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lunaroserites · 6 months

Text

It's Okay, We're Okay

Pairing: Established Bucky x Fem!Reader

Characters: Avengers Cast

Summery: Snippets into an OC's life that I love, that sorta follows the cannon events of the Infinity SAGA. She is enhanced and maybe a little OP, but whatever lol

Warnings: Not beta'd! All mistakes are my own. Friends fluff, swearing, implied sex, kissing, flirting, marriage, character death. Sorta cannon compliant. Cannon is a suggestion. No use of YN and very little/no body description

Word Court: 6048

Likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated! ❤️

Please do not repost, translate or otherwise copy my work elsewhere, without my express permission, thank you! Lunaroserites on tumblr and ao3

“How about a semi stable 100 year old man,” Bucky said with a bright smile as he hugged Steve, his tone lighter than it had been in months. You couldn’t help but smile as you walked up toward the two.

“And how about his semi stable almost 100 year old wife?” You mused, Steve looked at you for a moment before his eyes flicked to Bucky’s face. You held your hand up and a beautiful vibranium ring sat on your ring finger, Bucky held up his vibranium arm and flexed his fingers, the matching ring visibly different from the rest of his arm. Steve’s face broke out into an even bigger smile.

“Congrats you guys,” he pulled you both in a one armed hug each. Bucky’s arm crept around your waist in the hug and you held Steve’s arm tightly.

Natasha ran up to you and wrapped you in a tight hug, “congratulations!” You smiled at her and touched her forehead with yours.

“What are we facing,” you asked, looking back to Steve. He delved into what we were about to face. “Well at least it will be easy,” you said sarcastically, leaning to Bucky’s side for some comfort. He held you tightly into his side for a brief moment.

“I’ll give you two a moment,” Steve turned to speak with T’Challa and the rest of the crew.

Bucky placed his hand on your cheek and leaned his forehead into yours, his metal hand holding your waist gently. You mirrored him, holding the back of his head and reaching up on your tiptoes to meet him halfway, your other hand splayed open on his chest. He stared contentedly into your eyes for a few moments, pouring all his love and affection into that look.

“I love you,” you said softly and pressed a soft kiss to his plush lips.

“I love you doll,” he whispered back after you pulled back. You took a couple deep breaths together and parted from one another. You rolled your shoulders and stretched your arms out, tilting your head side to side a couple times to warm up.

“It’s okay.”

“We’re okay,” he finished.

“Looks like we have a battle to face,” you as you rejoined Steve and the rest of the crew. You cracked your knuckles, pulled your hood up, and unsheath your daggers.“Phantom out,” you faded into the shadows leaving a wave of calm behind as you flitted through the shadows toward the upcoming battle. “You better watch his ass Steve, he’s not as spry as he once was,” you teased into the ear piece.

“You weren’t thinking that last night when you screamed my name, Honey” Bucky quipped back, you blushed.

“Let’s keep the comms clean you two,” Steve said trying to sound stern, but you could pick the amusement out in his tone.

“Oh don’t be a bitch,” you groaned as one of the weird alien creatures dodged your daggers. You screeched when one clipped your shoulder, it picked your scent up even though you were hidden in the shadows. One swift movement and the creature was dead with the blade of your dagger embedded in its skull. Pulling it out and shaking it off you heard Bucky curse on the comms and you were immediately heading toward him.

You ran and dodged everyone and everything on the way to Bucky’s side. Still immersed in the shadows, you climbed up on Bucky’s back, he barely registered your weight as you perched on his shoulder as he picked up a small raccoon and spun around creating a circle of bullets hitting everything surrounding them.

“How much for the arm?” It asked.

“Not for sale,” you answered, reappearing, sitting on Bucky's shoulder with one leg crossed over the other and a smirk on your face. The raccoon looked perplexed as he looked you up and down for a moment before shaking his head.

“I’ll get that arm,” you snorted at the racoon's declaration.

“Doll? Steve?” Bucky called, you turned around, Steve following suit and you watched in horror as Bucky’s legs started disappearing.

“Bucky?” You started running toward him, catching his hand in yours and his eyes bore into yours, you were falling to your knees as he disappeared more and more, dust clenched into your fist as his hand vanished.

“I love…” and he was gone, the dull thunk of his gun hitting the ground filled your ears.

“BUCKY!? BUCKY!” You screamed, an inhuman wail left your lips as your hands moved around the dust that scattered the ground where he fell. You didn’t register Steve’s arms wrap around you as he hauled you up and away from your husband’s body, dust. You kicked and wailed in his arms, sobs wrecking your body as you screamed for Bucky.

“Hey, hey,” Steve’s voice was right in your ear as he gripped your arms to your sides, his other hand pulling your face into his neck. He was trying to sooth you, he maneuvered your body so you were being cradled into his chest, his big hand cupping the back of your head into his shoulder as you shook uncontrollably, sobs wrecking your throat.

“Bucky,” you sobbed, fisting Steve’s tactical suit. “Bucky…” your voice quieted as you cried into his shoulder as he held you tightly.

“I know, I know,” he soothed, his hand rubbing up and down your back in circles like he did after he personally told you Bucky fell from that train. Another sod ripped though your trembling form.

“Steve, I’m dreaming right? This is a nightmare right,” you pulled back and looked into his eyes, he had a far off look in them. That question mirrored the one you asked back then, and right now he wasn’t seeing Phantom, enhanced Avenger, he was seeing you, that tiny woman that held the heart of his best friend in her hands. Your voice was desperate, all you wanted to do was wake up in your bed cuddled up to your husband. But all you were met with were Steve’s saddened blue eyes. He shook his head and pulled you back into a tight hug. You sobbed again, all the strength in your body gone.

1 week later

You sat and stared out the window of the compound, you barely moved from that spot since Steve placed you there a week ago. You barely ate, all food made your stomach turn uncomfortably, everything reminded you of him. Looking at your ring brought silent sobs up, as your tear ducts were long empty from all the tears you shed.

The sound of a glass hitting the table made you jump, you turned your head to look at where the noise came from.

“You look awful,” Rocket said. You scoffed and looked away from him. He had spent the last week drinking Tony’s expensive liquor, your heart clenched at the thought of Tony, you still had no clue if he was still alive or where he was.

You had dark bags under your eyes and your hair was greasy, your clothes only changed because Natasha took it upon herself to get you changed a couple days ago. You felt incredibly numb, the world was devoid of all feeling and colour. You were spiraling and you couldn’t stop.

You flinched when cold glass touched your bare arm, you looked over and Rocket was holding out a glass of amber liquor. You took it and shot it back, welcoming the burn it caused.

“He was your husband?” Rocket asked, tears stung your eyes as you closed them and sniffled before nodding.

“Ye… yes,” you choked out. He gave you a sad look, and placed his paw on your arm where he touched the glass a moment before. Pulling back he lifted the bottle and tilted it toward you. You held the glass out and he topped it up.

“To the loved ones we lost,” he clinked the bottle to your glass and you both tipped the drink back. You finished yours in one go, the burn less than the last time. He refilled the cup.

