Edelweiss || Bucky x Reader

Chapter Nine

I wake up hoping to say goodbye, but he's already left. Nearly all of them have. The camp is like a ghost town. They don't even bother having us come in to work. With nothing to do, Lu and I spend the day together.

She sits legs crossed on my cot while I lay on the floor. I stare up at the ceiling, thinking. The injuries I'll be faced with when everyone gets back are going to be the worst so far. I'm oddly at peace with this fact.

"You drew these?" Lu asks. I sit up to look at her. She's holding up Steve's book, open to the blank page in between the cover and the first chapter. He had drawn Bucky and I laughing together. Ouch.

I force a laugh. "No, I'm not much of an artist. Those are my brother Steve's."

She smiles and nods. I think she can tell my brother is a sensitive topic. I just realized I haven't told her much about him. They'd like each other, I think. If the circumstances were better I'd even introduce them.

The rest of the day goes by without any excitement.

...

It's been four days.

Four long, silent days.

Four days. Not a word from anyone.

Until sunset, that is.

"They're back!" Someone is shouting. Lu and I look at each other before sprinting out of my tent. I can't decide if I should be overjoyed or an anxious wreck. On one hand, Bucky's back, but on the other hand, I have no idea what condition he's in. I start to prepare myself for a pretty beat-up group of men. But what I get is so much worse.

There can't be more than a hundred of them walking into camp. Just four days ago, 500 at least had left. My breath is violently ripped away from me, my heart dropping into my stomach.

"BUCKY?" I shout, running into the crowd. It's more of a desperate plea than a question. "BUCK, WHERE ARE YOU?"

There's no reply. My world spins like I'm going to pass out. This isn't real. Just another nightmare.

Wake up

"BUCKY!"

JUST WAKE UP

Suddenly Lucy is in front of me.

"Y/N, hey, hey, come with me." She says, but I'm cemented in place. My thoughts are mixed up. None of this makes sense. He has to be here. "Y/N, we have to go." I feel her grab my hand, pulling me out of the crowd. My feet are moving, but it's not me who's moving them. I'm outside my body, watching everything happening around me.

She sits me down somewhere, my cot I think. My vision is blurred and I can't focus. I might be crying. I feel hollow. Like my person, my being, has been ripped out of me.

Reality hits me in waves as two voices battle for control of my head.

He'll be ok, Y/N

He wouldn't want you to worry.

No.

It doesn't matter what he wants now. He's gone.

You are alone.

The sooner you accept that, the better.

No.

Yes.

I can't tell you how long I sat there. Time passes too fast, and then too slow, and then not at all. Eventually, I feel another person sit next to me, the mattress sinking slightly under their weight.

"Bucky?" I ask, my natural reaction to reach out for him, even now.

"No honey, just me." Says Lu. At the sound of her voice I start breaking down, the little hope I have left being crushed. I know I can't form a coherent sentence, so I don't even try. "I know, I know. It's ok. Just let it out." And I do.

"Where is he?" I whisper in between shaky breaths. God, what am I going to do? Where do I go from here? I need a next step, just someone to show me the right way. I take a deep breath in an effort to think more clearly. I just hope I can get his body back home.

"Captured. All of them." She says sadly.

My eyes shoot open. Captured means alive. Alive means I can still save him. "Where?" I demand, not meaning to sound so aggressive.

"Austria..." She replies suspiciously, my sudden shift in attitude catching her off guard.

I nod and walk briskly out of my tent, only to be confronted by a complete absence of light, apart from the stars overhead.

"Goodnight, Y/N." She says gently, pulling me into a hug. I wrap my arms around her, but my mind is elsewhere. She lets me go and leaves for her tent. I go back to mine.

I don't stay there. 

Instead, I wait long enough for anyone still awake to fall asleep. Then I go to Bucky's tent. I need a pair of pants, I'm not getting far in this skirt. Normally, he'd have Bunk mates, but they've been captured too. The eerie silence of it all sends shivers down my spine. Still, I'm quiet as I open his trunk.

A worn photo tucked next to his folded uniform catches my attention. I take it out and find myself staring at my own smiling face, laughing so hard you can almost hear it. I remember this. We were all walking through Central Park when Steve fell face-first into a flock of geese, who were just trying to enjoy a forgotten hot dog laying in the grass. It's dated 7/03/41 in small writing at the bottom. One day before Steve's birthday. I tuck the photo back where I found it, sighing sadly.

Having wasted enough time, I slip on his uniform, cuffing the pants and sleeves and lacing up the boots as tight as they go. After stuffing my nurse's outfit under his mattress, I go to leave his tent, but something silver catches my eye.

His dog tags.

Without thinking, I pull them over my head.

"I'm coming for you, just hold out for me." I whisper, brushing my thumb over one of the tags, the feeling of the indents of his name and identifying numbers making a reckless decision very easy.

Leaving his tent, a small hand covers my mouth and pulls me into the shadows.

"Shh, shh, it's Lucy." The voice says before I have the chance to scream.

"Lu, I can explain everything," I say, panicked. Even in the dark I can make out her smile.

"Honey, I know what you're doing. I figured you'd want these." She hands me a map with an 'X' on it and a handgun.

I stand there, stunned. "Where did you get these?" I ask.

"Oh, these boys leave their toys all over the place, you just got to know where to look." She points to the X. "That's where your sweetheart is."

I pull her into a tight hug. "Thank you" I whisper.

"Thank me when you get back." She says, ushering me into the night.