Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You are lost

I will guide you

Find me

Bucky jerked awake suddenly, a sharp pain accompanying it. The pain went away just as quick as it came. Bucky laid motionless nonetheless trying to recuperate his thoughts.

“What just happened?”

Bucky sat up, vision foggy, trying to examine his surroundings. He wasn’t home. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere he knew. Bucky found himself in what appeared to be a dilapidated reception room. The walls were a crimson red, but it would be hard to tell with how thick the dust covered everything. The room was almost empty except for a large wooden desk in the middle with a small bell on top.

“Where the hell am I?” Bucky’s face contorted with confusion as he spoke. Bucky sat up to examine the room further. The room was unlit, but Bucky had no problem seeing in the dark. What seemed to be the main entrance was blocked by rubble so thick it wasn’t reasonable to even try to dig your way out.

“Is this a prank? Haha guys real funny you can come out now!” Bucky shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth in an attempt to make it louder.

“If it was, it was a mean one.” An unfamiliar voice responded to his call. The voice was coming from the doorway and the end of the room. The doors were slightly open, but not enough to see what was behind them. Bucky opened it to peek inside.

“DING DONG.” A small chime announced his arrival. The lights turned on at the same time. Bucky was in… a store?

“Hello, welcome to Lapinland, we just opened up lucky for you.” The voice finally had an appearance. They were a pink rabbit, with spots of white on their ears and hands. Their eyes were covered by blood stained bandages, the blood looked fresh.

“Have I been kidnapped? This REALLY feels like a kidnapping.”

“Oh yeah sure totally, I did that, yeah totally.” Bucky didn’t respond.

“I’m messing with you.” The rabbit said.

“Oh… haha…” Bucky gave an awkward chuckle before continuing, “My head feels foggy, I can’t remember how I got here, or where I am”

“Were you not paying attention? I thought I was pretty clear.” The rabbit said annoyed.

“No no, I mean the building around us, the dilapidated one?

“Oh, that. No idea.”

“What do you mean no idea! Don’t you work here?” Bucky crossed his arms as he spoke.

“I work in the store, not what’s out there.” The rabbit responded, “Your nose is bleeding by the way.”

“No it’s no-” Bucky wiped under his nose with his hand, surely enough a familiar red liquid stained his fur.

“What the?” Suddenly, a pain similar to the one he felt earlier shot through his body. His vision started to wane as his body fell limp. Bucky reached out in an attempt to stop his fall but nothing was near. Bucky fell to the ground as his consciousness faded.

The last thing Bucky heard before he fainted was the pink rabbit remarking “Damnit, not again!”

Chapter Text

“Wake up Bucky!”

Olive stood over Bucky, hands cupped around her mouth to amplify her voice. She was perched in such a position that she was blocking the sun from reaching his face. Bucky glared up at her before closing his eyes again.

“Just five more minutes.” Bucky groaned.

Olive stood motionless for a moment, before smiling. Suddenly she kneeled down, grabbed Bucky by his collar, and shook him violently screaming “WAKE UP BUCKY!!!” In a loud, wavy voice. Bucky softly kicked Olive back before finally getting up.

“Okay okay I’m awake!” Bucky smiled.

He stretched both hands above him and yawned. He finally became aware of the salty smell of the ocean surrounding him. The aroma he had become accustomed to in his Journeys. It was a mostly cloudy day, with the sun being partially blocked by them. A soft fog surrounded them, lowering the visibility. This was normal to Bucky, in fact, this was just the perfect weather for a nice, good nap for which Olive rudely awoke him from. The wooden boat creaked as it swayed softly from side to side. Bucky examined the boat. At the stern of the ship Gio sat writing in a small yellow book. He had been working on his cookbook for a while now, but it seemed like it was nearing completion now. Gio looked up, noticing Bucky was looking at him.

“Finally deciding to join us, aren’t you Bucky?” Gio set his book aside and stood up.

“I can’t help sleeping in late, it’s in my genes.” Bucky said.

“Is being insufferable in your genes too?” Gio chuckled.

“Says you!” Bucky responded, crossing his arms, “All you ever do is complain! You never help out!”

