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dolcezzasfantasy · 3 years

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lost and found - part 6

summary | you are arrested for crimes against the sacred timeline, but there is much more to the tva than you think there is.

pairing | bucky barnes x reader

word count | 7k

warnings | violence, killing, spoilers for the loki tv show!

notes | this is the last and final part !!! woo-hoo we made it everybody thank u for all the support on this series !! it meant the world to me <3333

previous part | masterlist

it was a magnificent sight to behold. the house was more or less broken down, but the background behind it was like something from outer space. a streak of white travelled behind the house, and rocks all around were levitating in mid air.

something so ethereal shouldn’t be true. couldn’t be true. as the three of you walked to the door of the house, you realised that the house was much bigger than it seemed. the door was two times taller than you — maybe even three — and the manor had at least four stories.

the obsidian doors and its frame had golden slashes across it.

wanda dared a step closer to the door. ‘aren’t you going to tell me not to kick the door in?’ she asked, in a small, shaky voice.

‘it never made a difference,’ you shrugged.

‘well,’ she turned to face you and bucky, ‘if you think it’s a bad idea, i prefer you to speak your mind.’

bucky gulped. ‘no. nothing to say.’

‘that’ll be a first,’ she snarked.

bucky shot her a dirty look.

‘oh,’ she whined, ‘just tolerate it, will you, you big baby?’

you sighed.

wanda cleared her throat and faced the door again, taking one step forward, and then one back. she was teetering nervously on her ankles.

‘everything okay?’ you asked.

she sniffled. ‘yeah. just need a moment.’

‘okay,’ bucky nodded.

‘it’s just you, usually—’ you started.

‘respectfully, please shut up,’ she said. ‘i was pruned before you even existed. i have been waiting for this moment for my entire life. i just need a second to get my head straight, okay?’

you nodded. ‘sure, of course.’ you placed your hands behind your back and looked down.

the entrance suddenly opened with a creak. you looked up, but wanda was in the same position as she had been before. the doors had opened of its own accord, it seemed.

the doors opened to a gloomy castle of some sort, with onyx pillars and obsidian flooring. gold slashes were distributed sporadically once again.

there were two stone-faced statues of time-keepers flanking an archway.

the three of you warily stepped inside; grips on your weapons tight, guns loaded, knives unsheathed. the doors slammed shut behind you, almost like a silent warning of ‘no chance of escape now’. kind of like the warnings there’d be at the scary rollercoasters at coney island. the memory brought a faint smile to your face.

‘okay, there it is,’ you said, pointing to the ride a few kilometres ahead of where you and bucky were standing.

bucky squinted to get a better look at it. ‘i don’t know, doll.’

‘oh, please, please, pretty please,’ you said, batting your eyelashes at him. ‘it’s my birthday.’

‘i know, i know,’ he said, with a nervous chuckle. ‘why don’t you go on without me?’

a frown grew on your face. ‘alone?’

the corner of bucky’s lips quirked up, almost as if it were shrugging.

you sighed. ‘fine. wait for me, i suppose.’ you let out a huff. you knew it was selfish to ask him to come along when he was so obviously scared, but you really wanted to spend time with him.

after seeing the frown on your face, bucky pursed his lips in submission. ‘you promise you’re gonna hold my hand?’ he said, scrunching his nose up almost as though he thought agreeing to this was a bad idea. how false.

you grinned. ‘promise.’

‘okay, then,’ he said, with a small smile on your face. ‘anything for you.’

you kissed him. ‘i love you.’

‘i love you too. might be the only reason i’m entertaining this death wish.’

‘reason enough,’ you said, pulling him for another kiss. ‘i love you, i love you, i love you,’ you said, peppering kisses all over his face with each chant of the three words.

he laughed. ‘alright, you’ve already sold me on it. let's go.’

after the ride, bucky had looked sick all day. he didn’t throw up or anything, he just had an uneasy expression on his face and flinched whenever he was in the vicinity of another rollercoaster.

‘remember coney island?’ bucky whispered, nudging you. ‘it’s the same door-shutting-as-a-warning thing.’

you chuckled. ‘that was a good day.’

‘for you, maybe.’

‘oh come on, sarge, do heights frighten the james buchanan barnes?’ you said, stifling your laughter.

‘heights really aren’t part of my job description,’ he joked in a hush-hush voice.

‘are you sure?’

‘can you two lovebirds shut up?’ wanda said, turning around from ahead of you two.

‘sorry,’ the two of you muttered, a smile plastered on your faces.

the moment she turned her back, bucky leant in and told you, ‘she’s just jealous.’

you let out a giggle.

