Sentinel

Bucky knew he had a reputation, he had even when he was in school because he had talent, but he was also reckless. His charge though, Steve Rogers, was one of the last of his Royal line though so Bucky had learned responsibility and he honed his skills until he was more than the top of his class. He had graduated with grades and skills so high he was the best in his country. It was rumored that his talents blew a few European countries out of the water too but that had never been confirmed. His reputation only grew when he was out in the field because Strigoi, undead vampires that were the inspiration of human horror stories, kept trying to kill Steve and Bucky, well, they didn’t make it past him.

By the time he was twenty-one he was more of a legend than most guardians triple his age. Steve, Bucky thinks, already resented that he was small and weak and not much able to defend himself but most Moroi were in the same boat so he shouldn’t have felt so bad. Moroi were vampires as well, but unlike Strigoi they weren’t undead. They both needed blood but Moroi were still mostly human aside from heightened senses and the need for blood. Strigoi were inhumanly strong, fast, their hearing was far more acute than even Bucky’s would be, and they were a pain in the ass to kill. Moroi could go down the same was humans and Dhampirs could but Strigoi only died if you burnt them to a crisp, decapitated them, or staked them through the heart with a charmed silver stake.

Strigoi also had a taste for Moroi blood and some kind of weird vendetta against the Royal families, which was maybe due to the fact that most Strigoi used to be Royals. He’s pretty certain Steve wanted to smack them around more than he didn’t and he wasn’t an evil undead corpse of a person. Strigoi had a thing for killing off the Royal lines in particular, and Steve being close to the last of his made him one hell of a target but Bucky had always handled it well. His species, Dhampir, made the job easier because he got the best of both worlds out of Moroi and humans. When Moroi used to live with humans they reproduced with them, creating the heartier Dhampir race.

Moroi were usually tall and willowy while humans had more of a variety in size and shape, and they could stand being in the sunlight without feeling like they were going to throw up like Moroi. Dhampirs inherited human strength and endurance and they inherited the heightened senses from the Moroi. They hadn’t, unfortunately, inherited the ability to procreate with each other but they could have children with Moroi and for some reason they came out Dhampirs. Logically one would assume that Dhampir and Moroi children would be three quarters vampire, but that wasn’t how it worked for whatever reason. He met a geneticist once who studied the phenomenon but had no real reason for why it happened. Xavier’s guardian, Erik Lehnsherr, was fucking terrifying though. As a result of the procreation thing Dhampirs tended to stick close to the Moroi. That, and they’ve been trained since birth to protect them with everything they had. Without Moroi there was no Dhampirs- it made for a decent motivation to keep the Moroi from being picked off by the Strigoi.

Bucky had never needed a reason beyond loving Steve like a brother but the pressure to perform was high, especially as a guy. It wasn’t that women weren’t guardians, but a lot of them tended to have children and live in communities with each other. Unsurprisingly they had a reputation for being sexually promiscuous with Moroi men, and they were especially stigmatized for giving blood during sex. The term was ‘blood whore’ and it was something Steve had never been fond of. Bucky either considering his mother was a woman from one of those communes. He used to get into a lot of fistfights over it and Steve had always been terrible at discouraging him.

And then… and then everything changed. Strigoi attacking was nothing new, but then Bucky started noticing patterns, and other guardians were noticing too. Wards were being broken when Strigoi couldn’t touch the stakes that broke them. Strigoi were starting to be seen in packs bigger than two or three- unusual for the species because they tended to despise each other. They were devoid of life, there was no reason for them to seek company with each other and they had no reservations about killing those that annoyed them.

In hindsight it had only been a matter of time before something happened to Steve and Bucky should have known better, but he’s never been trained to be suspicious of humans. He thought the humans at the party were feeders, humans that gave Moroi blood willingly and were usually addicted to the enzymes in Moroi bites, not that they were working with Strigoi. When he had been drugged he knew right away but the humans, or maybe the Strigoi, he didn’t know- but they had been smart enough to guess that he’d realize right away. He had fought gallantly but in the end it hadn’t mattered and Steve had been killed.