“That so? Without my cooking you’d be as poor as dirt!”

“No I wouldn’t!” Bucky said getting into Gio’s face.

“It’s always something with you two!” Olive interrupted, overhearing them. “Everyday it’s something new! Can’t y’all save your bickering for when I’m asleep? Matter of fact, can y’all just wait till I’m in the grave? y’all argue like kids being told to share. Do I need to put you two in a big ol shirt that says ‘we will behave’ on it?”

Olive finished, almost out of breath. Bucky and Gio both looked at Olive. Gio nearly started to say something, but chose not to out of fear of the otter’s wrath. Olive took a second to calm down before returning back to her normally cheerful self.

“Let’s start this day on a good note! We’re all friends here right?” Olive said.

Bucky and Gio turned to face each other before turning back to face Olive.

“Sure…” they said in unison. Olive rolled her eyes in response.

“What am I gonna do with y’all?” Olive put her hand over her face while she spoke, shaking her head disappointed.

Bucky walked over to the side of the boat, Olive joined him.

“Sorry for the arguing, he just gets on my nerves sometimes.” Bucky said, leaning over the edge.

“I get you, but you can’t keep feeding into it.” Olive said, “You always feel the need to defend yourself against him, fully knowing he won’t care. You just need to ignore him. He’ll come around… eventually.”

“It’s not just that, just anxious right now, and it doesn’t help when he’s getting on to me every second of the day.” Bucky said, resting his head on his arms.

“About Walter? He’ll be fine, Bucky, he’s stronger than you think.” Olive said, Bucky looked away. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“I’m fine.” Bucky said, looking away from Olive.

“You know what ‘fine’ stands for,” Olive responded.

“Olive don’t.”

“Freaked out, insecure, N… and emotional.” Olive continued.

“N?”

“I forgot the N but you get the point.” Olive said, “You always tell me you’ll be fine and I’m worried, if you need to talk about it you can, I’m not gonna make fun of you for needing to talk.”

“I know I can Olive, trust me, I’m fine.” Bucky said. Olive frowned in response.

“Love ya pal.” Olive said, sticking out her fist for a fist bump.

“Love ’ya’ too, dork.” Bucky said, returning the fist bump.

Bucky looked out to the front of the boat. Not that far in front of them were things poking out of the water, but the fog made it impossible to distinguish them.

“Do you see that?” Bucky said, squinting his eyes.

“See what?” Olive responded, looking with Bucky.

“Those things in front of us? Are those rocks?” As soon as Bucky spoke they slammed into the rocks protruding from the water. The boat splintered open, throwing everyone aboard into the cold ocean. Bucky’s senses flooded as he hit the water. Bucky swam up to the surface as fast as he could. His eyes scanned the water.

“Olive! Gio!” Bucky called out, frantically turning to look for them.

Bucky turned around for the last time before being struck in the face by a piece of the boat. Bucky floated motionlessly on the surface of the water unconscious.

Chapter Text

“Are you still alive?”

The pink rabbit stood over Bucky. They were perched in such a position as to block the fluorescent lights above from hitting him.

“Gosh what happened?” Bucky mumbled, still disoriented.

“Oh good, you aren’t dead.” The rabbit said, they stepped back to give Bucky room to get up.

Bucky let the thoughts swirl around in his head. Forgotten memories bobbed up and down like buoys as his thoughts wandered in and out of recollection. Soon it all came to him in a wave of understanding.

“Could that be how I got here?” Bucky said out loud, possibly by accident.

“What?” The rabbit perked up.

“I remembered something, a crash, we wrecked while sailing. Maybe that led me to coming here.” Bucky said, standing up.

The rabbit slumped down, as if disappointed in Bucky’s revelation.

“That’s it? Just a crash? How could a crash get you inside a building?” The rabbit said, annoyed.

“Well it’s a start, you don’t need to be so rude about it.” Bucky crossed his arms, “You know, you remind me of someone.”

“Let me guess, a goose?” The rabbit said.

“What? How did you know?” Bucky asked, shocked.