‘i heard that,’ wanda snarled.

as the three of you moved forward, you could barely see anything in the low light. there was another archway ahead of the archway you were close to.

you were about to cross it when boom! an orange clock appeared.

‘hey, y’all!’ you flinched at her sound. you never really noticed how scary she could be.

on instinct, the three of you pulled out your weapons: wanda her sword, bucky his gun, and you your knife.

‘you again?’ wanda said, the realisation sinking in.

‘welcome to the citadel at the end of time.’

‘come on,’ you whispered, nudging all of them to move to the right of where miss minutes was standing.

she turned to face you as you moved. ‘congratulations. y’all had an awfully long journey to get here. he’s impressed.’

‘who’s impressed?’ wanda snarled.

‘he who remains,’ she said, with a smile that sent a chill up your back.

‘and who is he?’ you asked, keeping your voice low.

‘he created all,’ she explained, ‘and he controls all.’ the three of you walked closer towards the hologram. ‘at the end, it is only he who remains.’

she walked to a pillar, and placed her hands behind her back. ‘and,’ she continued, ‘he wants to offer you a deal. he’s been making a few creative adjustments and he’s worked it out so we can reinsert both of y’all back into the timeline in a way that won't disrupt things.’

you and wanda looked at each other, a suspicious glare housing itself in the pupils of your eyes.

‘“wont disrupt things”?’ wanda asked, dubitation prominent in her voice.

‘the tva can keep doin' its vital work and y’all can live the lives you’ve always wanted,’ she said, nodding. well, as much as a mostly two dimensional hologram could, anyway.

‘and what have we always wanted?’ you asked.

miss minutes redirected her gaze to you and bucky. ‘now don’t play coy with me, missy. you know exactly what you want.’

‘what?’

‘you lost your husband, your parents, everything. you versus the world, it felt like, didn’t it?’ you clenched your jaw. ‘how would you like to…’ she strolled around, ‘not lose anyone? live in peace? you can go anywhere you want. and,’ she smirked, and pointed at bucky, ‘you get to take him along.’

god, you hated her. she knew exactly where you were wounded and shot the arrow right there. your breathing got a little more uneven and deep.

‘what about you, hon’?’ she said, turning to wanda. ‘all those years on the run. desperate, alone. how would you like to wake up tomorrow with just a lifetime of happy memories?’

you saw wanda’s lower lip tremble.

‘two y/ns in the same place, happy and flourishing,’ miss minutes continued.

‘none of this would’ve ever happened?’ you asked her.

‘it’s crazy,’ she shrugged, ‘but he could make it work.’

all three of you shared a look.

‘all of it,’ she kept talking, ‘everything. exactly the way you’ve always wanted. and you can have it all. together.’

wanda breathed deeply. sighing, she said, ‘it’s fiction.’ you could hear the tiredness in her voice. you could hear the desperation, the hope. how much she wanted to forget everything she’d been through, but she knew she couldn’t. ‘we write our own destiny.’

‘oh,’ miss minutes chuckled, ‘sure you do. good luck with that.’ you didn’t appreciate the condescendence in her voice. with that, she whisked away into thin air.

‘come on,’ bucky said to the two of you.

🦇 🧳 ☕️ 🏹 🏷

ravonna shuffled through the files in her lap. she turned her head to her table in search of another file she thought she might have missed out on. her eyes landed on a ringed stain. james. it must have been from the last time they shared a drink in her office. it seemed like a million years ago.

her attention from the stain was diverted to the tring sound in front of her.

‘hey, there,’ miss minutes said, as she appeared in ravonna’s office.

‘what took you so long?’ ravonna snapped, as she put down the files she was perusing.

‘sorry. some things had to get worked out, but i'm downloadin' the files you need now.’ she pointed to a tempad with a loading bar on it.

ravonna leant in and picked the tempad up and frowned at it. shaking her head, she said, ‘this isn’t what i asked for.’

‘i know, but he thinks this’ll be more useful.’

ravonna furrows her brows in confusion. ‘who?’

‘happy reading!’ miss minutes waved and shrank away into nothingness.

🚬 🍂 🖋 💡 🔍

the three of you walked ahead, wary of each step taken, on the qui vive.

‘he who remains,’ you said.

