One-Shots | Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers (and actors)

Untitled Endgame AU 1

Chapter 1 | Dawn

I look out at the grassy field, my mind wandering to all the possibilities it holds. The small hut in the middle of nowhere I rented for the summer almost stifling hot, but still cool in comparison to the hot sun. However, after nearly two weeks here, I am starting to think that I should stay. Both Roxi and Maezi seem to love it here, despite not being acclimated to the warm weather, and so do I.

The scenery is beautiful, and I have gotten far more done in the time I have been here than in two years in New York. The stars, the sunsets, everything that screams natural is so foreign to me, the shock still hasn't worn off. Picking up the art supplies that I, up until now, used far too seldom, I head out to my usual spot: the middle of a field. Surrounded by nothingness, I begin to paint.

I don't know how long has passed, it seems like only seconds but based on the position of the sun, the dropping temperature, and the finished piece in front of me, it has been several hours. Lazily, I begin to collect all my things, smiling and humming along to a tune I cannot name. I don't want to leave the solitude of this place. Something about it is inherently peaceful. The plains, the trees, the sounds of animals hidden to the eye; it seems all too real.

Glancing up from my ministrations, I notice a bright light. It almost looks like an explosion, the giant plume of it rising up and expanding. Expanding too fast. Panic is rising in my chest now. I know that even dropping everything, I will never outrun it, not at the speed it is traveling. Turning I look at my rented cottage, far off, filled with the two thing I love the most. Please let it stop before then.

I feel what I assume is the smoke encompass me, cutting off my breathing. I suppose I am screaming, making some noise, but the ringing in my ears and the sharp pains in my back prevent me from being certain. I had to have been hit with some sort of shrapnel, although I thought that at this distance, I would have been safe from that.

Doubling over, I clutch at my stomach, my throat, anything. My fingernails rip at the ground as a wave of white-hot pain spreads throughout every nerve. The blinding, paralyzing pain enough that it sends me out of the stupor I was in. I can hear myself screaming now, can feel the back of my throat ripping open from it. I feel the tips of my fingers grow bloody, raw; my back bleed with a ferocity I hope kills me. I don't know how long it goes on. What happened to me. What anything was, is, and means.

In a painful haze, I watch the world turn sideways, everything upturned. I must have fallen. Yet I am unable to feel it; unable to gain purchase of anything around me. Then everything begins to fade, becoming blurry. The clearing view recedes, leaving only devastation in its wake. I only am able to glance at the utter death around me before everything fades.

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Gasping. Clutching at my chest. Flying up into a sitting position, my eyes begin to focus. The air around me still permeated with the fumes of the unknown. Through the cover of darkness, I look at the muddled landscape around me. Charred. Dead. Devoid of everything living. Except for myself. Somehow, I find myself on my feet, unsteady but walking. Please don't let Maezi or Roxi be hurt. Stumbling up the small hill, I see the grass grow green, the sounds of nature return. Spotting the cottage, I notice nothing is out of place.

Sprinting now, unsteady and wobbly legs carry me faster than I thought possible to the door. Maezi and Roxi look up from their tasks, bathing and making herself a bed to sleep in. I drop to my knees. Panting from exertion or relief I am unsure, I open my arms, soot covered and with blood adorning them in several places. Maezi runs over, forgetting her previous activity to say hello. Roxi continues to stare at me, leg raised, and tongue poised, a bored expression on her furry face. I hug her like my life depends on it; too fearful to let go.

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<> Five Years Later <>

I bought the hut. The cottage. The residence at which I am not living. The place full of far too many memories to leave behind. The small garden outside, full of the tastes of home I can't seem to find at any local market. I ignore the silent thrumming of power within my veins. Eventually, it seemed to leave. Although I know better.

Everyday I am reminded of the explosion that changed everything. The little things that I know aren't normal yet are. Still, I ignore it, choosing to live as if it never happened. Choosing to ignore the scars across my back, arms, and legs. Choosing to ignore all signs that I am not what I used to be. Today feels different though.

Something is swelling up, the power I have ignored for five years is calling. Chanting. Telling me I can no longer push it aside. This time I listen. Hurrying out of my hut, safely away from Maezi and Roxi, I stand in the middle of the field where it began. Waiting for something. I picture the explosion, the pain, and then it happens.

A familiar sensation spreads, white-hot, painful, through every nerve ending. I scream. I scream like I did before. Not from pain this time, no that only last a few seconds, but from fear. Black tendrils of glowing power shoot out from my hands. I move and it moves. I panic and it grows bigger. Yet I can't seem to quell the rising panic.

I try to pull it back in, to stop it. I can't. it grows. A large sphere of something growing in front of me. Shade of black, glowing with pure power, crackling and exploding. Desperately, I try to pull it back again. It works. The ball decreasing in size before it rushes back to me. I can't react before it knocks on me on my ass. My breath leaving my lungs. I don't notice my glowing hands, or my entire glowing body. I only welcome the respite of darkness once again. Hoping that I wake up.

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A man, unknown to the unconscious woman looks at her from a safe distance. His entourage of women with spears peering curiously at her. He looks to the smallest, a familial love in his gaze. Yet fear and uncertainty are present as well.

"Shuri." He says, looking back at the woman. "Call Steve. He will want to see this."

This is the first part of my Endgame AU (if I add more parts than I have posted on my Tumblr, I will create a seperate story). Enedited.

~ Sam(antha)