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“Come with me,” the Black Panther says. “I have someone who can help you.And Bucky says nothing, but sighs inwardly - wearily - as he and Steve limp towards the future king’s aircraft. He’s so tired. So tired. He’s too far gone for anybody to fix him.Steve does most of the talking with the king, asking (with all due respect) whether they are sure they can handle it, to which T’Challa smirks and humbly nods, setting the jet on autopilot and coursed for Wakanda. Bucky gets a feeling that this was not the first time someone’s doubted the king’s mysterious source.“She is my sister,” he says. “She’ll find a way.” The king looks at him when he says this and Bucky doesn’t conceal the doubt; because how can anybody un-do decades - lifetimes - of torture and conditioning.At the back of his mind, he contemplates about the king’s sister. Princess, he mentally corrects himself. The world knows that the late king of Wakanda had two children. It was also known that the Princess has always been kept away from the general press and public. But judging from the respect T’Challa had for her and her capabilities, perhaps she was an older sister. Much older even.Steve claps him on the shoulder, breaking his train of thought, and Bucky looks up to see some kind of resigned hope in his eyes.“I’d rather I just go back under, your Highness,” he says instead, thinking about the last few days - about Steve and his sacrifices; about Tony Stark and his losses by Bucky’s own hand; about Hydra.He’s so tired of being fixed and unfixed.“If things go south, your sister’s life could be threatened.”The future king seems unperturbed, but nods at his warning. “I have considered that outcome, but, rest assured, she will have all the necessary precautions to ensure that that does not happen.” T’Challa’s face breaks into an amused, challenging grin. “Including me.”Bucky can’t help the slight frown of worry at the king’s amusement. “Besides," T'Challa says. "She can take care of herself.”Bucky glances at Steve, who shrugs. It won’t hurt to try. And yet Bucky would rather not.“Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to put you under. At least for a while,” T’Challa continues to ruminate. “It could give her ample time to analyze your situation - safely as you would want - and the rest might be good for you.”Clouds and a sea of foggy trees pull up into view outside their aircraft and Bucky senses that they’re nearing their destination. At this point, he is so resigned to the idea of sleeping forever that he nods.He doubts that the princess would get anything out of this, much less a solution. Maybe, once she realizes that there is no hope for him and that he can’t be helped, they won’t ever wake him up.That’s good enough, is what he thinks when they land and there is no time to marvel at Wakanda’s secret kingdom before a flurry of doctors and guards drag them away to treat both him and Steve. They run a few tests on him and cleans up the metal stump where his arm used to be, while T’Challa disappears to find his sister and leaves Bucky with the general of his most elite guards.T’Challa returns when he and Steve are more or less patched up and tells him that his sister approves of him going under. Bucky sighs with relief, smiling sadly at Steve, as they prep him for the cryo chamber. After all, it is for the best.It’s a bit disappointing that he doesn’t get to meet the Princess, he unconsciously realizes when he closes his eyes and feels the chill of the chamber. And then there is only darkness when he sighs.
And finally peace.
--------------He is not sure how long he’s been asleep but suddenly he was awake on a lab table under soft blue and white light. He can feel someone fussing over him somewhere but his limbs are still too weak from atrophy and his brain feels like liquid that’s only starting to form again.“Sergeant Barnes,” a light voice calls out as the blurriness and the dizziness around him slowly starts to come into focus. “Can you hear me?”He hears himself groan and feels himself blink a few times when finally the world comes into view. And the first thing he sees is a young girl peering over him with a pretty smile and dark, curious eyes.When he blinks up at her, eyes focusing on her and the braids woven into a bun away from her pretty face, she lets out a laugh and looks somewhere over her shoulder excitedly. Who is thi-“Brother! He wakes!”And when T’Challa comes into view, his atrophy-addled brain finally puts the pieces together. The princess.“Sergeant Barnes,” the king says. “Welcome back.”His voice is raspy and hoarse when he finally musters the strength to speak. “H-how long was I..”“Three weeks and and 3 days, Sergeant Barnes,” the girl answers him. She beams brightly over him and he is slightly taken aback at how pretty she is. “I have heard so much about you, Sergeant!”He can only look to T’Challa in confusion at this girl, who could be not be more than 18 to 20 years old - who has woken him up only after three weeks of cryo-sleep and who is implying, the moment she approved of waking him up, that she has found a way to fix him. A solution.T’Challa chuckles at his expression, no doubt, and introduces him to the excited princess moving to his other side to scan him with her beaded bracelet. “Sergeant Barnes, this is my sister, Shuri.”She smiles softly when his focus shifts to her, but her eyes are alight with excitement. He feels her hand squeeze around his own and he senses warmth seep back into his body. “It’s good to finally meet you, Sergeant Barnes.”“Likewise, Princess,” he says, squeezing her hand back, returning her smile. “I’ve also heard so much about you.”She laughs and is already heading towards the holographic interfaces surrounding him. “There is hope for you yet, Sergeant Barnes!” Shuri says, reading a projection of waves on one of the interfaces and squeezing his shoulder comfortingly.T’Challa looks very proud of her at the moment and he proves it by smirking at Bucky. “I told you she will find a way.”And maybe it was the still-liquid feeling of his brain still processing things or the king’s evident respect and belief in his sister that is convincing Bucky that Steve wasn’t so wrong after all. But maybe, as he feels his eyes gravitate towards the young woman flitting around from one screen to another, it was her contagious vibrance and warmth that is slowly allowing him the chance to hope again.