Embered Coal ° BUCKY BARNES | VOL. 3

epilogue; this mind of mine

It was all very scary for Steve. After Bucky had gotten his arm blown off, and knocked out, the anger overtaking the metal armed man after Lara had fell limp to the ground. What was worse was that Steve couldn't find a pulse once he had gotten them back to the quin-jet.

Lara laid limp as he tried to revive her, doing chest compression to try and save her life. Bucky was trying not to freak out, though Steve could see it happening as he continued trying to get the pulse back.

Steve hadn't noticed, but Bucky was silently crying, begging Lara under his breath to still be alive. That she couldn't leave him now, when he had just gotten her. That he loved her, and that he'd go crazy if he lost her.

Steve hadn't noticed T'Challa come up behind them, Zemo in his arms. The blonde slightly listened as the King apologized to Steve and Bucky for not listening to them, which was quite the thing to do considering everyone's pride. T'Challa said that he'd take Zemo to the appropriate people to deal with him, before the Panther walked out of the quin-jet, dragging Zemo with him.

Lara was still not getting a pulse, and Steve was scared that he had lost her when suddenly, her stomach moved up and down with a breath. She didn't open her eyes though. The girl didn't do the stereotypical thing where she gasped awake, sucking in air like her life depended on it. No, she just barely started to breath again, but it seemed to be enough for Bucky as she cradled her barely breathing body to his chest with one arm.

Steve gave him a sad smile, knowing they one of the last good things in Bucky's life had almost been lost. But, she was on the way of being okay, even if her breath was baited.

Steve got up, helping Bucky up to get him strapped into a seat. He did Lara next, making sure that she had a pulse after, before climbing into the cockpit and flying away from the Hydra hideout, and out of Siberia.

********

Bucky glanced over at Lara, who was hooked up to a lot of tubes as doctors prepped him to be put back into cryogenics. The man was scared that since Hydra was still somehow in his brain, that someone would get smart enough to find that stupid book, and say the trigger words again.

Until there was a way to get everything that Hydra had programmed into his mind out of it, it was safer for him to go back into the frozen sleep. T'Challa had been nice enough to take both him and Lara into some secret medical facility in the middle of a jungle in Wakanda. Bucky only cared about his fiancé's life, scared that she may never way up.

After the chest reactor's beam hit her, it seemed that Lara had fallen into a comatose state. The burn wound that would probably have had her screaming in pain on her chest had been treated, though it had scarred. Steve had explained in the letter he had wrote to Tony what had happened to the girl, promising that all was fine and that the man shouldn't feel guilty.

Lara would accept his apology if she was awake. The girl had just been trying to protect a loved one. Bucky got off of his table, laying a kiss on Lara's forehead, listening to the machine that measured her heartbeat pick up a tiny bit when his lips touched her forehead.

"I can still make your heart beat that fast, huh, Lara?" Bucky said, chuckling slightly. A doctor came in again, telling Bucky to sit back down. Bucky complied, sitting on the metal table as Steve entered the room.

The blonde walked forward, heading to Lara and running a hand over her cheek gently. It showed that the Captain had cared greatly about what happened to Lara, and Bucky was glad he did. Steve would be watching out for the girl when Bucky went under.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked after his moment was done with Lara. Bucky glanced at his missing metal arm, before looking back at the cryo-tube.

"I can't trust my own mind," Bucky said, giving Steve a sad look. "So, until they figure out how to get all those stuff outta my head, I think going back under is the best thing."

Steve nodded, and Bucky glanced over to Lara, then back at Steve. "For everybody."

Bucky was then told he could get into the tube. He shot Lara one last sad look, detouring to kiss her on the lips. "I love you, Lara Caroline Roth."

He was then put into the tube, and some doctors strapped him in. When he was ready, and comfortable, Bucky watched as the tube closed. He closed those blue eyes he knew Lara loved so much, and felt the cooling sensation of the cryo start to crawl up his skin.

Bucky was then sleeping peacefully, dreaming about a life he could have with Lara, if he hadn't fallen off that train back in 1943.

__________

n.e

le fin

this is so heartbreaking and i love lara and i'm sorry everybody but the alternative was her dying when tony hit her?

the two people i had talked to this about both said put her in a coma instead of killing her so you have them to thank.

thanks everyone for reading this book, and i'm glad you all liked it!