"This will be a winter so desolate, only memory can fill the emptiness."

John Geddes

Gone.

Everything was gone.

Every part of him was gone.

Until it wasn't.

James Buchanan Barnes could feel again, starting with the tips of his fingers, then his real arm. Followed by the vibranium arm gifted to him by King T'Challa and all those in Wakanda who accepted him. And suddenly he was whole again. His whole body intact, all one again. His blue eyes adjusted to his surroundings; forest. He had been here before, this was familiar. Bucky tried to remember what happened, why was he here? Where was this place? If he was whole, why did he feel so empty inside?

"O," he whispered to himself. Why did it feel like it had been longer than it had? Why did it feel as though she had not been part of his life for so long? As though the world took her away from him, snatched her away. He looked down at the ground below him, his sturdy footing. Then he remembered.

He remembered everything.

There was no time for mourning; no time to think back on her time alive, that short few years of happiness they had, ripped apart. He felt ripped apart. She was gone; so long ago taken from him. Then Bucky remembered the fight, the fight for the fate of the universe. How Thanos won, how Thanos tricked Bucky into imaging a life with Ophelia that he could never have. She was dead, fractured skull, swelling of the brain, dead, gone. And then he was dead, he was gone.

Thanos won.

So why was Bucky back?

Conflict bloomed in his head; when he started to fade away and turn to dust, he felt peace for the first time in a long time. For the first time in over seventy years. He never felt true peace, even when hidden away in Romania with Ophelia. They were fugitives, criminals, hiding, living in terrible conditions. Always looking over their shoulders.

When he died, he felt peace.

Now he was back, and Bucky felt empty. Whole, yes. But an empty pit inside of him that was growing larger and larger.

A woman in red garb approached him. "Come, we have been called to the fight."

"What fight?"

"The fight to change the fate of the universe."

"I thought... I thought that was over."

"Fate has changed – it's time," the woman told him. She twisted her hands in a calculated movement, orange sparks flying in front of them. The orange sparks turned into a spinning circle, which opened and revealed desolation. Like the void inside of him, it opened up to something dark, something ugly, yet something that offered him hope.

If fate brought him back, so be it. The portal revealed nothing but grey -destroyed foundation of a building foreign to Bucky, like the foundation of what his reputation was built on. Destruction. He looked at the woman in red, and she nodded to him. But not before saying, "Five years ago, many of us perished. Today, we were given a second chance. We were not left behind, because they did not move on."

"Who?" Bucky asked.

"The Avengers."

Something inside Bucky began to stitch back together with those words. There were some people who never gave up, no matter what had been lost or how bad the odds seemed. One of those people was Steve Rogers. He never gave up on anyone. He didn't give up on Bucky when his mind was controlled by HYDRA, not once in the minute he realized he was alive did he stop searching for him. Then there was Ophelia, even after everything Bucky did to her with his blood-stained hands, O never gave up on him.

As the void inside him started to close, just a fraction, he turned towards the fight. His life was always one fight after the next, since he was eighteen years old. Looking back at the war he faced in the 1940's, this... This seemed so different. Aliens. Thanos. Infinity Stones. He shifted his gun to a comfortable position and took one deep breath. The woman in the red garb nodded towards him encouragingly.

And out he walked onto another battlefield. Another fight. Only this time he had Sam Wilson flying above him, Wakanda's army rallying next to him, and he had Steve in front of him. Whether he lived or died, Bucky decided, this was going to be his last fight.

The onslaught was headed towards him, an army raging behind him with more determination to end this fight. Without any more hesitation, Bucky began to run, his pace keeping up with the best soldiers of Wakanda with ease -he could outrun them if he wanted to, but fighting together would make them stronger. Before he knew it, his finger was on the trigger, firing into the grey masses before him. It was easy to know who to shoot and who not to shoot. There was no chance of friendly fire on this battlefield.

Looking up, Bucky watched as Wanda Maximoff flew through the air -he remembered O really liked her. A six-armed alien went to leap for her, and Bucky raised the gun, unloading a clip into the things chest and head area. It collapsed to through ground – Wanda didn't notice, her focus was steadily on Thanos before her.

Bucky saw the look in Wanda's eyes. That hatred beyond most people's understanding. It was the same hatred that Bucky felt for Tony back in Siberia. It was that same hatred that Tony felt for Bucky when he discovered he murdered both his parents. It was hatred that caused so much chaos, so much fighting. But Wanda earned that right, to have that hatred for Thanos.

They all did.

Bucky didn't have a chance to breathe, to pause. There was so much chaos all around them. He spotted the talking raccoon, the two of them once again backed into a corner, surrounded by aliens as they shot through them. Bucky wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was impressed by the creature -he held his own, despite being small. And a raccoon.

The spaceship hovering ominously above them began its assault. As Wanda had Thanos in her grips, this time not overpowered by him as he did not have the stones, Thanos unleashed his arsenal on them. The ships canons aimed down at the already desecrated battlefield.

Bucky watched as the field, both offence and defense cowered and shielded themselves from the assault. The raccoon leapt towards his tree friend, covering him. Wanda raised her powers above her, but not in time as she flew through the air. The ones in red raised their hands and created shields up above. Bucky looked around for someone to cover -a part of him wanted to be hit, so he could have that peace again. A blast landed beside him and he flew through the air, landing on his side as a few bits of debris crumbled over top of him. For a moment, he lay there wondering if this was it.

Would Thanos win again?

But the fight was not over. The canons raised to the sky and Bucky heard Sam's voice -like a beacon of hope. "What the hell are they firing at?"

Bucky looked up above, raising his hand over his eyes to prevent the dust and debris from falling into his eyes. A brilliant yellow light appeared in the sky and then ripped through the massive ship. It tore right through it, coming in one side and ripping through the other side. Again and again it pierced through the ship until it collapsed into the lake, water rushing over the edges.

The war was balanced again.

Bucky scrambled to his feet, looking around to see if there was anyone injured who needed help. Many of the dead around him were from the other side; they didn't have the same support that their side did. The same togetherness.

Spotting Wanda, Bucky hopped over a chunk of foundation, rebar and wires sticking out of it. He got to her, reaching his hand down and offering it to her. A look of familiarity crossed her eyes and she smiled up at him, extending her hand. Gripping it, he pulled her to her feet.

"You're one of our best shots again him," Bucky told her sincerely. He had no chance against Thanos. How could he? But Wanda, she was filled to the brim with power and potential.

"Me, and her," Wanda said as she pointed towards the woman taking the gauntlet with the infinity stones from the kid -the one Bucky faced in the airport in Leipzig. Peter?

"I'll see you at the end of this," he said, though he wasn't sure.

Wanda glanced at him sympathetically -she understood his pain, and understood that whether or not they made it out of this at the end didn't matter to either of them. She took off, and Bucky turned back to what was left around him. The fight seemed all directed now at the group of women fighting to protect that gauntlet, to get it back through the time portal and return the stones.

As Bucky used the last of his ammunition, as he had nothing left aside from the strength in his body, the fight suddenly came to an end. Just like that, Thanos's entire army began to turn to dust just as they had. Watching them fade made Bucky pause and reflect. They won, they brought everyone who vanished five years ago back. The Avengers did what they said they would, what they always did. But at what cost?

As Bucky dared get closer, he saw the cost.

Tony Stark.

He wished he could have apologized, but then his thoughts trailed to Ophelia and he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he looked away, took a seat on the destroyed foundation of the Avengers Facility, and wondered what was supposed to happen now?