This was the first big dramatic scene I ever wrote between Eva and Bucky. I had this idea of a climactic ending where everything seems lost but they manage to make it out still. This was back when I wanted to set the climax somewhere in Siberia, back where Eva and her brother Carter were born/kept/experimented on as children. I still don’t know if I’m even going to include Carter in the final product, so this scene is not likely to make it either. I’m still proud of it though- I even looked up the symptoms of hypothermia just so I could make sure I was accurate. As withe the last post, I was too lazy to format the italicized sections. Enjoy!
Word count: 1598
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Eva stretched her hand toward Bucky’s, but her reach stopped just short of his fingers. Her lungs burned for air, and she could feel the biting cold of the water around her seep through her clothes, through her skin, and into her bones. She willed her body to move, but her assailant had its arms clamped around her and was dragging her deeper under the surface of the lake. The water’s chill stung and bit at each and every point where it touched her bare skin. She wanted to scream, she opened her mouth to do so, but a rush of frigid water cut off her cry and spilled down her throat, into her lungs, freezing her from the inside out.
She sank deeper, pulled under by an operative in a specialized suit. More hands began to grab at her, more operatives, pushing and yanking her deeper, squeezing her chest to force the air from her lungs. They wanted her to die here.
Her vision began to cloud over and darken until the only thing she could see was Bucky’s metal limb glinting in the water, and then that faded out as well. She was alone now. Everything was dark. Everything hurt. She froze and burned at the same time. She was fading. Her vision finally petered out, and all she could see was darkness.
No.
Something else began to burn in her chest. It was familiar, welcome even, sizzling and popping within her. This was a pain she knew, one she could use.
She let it devour her from the inside, trusting it not to kill her. It bloomed within her, consuming her lungs, then her heart, then her stomach, then arching outward to her limbs and fingers until the searing agony was all that she knew, was all that she was. She welcomed it, letting it surge until it had nowhere else to go but out. Then, she unleashed it.
The sound she heard next was deafening, consuming her almost as much and as rapidly as the scorching pain had done. Bright tendrils of electricity snaked from her body outward and toward the edges of the lake, seeming to hone in on any and every other living thing in the water. Muffled screams came next, cries of agony stifled by water and diving equipment. Eva was surrounded by noise now; sparking electricity, the screaming, it was all echoing through the water as she floated in darkness.
Then, it all stopped. The sizzling and cries of agony gave way to unnatural silence.
So this is what death is, Eva thought, still sightless and now, she guessed, deaf as well. Despite this, she felt an overwhelming sense of calm. A sort of pressure weighted down her limbs, soothing her as she drifted. Not bad.
She felt something tug at the back of her neck. It was faint at first, then strengthened until she felt her entire body being pulled upward at an alarming rate. A rush of sound threatened to deafen her again, then-
Eva began coughing and hacking involuntarily, forcing water from her lungs. It took a few seconds before stinging air reached her throat. Every breath hurt.
Someone was calling her name, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. She didn’t bother trying to pinpoint where the voice was just yet; nearly every inch of her skin burned from the icy air around her, and her throat felt like it had been rubbed raw with gravel. Somebody shook her shoulder, then began tapping her cheeks- probably the same person who was shouting her name. Eva mustered enough energy to eek out a moan.
“Look at me,” the voice pleaded. Eva heeded it, prying her eyes open. As her vision cleared, she could make out a face hovering over her. The voice pleaded with her once more. “Come on, kid, talk to me.”
“…Barnes?” Eva mumbled, finally recognizing the voice.
“Oh, thank Christ!” Bucky huffed, barking out a hysterical chuckle despite himself. He cradled Eva’s head with one arm and wrapped the other around her to envelop her in an embrace. Eva felt his body heat through his jacket and shivered violently, pressing herself against him to leech his warmth.
“Jesus, you’re nearly frozen through,” Bucky muttered, lifting her up as he got to his feet. “Fire. We need a fire,” he said, talking more to himself than to Eva, which was fine with her. She let her eyes close again and leaned into Bucky’s body as she trembled. Just as he was turning away from the lake however, she managed to catch sight of lumpy shapes floating in the water. The sight puzzled her as her consciousness slipped away, but just before a heavy sleep overtook her, one thought buzzed around in her head.
Bodies. They’re bodies.
——–
Eva felt warmth around her and heard what sounded like crackling before prying her eyes open again. Her gaze met with a small but bright campfire which cast flickering shadows in the pine trees surrounding it. Shifting a bit, she found herself propped up against Bucky’s
chest, sitting in his lap facing the fire. His arms were wrapped loosely around her and tightened reflexively when he felt her move.