“Tony’s gonna be pissed,” you couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out of your throat. You wanted to blame it on the booze, but you haven’t been able to get drunk since 1946. Maybe it was the fact Rocket was the first person to look at you with something other than pity in the last week or the shock was finally starting to wear off. Whatever it was, you appreciated it.

1 week later

That’s how your nights went for the next week. Sharing a drink or two of Tony’s expensive liquor with Rocket. You barely saw Steve and the rest of the team as they were busy with relief efforts. Whenever Steve was in the compound he had trouble evenlooking at you, like it hurt his heart more to see you so distant.

“Tell me about him,” Rocket said as he topped your glass up. He usually avoided personal questions, so this was unusual. You sucked in a sharp breath before pulling your knees up to your chest and looking at the ring on your finger. A fresh wave of tears welled up and you blinked a couple times, you took a couple shuddering breaths before shaking your head and looking out the window, your chin on your knees.

“He was everything to me,” you started. “We met after Steve saved him from Hydra back in the 40s,” Rocket gave you a questioning look. “Did you look up anything about Steve?” He nodded, “I know there’s not as much on Bucky and I out there.” He nodded again. “He could make anyone feel at ease, he was so effortlessly happy despite everything that was happening. I had heard girls talk about falling in love and it sounded like horse shit,” you chuckled. “But then I met him, and I knew instantly what they were talking about. Everything just felt right.”

“Bucky and I were almost married back then. But it was postponed for the mission he went on to bring in Zola, and then he didn’t come home.”

You pressed your palm to your eyes, “I was inconsolable, I’m surprised Howard didn’t send me back to America,” that name confused him. “Howard Stark is my adoptive brother. My mom died giving birth to me, dad wasn’t around, his mom and mine were best friends. So the Starks raised me as their own. That’s Tony’s dad.” He nodded again, he just listened. It was nice.

“Back to Bucky, there was a celebration happening in the canteen on the camp after Steve saved the 107th, Peggy and I were the only women there who weren’t nurses. She had been speaking to Steve and Bucky, well more so flirting with Steve.” You giggled.

“Steve made a comment ‘maybe she has a friend’ and I just so happened to need to speak with Steve right after Peggy, who was my best friend. So Steve made a comment after I left,” you chuckled thinking back. “Bucky asked me to dance that night and we ended up in his bunk, the rest is history really,” you chuckled.

“He was so sweet, flirty and funny. I was smitten from the second he introduced himself when I was talking to Steve,” you said dreamily. “Howard was pissed, how dare his baby sister date, the horror,” a full laugh came out as you remembered the look of horror on Howard's face when he caught you sneaking out of the bunk house the next morning. Your laugh was light and airy, like sweet bells or chimes. Steve had been listening to you from the door as you recounted your time back then. A ghost of a smile on his face.

“So what happened, how are you still here?” Rocket asked.

“After Steve went into the ice,” you noticed Steve now, your eyes saddened for a moment. “Howard threw himself into trying to replicate the serum. I was his first test subject, it felt right. No one else could do it. I felt like I owed it to Steve and Bucky to try and make their legacies survive. Kinda stupid,” you chuckled again. “In ‘51 we heard whispers of the Winter Soldier, they sent me to investigate. No one else came back alive. I was captured by Cerberus, the human experimentation division of Hydra. They held me captive for 61 years, until someone fucked up and my location was compromised and Fury was able to pinpoint me. He sent Steve in and well, he was surprised to see a face from his past staring back at him when he defrosted me.”

Rocket nodded, and looked over to Steve, “I never expected to see her staring back at me,” he said softly, taking a seat on the sofa. “I never expected her to be an enhanced.”

“I had ended up back in Hydra's hands after the battle of New York in 2012. I had changed hands a few times during my 6 decades captured. Cerberus had gone rouge at some point and it was a constant battle to get me back between the two. Hydra got their hands on the staff and used it on me, to see what it could do,” it was hard to talk about what you went through. It sounded insane. “Steve was on a mission to see if he could find the staff when he found me in cryostasis.”

“Fury sent me on a mission to find the staff, but I’m pretty sure he was actually sending me to find her. When I confronted him about it he just shrugged,” Steve added, you nodded along with him, having been with Steve during that confrontation.

“Hydra was terrified of me because my abilities were quite strong. I can disappear into shadows, and manipulate emotions with some mild telepathy and telekinesis. I think it's just my control of shadows, but I don’t really know.”

“I remember not believing my eyes, it was like seeing a ghost,” Steve murmured, you nodded.

“Seeing Steve was shocking to me as well, last I knew he went down with a plane somewhere in the arctic,” you said back. Rocket listened intently.

“I remember meeting Tony for the first time when you brought me back to the tower. I couldn’t believe it, Howard actually had a kid, a son,” you smiled. “He knew who I was. Apparently Howard talked about me a lot, and they had a picture of me in the house,” you looked down. Even though you were technically younger than him, you always felt like an aunt to him. “He called me auntie,” you chuckled, your eyes saddening again. “I miss them Steve,” you sighed and leaned back against the sofa.

“How did you find Bucky?” Rocket asked.

“He found us,” you laughed, and looked over at Steve. “HYDRA sent the Winter Soldier after us. It’s a long story.” You said quickly, “they wanted Cap gone and me back. I’ll never forget the emotions I felt that day in Washington when the Winter Soldier was revealed to be Bucky,” you shuddered thinking back to that fateful day that completely changed the trajectory of your life.

You three finished the bottle that night.

1 week later

You were finally up and about, trying to be useful when a ship touched down on the lawn of the compound.

“Tony!” You shouted, taking off in a sprint toward him as he walked down the ramp, a blue lady following him. You held on to him to keep him steady and he looked at you perplexed.

“I lost the kid,” he said frantically. “I failed, I lost the kid,” he sounded so defeated.

“We failed too, I lost Bucky,” he gave you a pained expression. “I’m sorry about the kid,” you said solemnly as you walked with him into the compound. Pepper hot on your heels.

Steve asked him if he knew where Thanos might be, Tony gave him the most angry look you had ever seen.

“Maybe we should let him rest,” you said softly, Tony already ripping into Steve and then he was given a sedative.

The blue lady, Nebula as she introduced herself, had an idea on where to find Thanos, so you were traveling into space. Rocket had let you sit next to him, you two had grown very close in the last few weeks.

Finding Thanos wasn’t as satisfying as you had hoped. He had destroyed the stones and there was no way to bring your loved ones back. Before Thor killed him you had jumped on his back and dug your fingers into his temples and made him relieve everything, every mistake, every failure and twisted his mind painfully, “this is for taking him from me again,” you ground out, tears pouring from your eyes and your head was pounding. Then Thor killed him, and it was unsatisfying.

Time skip

Tony left the compound, telling Steve it was his. Pepper went with him. You were devastated. It took two years for you and Tony to get back on proper speaking terms. He held a lot of resentment towards you and Bucky, well for you still loving Bucky after he killed Howard and Marie.

“I did horrible things to Tony,” you shouted. “Do you blame me?” He shook his head, fire in his eyes.

“That’s different, it wasn’t you,” he bit back.

“How? It wasn’t him either,” You snapped.

“You didn’t kill my mom,” he said.

