bulletproof

28: C

"How long is this going to take?" Sam's voice shook slightly in his throat as he turned to Bruce. It was still bizarre seeing his teammate look like the Hulk but...not be the Hulk?

"For him? As long as he needs. For us, five seconds," Banner replied, focused on the computer in front of him rather than the people around him.

Okay. Sam inhaled deeply, trying to loosen the tight knots forming in his stomach. The world kind of faded out as his worries droned in his ears.

He couldn't hear what Bruce said. Or what Steve said. Or what anyone said.

Sound returned to his ears as a buzzing, whistling sound came up and the air felt like it was vibrating. And then there was a flash and then Steve disappeared.

Five seconds. That's all they had to wait for.

He closed his eyes as the air hummed with energy again. He could still see the stars in his vision from the bright flash five seconds ago.

"Holy mother of Benedict Cumberbatch...how was that one worse than before?" A voice cried out, sounding so familiar but...like he hadn't heard it in years.

Sam opened his eyes and let out a gasp of laughter at the sight before him. He couldn't believe his eyes. He just...what the hell had Steve done?!

"Oh my god..." Sam heard Bucky breathe out beside him and he looked over his shoulder at the one-armed man. Bucky was staring at Y/N with shock and...terror? He looked genuinely afraid of her.

Sam turned his attention back to the teammate who came back from the dead, "Y/N?" His mouth couldn't close. He probably looked like a goldfish but...

This made no sense. He couldn't think properly. His thoughts were bouncing off all sides of his brain, and he couldn't come up with anything to say. Y/N's supposed to be dead.

"Oh my god, Steve, what have you done?" Bruce exclaimed, horror evident in his words, "This...you're messing with the fabrics of time and..."

"I know, Bruce," Steve replied casually, stepping off the stage and undoing the contraption off of his wrist, "We can talk about this later. Y/N stays."

Y/N gave Bruce a grin and waved. The scientist swallowed back the lump in his throat. It might have been a day since she'd last seen him but...it had been much longer for him. Part of him was kind of...angry. Tony had just died and Steve brings Y/N back?

"Steve..." He started, frowning at the captain. He was going to say something but then his eye caught Y/N's and the words disappeared off his tongue. Bruce sighed, "Okay...fine."

Bucky's hand was shaking as he watched her start a conversation with Sam, joking along as if she'd never died... as if it had never happened. He felt sick to his stomach. Nausea was twisting his insides into knots. Flashes and fragments of memories from when he killed her were blurring past his vision. 

"Y/N..." He was speaking without meaning to. He didn't want to talk to her. He didn't want to look at her. It hurt too much.

She turned to him, a bright liveliness in her eyes, "Yeah?" 

"I'm so sorry...I'm so, so sorry," The words were pouring out of him and now his body was shaking too. All of that weight. That guilt. It was pushing him down into the ground.

Y/N flung her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug as he blamed himself over and over, "It's not your fault, Bucky, and besides..." She pulled away enough to look into his cool blue eyes, "I'm not dead, am I?"

His brow furrowed, "But, it's...you're going to have to go ba–" He side-eyed Bruce with questions in his eyes and Bruce shook his head, evidently having changed his mind.