The Winter Wraith (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 16 - Bare Oblivion

You sweep through the crowds, slipping in and out of minds with every click of your heels on the polished wood. As far as the guests were concerned, they had seen both you and Lorenzo Ricci after the time he was murdered. Or suffered from an accident, depending on which story the police decide to tell. The golden hues of the Autumn Ball whorl together in your peripheral vision and you feel like they might consume you any second.

Did you feel bad for killing Lorenzo? Honestly, no.

You knew you should, even wish that you did. But you physically couldn't feel any regret, any remorse, for taking his life. It's like the part of you that would care had been blocked off.

Which confuses and angers you. How are you meant to enjoy killing when the waves of elation flooding your head feel so unnatural, like you were told to feel them?

Fury and uncertainty battling in your mind, you storm through the crowd; a hurricane barely contained in skin.

You make your way through all the groups of party-goers,  ensuring they know of your presence and remember seeing Ricci. By the time the elevator deposits you on your apartment floor, you've managed to chalk your agitated thoughts up to stress. Pushing the straggling doubt of your mind, you knock three times on the door to your apartment.

The Winter Soldier lets you in at once, and you get the feeling he was waiting for you. He's barefoot, still in his dress shirt but you spot the tuxedo laying discarded over the arm of the couch behind him.

He looks you up and down, searching you for injuries and taking in your slightly dishevelled state. The relief is clear in his voice, "Are you okay, what took you so long?"

"Why, were you worried?" you tease, pushing past him to take a seat on the lounge and unbuckle your high heels.

The Winter Solider stays standing, leaning against the wall. "Maybe. It's not every day you attend a high-security ball in a foreign country."

"High security? Please, they were practically begging for something to go wrong."

"So, you killed him then." Not exactly a question.

"I killed him," you confirm.

For a second, you think you see a regretful disappointment shadow the Winter Soldier's eyes, but it's gone before you can be sure. "That's it?" he questions, disbelief lacing his voice, "You didn't, I don't know, do something distinctly," he breaks off, searching for the right word, "you?"

"Well," you drawl, "I might have been a little more... conspicuous, then Hydra had in mind."

He raises his right eyebrow.

"I left a mark. A lipstick mark," you clarify.

He scoffs at your answer, though a smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

"Don't worry, I messed it up enough with my powers so even if the police knew it was me, they would never be able to prove it."

"You couldn't have just killed him and left a note; Love from Hydra?"

"No way, he was far too good looking for that." You were joking, though it wasn't entirely a lie.

A flare of emotion emanates from the Winter Soldier, gone almost as soon as it appears. No, not gone, you realise, buried. But still there.

Your mind grasps at the tendrils of emotion being suppressed and you try to place your finger on it. You could always look into his mind, but you had told him you wouldn't do that. Since when have I ever worried about keeping my promises?

Berating yourself for your sudden morality, you focus on working out what the emotion is. The emotion was familiar, normally you'd know exactly what it was. But you were second-guessing yourself because... well...