CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:
LIVE FOR ME

BUCKY WISHED THAT HE COULD reverse time, convince Celeste not to get on that train with him and. . . and. . . wasn't there someone else? Maybe he'd been mistaken, but he could've sworn someone else had been on that train with them. Bucky sat there in his cell, his eyes staring blankly at the metal arm that he now had. They were going to come any minute now. It was the same thing every day. Wake up, be fed some shit meal that he didn't eat half of the time, be drugged and dragged to another room where torture took place. It wasn't even the pain of what they were doing to him that really hurt him, it was the fact that he knew that she was still here that truly brought him agonizing pain. To know that she could be going through the same thing as him made his bones ache and his heart to burn.

All Bucky wanted was to hold her in his arms, to press a kiss to her lips and whisper soft reassurances because she was going to make it out of here alive. He had to believe she was going to make it out alive. He had lost all hope for himself, he would have fully given up if it had not been for her. He was angry with her, to know that she tried to trade their lives. He was not worth it. He was not worth all of the pain that she would now have to endure. He wondered if she knew that he was still here, that they were still torturing her despite her best efforts of trying to protect him. What was it she had said? She was sent down here to protect him. What had he done to deserve a Guardian Angel? A literal Guardian Angel.

The last thing he saw was Celeste being dragged out of the room, out of his arms, out of his life. Part of him wished that they would just kill him now because the mental torture was so much worse than the physical. Bucky wanted to ask if Celeste was still alive, but he knew that if they said yes then the anger would take over and he would try to kill every single one of these bastards because Bucky knew damn well that if they said yes then she was still here and his thoughts of her being tortured would be confirmed and he couldn't live with that. He refused to live with that.

He was frustrated with everything and everyone and he was missing his girl and. . . he stopped. His footsteps stopped their pacing, his heart froze and his breath got locked in his throat. It was faint, so faint that he could barely hear it, but he heard it. Carefully he walked over to the wall, pressing his ear against the door and closing his eyes tightly as he felt them gloss over her. They were so soft, so broken, and they belonged to his girl, to his angel. Her cries echoed down the hall and he felt his jaw clench. He hadn't realized how close she was to him. He had to get to her, he had to.

Footsteps approached and Bucky took a couple steps back, eyes hardening when he saw two of them standing there. His eyes darted to the syringe in one of their hands and he felt his fist curl and before his anger could settle on him, his eyes darted to the set of keys on the other ones belt. Instantly a plan began to form in his head. He had a way to get her out of her cell. . . but he knew that the rest was going to be up to her. He was doing this for her. He was going to save her life and even though he knew that she was going to want to do the same for him, he couldn't let her do that. She had to live for the both of them. She also had to get out of here before these people discovered what she was because after that it was game over.

Bucky stood still, letting the two approach him and just as the needle was pressed into his neck, he quickly swung his fist, slamming the metal hand into the mans face, quickly kicking him to the ground and punching him once more to make sure he was unconscious. He spun around and quickly punched the other man in the stomach, taking the moment to swipe his keys before giving him an uppercut and and watching him go flying to the ground. Bucky hid his smile of satisfaction before making his way to the door. He peeked his head out, looking both ways before running down the hall.

He looked into every open cell and every closed one, silently hoping Celeste would be in one that just had bars and not a closed in wall like his. When the crying got closer he ran faster. He came to a stop when he was at the end of the hall. He turned his head and there she was, curled into a ball on the ground, softly sobbing to herself. His jaw clenched. She didn't deserve this.

     "Celeste."

     Celeste opened her eyes, rubbing the tears away as she sat up. She looked at Bucky with wide eyes. "Bucky?" She pulled herself up, quickly making her way to the bars. "Bucky?"

     "Hey, Angel." Bucky smiled at her.

     "What. . . why. . . how?"

     "Questions later." Bucky waved her off. He reached his non metal arm through the bar, his hand gently caressing her face. She leaned into his touch, her hand coming up to gently grab his wrist, keeping his hold there. "Listen to me." She let her hand drop. "You're going to get out of here."

     "Bucky. . ."

     "Listen." He cut her off. "I stole their keys, one of them has to go to this door but I won't have time to rescue you and try to keep them away from you." His eyes met hers. "I need you to get out of here. I need you to escape. I need you to live for me."

     "That's not fair. This isn't how this works."

     "You're still in here which tells me whatever they've been doing to you has either temporarily stopped your powers or taken them all together. Am I right?" Bucky looked at her and he nodded when she looked to the ground. "Here, take them." He handed her the keys and she hesitated to grab them. "Celeste, please, take them."

     "Bucky, I'm not leaving you here."

     "Doll, you have to." Bucky softly told her.

     Tears formed in her eyes as she shook her head. "No. Bucky. Don't ask this of me."

     "You've done your job, you protected me. Now it's my turn to protect you."

     "Bucky, no―︎"

     "I love you, Celeste. Till the end of time." He brought her closer and brought her hand through the bars and to his lips. He pressed a soft kiss to her hand before pulling away. "Your next mission is to escape." He dropped her hand and backed away, ignoring her cries for him as he quickly ran away from her.