“Tony. I know nothing will ever change that. But please, I’m begging you. Please try and understand it wasn’t Bucky either,” you said sadly, reaching out to touch his cheek. “Please. Bucky loved Howard, he wouldn’t have killed him or Marie if he was in control of his mind,” you said tenderly. Tony’s cheek connected with your palm and you rubbed your thumb over his cheek bone. “Please Tony, for me. I’m not asking for you to be friends or even forgive him. I’m asking for you to forgive me, to let me back in. You’re my only family left,” you said softly.

He nodded a moment later, “okay,” he pulled you into a hug. “I missed you, I’m sorry you lost Barnes,” he said softly. You let out a breath of relief and hugged him back just as hard. “I’m sorry you lost the kid,” you felt him nod.

You semi retired over the next few years, only helping out sometimes, you tried to live a semi normal life. You spent a lot of time with Tony and Pepper, enjoying getting to be an actual auntie to Morgan. She was like Tony’s mini me, and it made your heart ache you never got to know Tony as a boy. Tony even broke down after some time and told you about Howard, how he was, you were baffled, as the man he described was nothing like the brother you grew up with.

“If I were around, I would have kicked his ass,” you said one night while sharing a drink with Tony.

“Seeing how you are with Morgan, it would have been nice to have you around growing up,” he replied. “Dad talked about you a lot, he said I reminded him of you, you were just as impulsive and hard headed as I was apparently.” That made you throw your head back and laugh.

“You remind me of Howard actually, I’m sorry you never really got to see that side of him,” your voice tapered off as you looked down at the liquor in your cup.

“I gotta ask, you and Barnes, did you,” he took a deep breath, “did you guys ever plan on having kids, white picket fence, a dog.” You knew it was still hard for him to bring up Bucky, it was a wound that would likely never heal.

You thought for a moment, rolling the ring around on your finger that you vowed to never remove, thinking back to when you and Bucky met and were young, full of hopes and dreams for a future stolen from you. “Yes, maybe a brownstone in Brooklyn though, or an acreage in upstate. A couple kids and a dog or two. The American Dream.”

“I meant now, after you guys found one another again,” Tony said softly.

“Oh, if you really look at it, we only have had a handful of months together that were semi peaceful, so we never really talked about it again,” you said sadly. You watched him nod and he touched your hand.

“You would be a great mom,” Tony squeezed your hand. Tears welled up in your eyes at his kind words. “For what it’s worth, I know the gone can’t appreciate it. But you can, the living can. I forgive him. It will always hurt and part of me will always be raw about it. But I forgive him.” The tears fell now, and you sniffled while pulling Tony into a tight hug, relief flooding your body.

Steve respected that you wanted to try and live life semi-normally. He would only call you to participate in the field when something required your abilities and expertise.

With the help of Tony you were able to claim the trust Howard had set up for you after you disappeared in 1951. He apparently had a gut feeling you were still alive. Out there somewhere. Tony also helped with getting your stake in Stark Industries legitimized. You rented an apartment in New York, so you could still visit the compound easily. Not really wanting to buy a house yet or build one, part of you still held out that maybe one day you would get Bucky back and you two could start that family you both dreamed about.

You were staring at Steve like he had ten heads just magically sprout out of his neck as you both stood in your living room. “Come again?” your heart pounded loudly and your palms were calmly, your brain going into overdrive as you clutched your hands in front of you.

“We might be able to get them back,” Steve said again, and your breath hitched, it was the most hopeful you heard him since before the blip. You stared at him in shock.

“Don’t fuck with my heart Steve,” you voice cracked slightly. He shook his head.

“I’m not I promise, we need to see if we can get Tony on board, I was hoping you would help,” Steve asked, almost begging.

You stood next to Steve while Bruce tested the time machine van Scott brought to the compound. Both of you sighing when he came back as a baby, and then coming back himself in a soiled suit.

Your heart beat spiked excitedly when you saw one of Tony’s sports cars fly up the compound's driveway, you squeezed Steve's hand, and he squeezed yours back.

You didn’t time travel, there weren't enough suits or pym-practicals for you to go as well. You monitored the equipment while you waited for the team to come back. Losing Natasha was devastating, you comforted Clint after he got back. “I couldn’t save her,” he sounded broken and your heart shattered.

You watched in horror as Bruce basically barbequed his arm to undo the snap. Everyone looked around at one another, trying to figure out if it worked or not. Your phone and Clint’s started ringing. You both walked over hesitantly, you grabbed yours. Sam’s face on the screen and you felt a sob get stuck in your throat. You and Clint shared a quick look before you both swiped to answer, placing the phone to your ear your breath hitched when you heard him.

“Doll,” tears flooded your cheeks as you brought your hand to cover your mouth.

“Bucky,” you choked out, “Buc…” a scream ripped through your throat as the compound collapsed around you, burying you and Clint.

“Hello?” Clint groaned as he flashed his light around.

“Help,” you coughed as rubble shifted on top of you. “Clint,” you called out.

“Come on kid,” he said, holding your hand as he pulled you free.

“I’m older than you Clint,” you laughed a dry laugh, rubbing the dirt off your face. He gave you a deadpan expression. “Sorry,” you raised your hand up in surrender.

“Shit,” you looked down at the ground, the gauntlet was sitting in front of you two. Then you heard it, it was faint. Clint immediately sent a torch arrow through the tunnel, revealing creatures similar to the ones you fought in Wakanda. Clint quickly grabbed the gauntlet and you both ran for it.

“God I hate those things,” you groaned as you ran alongside Clint.

“You fought them before?” He asked.

“In Wakanda before the blip,” he nodded as he shot explosive arrows into the pipes. The explosion caused you both to fly forward and you fell on top of him. With a groan you rolled off him and quickly sprang up. More were coming, he looked up and shot a grapple up and offered you his hand. You shook your hand and sunk into the shadows and crawled up the wall in them as he cut one of the creatures down. As he landed from his grapple, you jammed your dagger into the floor and used your momentum to kick one of them back down the hole.

He raised his blade over the hole and yelled before rolling over and lying down for a moment, you followed suit groaning with him.

“Oh hey I know you,” Clint murmured as Nebula came and took the gauntlet.

“Father, I have the stones,” your eyes snapped open and you looked at her. You sunk into the shadows before she could stop you.

“You what?” Clint mumbled, he was shocked and more awake now. She placed her boot on his chest and pointed a gun at him.

“Stop,” a new voice said. A lady whose skin was green entered with a gun pointed at Nebula came in. Nebula moved, her gun still pointed at Clint’s head as you skulked through the shadows to get behind her.

“You’re betraying us?” other Nebula asked, as the other lady held her arm steady, the gun aimed at her. Another Nebula came in with her hands up and Clint jumped out from the middle of them. You sent a small pulse of calm toward him so he could still feel you there with him.

“You don’t have to do this,” your Nebula says.

“I am this,” the other retorts.

“No you're not,” the green lady says, you stayed still and watched. Poised to strike when needed.

“You’ve seen what we’ve become,” your Nebula says softly as she walks towards the other.

“Nebula, listen to her,” the other lady urged.

“You can change,” the green lady dropped her gun, you tensed.

