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“I should be sad, but I’m not.”
That had been a lie of course. Sam, even though they had seen each other only a handful of times, and butted heads almost constantly, had been his friend. But Bucky did not have time to think about that now. The group had to get to camp Lehigh. Either they would win, and have time to mourn all these useless deaths, or die trying. The latter seemed more probable to Bucky, he didn’t really think they would manage to cure anyone. It seemed to him they were grasping at straws. Not that he would say anything, for the sake of the others.
Everything had happened so quickly. First Banner appeared, then Okoye telling them they had a lead, then they lost Happy on their way to the train, and now they were on their way to the potential cure. Peter may joke that none of them ever saw zombies movies -and if they survived this, they wouldn’t watch anything like that again-, but Bucky had fought a war, then been involved in a lot of fights and plots. Even counting Happy’s death, they had gotten off too easily, something wasn’t right. His itch made him decide to patrol.
Of course, he turned out to be right. They had barely been out of the way when he heard Sharon scream. Yeah. Wilson had been there, Hawkeye too… But they had not seen Cap. Or whatever remained of him. But he always worked with Falcon.
Bucky stepped into the last wagon, where Sharon had screamed. And indeed, here he was, hunched over her body. Cap… Zombie Cap. He couldn’t see the zombie, but there was a distinct glint on his left, the shield.
“Think you’ve had enough Cap.”
Slowly, too slowly, what used to be Steve stood up to face him. Bluish-grey skin, a hideous face tilted to the side, without a nose, yellow eyes -maybe that was better, that he couldn’t see those baby blues- and teeth that looked ready to fall over.
Yup. That was it this time, right? Either Bucky died or… he would have to kill him. He would have to kill Steve.
Fuck. He had gone into cryo to avoid hurting people, but the only person he really never wanted to hurt was Steve. The universe really was out to get them. After everything, he would have to hurt his only family.
The grotesque creature didn’t leave him a chance to think more, because it advanced on him in seconds. Surprisingly, even with his muddled brain, Cap was still a good fighter. The newly turned Sharon tried to get to him, but he quickly shoved her -it?- to the side. Alright. Maybe pushing your enemy behind you wasn’t the best course of action, but he hadn’t really had a lot of options. Plus, Hope arrived quickly and handled her.
Now it was between him and Cap. Two seconds passed, then Cap threw the shield at him. Bucky caught it effortlessly then threw it back. The zombie didn’t catch it. It went right through its body.
Steve’s body.
Steve gnarled something, his hand extended to him, then fell. From the moving train. They weren’t in the Alps, but the irony didn’t get lost on him. Bucky stood frozen -hah- in shock a second, then walked up to the shield. He couldn’t think about it now.
“Sorry Pal. I guess this is the end of the line.”
Steve had already been dead. This didn’t mean anything. The fact he hadn’t been there when it actually happened didn’t mean that he had been the one to kill Steve. He hadn’t done that. He hadn’t when Hydra sent him, brainwashed, to kill Steve and he hadn’t done it today either. Steve’s fate had been sealed months ago.
Bucky picked the shield and put it on his back. It had not expected gaining it, ever, certainly not like that. But that was part of Steve’s legacy. His last piece of Steve. Bucky squeezed his eyes then turned around in time to find Sharon exploding. Urgh. Disgusting.
Later, way later, after they found the Vision, Lang and T’Challa but lost Okoye… when they had a beacon of hope for humanity and a way to reach it, it felt right to stay behind. One last mission. Maybe him staying behind would help save them all, he had to try.
So he told them to run and faced the witch.
As he plummeted towards his death, shield in hand he thought that whatever happened now, he had done all he could. Maybe he would find peace.