“He came by not too long ago, quite the fellow, he was with an otter.”

“My friends…” Bucky whispered to himself, the rabbit still heard him.

“I’m guessing you’re Bucky then. They were arguing about you when they came in.” The rabbit said.

“Yeah, I am.” Bucky responded reluctantly, “And you are?”

“You can call me Chelsie.” They answered.

“Well, Chelsie, nice to meet you.”

“I guess it’s nice to meet you as well.” Chelsie responded. Bucky rolled his eyes, somewhat used to this behavior by now.

Chelsie walked back behind her desk and sat down, Bucky followed.

“So, what were they arguing about?” Bucky asked, leaning against the desk.

“They were looking for you,” Chelsie said, “They were very worried. They couldn’t decide on how to find you, so they split up, left out different doorways. I think the otter went to my left, and the goose to my right.”

Bucky looked to each side of the room. The doorways led to pitch back hallways, Bucky couldn’t see very far down them. Bucky walked over to the one on his right. It looked like an abyss. He took one step forward. The light directly above him turned on with a small click. Chelsie overheard.

“Well see ya later beaver.” They said, still uninterested.

“Yeah, bye.” Bucky sighed.

The hallway was similar to the room Bucky woke up in. The floor was the same dark oak, and the walls were the same crimson red. The only real difference was the lack of dust on everything. On the sides lined doors labeled with numbers starting from 60. Bucky tried to open one of them, but they would budge. None of the doors Bucky tried would open. So Bucky kept along the hallway, the lights turning on as he moved. Occasionally he checked the doors to make sure they were still locked. Until finally, a little way ahead outside the range of the light, Bucky saw one of the doors was slightly opened.

“Finally!” Bucky exclaimed, tired from nothing being open.

Room 103. Bucky slowly opened the door to peek inside. Bucky’s eyes weren’t adjusted to see in the dark anymore, making it impossible to distinguish what was in the room.

“Olive.” He whispered, “Are you there Olive?”

No response. Bucky pushed the door open, letting the light from the hallway fill the room. It was a small, quaint room with not much in it. There was a bed with a small nightstand with a lamp on it on the side, and that was about it. Bucky walked over and turned on the lamp. The bed was messy, someone had obviously been here. Bucky knew by the state of the bed that it was very likely Olive who had been here. Bucky opened the top drawer of the nightstand to find…

“A tape recorder?” Bucky said, surprised.

On it was a strip of tape with “for Bucky” written on it. It was Olive’s handwriting. Bucky sat down on the bed and pushed play.

“Hey Bucky,” Her voice was shaky and quiet, something was wrong, “Me and Gio split up, I wish we hadn’t. That’s probably the first time in my life I’ve actually missed Gio’s company. This place isn’t normal. That store, the person there was nice, I should have stayed. I wish I stayed. I don’t know why I’m making this, I don’t even know if you’re even here. I hope you’re okay. Don’t let-”

The tape ended.

Bucky sat motionless. He pressed the button again.

“Hey Bucky,”

And again

“Hey Bucky,”

And again

“Hey Bucky,”

Bucky must have listened to the tape 10 times before he stopped himself.

“What is going on? Why are we here? I need to find them, I NEED to!” Bucky stood up, tears dripping down the sides of his face. He threw the recorder onto the bed, causing it to start again. Bucky ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The tape continued in his absence.

“Hey Bucky,”

Chapter Text

Bucky took the time to examine the patterns of the walls as he walked. Streaks of dark red splashed over crimson in a beautiful mess. It looked familiar to Bucky, but perhaps he had only thought that way because of how long he had been walking down that hallway. Bucky continued examining the walls as he walked until his legs grew tired and he decided to rest, sitting against one of the walls. His eyes meandered as exhaustion took over his body. The room surprisingly felt very calm and still, contrary to what Bucky was feeling earlier. Bucky had nearly fallen to sleep when…

“Knock knock.” From the door right next to him.

Bucky jumped up and turned around. Room 101.

“What?” Bucky thought, “How could I be at Room 101?”

“Knock knock.” It continued.

“Olive? Is that you?” Bucky called out, but no one responded, the knocking continued.