“He won’t let me,” the other Nebula said tearfully and aimed her gun at the green lady. You sprung forward and grabbed her arms from behind revealing yourself completely, as your Nebula shot her. You gasped and dropped to the ground and started hyperventilating, feeling all over your chest for damage. Clint was to your side in an instant checking you over.

“Okay, breathe, breathe,” you took a sharp breath and stared into Clint’s eyes, yours wild and terrified.

“It’s okay, we’re okay,” you repeat your mantra out loud. You scrambled up as Clint grabbed the gauntlet and you two ran.

Wakanda 2023 Post Unsnap

Bucky woke up face down in the dirt, and he was very confused. Sam was to his side instantaneously and pulled him up.

“What the hell happened?” Bucky shook his head and looked around. “Doll? Doll!” He shouted. “Where are you?” He called out, hoping for an answer he was met with silence.

“I have no idea,” Sam looked bewildered, “I’m going to call her,” he said and dialed your number, he didn’t get an answer and Bucky’s stomach tied itself in knots as he heard it ring. When he heard her breath as she answered.

“Doll?” He asked breathlessly, she didn’t answer for a couple beats but then her sweet voice crackled through the phone.

“Bucky,” a breath of relief flooded him as he heard her voice. “Buc..” he heard her scream and the sound of falling rubble and then the line went dead.

“Doll?” Bucky called frantically, “Doll!?” He screamed into the phone.

“Barnes,” Sam said sternly. “Barnes,” he tried again. “Bucky!” He grabbed him by the shoulders and made him look at him. “We’ll get to her,” Sam promised, his own heart twisting.

Golden circles opened up suddenly in front of them, Wanda and Groot joining them as they looked through the portals in bewilderment. “We’re Masters of the Mythic Arts, your team needs help facing Thanos.”

Avengers Compound 2023

“Did anyone ever tell you, you talk too much,” you shouted as you reappeared next to Steve. He looked awful. You looked around you and your heart beat slowed as you took everything in. You couldn’t see Tony or Thor. Or anyone else for that matter, Clint sent you ahead to try and find Cap since you could move faster in the shadows than he could run.

“Ca,” a muffled sound crackled through the comm in Steve’s ears, yours crackling to life as well. “Cap? It’s Sam.” The comm cleared, “on your left,” golden circles opened what looked like portals and T’Challa, Shuri and Okoye walked though. Sam flew out right after and your heart soared as you watched him fly above and circle back, landing in front of you and Steve.

Bucky walked though one of the portals and you could have screamed for joy. Your stomach started somersaulting and your heart rate spiked. “Go,” Steve said softly. You took off toward Bucky, his arm opening to you almost instantly as you body slammed into him a moment later. His arm wrapped tightly around your waist and yours wrapped around his neck. He inhaled a deep breath through his nose that was buried into your hair.

You pulled back and placed your hand on his cheeks and smiled brightly up at him, “Bucky,” you were crying.

“Doll,” he whispered back. In his arm you turned toward Thanos again, Bucky’s arm secured around your waist as you faced the purple monster. You looked at one another once more before nodding at each other.

“I love you,” you said softly.

“I love you too,” he said back tenderly.

“It’s okay.”

“We’re okay.”

“AVENGERS!” Steve shouted. “Assemble.” It was chaos the moment he finished.

“Let’s do this. Phantom out,” you faded into the shadows instantly.

You danced around slicing at anything that got to close, trying to track Clint to figure out where he had made it off too when you went ahead.

You kept close to Bucky and stabbed a rogue creature that almost got Rocket. He whipped around and you half appeared smiling at him before throwing a knife and embedding into the skull of a creature that was too close to Bucky for your liking.

“Hey Daisy,” Rocket chuckled. The nickname he coined for you a few years back stuck hard, and you didn’t hate it. Bucky looked over his shoulder with a questioning expression before shrugging and continuing what he was doing. You slipped back into the shadows and kept fighting.

“Bucky the kid,” you shouted as you tried to dodge the oncoming fire. “I got you, protect him,” you watched as Bucky jumped forward and took a hit, your shadows protecting him. You scrambled forward and checked on him. The gun fire lulled for a moment and started firing in the sky.

A missile like something started taking out the ship. You and Bucky watched in awe as it started to fall apart and fall into the lake.

“You got something for me?” Carol asked.

Peter handed her the gauntlet, “I don’t know how you’re gonna get it through all that.”

“Don’t worry, she’s got help,” Okoye said as you all appeared around him. You emerged from the shadows for a moment and nodded to Wanda, smiling at her, she smiled back.

Pepper was pulling Peter away from him, “Tony,” you ran forward and fell to your knees next to him and took his head in your hands. “Tony.” You felt tears slip down your cheeks as you let him go and crawled backwards, collapsing to the ground, Peter falling next to you, you pulled him into a hug.

It was Bucky that pulled you up into his arms a short while later, you completely gave your strength over to him and went completely limp in his grasp. He looked down at you tenderly and nuzzled his nose into your hair softly. “It’s okay, we’re okay,” his voice was soothing and raw.

“I love you 3000,” you placed your hand over your mouth and stifled the sob that threatened to come out and leaned your head into Steve’s shoulder. He wrapped his arm around you and hugged you to him. Your heart broke for Morgan, his little mini me.

While Pepper gathered the ceremonial ‘Tony Stark Has A Heart,’ bouquet, Morgan toddled over to you. You crouched down to her level and gave her a big hug. She pulled back and her little face full of tears, you whipped them gently and smiled at her.

“It’s okay,” you said softly into her hair as you pulled her back into another hug.

“We’re okay,” she caught you off guard by finishing the mantra you repeated regularly. It was a safety net for you, something that soothed your soul in the darkest of times. You couldn't count how many times you said it to her when she would fall and hurt herself or if she had a bad dream or if she missed her parents when you watched her.

Too hear you say it brought some sense of calm to you and nodded at her. “We are,” you cupped her cheek and smiled at her. “Dad will always love you, and he’ll always be right here,” you touched her heart, “and right here,” you touched her temple. She smiled sadly at you.

“Luv you auntie,” she whispered before going back to her mom.

As you followed Pepper out of the house, you joined Bucky’s side to watch her set Tony's heart adrift on the lake. He wrapped his arm around you and held you close.

“I’m sorry you lost him,” Bucky said quietly as you watched on. You let out a deep shuddering sigh and nodded.

“He forgave you after everything,” you murmured softly, your eyes sad. “I’m sad he never got to tell you himself.” Bucky kissed your temple gently and nodded against your head.

“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back,” Steve said to Bucky with a smile.

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you,” he murmured back and they hugged.

He looked at you and smiled, “it’s okay,” he said softly.

“We’re okay,” you finished. He pulled you into a hug tightly before letting go to bring the stones back.

“I’m gonna miss you punk,” Bucky said softly.

“It’s gonna be okay Buck,” Steve said as he stepped on the platform.

Something screamed inside you that something was going to happen, you and Bucky stood side by side while Sam hammered on Bruce to figure out what happened.

“Hey Sam,” Bucky called as you two looked toward a man sitting on a bench. You approached it first and looked at him, you swallowed hard.

“Steve,” your voice cracked. He smiled up at you.

