December // A Winter Soldier Story

18

ｄｅｃｅｍｂｅｒ ２５ｔｈ， ２０１３

３０°

ℬ𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓎

When the sun finally rises the next day, Bucky doesn't even see it, because it rises behind thick, low, gray clouds that are raining with sleet. It's slightly warmer today -- too warm for snow, too cold for rain -- but it's still chilly enough for Bucky to be shivering under his thin sweatshirt.

The streets are completely empty. Bucky half-notices this, and assumes it's because of the terrible weather, or because it's still early in the morning.

Sleep escaped him for the entire night after he awoke from his nightmare, and his eyes sting now as a result of the lack of rest. It takes everything in him to rise from his uncomfortable position on the sidewalk and gather his things into the small bag he has. As much as he wishes he could lay down and try to sleep again, he knows he can't afford to be spotted by people on the street during daylight. He also knows that the entire reason he came to D.C. was to find Steve, so he needs to keep searching. The sooner he finds Steve, he figures, the sooner he can sleep.

He sets off groggily down the sidewalk, breathing in the heavy air around him and feeling it settle like a rock in his chest. His mood reminds low as he takes in his surroundings. The city rises tall around him, looking dim and dreary in the mixed weather. The morning silence spreads through the streets like an infection. There's no intoxicating aroma of food curling around the corner like usual, no bustling noise of people walking to and from their jobs. It's like the entire city is sleeping.

He shrugs this off, too concerned with his mission to care about how quiet the city is, and spends the next few hours searching everywhere he can. He rifles through newspapers he finds in the stands on the sidewalk, he moves as close as he can to government buildings while remaining hidden, and he carefully searches the streets (and several parking garages) for the motorcycle he for some reason knows Steve has. But he comes up empty, and is confused when he can't enter any buildings.

Undeterred, he continues his tireless search.

The day comes and goes. He never even knows that it's Christmas.