They had been best friends for a long time but Peggy; she’d never let him wallow for too long so after four months she came to start harassing him. After six months she sent her human girlfriend Natasha to harass him. Natasha was a smart woman- she worked for a human organization that kept the existence of vampires secret from the rest of human society- because she picked a fight with him. When she won the fight he had gotten his shit together because no human should be able to beat him in a fight, not even one trained as well as Natasha. Losing Steve still hurt like hell but Peggy was right, he needed to do something with himself.

So he started training again and that was how he ended up at the Academy.

*

The novices- Dhampirs in guardian training- were excited for the presence of the legendary Bucky Barnes but he was… less excited. Granted that was probably because he wasn’t a novice but Rhodey wasn’t creaming his pants either so he felt justified. “Personally Peggy is more legendary than this guy,” Rhodey says, “and she was his mentor so I feel like she should get bonus points.” He takes a bite of his apple and Tony wrinkles his nose at his friend’s healthy diet. Healthy diets were for losers.

“True. Peggy Carter is fucking terrifying,” Tony says. He had some unfortunate experiences that meant he had some personal knowledge of exactly how terrifying she was. But he couldn’t help but be grateful to her for doing her duty and killing off his father. Though he could have done without all the fallout, but it wasn’t Peggy’s fault that his classmates were jackasses.

Rhodey winces at that but Tony shrugs, “it’s true,” he says simply.

“I know Tones, but I should have known better,” he says softly.

“Look, there’s no sense in pussyfooting around it- no one else does. I mean people have told me in no uncertain terms that they think I’ll go Strigoi too,” he points out. His father had turned by choice, something Moroi could do if they killed someone they fed off of but it was a heavily tabooed thing. Usually people turned for the immortality aspect of the deal but that kind of backfired on Howard. Had he stayed Moroi he probably wouldn’t have been staked but hey, Tony was all for a cruel irony where he was concerned.

“They don’t do that much anymore,” Rhodey says, giving Tony a look. Tony, unlike most Moroi, could use compulsion- a sort of mind control that was also taboo- better than anyone they knew. Moroi couldn’t use it on each other, only humans, and they weren’t supposed to because magic was not a weapon or so they were told. Tony, however, had no such reservations and if he had to compel people into not thinking he was going to kill them at any moment just because his jackass father did than he would. It was one of many strange things Tony could do but he and Rhodey were in agreement on not talking about all the other odd magic Tony would do. Rhodey was pissed enough that Tony had gone around and used a bunch of compulsion on all of his classmates because the way rumors flared up and then stopped was more than suspicious. But no one was really looking, the teachers were all too caught up in pitying Tony and even if they were paying attention he’d just use compulsion on them too. Problem solved, Rhodey just worried too much.

Besides, there were some things he couldn’t stand even before his father went rogue and tried to kill his family and being compared to him was one of those things. They have never had a good relationship and Tony was not living in the shadow of what his father had done so he gave his classmates’ minds a nudge so that everyone shut the fuck up about it. The only ones who knew he could do that was Rhodey and Pepper though and they kept it quiet because they didn’t understand it. Tony didn’t either, all he knew was that one day his father came home with a red tinge to his eyes and everything in his world was turned upside down, which he was not here for. SO he did that weird super compulsion thing to people so that he didn’t have to deal with even more bad memories sprouting out of this event. What he had was horrible enough.

Rhodey had died and Tony… Tony was pretty sure he brought him back somehow. It wouldn’t have been the first time things didn’t stay dead around him but he never told Rhodey that. Rhodey, because he’s noble, had thrown himself in front of Tony as soon as he realized what Howard was. He’s been trained his whole life to protect Moroi against Strigoi and Tony was, at least as far as Rhodey was concerned, his charge. So he stupidly tried to fight Howard off and as far as he knew Howard threw him against a wall and he passed out. What he didn’t remember was that he got back up and tried to jump Howard again when he made a move for Tony. Then Howard, Tony was pretty sure, snapped his neck. He swore he could feel Rhodey’s life force leave his body and he just… flipped.

