Lost + Found [Bucky Barnes] ✓

Chapter 10

After meeting my cousin T'Challa, or rather King T'Challa - not entirely sure what to call him yet - I'm grateful to be shown to a room where I can rest. Or, as I like to call it, lay on the bed in horrific silence while remembering everything from the past twelve hours. Very relaxing.

Damn. Twelve hours. I can't even wrap my brain around the concept, which is why I keep thinking about it. Twelve hours is the amount of sleep I wish I could get each night. Twelve hours is nothing. A blink of an eye. Half a freaking day in a lifetime of days. I've done the math in my head, and I've been alive for over 200,000 hours. All of it - everything I thought I knew - has been changed in a fraction of that time. I don't know how I'm supposed to sleep, let alone cope, with this knowledge.

So, quite frankly, I don't plan on it.

Sleeping, that is. I know I'll have to cope eventually, whether I want to or not. I suspect my mother has contacted my birth father by now, meaning I'll have to talk to him eventually too. Also whether I want to or not. Which I don't.

With a sigh, I sit up and swing my legs off the side of the bed. My leather gloves are on the side table, so I snag them and pull them on while heading toward the door. I probably shouldn't go wandering around in a strange place, but I can't sit here another minute stewing in my own thoughts.

It's the middle of the afternoon in Wakanda, so the building is filled with people. It's eerily quiet as they work, with only a few voices speaking in hushed tones to one another as they go about their daily tasks. I stick to the wall, watching as people in white uniforms work on large computer screens that are far more technologically advanced than anything I've seen. I have no idea what kind of compound we're in, but it's far beyond your typical government building.

Maybe I could get used to being royalty here, I can't help but think with a smirk.

Rounding a corner, I step into a narrow hallway with dim lighting. I can see a room filled with glass ahead, and it looks like there are large black electrical panels with glowing yellow circuitry adorning the wall. Curiosity gets the best of me, so I slowly approach before hearing a familiar voice.

Steve.

Of course, the super soldier wouldn't need sleep. It is the afternoon, and I bet he's used to going days on end without a solid night of rest. I assumed he would be meeting with T'Challa now, so I press myself against the wall and listen carefully to the conversation. If they're talking about me or my sister, I'd like to know what's going on even if they don't intend on keeping me in the loop.

"It feels like we were just here yesterday," Steve's voice floats through the hallway. "I can't believe it's already been a month."

There's a hint of sadness in his tone, and I frown at the thought.

"I got everyone out. Sam, Clint, Wanda, Scott. They're all doing their own thing now, laying low," he continues. "It's just me and Natasha now. Well, and Sharon." I can hear the smile in his voice. Sharon is the girlfriend, the one Natasha told me is in the CIA.

Steve sighs heavily, followed by the sound of his hand thumping against something solid.

"I miss you, Buck. It's not the same. When I woke up from the ice, at least I had a mission. Something to finish. More than that...I found a team. Friends. It made everything easier. Now, it's just...I'm just..."

His voice trails, and he falls silent. I bite my lip to remind myself to breathe quietly, waiting a few minutes in the quiet of the room before I decide to take a few steps forward. Peeking around the corner, the full room comes into view. Metal beams move up to the ceiling which is made of giant glass panels, allowing the sunlight to stream into the now-empty room. The few workstations scattered around the room are unoccupied, but I can see various data points streaming across the screens facing me.

A large cylinder sits in the center of the room, and I hazard a step toward it now that I know Steve has left. My heart thumps loudly against my chest, the anticipation of whatever is in that container driving me forward and making me wish I could run away. As I step closer, I can see that the front of the cylinder is comprised entirely of clear glass, allowing me to see its contents. My eyes land on a man's hand resting by his thigh, and I take another shaky step forward to allow my gaze to travel up to his face.

A gasp slips through my lips as I stare at his face. Long brown hair is pushed back out of his eyes, and a light beard covers his jaw. His cheek sports a single red gash, indication of a recent injury, and his eyes are closed like he's sleeping.

But it's more than that. He's not just...sleeping. He looks...frozen.

Frozen in a room in Wakanda is the man whose eyes I met during the attack on DC. The Winter Soldier. The one who hesitated when he saw me.

Bucky.

*****
AUTHOR'S NOTE

Are you screaming yet?? I am. Internally.

Leave me a comment to let me know what you think of this chapter + VOTE!

If you haven't heard, nominations are now open for the Marvel Fanfiction Awards! Head over to marvelfanficawards to get nominating.

While Lost + Found is relatively new, I don't expect it to snag the Bucky Barnes category (IF ONLY), but it would still mean a lot if you nominated either Lost + Found or my Loki/Avengers fanfic The Ides of July for some awards.

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