‘not for much longer,’ wanda replied, with a whiff of confidence marking her words.

your weapons were raised in front of you yet again.

you entered a chamber of some sort. the same black marble interiors with golden streaks, only this time there were frosted glass windows, chandeliers and more time-keeper statues: one for each corner.

the three of you carefully descended down the short flight of stairs into the room. you walked ahead, hands raised at your sides. bucky followed you, and wanda headed in the other direction.

wanda walked towards a crumbling piece of cement with the same colour scheme. you wiped the dust off of a pillar. examining the relatively abnormal plethora of residue on your hand, you said, ‘are we sure he’s even still alive?’

just as wanda was about to answer you, the deep echoes of a lock clattering sounded throughout the room. the three of you headed toward the door where the sound seemed to be coming from.

as the door slowly creaked open, the three of you were alerted. bucky had his gun pointed at the door, wanda her sword, and you your knife. your shaky breaths punctuated the heavy opening of the door.

the hatch slid open to reveal a man dressed up rather strangely — almost as though he were wearing a costume, sitting on a seat. he was swinging his legs back and forth, but once your gazes landed on each other, he leant in forward in his seat with a wide grin on his face.

he stood up. there was a green apple in his hand.

he raised his hands slightly, as though to tease how on edge the three of you were.

‘this is wild,’ he chuckled. ‘the two of you,’ he pointed to you and wanda, ‘the same person. a little unnatural, but… wow. wild!’ he shifted his gaze to bucky. ‘you! you were supposed to be dead! and you were a tva agent! look at you, fraternising with criminals.’

your weapons stayed pointed at him. he bit into the fruit in his hand.

‘he who remains,’ wanda said, with a growl.

‘he who remains,’ repeated the man, albeit muffled with a mouth full of apple, you presumed. ‘she still calls me that?’ he said, gesturing to nowhere in particular. probably miss minutes. ‘creepy, right? but… i like it.’ he gulped.

wanda lowered her weapon and narrowed her eyes at him. she realised that this man couldn’t possibly be half the threat he was advertised to be.

‘come on,’ he said, his robes shuffling around, ‘come on, let’s talk in my office.’

the three of you gave each other dubious looks, not sure of this man’s intentions. you walked towards him into an elevator, it seemed, and kept the weapons pointed at him.

he looked like he couldn’t be bothered, however, and that was something that perturbed you. he was nonchalantly eating an apple. his shoulders rose with his heavy inhale.

‘not what you were expecting, hm?’

your breaths got shallower.

‘you’re just… a man,’ bucky said. you had expected an extra terrestrial creature, the sorts you had read about in horror novels.

‘flesh and blood,’ he said, rubbing his nose. ‘don’t tell me i’m a disappointment.’

‘no,’ wanda said. ‘just a little bit easier to kill.’ she advanced on him with her sword, but as though he knew what was going to happen, he disappeared and reappeared in a different corner of the elevator. wanda’s sword clanged on the empty wall of the elevator.

you and bucky looked up at the ceiling, where you heard a thud. the three of you skimmed through each crook of the elevator, panting. you heard the bell of the elevator ding, and your heads snapped upwards in alert.

the door slowly opened to reveal he who remains, with a sickeningly wide grin plastered across his face. he was holding a half eaten apple in his hands.

once the door completely opened, he beckoned the three of you into the room the door had opened to.

‘come on in,’ he said. his cloaks billowed behind him as he turned and left. you saw wanda glower at him. you didn’t know about him, but you sure as hell knew you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a stare like that. it was a threat of assassination looming around, waiting to be executed.

she stormed ahead to the table he was standing at, and you and bucky followed. he was bent over the desk, pouring some sort of beverage from a jug meticulously into a cup. his office had a desk, a large wall with circular frosted glass behind it, a library to the side, and a fireplace somewhere. the whole place was poorly lit.

the three of you warily moved towards him, weapons unswerving in their stance. wanda was closer to him than you and bucky were. that was probably for the best.

‘one,’ you heard the man say, quietly. he switched over to pouring into another cup. ‘two.’ his voice was rather gravelly, you noticed. ‘three,’ he said, filling another cup to the brim. he looked and up and beamed at the two of you. he set the jug down. ‘please,’ he said, gesturing to the three seats in front of his desk, ‘take a seat.’

wanda eyed you, as though to say, should we?

you stepped forward in agreement. bucky was right there at your side.

‘uh…’ he said, placing a cup on the desk in front of a chair where you were supposed to be sitting, presumably, ‘y/n.’ he nodded in wanda’s direction and placed a cup in front of where she was supposed to be sitting. ‘y/n…’ he then placed the cup in front of the last seat. ‘james.’

wanda raised her eyebrows at the two of you. bucky beckoned the two of you to sit in the chairs. you sat in the middle chair, knife pointed at the strange man.

wanda and bucky sat down after you did, and he let out a rather loud exhale.

‘been a long journey for you,’ he said, lounging on his seat. ‘lot of running, lot of pain. and you…’ he looked at wanda, and sputtered his lips in amusement. ‘you’re a flea on the back of a dragon.’ he chuckled. ‘in for one hell of a ride. but you did manage to hang on.’ he hummed and nodded. ‘i guess that counts for something.’

you raised your knife at him. ‘i’m not sure you quite understand the situation. you’ve lost.’ you looked at wanda and bucky. ‘we found you.’

he stared at the three of you for a moment, in confusion. ‘duh. of course you did.’

suddenly, wanda rose from her seat and slashed the knife at the man. unfortunately, he disappeared and reappeared this time too.

with a zap, he was sitting on top of the support of his chair. ‘whew, a swing and a miss.’

wanda released a growl. you looked at bucky with a raised eyebrow, as though to say, how did she make that sound? he seemed to have understood you and shrugged.

he laughed. ‘so, we still doing this, huh?’ wanda retreated from where she was leaning over his desk. he got up from where he was crouching on his chair. ‘let’s get all this out of the way.’

he picked a up a maroon file and brought it to his desk. ‘okay,’ he said as he flipped through it. he snatched out a white sheet of paper. ‘here we go.’ he pulled out two more, and laid one each in front of the three of you. it was almost like a teacher handing out test papers.

the three of you stood up and walked towards the desk to examine the sheets.

‘you can’t kill me because i already know what’s going to happen,’ he said. you picked up the sheet and brought it to your face. where were your glasses when you needed them? ‘see?’

you scoffed at whatever you could see. it seemed to be a screenplay, a script of some sort. only instead of the characters, your names were there. and replacing the dialogue was everything that had anyone had said in this past hour.

‘it’s a parlour trick,’ you said.

‘okay!’ the man snapped his fingers, and started circling the three of you slowly. ‘don’t you wonder how i’m able to get out of the way—’ he shimmied around in his place, ‘—just before you kill me?’

‘no,’ wanda said, ‘it’s because of that little tempad you have there.’ she pointed to the device at his belt.

‘right. but how do i already have it loaded up with everything i need to know to keep from being killed by you three?’ he had a villainous grin on his face, resembling that of a cheshire cat. when none of you said anything in response, he said, ‘it’s easy.’ he placed his hands on his desk. ‘i know it all.’ those words were uttered comically nonchalantly. ‘and i’ve seen it all.’ he sat down back in his chair.

‘everything you guys did on lamentis, i saw,’ he continued. ‘all the stuff the tva didn't know about, i knew.’ his voice was getting more triumphant by the second. ‘all the scheming, all the talking.’ he looked at you and bucky. ‘star crossed lovers united. quite sentimental, very touching stuff, by the way.’

you furrowed your brows. this man was talking about your entire life like it was some… soap on the television. you didn’t like it.

wanda looked at you, and shaking her head in disapproval she turned back to the man. ‘no. no, we broke out of your little game. that’s how we got here.’

‘no,’ he said, victory clinging on to his words. ‘every, every, step you took to get here— lamentis, the void, i,’ he ran his hand vertically through his desk as though to demonstrate a street, ‘paved the road. you…' he held his hands up and pointed them at the three of you. his hands imitated the movement of legs when walking. ‘you just walked down it.’

wanda licked her bottom lip and looked up the ceiling, frustrated. you teetered on your feet restlessly, finding bucky’s hand next to your own. he intertwined his fingers with yours. you looked at him. he offered you the best he could — a small, sad smile.

the man got up, and started perusing through his files again. ‘and i have the rest, um, right here.’ he flipped open something that was either a very thick and sturdy folder, or a small and relatively flat briefcase. he pulled out a thick stack of papers, and placed it in front of the three of you.

‘everything that's, uh... that's going to happen,’ he said. 'there's only one way this can go.’

‘then why are we here?’ bucky said, irritated.

‘oh, come on,’ the man said, seemingly offended by bucky’s harsh tone. ‘you know you can’t get to the end unless you’ve been changed by the journey.’ he used air quotes for that part. ‘this stuff, it needs to happen.’ he said it as though it was the most obvious thing, and something you should have picked up on. ‘to get us all in the right mindset to finish the quest.’ he was definitely putting on a show, a very flamboyant one at that.

‘right,’ you said, narrowing your eyes, dubious of his intentions. you lifted your eyes from where you were examining the scripts. ‘so, it’s all a game. it’s all… a manipulation.’

‘interesting,’ he said, ‘that your head would go to that.’ he leant in closer to you. ‘wanda!’ he yelled, suddenly. it made you flinch. ‘you think you can trust her?’ he faced her.

‘don’t listen to him,’ you muttered.

