The Many Adventures of the Avengers and Friends

🖤💦 A Soul for a Soul (Part 1)

A/N

This is a three part mini series.

Basically this is a short series about AUs where the OC couples go to Vormir to get the Soul Stone.

This first one is about Carson and Bucky (a collaboration chapter with multi-fandom-trash- !)

Neither Multiverse 418 or 419

***

"Great. Climbing a mountain is exactly how I wanted to spend my day." Bucky groaned.

"Climbing a mountain to save our fallen friends, do not forget that." Carson reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go and find this damn Stone." Bucky grumbled as he started up the path, Carson following close behind.

"It is actually kind of pretty." Carson observed, looking out at their surroundings.

"I guess it is. Maybe it'd be a better tourist destination if it wasn't a 'dominion of death,' as Nebula put it." Bucky said half sarcastically with air quotes to emphasise his point.

"You sound like Maya. She would probably call this a tourist destination as well." Carson pointed out.

"Welcome, James, son of Thomas and Carson, son of Fynn." A voice echoed once they had reached the summit. Carson pulled out a pistol and Bucky had a hand ready on his gun. They saw a black cloaked figure floating in front of them. The sight of it sort of unnerved Carson.

"Who are you and how do you know who we are?" Bucky asked.

"It is my curse to know all who journey here. You could consider me... A guide." The figure spoke. It's face became more visible once it turned a certain way.

"Schmidt." Bucky spat.

"Wait, The Red Skull? HYDRA's founder? You fought him with Steve back in the day, right?" Carson asked. It unnerved him even more staring at the creator of the society that held him captive. The man Bucky and Steve had gone toe to toe with in the Fourties. The one that supposedly died after trying to use the Tesseract.

"How did you get here?" Bucky asked.

"A lifetime ago, I, too, sought the Stones. I even held one in my hand. But it cast me out, banished me here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess." Red Skull explained, leading them to the edge of the cliff.

"What is this?" Carson asked, peering over the edge uncertainly.

"The price. The Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say it has a certain... Wisdom about it. To ensure that whoever posesses it understands it's power, the Stone demands a sacrifice." Red Skull said.

"Of what?"

"In order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A Soul for a Soul."

Only the sound of the whipping wind could be heard. Bucky and Carson shared a long look at each other.

"Soul for a Soul?" Bucky questioned.

"Lose that which you love?" Carson asked in response.

"There... There has to be another way. Isn't there?" Bucky asked, turning to look at Red Skull. The hooded figure didn't say anything. He just stared at the pair, observing them carefully. "I don't trust this."

"I do." Carson said.

"Why?"

"I never knew my mother's name. Or my father's name, for that matter. I was abandoned when I was two years old. If he knew your father's name, he would know my mother's." Carson said quietly. Bucky stayed silent for a moment. "One of us has to jump down there so the other can get the Stone. If we do not, billions of people stay dead."