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Buckaroo makes Kobik bundle up in a fluffy coat before they head out; Kobik doesn't really need one, but she likes its heavy weight across her shoulders. She even waits patiently while he checks his gun, adding fresh bullets before he holsters it as his side.
"Better safe than sorry," he says, taking her hand as they leave their new base. It's late, cold air puffing from Bucky's lips as his boots crunch through the snow. The stars glitter overhead, humming to themselves, notes of an old song Kobik remembers singing when she spun between them.
She's distracted when Bucky points over her head, towards the horizon. "See that?" He bends to scoop her up, balancing her on his hip. Like the coat, it's not something Kobik really needs, but it feels nice.
"Take a good look," he says, turning his head so that his breath tickles her hair. "Norbert picked up on a radio broadcast saying one was happening right about..." A flicker of green curls through the sky, and Kobik gasps. "...now."
More green, bright as the trees at Pleasant Hill. Kobik wriggles, trying to pull herself up farther so that she can get a better look without drifting straight out of Buckaroo's arms. She gapes of the green unravel into a shimmering ribbon, a massive snake dancing back and forth across the snowy hills.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Bucky murmurs.
"Yeah," she breathes. "So that's the Aur--the Rory--"
"Aurora Borealis," Buckaroo says, pronouncing each syllable of the word very distinctly. "The Northern Lights."
"A-roar-ra Bor-ee-al-is," Kobik repeats, beaming when she gets it right. What a pretty name for a pretty light! If she strains her ears she can hear a faint humming, the keen of light dragging against the air. "How does it work?"
"Hmm." Buckaroo adjusts his grip, frowning slightly. "I remember the Human Torch told me something about...atoms? In the atmosphere, getting all hot and the sun bounces off 'em." He shrugs, the motion making Kobik rise up and down. "It was a long time ago, back when I was with the Invaders, me and--"
He cuts himself off, the way he always does when he talks about Captain America. Kobik kind of wants to ask more, but she's more interested in the rippling light. "Is it always green?" she asks.
"I think so, at lea--" Buckaroo's grip tightens as the light flickers hot pink. "Stop it," he hisses. "Kobik--"
"Sorry," she mutters, abashed. The pink light vanishes in a heartbeat, green pressing in. Buckaroo lets out a sigh, sounding more tired than angry, which is worse.
"It's all right," he says. "It's just...you gotta be careful, 'Bik, you know?" He turns his head, glancing at the vast spread around them. "It's dangerous out here."
"Yeah." She knows that, and she knows it's not fair. They were supposed to be safe up here, up North with Santa Claus, but outside the walls of their clubhouse everything is still so vast and wrong. Her eyes drift to the Borealis, so big and carefree.
"I miss it," she says, pointing. "Sometimes. I...I miss being all bright like that, up in the sky where nothing could touch me. Or even if I was a cube, you know, I could just make light. I could do things, but I couldn't get things wrong, because all I could was what somebody else wanted and I didn't have to think about it.."
She reaches down to brush Buckaroo's metal arm, tracing the outline of his pretty red star. "Then everything changed. Then you broke me." She remembers that, his distant screaming, the white-hot crunch between his fingers. "Shattered me into a buncha pieces."
"F--" Buckaroo bites his lip. "I'm sorry, 'Bik. I didn't--"
"You didn't know, it's okay." He'd been hurting so much, she knows that now. Crumbling under the weight of remembering big, scary things, things that had been done to him and things he'd done. "I wouldn't be here if you hadn't done that, and I like being here. It's just..."
She cranes her neck back, past the dancing lights and up at the stars. "You were up in space for a while, weren't you? Wasn't it easier up there?"
"A little." He's still looking at the lights, the green reflection playing over his face. "There were fewer people to worry about, to be sure. I mean, I had lots of people to worry about, but I didn't have the 'Bolts to deal with, which was a bit of a relief."
He grins wryly, and Kobik grins back, before Bucky's grin fades. "And I...I didn't have you." He looks at her slowly, carefully, like he's trying to memorize her face before it disappears. "And I'm glad I have you, Bik."
"I'm glad I have you, too." And that's why it's worth it, all the fear and the rules, because she has Buckaroo, she has her friends (rude and means as they can sometimes be), she has the world. The beautiful, wonderful world, bathed in pretty green light. She'd give a lot for that, and she knows Bucky would, too.
They both watch the Aurora for a while until the light starts to fade, just a little bit, and Kobik yawns. "Can we go inside now?" she asks.
"Sure, 'Bik." He's already turning away from the light, carrying her back into the base. Kobik settles her head on his shoulder, feeling the metal shift gently underneath her.
"Can we see them again, the next time they come?" she asks. Even as she blinks, she can see the green lights, shivering like a heartbeat.
"Sure, 'Bik." There's something tight in Buckaroo's voice, like a promise he's not sure he can't fulfill, but Kobik's eyes are too heavy for her to think much about it. "As many times as you want."
The door shuts behind them, cutting off the Aurora's light. Kobik's fast asleep by the time they get to her room, but she knows that Bucky stays with her long afterward.