The Captain's Husband

28. Reanimated (Steve)

Snow falls around me, blurring into a world of white light as soon as it falls. Each of the Infinity Stones passes my eyes, going off into oblivion once they go by, and a number of emotions slap me hard in the face with each stone.

I remember that the last thing I saw was the light fading from Bucky's eyes as he told me he loved me.

I wonder what's happened to us, where I am now, where he is.

Now that I think of it, where the hell am I? I feel like I'm floating.

I look down at my hands and my heart swells when I see the gold wedding band on my left ring finger.

But then panic hits me.

Where the fuck is Bucky?

I look around me, absolutely startled.

We're both dead, right? We should both be here. Where is he?

A brief flash of a man in a black with a red cloak bounces through my head, then the image leaves.

The fuck was that?

I suddenly drop down a few feet, like gravity has just kicked in, and I land on something solid in this bewildering world of white light. I take a hesitant step forward, and I land just as I would if I were walking down a hallway or a sidewalk. I take another, and then another, until I walk face-first into a wall that I clearly didn't and can't see.

Fucking hell.

To settle my nerves down, I step back, close my eyes, and take a deep breath.

When I do that, a map appears in my head. I open my eyes, terrified, and it vanishes. I close my eyes again, hoping that now I'm only seeing things, but that same map reappears.

What?

With my eyes closed and the potentially nonexistent map lighting up my brain like the Fourth of July, I extend my arms. Just as it shows in my head, there's a barrier on my left, and the area to my right is open.

Interesting.

Using my senses as best as I can with this bit of weird science in my head, I navigate my way through the map, and I open my eyes when I reach the end. The white light that's formed the world around me falls into shadows and color, forming a corridor of breathtaking white marble, golden chandeliers, and white silk drapes.

Brilliant.

I find Bucky at the end of it, curled up in a little ball with white light radiating from him.

I run toward him, relieved to have finally found him. The moment I touch him though, the corridor falls, and I'm left pulling Bucky through a glowing portal.

As I come through the other side, I realize that now, I'm stuck in some sort of dark, cold, heavy box. It's pitch black and way too close for comfort.

I sigh.

Great...another puzzle.

My hair stands on end when I hear muffled Russian swearing, but then I ask, "Buck?"

"Stevie?" A voice asks.

Bingo!

"Bucky!" I sigh in relief. "Oh, sweetheart, I so happy to hear your voice!"

Wait.

We were just dead.

And being dead means...

It hits me like a brick.

Oh no.

"Shit!" I groan. "We're in fucking coffins, babe."

I close my eyes, trying to think, and I see a matrix-like blueprint of the world around me. I laugh when I notice the handle on the inside of the coffin.

"What is it, Steve?" Bucky asks.

As I grip the handle, I pass right though the coffin and the marble around me, and I find myself standing on my feet...on top of my coffin.

What the fuck did I just do?

A flurry of Russian profanities bounces off the marble walls around me, and I hear what sounds like Bucky hitting the ground. I look over and find him, lying on the ground, looking as confused as I am.

"How the fuck?" He asks, mortified as he stands up and looks around him.

I step down a good six feet to the marble floor below, saying, "I don't know and I don't care." He turns to look at me. "All I care about is you."

He smiles and runs right into my arms, wrapping his legs around my waist and hugging me tight. He feels like home, and he's definitely a million steps up from the coffin.

"We're alive, Stevie," he breathes, unwilling to let go.

I feel the same, regarding the fact that he's stuck to me like duct tape. I'm not letting him go for even a second unless I absolutely have to.

I kiss his cheek before burying my face in his shoulder, humming happily to myself.