“I’m so proud of you. Keep each other safe, and love hard,” you reached forward and wrapped him in a tight hug for a moment. You looked at his hand and noticed the ring.

“I’m glad you got to be happy, we’ll miss you. It’s okay,” you whispered as you stepped back.

“We’re okay,” he nodded back. You walked away while wiping a tear from your eye and joined Bucky again while Sam went and spoke with him.

“You don’t want to say anything,” you whispered to him, he wrapped his arm around you gently and pulled you close as he watched.

“No,” Bucky said simply. You nodded and pressed your head into his shoulder.

Feel free you send me a message if you have a request or would like more, or would like to be added to the tag list <3

If you want me to go more in depth into how she fits in the time line, let me know!

#bucky barnes #bucky imagine #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #fluff #bucky fanfic #bucky x you #marvel #infinity saga #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes metal arm #captain america #steve rogers #clint barton #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x oc #rocket raccoon #tony stark

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raccooncourt · 9 months

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Twilight is a stockholm syndrome horror franchise (A Raccoon Court Case)

I wrote this essay as an argument for my podcast (which you can listen to here!). If you want to hear this argument along with my friends picking it apart in our court of law, listen to it on Spotify! Enjoy!

Opening Statement

Hello, my name is Mel, and today I will be defending myself against the charge that i have bad taste for “believing Twilight is a horror franchise about Stockholm Syndrome”.

Before I begin, lets get something straight. I would never, ever come on this podcast, in front of the court and God and Jesus and everyone, and say that Twilight is a bad movie because it’s not. Catherine Hardwicke put her everything into this movie, especially when the 2007-2008 writers strike forced her to improvise the line “hold on tight spider monkey.” This movie has some of the best lighting and editing choices EVER. The soundtrack RIPS! The actors are COMMITTING to the weird shit they were given. Like just watch Emmett walk around with that bag of hard boiled eggs. Look at Alice’s insane haircut during the baseball scene. Watch Anna Kendrick be the most passive aggressive and insecure girl in that school. How do they make Arizona look fucking blue somehow? It’s everything to me.

That being said, I believe that Twilight should not be considered a “romantic fantasy film” as Wikipedia describes it. This movie, and the franchise as a whole, follows a serious episode of Stockholm Syndrome where Bella Swan, after trauma bonding with Edward and his family, becomes convinced that her relationship with Edward is good and healthy and worth leaving everyone she knows and loves behind. While Twilight is my main source for this argument, I will be discussing the less entertaining, more biblically accurate movies in the franchise for some key evidence. Before we jump into them, I would like to note that my praise of Twilight does not unilaterally apply to the rest of these movies. I could feel myself lose years off my life watching Breaking Dawn part 1 with Jess back in June. That being said, Breaking Dawn part 2 revived me and I’m actually happy and healthy and young and vivacious now because of that Alice girlboss moment with the Volturi at the end.

With the current group of Twilight fans in the studio, I am sure we will get distracted and just talk about how good Twilight is, but I will do my best to keep us on track. In the case today, I will give us all an AP Psych background on Stockholm Syndrome. I will then detail all of the weird and creepy things that Edward does in Twilight to trick Bella accidentally into falling in love with him. Finally, I will provide examples from the other movies in the franchise to back up how this unstable and unhealthy relationship fits the telltale signs of a Stockholm Syndrome situation.

Defense case-in-chief

One note before we start. This is a fun podcast for fun. We are in no way trying to trivialize or minimize anyone’s mental health struggles or traumatic experiences. I am just interested in using this lens as a way to understand this dumb fucking franchise.

Now, before we talk about how Edward tricks a teen girl into falling in love with him, let’s quickly go over the basics of Stockholm Syndrome.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response to being held captive. People with Stockholm syndrome form a psychological connection with their captors and begin sympathizing with them. In addition to the original kidnapper-hostage situation, Stockholm syndrome now includes other types of trauma in which there’s a bond between the abuser and the person being abused.” (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22387-stockholm-syndrome)

This syndrome was named after an incident in 1973, where bank robbers in Stockholm, Sweden held hostages for six days in the bank. During that time, some of the hostages started to like the bank robbers, and upon release, they refused to testify against the criminals. Some of these victims even raised money for the robbers court costs.

Again, according to the Cleveland Clinic,

People who have Stockholm syndrome have:

Positive feelings toward the captors or abusers.

Sympathy for their captors’ beliefs and behaviors.

Negative feelings toward police or other authority figures.

Other symptoms are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and include:

Flashbacks.

Feeling distrustful, irritated, jittery or anxious.

Can’t relax or enjoy things that you previously enjoyed.

Trouble concentrating.

(https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22387-stockholm-syndrome)

I would like us all to remember these key symptoms and characteristics of the syndrome. First, a victim is put in a traumatic situation, or multiple traumatic situations over time, with the abuser. Then, as they spend more time with the abuser, they start to empathize and form good feelings towards the abuser. A key part here is that they also form negative feelings towards POLICE like say maybe a certain DILF from Forks, Washington??? Anyway, the other symptoms of flashbacks, feeling irritated and anxious, losing interest in your hobbies, trouble concentrating, and distrust all come into play here. In our next sections, I will be giving you concrete examples of times Bella displays ALL of these symptoms and how we can use that evidence to diagnose her as suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Now that we have our psychological background information, let’s talk about Twilight!

When we first meet Bella, she is nervous about moving to Forks, and she is a generally shy person, but she is personable. Bella has consistent dinners with her dad and is nice to the townies. She laughs with her mom on the phone. She immediately makes friends with Jacob and finds a group of friends at school on the first day. She smiles a lot considering her character in future movies. She makes jokes when she first meets Mike and Jessica (”aren’t people from Arizona supposed to be like really tan?” “yeah maybe thats why they kicked me out”). I like this weird Bella. She is doing a great job at making friends despite coming in the middle of the year and being shy!

Now, Edward - he is looking ROUGH when we are first introduced. He looks like he’s actually dying a painful death when the rest of the Cullens look like legit immortal and young. Jessica describes him as “totally gorgeous” but as we will see as the movies progress, he won’t reach his hottest until the last few movies. He is not a catch right now. Watching him react to smelling Bella is one of the worst things that I’ve ever seen. I know that it’s just because he is Horny for that Blood, but it is awful to watch. He kinda looks like when a little kid throws up and has to go tell their mom about it in the middle of the night towards the end of the scene.

Anyway, Edward and Bella have now met, which is the beginning of the end that will stretch out over the next 5 movies. But currently, there has been no trauma bonding. There is no psychological damage, except maybe to Bella for thinking she smelled so bad Edward was gonna yak. We are not in Stockholm Syndrome territory yet. Edward comes back to school, apologizes, and becomes Bella’s lab partner again. He’s cuter in this scene somehow, and while it isn’t the same glow up we will see after him and Bella trauma bond, there is something to be said about him tearing her confidence down and then building it back up as the movie makes him look more attractive…

Now, 21 minutes into the movie, Bella is about to get crushed by a car when Edward appears out of nowhere and saves her. He crushes the door of the car, stops it, and then runs away. Here is our first instance of Bella associating Edward as her protector. In the future, this white knight syndrome seems to justify any future danger that Edward puts Bella in. Also, this begins my favorite Edward trait in this movie - this man is a GASLIGHTER. Bella confronts Edward about how he got to her so fast and why his eyes are different colors and he says 1) he was right next to her and 2) “its the fluorescence.” Bella fights back, but he laughs her off. He talks about how she hit her head and is confused. When she keeps fighting, he says “well, no one is gonna believe you,” WHICH IS A CRAZY THING TO SAY!!!!