So he had run past Howard to him in a desperate plea for his life and… well and he managed to wake Rhodey back up. That was where things got fuzzy for him because healing took its toll on his energy levels. Thankfully that was when his mom showed up and she knew right away what Howard was. Even more thankfully her element was fire. Moroi had control over one of four elements and Tony always thought he’d take to fire but he hadn’t seemed to specialize in anything yet otherwise he probably would have lit Howard on fire before his mom did. Tony still wasn’t sure where she even learned to do that. Certainly not in any academy like the one he was in now, magic was never used for any sort of violent ends. Moroi valued it as a sign of life and love, which meant spells like the one his mom used hadn’t been used in centuries or more.

The spell had been nowhere near powerful enough but it distracted Howard long enough for Peggy to find them and she killed Howard herself. The woman avoided him now, guilty that she had killed his father right in front of him, but truthfully Howard had been a monster long before he made the physical transformation into one. Tony was grateful to her but he didn’t know how to tell her that so he let her avoid him.

“No they don’t,” Tony mumbles in response to Rhodey. They both knew why but Rhodey was too frightened to put a name on Tony’s strange magic. Maybe he was worried he was turning into something unnatural too, Tony had no idea and he didn’t want the truth either. He liked having at least one friend he could count on regardless of the circumstance. Pepper was awesome too but she had her own shit and Tony secretly liked that Rhodey all but dedicated his life to giving him constant attention. That probably sounded horrible, it kind of was, but he’s always been selfish.

Rhodey looks him over before he decides to let it go, the place was too public for him to scold Tony for using compulsion to get his classmates to not treating him like shit. It wasn’t like Tony made them like him again, he just made them shut up. He felt he couldn’t be blamed for not wanting people whispering about him behind his back and to his face all because his father made choices they didn’t agree with. Howard’s actions weren’t Tony’s and he refused to suffer because of the man anymore. He was dead and Tony wanted every trace of that piece of shit out of his life.

“Barnes must be here,” Rhodey says as the novices all pretty much get up at once and make their way to the doors of the cafeteria. Rhodey rolls his eyes at his classmates.

Tony felt bad for being the reason Rhodey could no longer relate to his peers but it was bound to happen eventually. His whole job was going to be related to killing Strigoi, that bubble where he thought he was some hot shit Strigoi slayer was going to burst eventually. That didn’t make Tony feel much better though.

“Guess so. Gunna go hang out with your classmates like a normal novice or what?” Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.

He shakes his head, “no. They don’t even know what that poor guy has been through,” Rhodey says softly. Before Howard tried to eat him Rhodey had been as reckless as Tony- they were always getting into trouble together- but after? It had been more than a sobering experience. Rhodey had been an exceptional student before this mess but afterwards he had a single-minded focus on training and Tony. Sometimes, if Tony was up to no good, he tagged along to make sure Tony didn’t kill himself but mostly he stayed far out of trouble now. Peggy has sort of taken him under her wing because of this, something that was difficult for her given her mission to avoid Tony.

“No they don’t,” Tony murmurs, remembering how familiar Howard had looked. The sad thing was that Tony didn’t even notice the red in Howard’s eyes at first, he noticed the anger. It wasn’t until Howard all but tossed Rhodey across the room that Tony noticed that something was really off with Howard. Rhodey remembered that enough to ask Tony about it once but he skirted the subject. Rhodey didn’t need any more of his shit and Howard was dead so everything he did could die with him.

They eat breakfast mostly in silence until they had to go to class. Rhodey gets up when Tony does, following him out like always. “I have that damn elemental class first today and if I have to sit through another day of being told that eventually I’ll specialize in an element I am going to-” Tony starts but Rhodey quickly pulls him back. Tony goes to ask if Rhodey thought his element class was some kind of threat to his health, which he’d totally agree with if it meant he got to skip it, but Rhodey is looking past him.