‘“don’t listen to him”,’ mocked the man. you wanted to punch his face in, so you flexed your fingers from beside you. this man might know it all, but probably didn’t know just how much you hated when men mocked you.

the man sputtered a laugh. ‘do you think you’re…’ he continued talking to wanda, ‘capable of trusting anyone?’

he sat perched atop his desk now.

‘i understand your moral objections to what the tva does.’ well, you think with a scoff, do you? he stood up and brushed down his cloak. ‘and my methods are deceptive.’ he walked in front of you, and sat on the desk there. ‘but the mission, it never was. without the me, without the tva…’ he shook his head, ‘everything burns.’

‘then what are you so afraid of?’ you asked, your voice low.

he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. he furrowed his brows, seemingly rummaging around in his brain for something to say. eventually, his eyebrows turned upwards, and he shrugged. ‘me,’ he said, sheepishly.

‘and just who are you?’ wanda asked.

‘oh,’ he stood up from his desk, ‘i’ve been dubbed many names by many people.’ he walked back to his desk. ‘a ruler, a conqueror.’ he snickered to himself as he took a seat in his chair. ‘he who remains,’ he shrugged, ‘a jerk.’ then, sucking in a sharp inhale through his teeth, he said, ‘but it’s not… as simple as a name.’ he made a circular motion on what looked like a watch on his wrist. he knocked something off of it. a piece of clay, it seemed.

the clay transformed into a figurine. a figurine that looked a lot like him.

‘eons ago, before the tva, a variant of myself lived on earth, in the 31st century,’ began the man. ‘he was a scientist,’ the figurine transformed to the man standing with his hand on his chin, confused and examining what seemed to be a miniature replica of the universe, ‘and he discovered that there were universes stacked,’ the discs multiplied and arranged themselves above and below each other accordingly, ‘on top of his own.

‘at the same time, other versions of us were learning the same thing. naturally, they made contact,’ the figures transformed to two of the same man; one of them was standing in a portal. ‘and for a while, there was peace.’ the figures shifted to shaking each other’s hands. ‘narcissistic, self-congratulatory peace. “i love your shoes.” “i love your hair.” “oh man, nice nose.” “thanks, man.” et cetera.’ he stared at the three of you with a grin.

‘they shared technology and knowledge,’ the figures transformed to depict a science laboratory. ‘using the best of their universes to improve the others. however,’ he picked up his green apple and bit into it, ‘not every version of me was so,’ he seemed to be searching for the right word, ‘so pure of heart. to some of us, new worlds meant only one thing, new lands to be conquered. the peace between realities,’ he blew a raspberry with his mouth — a feeble attempt at an imitation of an explosion, ‘erupted into an all-out war. each variant fighting to preserve their universe and annihilate the others.

he tilted his head, teasingly almost. ‘this was almost the end… ladies and gentlemen, of everything and everyone.’

‘and then the time-keepers came and saved us all,’ wanda interrupted, spitefully.

‘amen,’ the man sang it like a church choir would, stretching the word out more than necessary. he joined his hands together, almost as though he was praying, and the little figurines did the same, except they were kneeling.

‘no,’ he chuckled, shaking his head. ‘no. nope, this is where we diverge from the dogma.’ the figurine shifted into the man holding a lamp. ‘that first variant encountered a creature created from all the tears in reality, capable of consuming time and space itself. a creature…’ he bent forward on his desk, ‘…you all know.’

‘alioth,’ you said, quietly.

‘bingo!’ the figurine shifted to the man holding the lantern up again, but this time alioth — a big dark cloud, anyway — was there, in front of the figurine. ‘i harnessed the beast’s power and began experimenting on it.’ he inhaled with a grimace before continuing his story. ‘i weaponised alioth and i ended…’ his fists slammed the desk and his voice got more aggressive, ‘i ended the multiversal war.

‘once i isolated our timeline, all i had to do was manage the flow of time and prevent any further branches. hence,’ he leaned forward and held is hands up in a grand display, ‘the tva.’ it seemed he was anticipating applause. when he didn’t get any, he continued, ‘hence, the time-keepers and a highly efficient bureaucracy,’ he stood up from his seat and hoisted himself up on his desk, ‘hence, ages and ages,’ his voice was getting louder, ‘of cosmic harmony. hence,’ he crouched down to your level, ‘you’re welcome!’

when he didn’t earn a reaction, he swiped the pad of his forefinger on his watch, and the clay figurine disappeared with a spark and a buzz.

