𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐄𝐕𝐄 ☁︎︎ 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴

- memories never forgotten -

—☁︎︎—

Saturday 24th August 1974 - 3:48pm.

— BUCKY HAD BEEN DRIVING WITH NO OBJECTIVE IN SIGHT. All he remotely cared about was that Evette woke up soon because he was beginning to feel a slice of dread stir in the pit of his stomach.

His mind had continuously played back what happened back there and he couldn't make sense of any of it; but all he could do was be grateful for Evette saving his skin. She would no doubt argue it was about time she did something for him, but she had already done so much for him, that this could be counted as an extra. As he continued to drive along the road, watching every car so intensely and suspecting it of being the very people he was afraid of, he finally pulled over and slammed his fists against the wheel. His paranoia was coating his usual professionalism and all because of this woman, this one woman who had taken over every thought. Everything he did, was for her, and he wasn't sure that was healthy considering the fact that she could now be in a comatose.

Bucky hadn't had anything on his mind apart from whatever the mission was he had been prescribed to complete for years, decades even; and yet here she was. His metal arm reached out toward her, his hand grazing her face ever so lightly that it could barely be described as a caress. The way she made him feel wasn't vulnerable but... human, which was something he hadn't felt in all the time of captivity where he had been treated as a lab rat and only every referred to as 'the asset'. A nameless and speechless entity that none could even see as a human being and just as a weapon that could occasionally talk back. Evette saw him as something more, no just someone to talk to, but someone to trust and follow and forgive for the most heinous actions.

Speaking of which, took him back to 1951, the Korean War.

The day he met Isaiah Bradley, Evette's father.

— GOYANG, KOREA

Wednesday 7th February 1951 - ?am.

THE WINTER SOLDIER WAS ON THE PROWL. The warmth of the sun beating down onto his bionic arm was enough to make him uncomfortable but the imposing mask covering the lower half of his face had been on for such a long time that it had begun to chafe against the side of his neck. He knelt down, studying a set of unusual shaped footprints that definitely didn't belong to a Korean soldier and turned back to head into the bar just settled before him. He snuck in without trouble, no attention coming to him as he studied the area. One particular figure he took notice of, a figure that was unrecognisable to his untrustworthy memory. This man was large, his shoulders as broad as a brick house with black skin and thick coiled hair that settled well beneath a cap.

They were both outlanders in this place.

The soldier seemingly watched the rest of the bars custom depart before taking himself up to the bar and sitting beside the stranger.
"So you're him." The man says. Before he could react the stool the soldier is sat on is pulled out from under him but he doesn't fall to the floor but loses his balance enough for the stranger to grab him by the left arm and twist it behind his back. The soldier bashes his head back against the strangers before making a run for it to the door where a wide open space would serve a better fighting ground. He is pulled back by the stranger prior to reaching the door and his arm is once again twisted that causes him to cry out in pain this time as he feels the metal plates bend and the wires beneath coil and snap. Before he could even blink, half of his arm is unattached and in the hands of his attacker who stares at it in shock before lunging for the winter soldier once again. The soldier moves from his line of grip and kicks him so hard in stomach that it causes the stranger to keel over.

The Winter Soldier took one look at the man on the floor - no doubt being enhanced in some kind of way much like himself - and noticed the name tag of his military uniform.

Isaiah Bradley.

It was a name Bucky never forgot.

— PRESENT

Evette stirred and Bucky could only sigh with relief before taking her into his arms and embracing her like a cuddly toy. The hug was soon returned as the woman reached out and rubbed her hands over Bucky's back soothingly.
"Are you alright?" She muttered as they pulled away from their hug, the moment still remains unspoiled by her unforgiving kindness.
"Yes, are you? How did you do that?"
Evette shrugged and barely smiled before her eyes shut as she yawned.
"I don't have a clue, I was just so angry and... well, I took it out on those assholes." Bucky nodded.
"Well I'm glad it wasn't me." She chuckled before Bucky tilted her chin back up. "You saved me, thank you."
"We saved each other, let's not get too hasty with singing my praises okay?" Bucky nodded at her chivalry, how usual for her. Evette seemed to shiver despite the humid temperature and Bucky took notice of it.
"Are you cold?" He asks, wondering if it was another side effect of the energy she had just used a few hours prior.

"No just... I got a chill, like a bad feeling." Bucky nodded and because of his complete and utter faith in her senses, he starts the car once again. Manoeuvring Evette back over to her seat, he notices how she seemed hesitant to move away from his warmth. "My head hurts like hell."
Bucky made sure to remember to add painkillers and Evette's thyroid medication to the growing list of things they would both need to gather whilst now on the run for good.

No more stopping anywhere familiar.

"Where are we headed?" Evette pondered and Bucky didn't answer...

For he truly didn't know.