“How the hell did you get your hair into a bun with only one arm?” Tony asks.

“Tony,” Rhodey hisses at him.

“No seriously, I want to know the logistics of that,” Tony says, head tilted to the side as he examines what had to be a guardian in front of him.

The guy, who was pretty damn attractive Tony might add, sighs and shakes his head, “you’re ballsy kid. And you can figure out how to do most things with only one arm given enough time,” he says. Huh. Tony mostly wanted to know if he looked as good with his hair down as he did with it up. The little wisps of hair that had escaped the bun looked almost artful too, like he had done it on purpose even though that probably wasn’t true.

“Bucky Barnes,” Rhodey says from behind him, “welcome to the Academy I guess.” He’s drawing Bucky’s attention away from Tony asking about the arm thing but seriously, there was no way he got his hair up with one arm. He was going to figure this out eventually.

Bucky, Tony trusted Rhodey knew what he looked like, glances over to Rhodey. “You weren’t with the others earlier,” he notes.

Rhodey shrugs, “I know you’re only human- in a manner of speaking- and they’re more likely to worship you than god,” he says. Given the way the novices talked about Bucky Tony agreed with that statement.

That draws a laugh out of Bucky, “so I’ve noticed. Who’d you watch die?” he asks, causing Rhodey to wince. “It happens to everyone but not usually this young, or at least I’ll guess that’s what happened to you. It’s always a shock at first.” Bucky looks sympathetic, like he understood what Rhodey was going though and Tony supposed he did. There must have been a point where he started this business too.

“His father,” Rhodey says, nodding at Tony.

Something about that must spark something for Bucky because Tony can see the recognition. “You’re Tony Stark,” he says.

“I’m not my father,” Tony tells him very seriously, holding eye contact and pushing the opinion outward like he did whenever he intended to use compulsion on someone. He could tell Rhodey wanted to smack him for being so bold but he wasn’t going to have the new people screw with him. Rhodey already mentioned that this guy knew Peggy, that he studied under her, and he wasn’t having him get any ideas about Tony before he even really knew anything.

A brief look of confusion crosses Bucky’s face and he shakes his head but he doesn’t shake Tony’s compulsion, “I kind of figured. You look like him though,” he says and Tony scowls. His resemblance to his father will forever piss him off, mostly because he knew he was good looking. Why couldn’t he have gotten his looks from his mother? Oh right, the universe hated him. “You don’t seem impressed with that,” Bucky notes.

“Not really, no. I doubt you’d be pleased to look just like a guy who went Strigoi willingly either, especially when that isn’t the only trait you inherited,” Tony mumbles. They called it the ‘Stark snark’; his teachers called it ‘pain in the ass’. Well, usually they were more diplomatic than that but still. And the way he carried himself, he knew, was much the way his father did but the cold exterior and calculated games made sure no one was willing to cross him. As a member of the Royal families it was useful. Who knew his father would go off and kill someone to turn Strigoi and ruin any chance Tony had at having a reputation that allowed him to play political games? Certainly not him.

“Probably not. You get your determination from your mother though,” Bucky says.

Tony squints at him, “how could you possibly know anything about my determination?” he asks. He didn’t know Tony from a hill of beans even if he clearly knew his parents, not that that was surprising. Most people knew his parents before Howard and absolutely everyone knew them after.

“When you’re in this business long enough you learn to recognize traits in people fast, it’s a useful gift,” Bucky says.

“That and the first thing you did was demand how he managed to get his hair in a bun and you didn’t listen to me scolding you. Determined to get your answer,” Rhodey points out, cutting off Tony’s response. He was going to say that Bucky’s mystery shit was annoying and he didn’t need some weird riddle to a question but Rhodey, as always, knew exactly how to shut him up.

Bucky glances between them, a brief frown gracing his features, but he lets his string of thoughts go in favor of sending them off to class. Tony grumbles but Rhodey gives him a look and Tony trudges off to his elemental class.