Untangling a Memory

Shards of glass

Bucky sat on the ground for a long moment trying to reorient himself to what had just happened.

"Sir, are you alright?"

Bucky turned to the shop owner, who was now crouched next to him. He looked at her confused.

"You're bleeding. Would you like a tissue or a towel or something?"

Bucky continued to stare at him, still in a daze after what had just transpired.

"Sir?"

Bucky finally shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I, uh... I have to go. I'm... I'm sorry." He stumbled to his feet, wiping off his clothes and turning to exit to the shop.

"Sir, your friend left her purse." The shopkeeper picked up Natasha's purse from the ground where she had placed it as she was trying on bags . "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, yes. Thank you. I'm sorry for the... disruption. Excuse me." Bucky took the purse from the shop owner's hand and bowed his head once before quickly heading out the door.

Bucky looked both ways down the busy street, but no sign of Natasha. He began walking quickly, backtracking their route, peaking in every shop they had stopped in, but she wasn't in any of them. Each street and alley he passed, he peered down quickly, hopping for any sign of her, but without luck. His fast walk was soon turning into a run, as he became more and more worried. Natasha was no where to be found.

Bucky finally stopped outside of the tiny bar where they had drank their beers as he caught his breath and furiously looked around in every direction. His mind raced as he considered what could have possibly happened to cause her to suddenly run off. If she had seen someone suspicious, she likely would have told him, since he could also be in danger. If she had been trying to give Bucky the slip, she could have done so at any point in a way that would have been far less conspicuous. None of this seemed to make any sense.

Bucky rubbing his hands over his face, then through his hair, as he tried to clear his mind and focus. Go back to your training, he thought. Think about the the details.

The motorbike- Nothing. Busy street- Nothing. Him pulling her out of the way- Definitely something.

As he thought about it now, he realized how important this was. The way her body had gone limp in his hand, her eyes becoming ghostlike, her unresponsiveness to her name. He'd never seen her like this before. And what had made her turn aggressive and flee? When he touched her again as she laid on the ground. To that, she had responded instantly.

Bucky now felt like he had something to go off of. She wasn't running from a shadowy figure. She wasn't even running from him, not really. She was running from... herself.

Feeling like he had put the basic pieces together, he ran out of the market and started out of the city. Bucky ran to the hills, plains, and down to the lake. He tried all of Natasha's favorite spots that he could think of where she would hide, but no signs of her. He even sprinted down to the secret waterfall, but she wasn't there. So, he headed back to the palace, just as darkness was starting to fall.

While he felt like he had a better sense of what might have happened, he was no less worried about Natasha. Depending on how she was recovering from the incident she could be hiding anywhere. There was even a slim possibility that she would think about fleeing the palace and country all together, but Bucky pushed this from his mind. There was no time to get wrapped up in such anxieties unless he found evidence that would suggest this.

Arriving back at the apartment, Bucky was exhausted. He had thought about starting here, but it was unlikely she would run straight back to the most obvious location. She seemed too skittish in her initial reaction to the situation at the market to be so easily found. So, upon arriving back to the palace, he'd circled his way in, checking around the pool, gardens, stairs, gym, conference rooms, and even Shuri's lab, before finally arriving back at their home.