blueberry pancakes // bucky barnes

the one with the angel

     Her back seized and muscles stiffened as a second knock echoed on her window. Her hand snuck quietly to the knife that Bucky had taped to the side of the bed closest to the wall. Lily gripped it tightly as she listened to the lock on the window snap off, a rush of cool air pushing into her room like a dark cloak. Her nimble fingers glided over the hilt of the blade, tugging at it gently and wincing at the pull of the tape off of the wood bed frame. The moment that gentle and light as air footstep hopped onto the wooden floors, Lily twisted and pointed the knife at the intruder, tears brimming her waterline.

"Woah woah woah!" Cedar's voice whispered yelled as he raised his hands in innocence at his sister's threat.

Lily's eyes blew wide as she stared up at the blonde boy in front of her. He seemed run down, dark purple bags weighing down his usually bright and boisterous eyes. His cheeks were hollow and he seemed to be so skinny he could be carried away in the wind. His clothing was dirty and full of stains, and hung off of him like a loose skin. It made Lily sick to her stomach as she wondered what on earth caused her younger brother to look so...sick.

"How the hell did you get in here!?" Lily returned, her voice the same hushed tone as she stood from her bed and locked the bedroom door, "Do you know how easy it would be for anyone in this place to not only kill you, but lock you up!?"

"I know I know, but I have my ways," he grinned weakly. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from Lily's sight. Only to reappear on her bed, his breathing heavy and laboured, "see."

Lily stared at the boy with a blank expression on her face. There were no words. She tried to figure out if Cedar could always do that, disappear and reappear on a whim. But she knew that wasn't the case. It had to do with her parents, she knew it. Bucky had mentioned that they were trying to genetically alter people to become mutants in a way. But she never would have thought that they would be sadistic enough to use their own son. And the way Cedar looked...Lily wanted to hold him, feed him, do anything to bring her younger brother back to the full hearted and healthy boy she knew and loved. Not the skeletal human that stood before her today.

"It drains me. Anytime I do it I..." he trailed off, taking a step down onto the floor, "I lose a part of me. I need help Lily please, you need to help me." He pleaded, taking a step towards his older sister.

Lily took a step back, her bare feet sticking slightly to the ground at the nervous sweat that coated her entire body. She gripped onto her dress with a strength she only felt once before. When she stood up to Scott the night of the incident with Cedar. Her short fingernails dug into the mahogany wood, staring down her younger brother with an intensity not short of scary. But he looked so scared, so...unlike him. Lily knew she shouldn't trust it, not after everything that had happened. But this was Cedar, her brother. He was a victim most likely. Lily couldn't help but let her shields down as she stared at the broken look in his eyes.

"You will not speak to Hunter until I tell you to," Lily spoke calmly, unlocking the door and opening it, "You will not speak to anyone unless spoken to. Do not touch anything."

"Always the boss, eh?"

"Don't push it."

-----

Their footprints were quiet along the hardwood as the two clambered down the halls towards where the voices of the Avengers floated from. The group had gathered in the many living-room, drinking and joking and enjoying each other's company. But their voices went quiet as the two Osbornes rounded the corner. Without hesitation, Captain America lunged forward and tugged Lily behind his back, shielding her from the shell of a boy her brother had become over the past while.