VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[15]

Elysia knew the surroundings like the back of her hand. The flashing marquee, showcasing that night's movie times. The fingers laced within her own of the smiling young man across from her, eyes full of love and laughter. The shortcut they'd always taken to get back to the subway, no longer the empty alley they'd always known it to be as the click of a safety disengaging stopped them in their tracks.

"Just leave her alone," the boy next to her had pleaded to the two men across from them, the handguns aimed between Elysia's eyebrows as she raised her hands up in surrender. "We'll go, we'll never say a word to anyone." His gaze locking with hers, now full of terror. "Just let her go."

She'd replayed the scenario in her head thousands of times, but Elysia Sparks could still never have been sure when it had all gone wrong. She'd pushed him behind her, arms aimed out towards the men with her electricity blazing. Maybe it was the need to get the men as far away from them as possible. Maybe it was the terror coursing through her veins of the boy she loved in danger, the fear mixing in with the electricity waiting to be fired.

Maybe she had just lost control.

She wasn't sure who screamed first as the lightning strikes rained down in the alley around them, mixing in with the blinding streaks of light and thunder that boomed overhead, nearly deafening.

Maybe it had been her screams.

Maybe it had been the men's.

Maybe it had been Jacob's.

The screaming echoed in Elysia's ears as she glanced around the alley, another strike of lightning emitting from her palms at the realization of the damage she'd left in her wake as the deafening silence began to cover her like a blanket. It was only after she turned around that she saw the true damage, and Elysia collapsed to her knees, pulling the now-lifeless figure in front of her into her lap as tears began to blur her vision.

"No," she murmured, cradling him closer as the tears began to spill, "No no no no no. Jake, wake up. Wake up! Wake up! Jake!"

"Wake up!" Suddenly the words were no longer Elysia's as her eyes flew open, and she darted up into a sitting position to see Bucky sitting across from her, a hand on her shoulder as he watched her with a frightened expression.

Elysia fought to catch her breath, a cold sweat clamming up her body as she curled in on herself, burying her face in her knees as she began to cry. Heaving sobs wracked her body, and as Bucky pulled her closer, she didn't fight it, allowing the man to wrap his arms around her. She buried her face in his shoulder as she clung to him, feeling the thin fabric of his t-shirt already beginning to soak through with her tears, but to Bucky's credit, he didn't move away, just letting her be.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered after a while, pulling out of his embrace, and he watched carefully as she reached up, wiping away a stray tear with the sleeve of her pajama shirt.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Bucky assured her. "I get them too, you know that. Now it's just my turn to help you, right?"

The two of them fell into an awkward silence as she once again wrapped her arms around her knees, bringing them up to her chest, and he looked down at the ground for a moment before his eyes found the bedroom door. His gaze flickered back and forth between her and the door for a moment before he jerked his head back in the direction of the exit.

"Do you want me to go?" he asked, and after a moment she shook her head.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked in a small voice, and he nodded, crawling closer to her until he was sitting next to her and tentatively wrapping an arm around her shoulders, waiting for her to pull away, but to his surprise, she leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder.