Waking Up
Bucky
A bright light filled his mind, and it took a second for him to focus under the intense illumination of the light.
Another second passed and he realized someone was speaking to him.
“Bucky?”
“He will take a moment to come to his senses captain” an African accent spoke to the left of him.
“I know I know.”
Bucky tried to open his eyes again, unsuccessfully. How was one light so bright? Instead of trying to open his eyes, he focused on the feeling he felt from the tips of his fingers. Just like they were slow to move, Bucky was slow to remember who the voices belonged to. Though he suspected he should know.
Bucky clenched his fist, memories started coming back to him. Steve- that was who the voice belonged to. The one that made his stomach feel all warm inside. And Shuri- Bucky didn’t know her that well, but he trusted the Wakandan princess with his life. Especially if this worked.
Finally awake enough to open his eyes all the way he saw Steve’s warm smile, God he would never get tired of it, and he tried to stand and get out of the Cryochamber. Steve practically had to catch him, but Bucky was ok with that. He could stay in Steve’s arms forever.
But life wasn’t a dream. Once they got Bucky sitting and supported, Shuri started running diagnostics to make sure he was ok and everything had gone correctly. But Bucky knew there was only one way to actually test whether or not the procedure had worked.
“Where’s my bag?” He croaked out.
“Your… bag?” Steve threw a questioning look at him.
“I need it” That was all Steve needed to know, he looked at Shuri and she pointed him in the correct direction.
A couple minutes later Steve put the bag down next to Bucky with a plop. “Is there even anything in there?”
Only one thing that matters Bucky thought.
He pulled the red covered book out of the bag and flipped to the right page. He paused for a moment, his fingers running over the words on the page.
“Buck? What are those?”
“The test” Bucky couldn’t even look at Steve, but Steve understood.
“Are you sure? Shuri says you’re good to go”
“I need to know”
Silence from Steve until he sighed and looked at the words. “None of us know Russian”
It took almost 40 minutes to get Steve pronouncing them correctly (not in order of course), and now Bucky was shaking. What if the procedure hadn’t worked? What if he was back at square one? Was his mind his own?
“Longing…
Rusted..
Seventeen
Daybreak
Furnace
Nine
Benign
Homecoming
One..” There was an eerie pause. Steve was just as nervous as Bucky, and the room was filled with tension.
“Freight car”
Nothing.
They sat and waited.
Nothing. Bucky’s mind felt exactly the same. It was true. A miracle. He was free. He smiled, despite the tears rolling down his cheeks, he smiled.