The two of them stayed like this until the Jedi finally calmed down and wrapped his arms tightly around the Winter Soldier. His shirt was completely soaked by this point, but she didn't mind as she rested her head on his chest and felt his chin on top of hers.

“Feeling better?” Bucky asked softly, feeling her nod.

"If Moore surfaces again and unleashes the plague, I need you to kill me."

Bucky jerked and put his hands on her shoulders but still held her.

"what?"

“You heard me, Bucky, I—”

“No.” Bucky said immediately.

Celeste frowned. “Bucky, you can’t—”

“I’ll take the risk and get this shit off you,” Bucky agreed.

"What if you can't do it?" Moni asked back, his voice rising. "Bucky, this thing is extremely dangerous. The entire planet could be consumed by its evil nature.

"You said it yourself, this planet is different from other planets you have been to--"

“That doesn’t guarantee it’s safe,” Celeste countered. “If there’s a chance, that’s great, but we have to look at the bigger picture, Bucky.

"Didn't you just tell me that this thing has a will of its own?"

"Killing me will at least slow it down."

“But it will eventually take action on its own.

"Why are you arguing with me about this now?" Celeste asked, now in a more frustrated tone. "I just told you how dangerous this is."

“I know, but that doesn’t mean you have to die,” Bucky said.

"Why?!"

“Because I don’t want you to die.” Bucky yelled now. “Is it hard to believe that I care about you?!”

Celeste was quite surprised by this outburst and she opened her mouth to respond but found that she couldn't find the words she needed to get back to him.

The two stood like this for a while until Barnes spoke.

“I… am a soldier. Bucky said.

Celeste gave him a quizzical look, for she had heard this story before. A veteran of World War II on this planet, which had taken place decades before.

It would be easy for the Jedi to assume this guy was special because he didn't seem to age as much as most. He had mentioned something about cryosleep before.

This always made Celeste think about who Bucky was, all along being protected.

"In 1945, I traveled to the Austrian Alps with the rest of a commando unit to raid a train carrying Dr. Arnim Zola, then Hydra's chief scientist and engineer. If we captured him, we would be one step closer to taking down HYDRA's founder and leader at the time, Johann Schmidt. Things didn't go as planned, as I was basically blown out of the air and fell to my death.

"Then why do you say——"

"Because at some point before this, I experimented with a failed variation of Zora's super soldier formula. They didn't surface when I fell, but the serum was enough to allow me to survive the freezing cold I experienced when I fell into the river." Bucky raised his left arm and stared at it. "I didn't survive it unscathed, though."

Celeste looked at the mechanical arm as Bucky continued his story.

"Don't know how long I was adrift, but I was found by agents of Hydra and the Soviet Union. I was quickly identified, and as their own form of revenge, they subjected me to countless experiments, before grafting this arm and scrambling my brain to become their obedient attack dog for the next seventy years. It wasn't until I found you that I was able to leave, through Steve's help.

The Jedi Knight remained silent as she joined her traveling companion.

“I know exactly what you’re going through, Celeste.” Bucky paused. “Well, not exactly—”

Celeste chuckled.

“But I understand,” he said. “I know the feeling of just wanting it to be over, of wanting to kill yourself so that no one else would suffer because of your own actions.

Bucky stared at his metal arm briefly, gripping it tightly.

"But...my best friend...he was in the same situation as you. He said in a strained voice. "I could feel it in my mind, he wanted to kill me so I wouldn't be used again.

A smile crossed his face. “He said no. He still saw me and wanted to help me.”

Celeste was silent, while the man in front of her had a thoughtful look on his face.

“Of course, I walked away without doing anything,” Bucky admitted casually, earning a small amused laugh from Celeste. “I needed to find out who I was again. When that happened, I began raiding Hydra holdouts around the world. It took me a while. I can tell you this much. During that time, I remembered my whole life. All of it. Everything I did before the war ended—” He raised his metal arm. “And everything that happened afterward.”

Silence fell between the two of them, they just stood there, Bucky's hand on Celeste's shoulder and her hand on his chest.

"We're a couple, right?" Morn said, earning a sneer from the Winter Soldier.

“You know, ever since I got out of that mess, I’ve learned about this weird thing called reality TV,” Bucky said. “Think if we get close to the right people, we could turn it into something special?”

"I've watched enough 'TV' on this planet to know that's a bad idea. Celeste snorted.

"You may be right."

The Jedi hummed loudly. "What now?"

“Take it one step at a time. Let it flow. See what happens along the way.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like