‘you came to kill the devil, right?’ he exited his crouch and sat, legs dangling over the front of his desk. ‘well, guess what. i keep you safe,’ he lowered his voice to a hush, almost as though he were telling a child a secret. and if you think i’m evil, well, just wait till you meet my variants.’ he had a sad smile on his face.

when you looked at bucky and wanda with worry laced in your features, the man drawled, ‘and… that’s the gambit.’ he got up, and started flailing his arms around rather unnecessarily. ‘stifling order or cataclysmic chaos.’ he chuckled mirthlessly, and returned back to his seat. ‘you may hate the dictator, but something…’ he exhaled deeply, almost as if to prepare himself for the words he was uttering next, ‘…far worse is gonna fill that void if you depose of him.’

he slid his hand across his desk. ‘i’ve lived a million lifetimes.’ you saw wanda shaking her head disapprovingly, glaring daggers into the man’s face. ‘i’ve gone through every scenario.’ you bent your head in frustration. ‘this is the only way.

‘the tva,’ he started nodding, ‘it works.’

‘or… you’re a liar,’ wanda spat.

the man bent to the side, leaning on his hand. ‘or i’m a liar.’

‘so you just…’ you said, averting your gaze from him, ‘…continue to prune innocent timelines?’

‘mhm. you three would.’

the three of you stared at him with a puzzled look on your faces.

‘there’s two options,’ he said, wagging his fingers. ‘one… kill me, and destroy,’ he waved his hands behind him, at the wall, ‘all of this, so you don’t just have one devil, you have an infinite amount. or… you three. you three run the thing.’

you narrowed your eyes at him. ‘you’re lying.’ it was too good to be true. ‘why would you give up being in control?’

the man clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. ‘buddy… i’m tired. and… i’m older. i’m older than i look. this game is for the young, the hungry. i’ve gone through a lot of scenarios… trying to find the right person take this spot. and it turns out, that person came in three.’ he let out a breathy laugh. ‘but it’s definitely you three.’

you and wanda looked at each other. it seemed the wariness was mutual.

‘so, no more lies,’ the man continued. ‘you kill me, and the sacred timeline is completely exposed. or… you take over, and return to the tva as its benevolent rulers. tell the workforce who they are, and why they do what they do.’ there was a triumphant beam on his face.

wanda glowered at him, a small smirk playing at her mouth. ‘you treated real people’s lives like some kind of game.’ her voice was nothing more than a whisper at this point. a chill ran up your back. you could only hope she wouldn’t do anything too drastic.

the man shook his head in disapproval. ‘it’s not personal, it’s practical.’

‘it was personal to me,’ wanda said, her voice raised.

the man groaned and leaped forward on his desk. ‘grow up! grow up, wanda!’ he was yelling now. ‘murderer. hypocrite. we’re all villains here,’ he chuckled. ‘we’ve all done terrible, horrible, horrific things.’

your gaze snapped back to your lap.

‘but now, we— you…’ he continued, ‘…have a chance to do them for a good reason.’ you couldn’t believe the audacity of this man.

a faint rumble sounded off in the distance. the man stopped talking and tried to hear it. his posture stiffened and worry stained his face like ink on paper.

not making eye contact directly, he said in a weak voice, ‘we just crossed… the threshold.’ he released a shaky laugh, absent of any humour. another rumble of thunder ripped across the room.

the man looked around the room, with a look of perplexity across his features. he picked up a figurine from all the way on the other side of his desk, brought it in front of him, and dropped it from a height.

he hissed through his teeth. ‘so… i fibbed. i fibbed earlier, when i said i know how everything’s going to go. i— i know... i knew,’ he chuckled nervously, ‘everything up to a certain point, and that point was about…’ he took a pause, mentally counting, ‘seven, eight, nine, ten seconds ago.’

the three of you furrowed your brows in worry.

‘but now i have no idea. no idea how the rest of this is going to go.’ he looked around the room once again, then turned to face you with an uneasy smile. ‘i’m being candid.’

you glowered at him. ‘so that’s it?’ when he didn’t say anything, you repeated your question. ‘that’s it? this is what happens at the end of time? and now you're just gonna sit there with all that freedom and... let us decide your fate?’ you had seen some strange things on your way here, but this was somehow, by far, the most peculiar.

he looked up. ‘yes!’ he said, rather loudly. ‘yes, yes, yes!’ he was almost shrieking now. you winced at the sudden enthusiasm. ‘what’s the worst that can happen? you either... take over and my life's work continues.’ you saw wanda’s foot bounce restlessly. ‘or… you plunge a blade in my chest and an infinite amount of me, uh, start another multiversal war. and i just... end up right back here anyways.’ his gaze diverted his feet. he took in a deep sigh, looked up again, and said, ‘reincarnation, baby.’

‘no,’ wanda shook her head with a knowing smile, ‘it’s just another lie.’ your chest rose with a hefty inhale. ‘another manipulation.’ the grip on her sword tightened.

