The Mimic

190

Y/n's entire world shattered around her.

She heard that crunch.

She heard that damn crunch.

Bucky fell completely limp, the gauntlet slipping from his grasp. Thanos dropped him like a child that didn't want to play with a toy anymore, hitting the ground with a dull thud. His limbs buckled and contorted in awkward ways, dropping face-first onto the debris-littered ground.

Y/n didn't want to believe it. She had only been a few feet away. She had been so close, but not close enough.

Despite every fibre of her body screaming at her to just crumble to her knees, y/n never stopped running. She had to get to Bucky. That was her only focus. She didn't even process Captain Marvel blasting Thanos and the gauntlet away. Y/n just had to get to Bucky.

She yanked out her earpiece, her stomach twisting as her lungs filled with spikes. Her heart was pounding out of her chest, and the lump in her throat grew with every second that passed. She was in denial. That crunch wasn't real. It was just someone else on the earpiece. It had to be. Bucky was fine. Bucky was fine. Bucky was fine.

As soon as y/n was close enough, she slid onto her knees, the debris scraping and tearing at her skin. "Hey. Hey." She rushed out in a shaky tone, setting her hands on Bucky's cold shoulders as she rolled him onto his back. Hot tears begun to gather, her nostrils flaring as her bottom lip started to wobble. He was completely limp. She'd almost wished that she'd never rolled him over.

Now that Bucky was on his back, the damage that Thanos dealt was clear. He had been mangled by the giant. The mass amount of blood blurred all the features on his face, the only thing remotely recognisable were his eyes. Those blue eyes. Wide open and completely clouded over. His mouth hung open, jaw completely slack and dripping with sticky blood. It was just blood. So much blood.

"Hey." Y/n repeated, pulling his head onto her lap. "It's me, Buck. It's y/n." She murmured shakily, using her hands to wipe the mass amount of blood off of his face. "This isn't a funny joke, y'know..." She whispered, her voice cracking as she furiously wiped the blood away. "Thanos is gone. You don't have to pretend anymore." She tried to reason, a sad smile appearing on her face. Y/n was in complete denial.

With every wipe from y/n's hands, more and more of Bucky's skin was revealed. It wasn't a pretty sight. He was a sickly mixture of pale blues and purples, the veins across his face and neck had raised in reaction to having no oxygen, and he had severe bruises across his whole face from Thanos' brutal punches. He was barely recognisable.

"Come on, you can wake up now." Y/n practically begged, trying to stop the realisation from setting in. She tapped his cheek over and over again, her hands trembling as she pushed the super soldier's hair out of his face. "It's me-" She paused, her voice cracking. Y/n lifted one of Bucky's hands up to set on her cheek, trying to show him that she was there. "I'm right here. It's y/n." She whispered, rubbing her cheek against Bucky's cold hand. But, as soon as she let go, his hand fell straight back to the ground.

Y/n didn't want to believe it. She couldn't. He was fine. He had to be fine.

Y/n's composure begun to crumble, continuing to tap his cheek and squeeze at his limp hand. "Please, this isn't a good game. I'm not laughing, James." She scolded shakily, her voice continuing to crack and trail off. Y/n never called Bucky his real name, he didn't like it, but she didn't have a choice. "It's time to wake up now. You don't have to pretend. It's just me and you." Y/n whispered, a desperate smile appearing on her face as she looked into Bucky's eyes.

Bucky was gone. She could see it in his eyes. They were completely clouded over. No sign of life, just complete emptiness. Emptiness in the same blue eyes that y/n used to get lost in. The same blue eyes that used to light up whenever she entered the room. The same blue eyes that could tell y/n how much he loved her without Bucky even saying a word. And now they were empty. Glazed over with old tears, staring straight through y/n.

A shaky hand slowly moved from Bucky's face all the way down to his chest, slipping her hand under his mission suit to check his heartbeat, far too terrified to even touch his neck. There wasn't a heartbeat.

Bucky was dead. Bucky was dead before she was even able to reach him.

It hit y/n like a train and shattered her heart into a million pieces.

She'd already known as soon as she heard the crunch, but she didn't want to accept it. She didn't want to accept the fact that the love of her life was gone. Bucky was gone. And there was nothing she could do about it. There was no way of saving him. No way of waking him back up.

James Buchanan Barnes was dead.

Y/n screamed.

It was a grief-stricken, heartbroken, agonising scream.

It caused the whole battlefield to freeze, everyone turning their attention toward the location of the noise. A shockwave of energy erupted from y/n's chest at the same time, knocking many to their feet. The team knew what had just happened. They could tell. That wasn't a happy scream, or one full of anger. That was mourning. Pure and thick grief.

Y/n hunched herself over Bucky, cradling him in her arms. She had completely crumbled. Uncontrollable sobs caused her entire body to heave and shake, holding the love of her life as close to her as she possibly could. No injury could hurt her as much as this. Everything else felt numb, completely irrelevant. All she could think about was Bucky, and the fact that she'd never be able to get him back.

Peter was the first and only person to approach y/n.

He had tears in his eyes, taking shaky breaths as he set a careful hand on her shoulder. Peter was in shock, unable to process everything that had just happened. All he wanted to do was comfort y/n. She was like a big sister to him, and Bucky was like an older brother, and now he was gone. Peter had to be there for her. "Y/n I-"

Y/n suddenly slapped Peter's hand away, glaring up at him with grief-fuelled anger. "No, Peter. No." She snapped, tears continuing to pour. "This is your fault." Y/n accused, her voice quiet but slowly beginning to pick up. "You handed him the gauntlet. You were supposed to defend him! You were supposed to protect him!" Y/n yelled, practically screaming in the poor kid's face. "You failed, and now-" She paused, gasping in a shaky breath. "And now Bucky is dead. Stay the fuck away from me." Y/n snapped, using an energy orb to blast Peter away before she could get any reaction from him.

It wasn't fair, and it wasn't right to lash out at the poor kid. It wasn't his fault. But y/n was blinded by grief, desperate to search for someone to blame. Someone to scream at.

Wanda soon managed to make her way over, but instead of making her way over, she simply created a forcefield around Bucky and y/n. A forcefield to allow the mourning woman some space.

Y/n didn't want anyone to talk to her. She didn't want anyone to hold her. The only person that she ever wanted that from was Bucky, and he was gone.

Gone forever, all because of a stupid gauntlet.