much appreciated, and they would gladly cheer me up after having to rewatch those grotesque death scenes :")