‘oh,’ the man said, ‘no lie.’ he was vehemently shaking his head. ‘no manipulation.’ he sighed. leaning forward, he checked his watch and his brows furrowed. he pulled it off of his wrist.

‘wow,’ he said. he let out a soft chuckle, then placed the watch on the front of the table. ‘i love this. i love… all this honesty.’ he rested his head on his outstretched arm. ‘feels like a fresh start.’

suddenly, wanda sprang up from her seat. before she could impale the man with her sword, you caught hold of her wrist and yanked. she immediately turned around and placed the sword on your chest. she was now pushing you back and walking in your back’s direction.

‘what are you doing?’ she asked.

‘wanda, hang on a moment,’ you said, panting.

‘y/n—’ bucky said, standing up.

you held your hand up to him. ‘it’s ok,’ you mouthed. ‘let’s just talk about it,’ you told wanda, gently placing your hand on her elbow.

she lowered her sword. ‘well, how about we finish what we started, and kill him?’ she pushed you out of the way and walked towards him, but you grabbed ahold of her wrist. she flung her sword at you, but thankfully you dodged the blow.

‘wanda!’ you said, firmly, lifting your knife. ‘what if he’s telling the truth?’

‘so what?’ she snapped.

‘i believe him,’ you said quietly. wanda’s eyes darted to bucky, who softly nodded.

‘do you actually believe that a bazillion… boogeymen will turn up and wreak havoc just because we give people free will? he’s a liar, y/n.’

‘wanda,’ you said, softly, ‘we have seen an inordinate amount of strange things. this might be a little stranger than usual, but are you really willing to jump to such a conclusion after everything that’s happened?’

‘better hurry,’ the man called out from behind, ‘the timeline’s already branching.’

‘so, what are you suggesting?’ wanda exhaled.

‘that we think about it.’

‘and precisely what is there to think about?’

‘weren’t you listening to what he was saying? remove the dictator, and what fills the void?’

wanda’s posture stiffened. ‘this is about bucky, isn’t it?’

bucky’s head snapped up. ‘what?’

‘yeah. you’ll abandon me just to have a happy life with him, won’t you?’

‘wanda—’ you started.

‘no, i don’t blame you. because, after all, what am i, if not a pawn in your game?’

‘wanda, how can you say something like that?’

‘i knew i shouldn’t have trusted either of you.’

‘wanda, the universe is in the balance, everything we know to be true. everything. I know the tva has hurt us both. but what if by taking him out… we risk unleashing something even worse? all i’m suggesting is we just take a minute to think about it. i promise you from my heart this isn't about abandoning you. i could never.’

a small smile grew on wanda’s face. ‘what was i thinking trusting you? has this whole thing been a con? just a ploy to get the throne, and live a happily ever after with your boyfriend?’

‘really? is that what you think of me? after everything we’ve been through?’ you started nodding when she didn’t say anything in response. ‘of course. i’m evil. yeah. my masterplan has come together. you never really trusted me, did you? what was the point, wanda?

‘can’t you see?’ you bent in to her. ‘this is bigger than our experience.’

her lower lip trembled. ‘why aren’t we seeing this the same way?’

‘because you can’t trust,’ you shrugged, a sad smile on your face, and unshed tears in your eyes. ‘and i can’t be trusted, apparently.’

bucky walked closer to you. ‘are you okay?’ he whispered.

you nodded, and rubbed your eyes.

‘then i guess we’re in a pickle.’

‘wanda, wait,’ you said, your breaths getting shallower with each passing second. ‘please, just… try to understand.’

‘there’s nothing to understand, y/n.’

‘look, maybe he’s lying,’ bucky panted, frantically looking back and forth, ‘maybe he’s not. the cost of getting this wrong is too great.’

‘so kill me then. have your happy ending.’

‘wanda,’ you said, gingerly reaching out to her. ‘please. we can figure something out. we always have so far.’

‘don’t you see, y/n? there’s no figuring anything out. either i die, or he does.’

tears welled in your eyes. ‘there’s a between,’ you wiped the unshed tears on the back of your hand, ‘and we’re gonna find it.’

‘y/n,’ bucky said, eyes widened, and voice lowered. ‘i might have something.’

‘what?’

‘what if… we,’ — he swiped his thumb across his neck — ‘him?’

‘didn’t you listen to everything he just said?’ you hissed.

‘i know, but, what’s a multiversal war, right? nothing the folks back at the tva can’t handle.’

‘have you gone mad?’ wanda said.

‘hey, i’m on your side here,’ he said, defensively.

‘no, because what you’re saying is absolute rubbish.’

