An Untold Legacy (FATWS X Reader)

[23] The World is Ugly

They found John at an abandoned train shed a few miles away, Sharon aiding with the satellite tracker she was watching. YN had her jaw clenched tightly, her fists curled as they entered, listening to the soft sobs from John, who was leaning over the shield, the blood decorating it glinting in the stream of sunlight.

"Walker." Sam called as the three of them stood back, albeit much to YN's dismay.

"You guys should see a medic," John muttered lowly, getting to his feet as he walked closer. "You don't look too good."

"Stop, Walker." Sam demanded, his tone final.

"What?" John asked, as if in disbelief they were even talking to him. "You saw what happened! You know what I had to do." YN's teeth grounded together, her fists tightening at her side, the gloves covering her palms scrunching in protest. "I killed him because I had to. He killed Lemar!"

"He didn't kill Lemar, John." Bucky said calmly, although the tense hold his shoulders were in said he was teetering on the edge of rage. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well."

"I'm not like you." John growled and YN fought the urge to attack the blonde man as Bucky looked away.

"Listen," Sam started. "It was the heat of the battle. If you explain what happened, they might consider your record... We don't want anyone else getting hurt."

"Hand over the shield, Walker." YN murmured, her tone flat but final.

"Oh," John muttered, scoffing out a laugh. "So that's what this is?" He shook his head as he stepped back defensively. "You almost got me there."

YN glanced over to Bucky quickly, finding his eyes glaring at the blood oozing over the rounded edge of the shield. YN swallowed down a growl of rage as she too focused in on it, her breathing coming in short spurts as she tried hard to contain her anger.

"You made a mistake." Sam tried one last time to reason with the blonde man who was also growing antsy.

"You don't wanna do this." John growled.

"Yeah," YN spat. "We do."

Without a second thought, YN jumped at the blonde man, swinging her arm at his head and smacking him into a crouch. She wrapped her fingers around the blood stained shield, trying to rip it from Johns hands, but the newly stronger man pushed it against her, sending her backward into a wall.

Bucky was next as he too went for the shield, smacking the blonde man back a step as Sam came from behind to aid him. They were close to grabbing it when John gained the upped hand, grabbing Sam's wing and tossing him aside and kicking Bucky back in the process.

YN was on her feet again, sprinting over and rebounding off the wall to land with her legs on John's shoulders, throwing herself backward to tip them both over. John landed beneath her, but he was able to scramble enough so that YN's ankle twisted, the sound of it popping making YN scream out.

"Shit, YN!" Bucky was back in it as Sam unwrapped a wire from his wing, grabbing YN by her arm and dragging her away from the blonde man. YN bit back cries of agony as she wrapped her hands around her quickly bruising ankle.

She looked over to where the three men were fighting, making her grit her teeth and grip her foot slightly tighter, using every fiber in her body to stop herself from screaming as she pushed the dislocated joint back into place. Hopping up on a wobbly foot, YN limped over to where John was grappling Bucky. Just as she reached him, John let out a shout and tossed Bucky aside into an electrical cable table.

"Bucky!" YN shouted as she watched his body jolt for a moment, his hand seizing as electricity ran through it. The brunette shook his head to recover and YN turned to John with clenched teeth, noticing both Sam and Bucky trying to recover from their respective blows. "You have no idea what you've done."

"Don't stand there patronizing me." John growled, spitting blood onto the ground.

"Look at you," YN sneered, limping closer as the pain in her ankle started to turn into a dull ache. "You're a joke."

John shouted as he tossed the shield at her, but YN was smarter, ducking away from it and kicking out her non-injured foot, collecting John's feet and causing him to collapse on the ground. Before she could use the opportunity to grab the shield and bolt, John wrapped a hand around YN's tender ankle, ripping a shout of pain from her and sending her tumbling over him.

He was on top of her, hands around her throat as she struggled to gain back control. Her eyes were growing heavy with each second she went without oxygen before he was ripped from her body, Sam attacking him from the side. YN coughed and spluttered as she got back to her feet, inching closer and closer to the shield. Sam let out a cry as John tossed him aside again, one of his wings ripped clean from his suit.

"Sam!" YN called hoarsely, still on her trek to the shield when John attacked again, grabbing the shield for himself. YN cried out as they both fell to the ground, yet this time, YN was able to grapple for top position, her hands fighting off the punches the blonde tossed at her. John rolled and YN found herself flipping over his head, so she used it the position to wrap her legs around his neck and grab his arm tightly in one hand, the other on the shield. "Bucky!" YN screamed, trying to grab the brunettes attention as he tried to flex the fingers of his metal appendage. "A little help?"

Bucky and Sam were with her in a second, holding his arms while YN tried to rip the shield from his grip. With a shout of pain and a crunch, the shield came loose and YN tumble backward, almost relishing in the cries coming from John's mouth as she swallowed bouts of air.

YN lifted herself up as Bucky picked up the shield, looking down at it disappointedly. He looked over to where Sam was laying on his back, also breathing heavily and looking slightly injured. YN hated herself for it, but she understood why Bucky was angry with Sam now, the feeling of rage not simmering even in the slightest as the blood stain on the metal weapon continued to gleam in the light.

Bucky dropped the shield by Sam who flinched, lifting his body up to glance back at YN who was staring unblinking at the blood there. Bucky walked back to YN's side, asking her quietly if she could walk. YN nodded and didn't protest as Bucky turned her away from Sam and urged her out the door.

YN didn't speak until Bucky had walked them through the door of a motel, sat her on the bed and started to remove her shoes for her. In fact, even then she didn't speak, it was more a muffled sob mixed with a whine. Bucky's blue eyes were quickly on her, watching as YN's eyes filled with tears, her mouth clenched shut.

"Hey," he whispered, kneeling in front of her with his hands either side of her face. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here." YN fell forward into his embrace, her face pressing into the crook of his neck. Despite the scent of blood and sweat from their earlier fight, Bucky still felt and smelt like home, and YN needed something grounding to pull her from the panic attack she was teetering on the edge of.

"Why would he do that?" YN gasped for breath, her sobs stopping her from breathing regularly. "Why didn't he stop him? He could have stopped all of this, why-" YN cried harder as she imagined Steve's face seeing the blood on his beloved shield. "It was all I had left of him and now it's tainted and I-"

"I know, sweetheart." Bucky sighed, his eyes closing to stop tears escaping. "I know."