“Knock knock.” This time louder, Bucky stepped back.

“Knock knock.” Now from the other side.

Soon enough knocks surrounded him from every side. Then the door knobs began to shake. Instincts finally took over Bucky, and he sprinted down the hall. The knocks, now bangs, followed him. Every door was Room 101. Bucky kept running. Finally Bucky saw an end to the hallway, a set of closed doors. Bucky used whatever energy he had remaining to run down the hall. He burst through the doors, tripping in the process, falling hard onto his left hand. Bucky screamed out in pain as the doors shut behind him.

“Augh! My hand!” he screamed, grasping it. Tears flooded his eyes as he tried to stand. He looked around, his heart sank. He was back in the reception room.

“What the hell?” Bucky yelled.

“Is that you?” Chelsie called out from the other room, “Why are you screaming?”

Bucky walked into the store, still holding his hand.

“I need help,” Bucky said, walking over to Chelsie’s desk, “I hurt my hand badly. Might have broken it or something”

Chelsie walked out from behind her desk.

“Give me your hand.” They said.

“What?”

“Just give me it!” Chelsie said, annoyed. Bucky listened this time.

Chelsie grabbed it with both hands, and started applying pressure in different areas.

“Does this hurt?”

“Yeah a bit.”

“What about here?” They pressed the lower palm.

“Yeah yeah! A lot!” Bucky flinched in pain.

“Oh calm down, I need you to quit flinching so I can see how bad it is.” Chelsie said, continuing to feel around the area.

“So? How bad is it?” Bucky asked.

“Not that bad, just a small fracture.” Chelsie responded.

Chelsie walked over to their desk and reached behind it, they pulled up a roll of bandage.

“Here,” They said, handing it to Bucky, “ wrap this tightly around your hand, it will help with swelling.”

“How do you know all this?” Bucky asked, wrapping the bandage around his hand.

“Not important. How’d you mess your hand up anyway?” Chelsie deflected.

“I tripped while running, something was chasing me.” Bucky answered.

“Chasing you?” Chelsie’s face contorted in concern.

“Yeah, something was knocking on all the walls! Even messing with the door numbers!” Bucky said frantically. Chelsie’s concern faded as they smirked.

“Funny joke, if you tripped you can just say that, no need to lie.” Chelsie said.

“But I’m not lying! I know what I saw! Or heard I mean! You get what I mean!” Bucky said frantically.

“Maybe you hit your head harder than I thought.” Chelsie responded, “You’re spitting out nonsense. Maybe you should rest for a bit?”

The exhaustion finally caught up with him as the adrenaline faded away.

“Maybe you’re right.” Bucky sat down as he spoke.

“I didn’t mean right in the middle of my store!” Bucky didn’t hear Chelsie’s protests.

He layed back on the ground as he drifted to sleep.

________________________________________

 

Bucky sank into an endless sea of red. Hands came from below, pulling him further and further. Utterly weak and powerless, he was unable to resist. He looked up, trying to reach for help. At the top was… himself, just standing there. His body forced him to gasp for air. Water filled his lungs. Bucky began thrashing around, trying desperately to escape as he choked. Nothing saved him, nothing helped him. Bucky’s life slowly started to fade away, until…

“Help!” Bucky screamed.

He pressed his hand against his chest as he began hyperventilating. It was just a nightmare.

“What the hell?” Bucky said, sitting up.

He looked around the room. He was laying on the bottom layer of a bunk bed. The soft fabric was a far cry from the hard floors of the boat he had become accustomed to. The floor of the room was made of wooden boards, and the wall of stone. There was a single light in the middle of the ceiling illuminating the whole room. On the wall opposite of him was a note taped to the wall.

“Where the hell am I?” Bucky said, getting up at the same time.

He walked over to the note and picked it up.

“Hello, and welcome to Nulla Terra! You’re in ‘the hull’ now, a safe space for new visitors! Make yourself comfy and take care!” -Chief Wulf

“They sound nice.” Bucky placed the note back onto the wall, “But that doesn’t really answer much. I can’t tell whether the crash was real or just a part of the nightmare. It felt pretty real… I need to find my friends.”