‘look. what if… we all got what we wanted?’

‘what are you talking about, buck?’ you asked, exhausted.

‘what if… we used the tempad,’ he patted his front pocket, ‘transported to a safe place on the timeline, and wanda stays back to fight him?’

‘that’s just selfish—’ you started, but were cut off by the abrupt sensation of wanda’s hand on your face.

‘that could work.’

‘you just said you didn’t want to be abandoned!’

‘y/n, let’s face it, i’m the only one of any real use here. it was more of a self esteem thing about you leaving me.’

your brows furrowed and your lips parted. you were a tad bit offended.

‘doll, if we pull this off,’ he didn’t continue any further, because he knew you would understand.

‘are you sure we should just… leave you here?’

wanda looked at you with a look of amusement. ‘yeah, i think this might work.’

‘great, great, that’s great. let’s, uh, kill this guy,’ bucky said, standing up.

‘well, have you made a choice?’ the man asked.

‘yeah,’ wanda muttered, in a dangerously low voice. you nodded at her, ever so slightly.

she stepped forward, and lunged out at the man.

‘y/n!’ bucky called. you tore your eyes off of her, and ran toward him. he extended his arm for you to hold on to, and the two of you fell through an orange portal.

it was a street, a rather busy street. but not a single person seemed to have noticed that two strangers had fallen smack-dab into the middle of the road there. a car abruptly halted at the two of them, and you could hear a strange of curse words fall from the mouth of the driver as he asked the two of you stand up and walk away. you hastily complied, brushing the dirt off of your shirt.

you stumbled onto the pavement of the sidewalk. looking around, you noticed something was wrong. very wrong.

‘this isn’t our time,’ you told bucky, desperately clinging onto his shirt.

he was staring at a board on a tall building with a woman singing and dancing on the screen. she was blonde, and had bangs.

he looked down at the tempad in his hand. ‘i keyed in brooklyn, i don’t know what went—’ he examined the tempad more closely, ‘—oh.’

‘what?’

he looked at you, his eyes in a sort of flummoxed daze.

‘bucky, what?’

‘we’re in brooklyn, but the future.’

you softly gasped. as you looked around, you asked, ‘what time is this?’

‘march the tenth, 2021.’

‘happy birthday.’

‘yeah, thanks,’ he said, gulping.

a stranger’s shoulder met yours as they walked past you. ‘watch where you’re standing!’ the woman yelled.

‘we’ll figure it out,’ bucky said. it seemed he was assuring himself more than he was you.

‘yeah,’ you said. ‘of course.’

🏛 🎞 🕯 🎻 🎬

‘incredible,’ the man said, as wanda looked contemplatively at the floor. the watch was still in her hand, but the glowing golden streaks vanished.

she slowly turned around, and tightened the grip on her sword. with a whoosh, she pushed the desk aside; all it took was a simple flick of her arm. there was a murderous look coating her pupils.

the man giggled, akin to a child at a magic show. he sat in his seat, bouncing with glee.

as wanda neared him, she said, ‘aren’t you gonna beg for your life?’

‘um,’ he said, his laughter ceasing, ‘could. could.’

wanda grabbed his neck, and held the sword. when he didn’t say anything, she jabbed it right in his chest.

the man grunted. wanda maintained unwavering eye contact with the man.

‘i’ll see you soon,’ the man whispered, and with a frail wink, he lost consciousness.

wanda took her hand back, and his head hung. he was gone. for good. or not. wanda sunk to the cold, marble ground, and buried her face in her palms. she tried her best to stifle the sobs that followed, but what did it matter? she was alone now. like she was always destined to be.

she tried to register in the magnitude of the situation. it was far too great.

the iridescent, current-like branches outside of the big circular window crackled. they had synthesised new branches. far too many.

the flurry of currents outside the window was nebular.

♟ 🦉 🩰 ⏳ 📜

hunter b-15 observed the constant beeping of the ever growing branches on the monitor.

‘no turning back now,’ she muttered to herself. she watched solemnly, as chaos ensued.

everyone around her slowly grew more alert of the beeping, and proceeded to realise what was going on — or at least, the legible portion of it — with a look of pure, unadulterated horror making its way onto their features.

the monitor had art on it, almost like a tree’s. it was mesmerising to watch — or would’ve been, did it not signify imminent destruction.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

tags: @buckylokisimp

thank you so much for reading! feedback is so, so appreciated! <3 please do not repost my work on any platform. reblogs are fine!

additionally, i think i might do drabbles/headcanons for this series! if you have any ideas or requests you'd like to see, feel free to send me an ask!

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes hurt/comfort #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fluff #lost and found

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