“Hn?” Eva murmured, sucking in a breath of icy air. She tried sliding herself out of Bucky’s arms, but he held her in place on his chest.
“Hey, easy,” he told her, “you’re still hypothermic. Been tryin’ to warm you back up for a couple hours now.”
As if on cue, Eva’s body began to tremble at the mention of hypothermia. She curled herself
against Bucky, tucking her legs into her chest as much as she could. Bucky shifted to accommodate, readjusting the blankets he had folded around her.
“Th-the lake,” she breathed. “There w-were-” she tried to bring up the bodies she had seen floating in the water, but she was shivering so hard it was difficult to form sentences. “People, f-floating- they, th-they were dead-”
“Hush, we’ll talk about that later,” Bucky said, then leaned over to grab a tin cup that had been warming near the fire. “Here, sit up and drink this.”
Eva did as she was told, letting Bucky guide her hand with his in bringing the cup to her lips. Warm liquid spilled into her throat, heating her from the inside. She sighed at the feeling, relaxing into Bucky’s chest once again.
“Better?” Bucky asked.
“Yeah,” Eva nodded, continuing to sip from the cup. She had stopped shivering so violently; now just her fingers shook.
“It was real touch-and-go for a while there.” Bucky said. “When I pulled you out, I swear to god you looked like a damn blueberry. You were out of it, too, kept mumbling stuff that didn’t make sense. Then you would completely pass out for a while, wake up, conk out again. There were a few times I thought you were really dead.” He huffed a laugh. “You kept coming back though.”
“I’m st-stubborn… I guess.”
“Well, I never doubted that.”
Eva chuckled at that. Casting her gaze around the makeshift campsite, she spotted a string of clothes hanging near the fire. Tendrils of steam wafted from the fabric. She reached her arm out to point at the laundry line.
“Are those… mine?”
“Oh, yeah,” Bucky shrugged. “Yeah, they are.”
Eva’s stomach dropped. “Barnes… am I f-fucking naked?”
“Not technically. You’re covered in blankets.”
“Well f-fuck, Aristotle, you g-got me there.”
“If you’re wondering if I saw anything,” Bucky sighed, rolling his eyes, “I mean, yeah, probably. Sure. Was I ogling your tits while trying to save your life? No.”
“Good to know… I left an impression.”
“If I hadn’t stripped your wet clothes off, nothing I did to try to get you warm after that would have mattered.”
“Right. Ph-physics.”
“Thermodynamics, actually.”
“Nerd.”
Bucky laughed again at that. “Half-dead and still a raging asshole.”
“Hm,” Eva mumbled, burying her face into one of the blankets wrapped around her. “Is there a plan for getting the h-hell out of here?”
“I’ve been trying. Sent out an SOS right after I hauled you up here. Haven’t heard an answer back.”
“So we’re stuck here?”
“Looks like it.”
“Damnit” Eva muttered. “F-fucking damn it! He wanted this! He wanted to trap us out here!”
“Probably, yeah.”
“I fell for it.” Eva grit her teeth against the rising sob in her throat. “He played me, and I didn’t even- I should have seen it-”
“Don’t.” Bucky scolded. “Don’t you do that, not now.”
“I’m so fucking stupid-”
“What did I just say?” Bucky chided her, angling himself so he was looking Eva in the eye. “Don’t go blaming yourself right now. If we’re getting out of here, I need you at the top of your game.”
Eva bit her lip, remaining silent.
“Eva, don’t do this to yourself,” he said, softening his tone. “Just- you should get some sleep. It’s late. Come on.”
Bucky stood, lifting Eva to her feet and guiding her to the nearby tarp strung up between a couple trees.
“Ain’t much, but it’s better than being out in the wind.” He laid her down on the sleeping bag floor of his improvised tent, making sure she was still covered by the multitude of blankets wrapped around her. Eva consented, sinking into the warmth of the blankets. She heard Bucky settling down beside her and then felt his body heat meet her back, and it wasn’t long before she could hear his soft snoring beside her. Exhausted, she let her eyes drift closed as sleep overtook her.
anyways here’s me reminding you they’re all the same exact vibe and it’s about to be really obvious in like. two weeks of spark plug
edit: guys i am literally begging you to start actually reblogging my posts. i love you all but the vast majority of the notes i get are likes and they do me no good when it comes to getting my posts spread around
i really feel like this should not have to be said a million times over, but apparently some of you never learn, so have an example of something you should NOT do when commenting on fics.
don’t be a dumbass. just a tip.
( @epickiya722 haven’t tagged you in a hot minute but i think you’ll get a kick out of this one!)