Bucky started out the room, noticing an easel with a canvas on it. The canvas had “SAVE” written on it.

“Save? Save what? Save me?” Bucky said, picking the canvas up to examine it. Nothing else was written. “Strange.”

Bucky put the canvas down before continuing to the exit. Bucky walked out into the embrace of sunlight beaming down. He felt the warm sand beneath him, and a sweet breeze flowed through his fur. A bit ahead of him he heard the sound of waves crashing softly against the beach. Bucky turned around. Looming high above him was a large mountain. It finally came to him, they had crashed into an Island.

“The fog must have hidden a rock wall off the coast, that's how we crashed. But how could we hit an island?” Bucky said.

He had specifically chosen a path that avoided islands for the exact purpose of avoiding a crash. There was no island on his map, and he was certain he hadn’t gone off course. There should have been no way for him to crash unless…

“The island wasn’t on the map.”

Bucky finally realized. Wherever he was, it hadn’t been marked yet.

“At least it’s not deserted.” He thought to himself, “And if I was brought here then surely my friends are here too! I just need to find them!.”

Bucky, filled with an optimistic determination to find his friends, went on searching for them. He picked the first path he found and started walking. It was a dirt road, more of a path, not very large, but it led inland, and that’s all Bucky cared about. Palm trees surrounded the path. Occasionally he’d find benches on the sides of the paths, but strangely he couldn’t find a single inhabitant. In the distance, Bucky saw large, towering buildings, nearly half the height of the mountain. It was strange that an island with such large structures had not been discovered, but Bucky didn’t dwell on it for long, as he finally found what he had been looking for. Down the path sat Olive on a bench, she was seemingly examining a coconut when Bucky called out to her.

“Olive!” He shouted, Olive turned to look at him.

Bucky sprinted over to her. Nearly running out of breath by the time he reached her.

“Oh Olive i'm so glad to see-” Olive bolted up to hug Bucky, interrupting him.

“They didn’t tell me they found you, I thought you were dead.” Olive said, tears flowed down her cheeks.

“Oh, I'm so sorry Olive.” Bucky hugged back.

Olive pushed him away slightly, looking Bucky up and down.

“You look a mess Bucky,” She chuckled, still crying, “Aint I teach you to dress better?”

Bucky finally took the time to look at his outfit. He hadn’t realized how disheveled he looked.

“We were worried sick.” Olive said, trying to straighten Bucky’s shirt out.

“We?”

“Me and Gio. Let me tell you, he gave them an earful when they said they hadn’t found you yet. He kept telling them to look harder, I guess he has a heart after all.” Olive responded.

“Look,” Olive grabbed Bucky by his shoulders, “You know I wouldn’t ask for your help unless I absolutely needed to, and right now, I absolutely need to.”

“You can always ask me for help, Olive, always.”

“The folks on the island got me working off the damages we caused with our crash. Something about us spooking the people? I’m not quite sure but they got me collecting coconuts and I’m running out of time.” Olive explained.

“Okay, I’ll help, I collect coconuts all the time!” Bucky said cheerfully.

“Great! Let's go, we ain't got time to waste!” Olive said, grabbing Bucky by the hand and running. Bucky nearly tripped with how fast she was going.

Olive led Bucky to a wide open area filled with palm trees and chests surrounded by large walls.

“They call it the garden.” Olive said, “They want us to bring back thirty coconuts.”

“Sounds easy, we can do that.” Bucky said, walking over to one of the chests.

He popped it open to find a coconut.

“Well, they ain’t watching us, how are they gonna tell if we bring them their own stuff?” Olive laughed, standing behind him.

“You are so right.” Bucky said, turning around to face Olive.

Bucky noticed something strange. Behind Olive leaning against a wall was a mirror.

“Hey Olive?”

“Yes Bucky?”

“Was that mirror always there?” Bucky pointed behind her, Olive turned around.

“Huh, no, I don’t think so.” Olive responded.

Without saying anything, they both walked over to the mirror. It was just a normal mirror, not weird about it. Bucky and Olive were stunned.