In the next scene, Bella is having some small flashbacks to the car accident, which could just be PTSD, but as I mentioned earlier, PTSD shares a lot of symptoms with Stockholm Syndrome. Bella is zoning out and not paying attention to Mike while he asks her to prom, but at this point, she is still nice fun Bella. She even puts in a good word for Jessica. However, at the greenhouse, Edward gets mad at Bella for tripping and tells her that she can’t be his friend. It’s a weird back and forth that definitely isn’t helping her psyche. She thinks the guy who saved her life regrets it, which would fuck you up for sure.

This has nothing to do with my argument, but I need to mention that in the next scene, we get both “its la push baby, la push” as well as Edward kicking the apple up into his hands in a way that defies logic and gravity. It’s cinema perfection. To be fair, in this scene, Edward says that Bella would be smart to stay away from him. He may not be trying to force Bella into a Stockholm syndrome situation, but I am sure those bank robbers weren’t either.

Bella is still herself at this point. She goes to the beach with her friends, hangs out with Jacob, and gives the girls advice about the Prom. She asks to go with the girls to prom dress shop all on her own, but she is kinda zoned out and reading a book because she just wants to go to the bookstore. I appreciate that she tried to participate in the girly things her friends wanted to do, but then she is dumb as fuck and walks down the darkest and creepiest alley ever. These gross ass adult men jump her, and Edward comes to the rescue in his teeny tiny little car. Slay! But do you wanna know what’s not slay? Edward was literally stalking her, but Bella feels blessed because he saved her once again. At dinner, Edward, in the creepiest way possible tells her that “he feels very protective of her.” I am obsessed with how quickly Bella accepts that he can read minds. Like what the fuck is wrong with her. But here, we can start to see the change in Bella despite the warning signs - Edward was LITERALLY STALKING HER. GET A GRIP GIRL!!

After Waylan’s death, Bella has flashbacks for a second time! and it makes her start reading the book about vampires. This leads us to an incredible scene of internet sleuthing about vampires and having MORE FLASHBACKS to when Edward saved her. Someone get this girl some help. In the next scene, we get the incredible confrontation between Edward and Bella in the woods. Something I need to bring up here - this girl knows that Edward has stalked her, and she is pretty sure that he is a dangerous vampire. YET!!! She decides to walk out into the forest ALONE with Edward to confront him somewhere no one could see. These two aren’t even together yet, and she has the worst self preservation skills of all time! Then - when she finds out that he has been 17 “for a while” she STAYS AND KEEPS TALKING TO HIM!!!

Now, here is where I truly feel like my evidence really begins. When Edward talks about what vampires eat and how he is dangerous, Bella says “you won’t hurt me.” We are certainly seeing some crazy amounts of trust and sympathy for this man who was literally stalking her and may kill her out in the woods and is also a vampire. Remember how the Cleveland Clinic notes “sympathy for their captor’s behaviors” as one of the key signs of Stockholm Syndrome… She has no reason to believe in him, but she does. Edward drags her through the woods and then forces her up the mountain to reveal how weird and shiny he is. “This is the skin of a killer, Bella” should have really made her turn around and run, like he is literally admitting to being a killer and she says “I don’t believe that.” GIRL!! GET OUT OF THERE!! RUN BITCH!!

I find it interesting that Edward in this scene says that his voice, his face, and his smell are tricking Bella into being drawn in because he is a predator, and it is a trap. He talks about how he was designed to kill and how Bella would never be able to out run him or fight him off, and he is trying to physically demonstrate the threat by throwing shit around. It is a scary display! Edward does a lot in the first few movies to stay away from Bella, but eventually, he does fight to keep her around despite the fact that he KNOWS that he’s 100 years older than her (ew) and he KNOWS that his vampire whiles have tricked Bella’s brain into being attracted to him. Honestly, if he were a good man and not a weird criminal, he would have just moved. Like why do the Cullen kids even need to be in school. Let them pretend to be in their 20s for a while and move away from this poor dumb girl.

As soon as Edward and Bella get together in the woods, she says she is in love with him. Girl, BFFR. We start to see Bella pull away now that she has Edward. Bella ignores all of her friends at school to be with Edward.

Ok, now Charlie is on the hunt for the “animal” killing people. Bella fully knows that its a vampire and that those vampires can kill Charlie and her friends, but she doesn’t say anything because she now has this weird allegiance to the Cullens. She also won’t tell her dad that she’s dating Edward. Mike tells Bella that he doesn’t like Edward dating her because “he looks at you like you’re something to eat.” I know that Mike says that shit because he used to have a thing for Bella, but it says something when your friends are worried about your boyfriend and you brush them off… That’s not a good sign.

That night, Edward just appears in her room while she is on the phone with her mom and ADMITS TO SNEAKING INTO HER ROOM FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS??? TO WATCH HER SLEEP??? Bella thinks its hot. Literally what the fuck girl get a GRIP. Now, when Edward introduces himself to Charlie, he looks hot. My theory, and you can test it as you watch the series, is that Edward gets hotter over time because Bella gets deeper and deeper into her Stockholm syndrome situation. A lot of the other characters are their hottest in this movie, but Edward gets hotter as Bella loses her mind. I think that is saying something.

BASEBALL SCENE!!! BASEBALL SCENE!!! BASEBALL SCENE!!!

Now we are in the first instance where Edward has put Bella in danger - the three rogue vampires find out about her while the Cullens play baseball. This won’t put Bella into danger until later, but it fully is Edward’s fault that she was out in the woods where the vampires could find her. What it does do is force Bella to choose between Edward and Charlie, and this one singular time, she chooses correctly. Bella tells Edward to leave her alone. She isn’t fully sucked into the Cullen trap! JKJK!! It is all a trick to get Charlie to think she is leaving so he doesn’t worry about her! It is absolutely devastating to watch Bella hurt Charlie because Edward says “you have to.” Oh my god it is so hard to watch. DON’T HURT CHARLIE THAT’S MY MANZ!!!

This scene of Bella leaving really solidifies her jump from normal Bella to what we could call captive Bella. She is forced to leave her dad. She is painfully watching her friends have fun while she runs away with the Cullens and a boy she just kissed for the first time after he admitted to sneaking into her room for months. From here on out, we will watch her slowly pull away from everyone until it is just her and Edward. In this scene, Bella admits to being afraid and Edward says “Bella, you are my life now.” Insanity. It’s actually so scary. He also says that when it is over, they are gonna go somewhere alone. Isolating a 17 year old from her home, her friends, and her family is manipulative creep behavior, even if it’s because a scary vampire is trying to get her. Especially when it’s your fault for the vampire even knowing she was a target to begin with.

