Bucky Barnes had found refuge on a small farm in Montana two years ago.
It was there that the Winter Soldier seemed to disappear from his mind and Bucky was able to be himself again.
He fell in love with a young woman. Ray introduced him into a wo...
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chapter three ramen
Ray stood by the counter, carefully breaking apart the dried noddles that would soon transform into her lunch. She thought of how sick of this food she was, and how she wished for something better. But Ramen was inexpensive and easy to store.
She felt like she was back at her dorm in DC, all those years ago. How her life had changed so drastically in the three years since she completed her junior year. She knew she'd never go back.
Ray had just finished sprinkling seasoning onto the bowl of soup when her throat itched. At first, it was only an itch. Then it grew and grew until she couldn't breathe.
She felt as if hands were wrapped tightly around her throat, preventing any airflow into her lungs. She started coughing next; deep coughs that hurt her lungs.
Her vision went blurry, full of black spots. They kept growing and growing until black was all she saw. She tried to scream at the loss of vision, but no sound came out of her mouth.
Then a small light appeared in front of her, and it grew and grew until it was so blinding that Ray stumbled over her own feet. She fell into water, it was cold as ice and soaked through the thin jeans easily.
Then, very slowly, her vision returned to her. She looked down at her own reflection. She did not recognize her red eyes, and her lips were swollen. She was staring at water.
When she lifted her head, all her other senses began to kick in. She smelt leaves and dirt, strong wind that was carrying smoke with it. The sun was bright overhead, and the air was cool with autumn.
The trees around her were decorated with different colors, though they had already began to grow bare in preparation for the winter.
Finally, she could breathe.
It was then that she noticed the figure standing several feet away from her, just past the small little puddle she was kneeling in. Ray looked at her with confusion, she looked at everything with confusion. How had she gotten her? Surely this was a dream?
The woman stood by a tree. Her skin was pale, too pale, and her hair was a duller red than Natasha's used to be. She was dressed in a black uniform, which only made her appear paler than she was.
She stood very still, as if not moving at all. Watchful eyes did not move from Ray, who had know stood up.
"Who are you?" Ray asked. Her throat was rough and it pained her to speak.
The woman did not say anything. She stared intently at Ray; as if she was attempting to figure something out. But Ray did not know that, she was only certain she had fallen unconscious or something of that matter.
"What do you want?" Ray asked then. She was angry and frustrated.
At those words, the woman started to walk. She was slowly at first, taking caution with every step. And with each step drawing closer and closer to Ray.
Ray tried to step back, but her feet were glued to the ground below.
"What do you want?" Ray yelled then. It felt too real.
The woman stood only a foot away from Ray then. She looked deep into Ray's eyes, seeing well into her past. Then slowly, she pressed a small thumb to the center of Ray's forehead.
Ray started to cough. She could hardly breathe any air through her lungs, and when she opened her eyes, she saw her friend looking down at her.
"Ray, are you okay? Try to breathe." Natasha tried her best to reassure her.
But Ray couldn't breathe. Her lungs were constricted , she felt as if there was a hand on each pair, squeezing tighter and tighter. She felt even more faintish than before.
"What the hell happened?" Steve yelled as he watched Ray fall into a seizure. He slid his hands under her head to make sure that she wasn't repeatedly hitting it against the hard surface.
"I don't know. I came in and she was on the ground."
"Why the hell are her pants wet?" Sam asked from his stance above.
They all believed it was because she wet herself, but when they noticed it wasn't her thighs that were went, but her knees and calves below, they grew worried. It was as if she knelt in something. But there wasn't any water on the floor.
"Steve, she isn't stopping." Natasha didn't know what to do. Ray had never fallen under a seizure before.
"Help me get her into her side. She can't breathe." Steve was beginning to panic. "Sam, time it. If she doesn't stop within five minutes, we'll need medical attention."
Her seizure lasted longer than five minutes. It lasted seven minutes and forty two seconds. Seven minutes and forty two seconds that Natasha's life flashed before her eyes, and Steve felt sick with worry.
They had never seen Ray like that; with white foam escaping from her lips and eyes rolled back into her head. It was the scariest thing that either of them had seen; and they had seen a lifetime of scary things.
"Get her to her bed." Steve directed when the seizure finally stopped and Ray was barely awake. "I'm going to call T'challa. We need to get her to Wakanda."
Sam and Natasha both helped Ray to unstable feet, and brought her to the small bedroom.
Steve sat back at the communications device. He sat for hours, trying to get the small device to work.
He finally got through to T'challa twelve hours later. Twelve hours after the first seizure, and twelve minutes before the next one.
