Till the end of the line… what is the line, though?
Once upon a time, when they were both so terribly, impossibly young, they did it.
“Till the end of the line,” Bucky said.
And Steve said nothing but took these words with him as a gift.
What’s really happened? Young Bucky left Steve to Steve’s own devices, and shattered feelings.
Because Steve was stricken by grieve, and though he desperately tried to put on a brave face, he needed time to be ugly and miserable, to come in terms with his pain. To feel what he couldn’t let himself feel when someone sees him, even if it is Bucky. Maybe especially if it is Bucky.
(Like, the world treated Steve like shit for being small, not “manly”, vulnerable. No wonder he hid in the moment of his peak vulnerability).
So, Bucky granted him this much-needed time, this period of loneliness. He knew he couldn’t help Steve with his grief. No one could. What’s more important, he trusted Steve to come to his senses, and not to do some really stupid things in the process.
What Bucky said is basically, “Even if I’m not physically near, mentally I’m with you, I trust you, I believe you know what’s right, I support you, whatever happened». Till the end of the line.
“The Line” is not amount of time spent together but the amount of trust.
“I believe in you with all my heart, with my whole being” instead of “Till death (presumably, of old age) do us part”.
Fast forward to the 21st century.
Steve throws his shield away, stops fighting.
The only – the last – thing he has is a promise.
I’m with you, till the end of the line.
What is he actually promising, though? To lie near Bucky, beneath his feet, beneath his beating fist to the rest of Steve’s life (which is, for about a minute or two)? Well, yes, but that is not the point.
Steve tells Bucky that he trusts him with his life or – if that’s what Bucky needs – with his death.
He trusts whatever Bucky decides to do is worthy.
And the Winter Soldier… Look, no one trusts him. Even his handlers, the people who know him best in this world, keep pointing guns right at his head. His own body fails him. His bionic arm. Most of all, his mind.
The Soldier fails his mission, which must be worse than death to him. He’s the most lonely creature in the world, no one could understand what he feel, and he fails.
And then this ridiculous stranger, two minutes from certain death, puts so much trust in him. Lets him decide. Lets him to do the right thing. He believes the Soldier knows what is the right thing.
Till the end of the line is not about time or physical proximity. It is faith. “I accept you, mentally I’m with you even if I’m dead”.
A little more of fast forward. Steve is cautious around Bucky at first. What if he was wrong, what if there’s really no more Bucky, only the Winter Soldier? In that case Steve believes himself to be the one and only who would «deal» with such threat.
Steve tries to test the man with Bucky’s face. He watches him, keeps him near, tries to control him.
He’s ready to leave Bucky alone only when he is sure it is definitely Bucky.
Here, Steve leaves because he trusts Bucky with his whole heart and more.
He knows Bucky would not be a villain’s tool again.
He believes Bucky would find his way in this new life (the search is painful as hell, but, as we know, Bucky deals with it surprisingly good, for a person with his past).
Till the end of the line is an encouragement. Whatever you do, I shall still love you even if I’m not around.
Instead of being his brother’s keeper, instead of becoming a living object of worship (and Bucky idolizes him painfully), instead of being the one for whom Bucky is ready to die (one more time), Steve gives Bucky a space for his own life. And after all he went through, Bucky deserves a life.