“Should we just move on?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah sure…” Olive responded, walking away, Bucky followed.

They continued going through the garden, collecting coconuts as they went. But the mirror never left Bucky’s mind, it seemed so intentional. But Bucky continued regardless. After they checked everything they left the walled area and entered the rest of the garden, a large open area. One end led to the water, the other side was walled off. As soon as they entered the area, something caught Bucky's attention. One of the paths led straight into a wall. Just like the mirror it felt so intentional. Bucky walked over to it.

“Bucky, what are you doing?” Olive asked, following him.

“Just, checking something.” Bucky said, reaching out towards the wall.

“Not to be rude but you’re wasting our time Bucky.” Olive scowled.

Bucky continued, he tried to touch the wall but his hand went straight through.

“Huh.” Bucky pushed his arm in further.

“What the hell! Bucky what are you doing where is your arm oh my god.” Olive was frantic, dropping the coconuts to run over to him.

Something took over Bucky, an overwhelming feeling of curiosity. He walked through.

“Bucky!” Olive yelled.

“I’m okay,” Bucky yelled back, “I’m just checking this out.”

“Bucky I swear to god if you don’t get back here right now I will kill you myself, I am not playing!” Olive was screaming now, Bucky disregarded her.

Bucky walked down the hidden path. Suddenly someone approached them from behind.

“Olive?” Bucky said, turning around.

“Nope!” The stranger replied. They were a blue rabbit, they were missing both of their arms, “I’m Stumbler!”

“Uh, hello?” Bucky responded.

“How about you come and follow me?” Stumbler said walking away, Bucky felt compelled to follow.

Stumbler led Bucky to a burning building, a photo of what seemed to be a face was plastered onto it.

“Isn’t it great? It’s for our good friend Mark!”

Bucky didn’t respond. He stared into the eyes of the burning visage. Not the face, but the act felt so familiar to them. The face contorted and warped under the heat of the fire, until it burned over completely.

“Looks like you’re out of time, I hope to see you again, Bucky!” Stumbler ran away before Bucky could question him. Bucky stayed, still staring at the burning building, before everything went dark.

Chapter Text

In the darkness, you felt her reach for you. You cried out, yelling and screaming, trying to lead her to you, but she failed to hear. And as she drifted away, you yelled even louder, until finally her presence was no longer felt, and all hope was lost…

Lost, you are lost

Wake up Bucky

WAKE UP

Bucky slowly opened his eyes. Once again he awoke to the dull, yellow tinged lights of Lapinland. He sighed as he rolled onto his back. He still held out hope that this was all just a nightmare, a long daunting nightmare. But as his unwelcomed stay prolonged and his pain grew ever stronger, that hope he kept in his heart shrank more and more. Bucky sat up, pushing the blanket off him. Blanket? He stood up holding it before looking up towards Chelsie. They were sitting behind their desk, typing something into the computer sitting on their desk. Bucky, still holding the blanket, walked over.

“Hey.” He said in a grassy voice, still not fully awake.

“Oh, you’re awake,” They stopped typing and faced Bucky, “You were out for a while.”

“Did you put this blanket on me?” Bucky held up the blanket for a second before realizing it didn’t matter.

“It’s a towel, but yeah, I did. Thought you might be cold.” They said, before facing back towards their computer.

Bucky leaned over to look at the screen, it was black.

“Is that thing on?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, I just keep the screen off, I don’t really need it anymore.”

A drop of blood fell onto the towel. Bucky sighed before turning back to where he was sleeping. A small pool of blood laid near where his head was.

“I hoped it would stop by now.”

“What?” Chelsie said, still facing their computer.

“My nose is still bleeding, and hasn't stopped once since I got here.” Bucky looked down at the towel, “Do you mind if I use this to clean it up?”

“The towel? No, not at all. I’d actually prefer you clean up any messes you leave in my store.” They answered.

Bucky used one corner to wipe off the residue left from the blood flowing down his face before heading to the pool. He wiped it up the best he could before walking back to Chelsie. By now new blood had replaced whatever he had wiped off his face.

