Chapter 5
“I’m not gonna fight you.” Stephanie Rogers said, her breath coming out in heavy gasps as she let her shield fall from the sky. “You’re my friend.” With these words Stevie was pleading for so much more. With these words, she was begging. ‘Please remember me. Please. I can’t do this again. I already lost you once. Please come back to me. Please.’
Shouting, the Winter Soldier lunged forward, Grabbing Stevie by the waist and slamming her against the glass floor where they stood. She held Captain Rogers still with her legs as she raised her metal fist. “You’re my mission.” was her brutal reply, eyes full of fire as she slammed her fist down into Stevie’s face. Then again. Over and over again with all her strength, it hit Stevie like a sledgehammer. Captain America didn’t even fight back, just tried her best to breath as her face grew bloodier and bloodier. The soldier raised her fist once more, high in the air, prepared to heartlessly kill the woman beneath her.
“Then finish it.” Stevie breathed out, barely able to speak, “‘Cause I’m with you till the end of the line.”
Something broke. Shattered. Melted. In that moment the Winter Soldier died. Bucky just sat there, large brown puppy dog eyes unsure of where to go or what to do. Those words. Those words struck a chord deep within her. She physically could not bring her arm down to kill Stephanie Rogers. Bucky stared down at her best friend, completely terrified as a fragment of a memory surfaced. It was enough to get her to freeze, her dark, choppy hard flinging into her face as her ragged breathing practically stopped. Stevie.
With a crash, the helicarrier shifted. Stevie fell down, farther and farther away. Her eyes stayed locked on Bucky’s as her hand reached out, grasping at the air, getting smaller and smaller. Bucky had seen that before. Without thinking, she dove down after her target. Her friend. Stevie Rogers. Somehow, Bucky couldn’t let Stevie Rogers die. She just couldn’t bear it.
Bucky’s boots were heavy as she dragged Stevie’s body from the water. Stevie was breathing, so she’d survive. But Bucky couldn’t stay there. She knew that. She didn’t know who she was anymore, nor did she know what she was supposed to do now. She just left Stevie lying there, unconscious on the sandy beach as the world collapsed around them. She just walked away. That was all she could do.