❝Whatever happens, I will never stop loving you.❞
. . .in which they are broken and battered, but their love for one another is what keeps them from completely falling apart.
[BOOK TWO]
[Highest ranking: #9 in fanfiction as of 5/26/18]
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★ ★ ★
It was the next day in Romania's capital of Bucharest. The sun shone brightly in the afternoon sky, the warm temperature ideal for both the tourists and residents roaming around the beautiful city.
James Buchanan Barnes was among the crowd of residents and tourists in the square. He had decided over a month ago that taking temporary residency in Romania would be the smartest thing for him to do. Romania was a fairly quiet country, and that was what Bucky needed. He needed to go somewhere he knew he would be comfortable—somewhere he knew he would be able to go without turning too many heads.
Of course, he preferred his residency back in the states. More specifically, he preferred his residency back in Washington D.C. with the Claire family, Greyson, and Wanda when she wasn't away for work. Bucky wanted nothing more than to go back home; he wanted nothing more than to be back home with Marlena, but he knew he couldn't turn back, at least not yet he couldn't. He was still experiencing difficulties regarding his mental state, and he refused to risk hurting the ones he loved because of that—he refused to risk hurting Marlena because of it.
Bucky wondered how she was doing; he wondered how everyone was doing, really, but his concern stemmed more towards Marlena. He knew him leaving would be hard on her, and the last thing he wanted for her was more emotional pain to deal with, but he had done it to keep her safe, and knowing that helped ease his already-screwed up conscience. He could only hope that Greyson, Mason, Wanda, and Steve were doing something to help her cope with his absence.
Bucky looked over the various amounts of fruits being displayed, his eyes immediately falling on the small indigo fruit sitting in a bin in the corner. It seemed as if he had been living off of plums for the last month or so, though that was quite the exaggeration. As strange as it sounded, though, the fruit helped him. They cleared his mind and helped him focus, and that was good when he was trying to pull himself together from yet another relapse.
After purchasing the fruit, Bucky moved towards the street. He surveyed the area as he attempted to figure out what it was he was going to do next, but the feeling that he was being watched slowly began to bother him. He looked across the street, where a man sitting at a newsstand was watching him rather intently. Bucky shifted uncomfortably on his feet, nervously glancing back a forth between the man and anything his eyes could find.
Bucky began watching the man beneath the bill of his baseball cap, though, and as he watched the frightening realization flash across the man's face, he began making his way across the street. The man wasted no time at all in running off, his fear for Bucky driving his actions, but Bucky's intention was not to hurt the man, let alone confront the man at all.
He approached the newsstand, picking up the newspaper that was sitting on the table. His face contorted in confusion and slight shock as he looked over the front page of the paper. A picture of a man that appeared to be him was printed across the page, as well as an article describing the incident in Vienna just a day before.