“Are you free to talk?”

“Sure, I guess.” Chelsie responded.

“I found a tape, it was from my friend, they sounded panicked.”

“Mhm.”

“And then that knocking thing happened, and I was brought back here.”

“Sure thing pal.”

“Why don’t you believe me?” Bucky said annoyed.

“Why should I believe you? Not to be rude but I’ve just met you, and you came in here saying I kidnapped you or something. Then you come back with a broken hand saying you were chased by knocks? Come on, you can’t think I’m that stupid.” Chelsie responded.

“Why don’t you come out? I’ll show you I’m not lying!”

Chelsie frowned.

“You know what, fine. Fine! I’ll entertain your delusion. Please show me these ‘knocks.’” Chelsie stood up.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, lead the way.” They said, annoyed.

“Great!” Bucky said enthusiastically before walking towards the hall.

Chelsie walked up next to him, gliding one hand across the wall.

“It’s a bit dark here.” Bucky said.

“Can you see?” Chelsie asked.

“Yeah, I’m used to seeing in the dark.”

“Good, then make sure there’s nothing in my way. I don’t want to trip.”

Bucky and Chelsie continued down the hall for a while. At first Bucky was excited to prove he wasn’t a liar, but now the thought of it happening scared him. If something did happen then it would be his fault for bringing Chelsie. He could be putting both of them in danger.

“I don’t usually go out like this.” Chelsie interrupted Bucky's thoughts.

“Really?” Bucky responded.

“I spend most of my time in the store, it used to be busier. I met a lot of people through it. But now, hardly anyone passes by.” Chelsie said.

“What changed?”

“No idea, maybe this stupid hotel. I don’t remember it being built.”

“And that’s not concerning to you?”

“Not really, they do a bunch of things without telling me.” Chelsie continued, “Things just happen sometimes, can’t control it, can’t avoid it.”

Bucky nodded.

“Why’d you come out here anyway?” Bucky asked.

“Boredom mostly,” Chelsie responded, “Not much to do at the moment, and I’m a little bit curious about what’s got you so spooked.”

They walked in silence for a moment before something ahead caught Bucky's attention.

“Do you see that?”

“No.”

“It’s a door I think, at the end of the hall.”

Chelsie stopped. Bucky walked up to the door and read the plaque.

“The courtyard?” He read aloud.

“I thought you said it looped?”

“It did, I swear, I don’t know what happened…”

He turned the handle slowly, pulling it towards him. Frigid air pierced through the door slamming it open, nearly knocking Bucky to the ground. The air brought snow, a thin layer started pilling on the ground.

“Why is it so cold?” Chelsie asked, they took a few steps back.

“It’s snowing outside.”

“Oh, neat.” Chelsie responded, “I told you so.”

“Told me what?”

“That you’re insane, or lying, either or.”

“No no it changed somehow I-“

“That’s enough from you, let’s just go back to the shop now.”

“No no, I need to keep going, maybe this is where Olive went.”

“Suit yourself, I don’t really care.” Chelsie said before turning around, they placed their other hand against the wall and started walking.

Bucky stared out into the snow, it pillowed the ground as far as he could see, which wasn’t far. It was relentless, a blizzard even. Bucky knelt down, scooping up a handful of snow.

“So this is what you feel like.”

He stood up, wiping the snow against his shirt. Bucky took one step out into the white abyss. The cold stung, but Bucky could handle it. He continued out into the snow, he could barely see his own hand in front of him. The snow fall was so thick it felt like each imprint from the steps he took had been replaced immediately by a new layer of snow. He kept walking until he could no longer see where he came from. He was completely and utterly lost.

“This was a bad idea.” Bucky whispered to himself, “I should turn back, maybe I’ll-“

Bucky paused. Out in the distance was a dim red light, blinking sporadically.

“What is that?”

As Bucky drew nearer it became more clear what the source of the light was. A phone booth. There was a statue behind it. Bucky approached it slowly. The red light bounced off the snow. Bucky was right in front of it now. He reached out slowly when…

“Ring Ring!”

