Finding Memories

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gabriel had a panic attack after becoming conscious of what he proclaimed as another version of himself. Though, Y/N was able to calm him down and do another new trick with her powers.

Bucky's list was running out of room to add all these new findings and he wasn't sure how many more surprises he could keep taking in such a short time. But overall, he was impressed to see her gracefully work with her new, yet old, powers.

Once Gabriel was settled down, Y/N explained how the process she used to get him back to normal can be really draining on the person's self-consciousness. What that meant was still a question the group had, but she narrowed it down to say he would need some time to rest after the journey he just took.

They just went along with what she was saying after Gabriel proved her right by knocking smooth out after just 10 minutes coming back to reality.

It was in that moment, the yawn Y/N had been stifling since long ago came back.

"That's it. We're all getting some shut-eye before any new adventures," Bucky had announced and though he got grunts and muffled curses, they knew he was right.

They were all practically running on fumes. Wanda and Nat had been coming from a mission before they learned about the attack. Then after the attack, Y/N had maybe a total of an hour in some sort of peace before more things just kept escalating. And even in that hour, she was being checked over by Bruce to monitor her stress levels.

Everything kept spiraling since then. Which led them to be in the basement now with a back-to-normal Gabriel. All in 19 hours. And at no point did a single person get any form of rest.

So though she was on a roll and scared that if she walked away and ignored all the crazy thoughts and ideas in her head, she was happy someone was actually forcing her to sit down and take a minute away from the day.

Though that would be asking too much in this universe.

A moment away from the world that had just now opened up to her? Not a world she had grown to love, but the cruel dark parts of it she had learned to forget were no longer hidden from her.

"Y/N? Y/N?" The voice was muffled like it was five rooms over, but the person it was coming from was just a few feet away. "Hey, Y/N."

She snapped out of the headspace she had gone to and she was glad she was broken out of her trance.

She was mid-brushing her teeth when after about three brushes in, she just froze and drifted off.

Bucky had walked in when he heard the water running for a while and caught her just staring in the mirror, but she wasn't actually focused on anything.

"You ok?" he asked as she went back to normal and brushed off the way her eyes showed she was in a whole different reality seconds before.

"Yeah, fine," she attempted to put on a smile and it was a lot more convincing than it had ever been.

But something about this version of Y/N seemed to have a better idea of masking than the last. She clearly wasn't a beginner in it, though if you'd have asked Bucky two days ago he would have said otherwise.

"I think we both know that after today's events, 'fine' wouldn't be an honest answer to that question," he sighed, as she passed him out the door back into the bedroom they were still sharing.

"It's a lot to process," she shrugged, trying to be nonchalant about it, but also not necessarily wanting to ditch the conversation.

"A lot to process indeed. And we have the time now," he shrugged when he leaned on the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest.