The soldier is good. Steve hears the boots hit and hadn't even thought to look up before that point. He hadn't thought he'd have enough time to climb up anywhere. Hide, maybe. But climb? Steve underestimated his target and that is the sort of mistake that he'll likely only be able to make once.
Bucky or no Bucky, this man has an accredited kill list long enough to strangle two more people. Steve has to remember that. No matter what, he has to remember that this is an assassin first. But then Steve turns and the wind is drained out of his lungs.
Bucky is alive, he'd been told. But that's not what he sees.
"Bucky..."
The word falls out of him the way 'No' should have. There is no recognition in those blue eyes. No easy smile that Steve could draw even now from memory. It's Bucky drained of everything that made him Bucky. Steve had read about what had been done to the Soldier and understood it was a possibility. Knowing and seeing, it seems, were two different beasts.
Steve's palms face forward. The world spins around the ghost's face before him. There's a knife and Steve sees it but doesn't register it more than a flash of silver. Just like the flash of a metal hand.
"Bucky. It's...It's me." He's back in Azzano and how is it that he's lived through this moment twice? "It's Steve..."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-04-26 09:41 pm (UTC)Bucky or no Bucky, this man has an accredited kill list long enough to strangle two more people. Steve has to remember that. No matter what, he has to remember that this is an assassin first. But then Steve turns and the wind is drained out of his lungs.
Bucky is alive, he'd been told. But that's not what he sees.
"Bucky..."
The word falls out of him the way 'No' should have. There is no recognition in those blue eyes. No easy smile that Steve could draw even now from memory. It's Bucky drained of everything that made him Bucky. Steve had read about what had been done to the Soldier and understood it was a possibility. Knowing and seeing, it seems, were two different beasts.
Steve's palms face forward. The world spins around the ghost's face before him. There's a knife and Steve sees it but doesn't register it more than a flash of silver. Just like the flash of a metal hand.
"Bucky. It's...It's me." He's back in Azzano and how is it that he's lived through this moment twice? "It's Steve..."