Bucky jumped back. The phone came to life, right as he was about to pick it up. Bucky sat still, listening to the phone as it rang. Bucky picked up the phone, holding it in his hand.

“Hello? What the hell is going on?” A familiar, harsh voice came over the phone.

Bucky held the phone up to his ear.

“Gio?”

“Bucky? Where the hell have you been? We’ve been looking for you! Not that it’s unlike you to run off!”

“Hey Gio…” Bucky replied annoyed, “Where are you?”

“A hotel room, very bland, could use some better decor.” Gio paused for a second, “I’m, uhh, kinda stuck?”

“Stuck?”

“Well I walked into this room, searching for you. And now the door just-wont-budge! I’m not sure what to do!” Bucky could hear Gio banging on the door in the background.

“Have you seen Olive since you split up?”

“Umm, earth to Bucky, don’t you think me being stuck is a little bit more important? And for your information, I did run into her, she was rambling on about you attacking her or something. She must have misspoke or something, I’m certain that’s not something YOU’D ever be capable of!”

“That’s… strange… I found a recorded tape from her earlier, she sounded scared and panicked, we need to find her.”

“Find her? Shouldn’t you try to find me first? Isn’t that the reason you called me in the first place?” Gio scoffed.

“Wait, call you?” Bucky responded, “You called me!”

“Huh? No you cal-“ The phone went silent.

“Gio?” No response, “Dam!” Bucky slammed the phone into the booth.

It fell, dangling from the booth by its wire, swaying in the wind.

Bucky kicked the pole of the booth.

“Stupid stupid!” Bucky kept kicking the pole.

Bucky took a step back from the booth. He took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. And then screamed.

Bucky looked behind the phone booth. It wasn’t just a statue, but also a fountain. The water inside was frozen. But what was most strange was the statue in the middle. It looked like him…

Bucky didn’t say anything, he just stopped. By now his anger has subsided and he was left with just the feeling of the unknown. At least Gio sounded alright, but what he said about Olive left him concerned.

“What did he mean by that?” He thought to himself, “Who attacked her?”

He walked around the fountain, searching the area around it. There was a sign behind it. It pointed in three different directions. They all seemed to have writing on them, but only one could be read.

“The Cabins?” Bucky said.

The sign pointed directly away from the fountain. The cold was becoming unbearable. Bucky could feel the tips of his fingers losing feeling. Going back wasn’t an option, he had to go forward. He started running from the fountain.

“Moving will keep me warm, I can’t stay still.”

He continued running. Trees would pop up around him, coming into view from the snow and disappearing as he ran by them. He could only hope he was still running straight. Running, it always comes back to running. Bucky ran until his foot caught something and he was sent into the snow, at least it was soft. Bucky looked up from the ground, almost resigning himself to staying down, when he saw it. Cabins, a row of them. Bucky pushed himself off the ground, and shifted toward the nearest one. He needed to get out of the snow. He opened the door and quickly went in, closing it behind him. His eyes weren’t adjusted to the dark anymore.

“Hello?” He said.

But before he could even think, he was tackled into the ground. They jumped on top of him and slammed his face into the ground, he couldn’t look up. They used their other hand to restrain Bucky's free hand, the same one that was broken. Bucky screamed out in pain.

“Who are you? What did you do to Bucky?” She yelled at him, it was Olive.

“Olive?“ Bucky cried out, “Olive it’s me!”

“Liar! You attacked me! Bucky would never!”

“That wasn’t me! I promise Olive it’s me!” Bucky tried to move his hand but was stopped, “You’re hurting me Olive.”

Olive lessened her grip.

“But- but,” Olive stuttered.

“I found the tape, the one you left,” Bucky said, “You and Gio were looking for me, and you- you were scared. I’m scared too, I don’t know what’s going on. Please let go of me Olive, my hand it’s-”

Olive looked closer at the hand, seeing the bandages. She started crying as she let go. She fell off to his side. Bucky rolled over onto his back, looking up towards the roof. Before the cold and pain overwhelmed him, he looked to his side, Olive was weeping on the ground, turned away from him. Bucky nearly began to weep in turn when his consciousness faded once again.