James tricks Bella into coming to the ballet studio alone and beats the shit out of her before biting her, which nearly kills her. Edward has to suck the poison out because Alice gets horny off Bella’s blood. Bella has to watch a murder happen while Edward just lets her suffer until he decides what to do with her. Edward then takes too much of her blood despite Carlisle telling him when to stop, which is a cool and totally not bad thing to do to your girlfriend when she is on the brink of death. When Bella wakes up, she thanks Edward for saving her, solidifying this savior idea she has about a man who will continue to put her in danger.

Oh god and I totally forgot about the boot to prom. Now, right before the end of the movie, we get one final attempt at a friend trying to save Bella. Jacob gets paid by his dad to tell Bella to break up with Edward. Another adult man informing Bella of what a mistake she is making. She is just like ok whatever bye! Note, she goes to prom with Edward and not any of her friends, even though her friends were so excited about it. She does say hi to her friends, but Edward takes her outside, and they spend the entire prom alone together. It is really fucked that the soundtrack goes so hard in this movie because I start to tear up even knowing that she is going to lose all of her friends and family for Edward.

At the end of this movie, we know a few things about Bella and Edward. Bella starts off as a shy girl with friends who spends time with her dad and calls her mom often. When she meets Edward, she idolizes him after he saves her life a few times. He tries to explain how much of a fucking creep he is by admitting to stalking her, being a murderer, and sneaking into her home for months. She thinks its hot and says that she loves him. Edward, despite being 117 and knowing better than to be into a 17 year old girl, brings her into his family and exposes her to other vampires. Those vampires hunt her for sport and to “protect her,” Edward forces her to lie and leave her friends and family. She now has no one else besides the Cullens. While they do save her, it is their fault for putting her in this situation. However, because they save her from James, she sees them as her savior rather than her captor.

Now, we will complete our analysis by quickly going over the evidence from the other four movies. It is going to be less descriptive because I could not make myself watch this entire series again after watching it literally 2 months ago.

Everyone, buckle up because it is New Moon time. Before we get started, I would love to read the character descriptions from the New Moon entry of Wikipedia:

Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl who falls into a deep depression after her true love, Edward Cullen, leaves her. Her friendship with Jacob Black is expanded as she realizes that he can mend the hole left open by Edward

Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, Bella's vampire boyfriend who abruptly leaves town to protect her.

Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, a cheerful companion who eases Bella's pain over losing Edward. He reveals to Bella that he is part of a pack of werewolves whose main goal is to protect her from the vampires Laurent and Victoria

Totally off topic, but I went into the talk page for this bc I love Wikipedia editor drama and someone reviewing this page marked it as stable because it doesn’t have an editing war happening in it. I just love Wikipedia editor culture. Anyway -

In the beginning of this movie, Bella gets a paper cut at her birthday party, which is with the Cullens and not her friends, and Jasper tries to kill her. Again, we are so clearly in “the Cullens are the threat” territory but this bitch has her blinders on hard core. Edward freaks out about it ,and his family moves out of Forks to protect her. At this point, you must be saying, “how could she have stockholm syndrome if he left to protect her?” Just you wait. If you remember from before, sometimes Stockholm syndrome manifests as anxiety, being unable to relax or concentrate, and withdrawing. Well, my girl Bella goes through a major depressive episode when Edward leaves and seemingly stays in her room for months just moping around. The only reason Bella reconnects with anyone is because Charlie threatens to send her to Jacksonville to live with her mom. So, Bella goes to see a movie with Jessica. However, instead of just enjoying the movie like a normal person, she goes up to some bikers she sees on the street and gets on a fucking strangers bike so she can see a force ghost of Edward.

This entire movie is about Bella doing dangerous activities so she can see a memory of Edward even though she has a support system she could use to safely get over the breakup. Jacob tries to be a friend but ends up helping Bella do dangerous shit to see force ghost Edward. Unrelated to literally anything, Jacob goes through werewolf puberty and has to ditch Bella too. The distance doesn’t last long thought. Bella is quickly attacked by Laurent, one of the rogue vampires. You remember, the guy who discovered Bella when Edward had her out in the woods to play baseball. Remember the guy who was friends with the guy who literally almost killed Bella like a few months ago. Yes, that Laurent. The werewolves save Bella and that starts a whole other thing for these movies with the pack politics and the werewolf - vampire feud that we won’t get into.

Bella says yolo and does the dumbest shit ever - go cliff jumping alone in Washington to see her ex-boyfriend. I do want to note that Bella and Edward have known each other at this point for 6 months, and they have been apart for 6 months. Literally, they were together for less time than they have been broken up. It’s insane. And I know that I usually like to give teen romances a break because teens have big feelings and love can be all consuming at that time, but this girl is constantly in danger and depressed because of a man she has maybe kissed 3 times and is 117. Also unrelated, but this twilight wiki article on the timeline mentions that when the Cullens move away, they move to Ithaca where Jasper becomes a philosophy student?? Are you talking about the same Jasper who fought for the confederate side?? Ok yeah ok.

Anyway, Alice sees this in her vision, and Edward, thinking Bella is dead, tries to kill himself. I literally don’t care. Alice and Bella fly to Italy to save Edward. They do, and after some negotiating with the Volturi, they get to leave when they promise to eventually turn Bella into a vampire. At the end of the movie, we see Edward make what Stephanie Meyer would call a compromise and I would call a quid-pro-quo. He promises to turn her into a vampire, which is her dream, ONLY if she marries him. Remember, he is 118 at this point and she is freshly 18, but yeah pop off I guess. No weird power dynamic going on here. Definitely no reason to be worried about this relationship at all.

Our next movie is Eclipse. I would like to note that in the Eclipse talk page on Wikipedia, it is listed as a horror as is Breaking Dawn part 1… I’m gonna say that is a point in my favor too.

This movie is really just a way to exploit the love triangle of the series, but I think it illuminates the weird tension and power dynamic that Edward and Bella have together. Now that Edward and Bella have been reunited after Edward tries to (with an Italian accent and the hands 🤌🏻) kill himself, he proposes. Bella doesn’t want to get married at 18. Like thank god she has 2 brain cells in this movie. I have to note that when Edward proposes, they have been back together for 3 months, and together for a total of 10 months at the most. She is really uncertain about the whole thing, partially because she is so young and partially because her parents didn’t stick together.

Something I think is interesting in this movie is the fact that Bella legally has to be turned into a vampire to fulfill her agreement with the Volturi. If she doesn’t get turned, she will be killed by them. Edward refuses to turn Bella into a vampire unless she marries him. In a way, he is forcing Bella to chose between two options she doesn’t want: get married or get murdered by scary Dakota Fanning. She no longer has any agency in her life or her decision to become a vampire - she literally has to pick getting married. Now, because she has been tricked into falling in love with an 118 year old murderer, she thinks it will work out just fine. I just wanted to bring up that plot point because it really is so gross of Edward??

Next in Eclipse, Jacob kisses Bella, and she breaks her hand trying to punch him. At the same time, we get some training montages to prepare for the battle with Victoria, the lover of James, remember James who almost killed Bella. Yeah, well she’s a coming, and she’s bringing some fresh vampires. During the training, Jasper tells Bella about how he hated his life until he met Alice, and that is enough to convince her to marry Edward. I love when a heart to heart with a canonical confederate soldier fixes my relationship problems.

