Unlimited || Bucky Barnes

The Men

My tears started to pool up beneath my chin and drop onto my thighs. The sadness in me started to boil into anger, and my face started to tense up.

"Don't you dare leave me Bucky. I won't let you die because of me. I need you. If you go, I'll drown, Bucky. Without you, I don't want to come back up for air. I'm not at home, my parents are who knows where, I can't even trust myself. You are all I have right now, you are my life raft, Bucky. Now I need you to stay with me and pull me out of this ice cold water because I'm sinking fast," I cried, pounding my fist on the floor.

"Don't go...please," my anger burned down and my hands hung at my side. I sighed heavily and didn't bother to stop the tears from streaming down the sides of my face. My heart was thumping along with his, steadily beating again and again and-

Footsteps. Large ones. Heavy, but light on the toes. Fast.

Steve.

I batted my eyes a few times to clear the fog of my tears and slouched over Bucky's still body. I could not only sense, but hear the weak pounding in his chest. I listened to it like a lullaby, calming me until Steve bursted in.

"Darby, what- Darby! What happened?" he ran through the corridor and gestured towards the various unconscious bodies in the room, stalling at Bucky's.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. It was all my fault Steve. I didn't mean to, I just-" I tried to explain, lifting my head up to Steve.

"We don't need to waste time on explaining now. Are they...alive?" he questioned, almost gagging on the very words.

"Yes, yes. Sam and Natasha are but Bucky-"

Steve bent down and examined the tee shirt wrapped around Bucky's head. He traced his hand over Bucky's arm and pursed his lips.

"Steve. He's dying, because of me. He, he came at me, and...and I did this to him-" I stuttered.

"Stop it Darby. You did it out of defense, it was not entirely your fault," he reassured, standing back up from his crouching position.

"We have to go Steve. Bucky needs help now, professional help. I can't heal him any more, and the quinjet doesn't exactly fly-"

"What?! What happened to the quinjet?" he ran to the front control panel with a Sam-shaped dent in the middle.

"It's my fault and now it doesn't work anymore."

"But, what..how did-"

"It's difficult to explain. But we need to get out of here. It won't be easy unless Sam and Natasha wake up," I sniffled.

I glanced back at Bucky and started to cry again. Steve rushed to my side and wrapped himself around me without hesitation.

"He will be fine, Darby," his calm voice reassured.

"We don't know that Steve. I couldn't live with myself if he-"

"He will be fine. I promise," he sternly looked me in the eyes. He was lying, I knew that. But at least the hope was genuine.

I nodded my head and leaned back. Steve rushed to Natasha and Sam and examined them for a while. Steve pushed on Natasha's shoulder and she jolted awake. Steve flinched and jumped back. Natasha sat up and rubbed her head, wincing. She blinked a couple times and cleared her vision, then focused her attention on Steve.

"Rogers!" she exclaimed, unbuckling herself from the belts that held her up before. She jumped onto her feet and pulled Steve back towards her. She hesitated a little and glanced back at me. Her eyes looked at me with regret, and then fear as soon as she noticed Bucky on the floor.