Because of Victoria and the need to force the love triangle, Jacob, Bella, and Edward go on a camping trip. While Bella tries not to die of hypothermia, Jacob gets mad about them being engaged and runs off. Bella then kisses Jacob to keep him from running away because thats how you shut people up in romance movies but also because apparently now she loves him?? Edward is like ¯\(ツ)/¯ because “he knows that she doesn’t love Jacob as much as him” and maybe also because if she chooses Jacob she will literally be murdered by the Italian vampire squad??

There is a fight and like its fine and then the Volturi remind Bella of their deal, so she chooses Edward. Again, it is great to choose your partner under duress, especially when it is entirely your partner’s fault that you are under duress. Wikipedia describes the end of this movie as follows: “Bella and Edward go to their meadow, where she tells him she has decided to do things his way: get married, have sex, then be transformed into a vampire, and that she feels complete in his world. They decide to tell Charlie about their engagement.” I always forget how important Edward’s “old fashioned views” on sex and relationships are in these movies until I rewatch. Nothing reminds me more about this 100 year age gap than Edward not wanting to take her flower before God intended. Ugh, anyway.

On to Breaking Dawn Part 1!! I hate this movie, but boy does it have a lot to discuss.

This movie opens on the wedding. Our sweet lil girl is finally marrying her 118 year old spooky boyfriend so she doesn’t get murdered! How beautiful. But before that, we get Edward admitting to Bella that he used to murder people for sport after he got turned even though Carlisle told him not to. Very cool Ed!! Bella says that its ok because he probably was saving more lives by killing these weirdos, which is another good example of siding with her captor. Side note, but Bella is all in on getting married and never seeing her friends and family again as Edward reaches peak hottie status in the series… Coincidence?

In the scenes leading up to the wedding, we see two Bellas: the one around Edward who is so sure about getting married BECAUSE she is so sure about becoming a vampire and the one around her friends and family who looks nervous and unsure about the wedding. She looks like she’s having a panic attack, especially as Charlie walks her down the aisle. That could just be because she’s shy Bella but I think maybe there is something more going on here.

At the wedding, we hear from some of the speeches from Bella’s friends and family. Emmett gives a horny ass toast. Jessica gives a crazy speech about how she is hotter than Bella. Charlie says “Edward will be a good husband. I know this because I am a cop.” which devolves into him just threatening Edward. Bella’s mom sings a lullaby that goes on for a criminal amount of time. Alice bashes Bella’s fashion sense. Esme gives a harrowing speech about protecting Bella forever.

In one of my favorite scenes of the series, we watch Jacob and Bella reconnect. I am going to include the best part after I talk about this evidence, but here Jacob says “I should be used to saying goodbye to you.” Remember how, since vampires don’t age, Bella is going to have to leave literally every single person she knows and loves to live exclusively with Edward, a man who invites endless danger and also is a creep? Woof it is hard to watch. Then, Jacob gets mad at Bella, rightfully!, for planning on getting dicked down by her vampire husband before she turns vampire.

Before she goes on her honeymoon, Bella has a tearful goodbye with her parents, who she knows she will never see again. It’s really sad?? She can hear the wolves howling and is even more sad. From here on out, Bella will only have the Cullens. She has committed herself forever to this group of people who constantly endanger her, partially because if she didn’t Michael Sheen would kill her.

Now, the rest of this movie is Bella’s pregnancy. Fun fact, she is aware of her pregnancy for less than 14 days before she gives birth. According to the book and a tiktok Twilight historian I follow, they have sex on August 14th. From August 15th to 20th, Bella is having weird dreams and eating raw chicken. On August 21st, they have sex again and 10 days later, she realizes she missed her period. When Jacob sees Bella all gross and pregnant, 7 days have gone by. Renesmee is born on 9/11. It’s WILD.

So now, this poor girl has had sex exactly twice like shes Lane from Gilmore Girls, and she’s pregnant. And guess what? Edward is like fucking EW get rid of that thing rn. This man, who was all about proper godly values, is like abort that creature. She’s like no I wanna keep this baby, and he won’t even try to be understanding. So now, Bella doesn’t even really have her husband as a support system or any of her family to get her through this. She just has the Cullen girlies until Edward can read the baby’s thoughts and he’s like oh sweet the baby means no harm on my wife who I’ve abandoned many times and also forced to leave her entire support system.

Bella dies in the most gruesome childbirth scene of all time, and Edward turns her into a vampire.

FINAL MOVIE!!! BREAKING DAWN PART 2

Most of this movie is irrelevant. However, in the beginning, we get my actual favorite scene in all of twilight [you imprinted on my daughter??]. Edward is SO HOT, peak hot one could argue, in this movie. Now that Bella is fully indoctrinated into the Cullen family, Edward becomes as hot as possible. His total mind takeover is complete.

Anyway, this movie really reminds us of the impact the Cullens have had on isolating Bella. Charlie is desperate to know anything about Bella’s health and where she is, btu the Cullens are like yo - we gotta move and never talk to him again. We gotta pack our bags and move away. Jacob is like thats absolute bullshit so he snitches to Charlie. He doesn’t tell him everything so it seems to be ok? They say that Renesme is adopted and Bella is no longer sick, so its gucci.

The rest of the movie is just about the Volturi bullshit and Alice girlbossing until Bella, Edward, and Renesme get to be a happy family, totally cut off from the outside world.

To recap, people who have Stockholm syndrome have:

Positive feelings toward the captors or abusers aka the Cullens

Sympathy for their captors’ beliefs and behaviors aka Edward being a stalker and a murderer and a pedophile

Negative feelings toward police or other authority figures aka Charlie and the werewolf pack when they warn against being with the Cullens

Other symptoms are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and include:

Flashbacks like all of the ones she had in Twilight and the force ghost projections in New Moon

Feeling distrustful, irritated, jittery or anxious which only gets worse in Bella as she spends more time with the Cullens.

Can’t relax or enjoy things that you previously enjoyed - this bitch is on edge all the time and everything in her life has become life or death at 18.

Trouble concentrating - you know it, especially in New Moon.

Over time, we watch Edward get hotter as Bella feels more and more tied with the Cullens. When she has no other way of surviving, she marries Edward and then is removed from her community forever. She can’t even share the miracle of her becoming a mother with anyone. It is upsetting to watch, and that’s why I believe this franchise is actually a horror story warning us about Stockholm Syndrome.

Closing Statement

Honorable members of the jury, I am sorry that I put you through this today. I can’t say what compelled me to do this other than grad school procrastination and a recent hyperfixation on Twilight. I hope you can all look at this movie with a clinical eye, as doctors recognized by the court today, and see that yes, Edward put Bella in danger many times and yes, she thought he was hotter every time he revealed something fucking heinous about himself. We should all watch these films not as romances, but as warnings. Don’t fall in love with weird loners who are 117 years old. Don’t join a family with a confederate soldier. It will only cause you irreperable psychological damage and physical pain and also give you a weird baby that your ex-lover imprints on. Please don’t find me guilty of bad taste for believing Twilight is a Stockholm Syndrome horror film.

#raccoon court #twilight #twilight saga #essay

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