The flames kept rising, towering above you.

"You should have died!" they screamed in demonic voices.

"AAH!" you screamed, bolting up. Avengers Tower Hospital Ward ... not again.

Bucky came running into the room. "Y/N, are you okay? I heard you scream."

"Fine," you breathed. "Another nightmare. Another injury. Are you okay? The fire was .... fires can be really harmful."

"I'm fine," Bucky promised. "You weren't. You got burnt ... pretty badly."

You looked down at your right hand, and swallow. It was bright red, a lot of skin peeling off in ugly gashes.

"Third degree burns," you said quietly. "This is gonna leave one hell of a scar."

There was a moment of silence, neither of you knowing what to say.

"Is everyone okay?" you asked. "The fire got really out of control. I-I'm really sorry."

To your embarrassment, you started to cry.

Bucky reached out and held your non-burnt hand in his. "No one is going to blame you. Everything except for that room and you were okay. "

"Okay," you tried to stop the tears. "Okay."

"Y/N ..." Bucky looked torn, but he knew that he had to ask the question. "How did they fire get so out of control that you got burnt?"

"I- I started having flashbacks to the fire. The one that killed my parents. And I- I heard voices, the voices of my nightmares and I just ... lost control. I'm so fucking sorry."

"Y/N!" you heard another familiar voice cry. You turned you head and see Tony.

"Dad," you said, tears welling up again.

"Y/N, I thought I'd lost you," he mumbled emotionally. "Never do that to me ever again."

Bucky moves away as you hugged your dad weakly.

"I'm sorry, Dad," you apologised.

"Don't be sorry, Y/N," he told you as he put a gel on your hand and bandaged it. "You saved us, we didn't even get hot. You just couldn't save yourself. And I wanted to remodel that room anyway."

It was only a joke, but somehow it made you laugh, and somehow that made everything that much more okay.

- - -

"Come on, Bucky," you whined.

"No," came the stoic reply.

"Please?"

"You know you shouldn't be, Y/N."

"That's why I'm here at fucking 2 in the morning, dumbass."

Bucky had to laugh. "Alright, fine."

You wrapped your good hand and climbed into the ring. You wanted to spar, you always did, it took your mind off everything. Bucky had caught you sneaking down, and tried to stop you, since your right arm was still heavily bandaged. But you'd made a deal that as long as you didn't use that arm you would be allowed to spar.

"You're so on," you grinned at Bucky. You launched out two kicks in quick succession so he couldn't grab your legs. Bucky stumbled back. You used his momentum as a weapon against him, shoving him back with your left arm, dropping and sweeping his legs out from under him and leaping on top of him.

"Point to me," you grinned, pinning his arms with your knees.

Bucky groaned. "Okay, Y/N. You're pretty strong."

You leaned down and kissed him softly. "That's why we work."

He kissed you back, both of you completely absorbed in the moment before-

"All Avengers, to the top of the Tower, now!" Tony's voice boomed through the whole building.

"Why is it always these moments?" Bucky groaned. "It's 2 in the morning."

"Suit up, Sergeant," you said, tense and focused as you start to run. "And this time, I get to suit up too."

You held out your arms, the bracelets on them blinking, and your suit flew out of the storage and melded onto your body. It was f/c vibranium, with symbols for the four elements that you control right over your heart. A helmet with sophisticated targeting equipment closed over your eyes as you ran, and you hoped to shit that everything was okay.

- - -

"What's the brief, Dad?" you asked, skidding onto the roof with Bucky.

"HYDRA base," he said grimly. "Normally this could wait, but this time they've somehow got Tesseract weapons from World War 2. We gotta get those before they cause some serious damage."

"We're teaming up," Steve said, stepping forward. "Me and Y/N, Bucky and Natasha, Tony and Sam, Wanda and Vision."

Bucky pouted at you and you had to laugh. "Everyone ready?"

A chorus of "Yes!"es resounded.

"We need stealth," Tony said. "So our usual transportation methods are out. Y/N?"

You called a giant platform of air to you, and jumped onto it. You called out instructions so that the others don't jump into nothingness and fall.

"To the left, Sam ... no the other left ... yeah the left that's actually the left ... finally."

With everyone off safely, you instructed the JARVIS in your helmet, "JARVIS, input coordinates of the HYDRA Base."

"Right away, Miss Stark," he replied. You manipulated the wind and soon you were flying faster than any plane towards a snowy forest.

- - -

"I don't like this," Steve said immediately. "It seems too ... peaceful."

The gently falling snow did indeed seem peaceful.

Until the bullets started raining. Wanda waved her arms and a red shield formed around you as the group readied their weapons. Then the shield dropped, pushing down HYDRA agents as it pulsed outward. You pulled your hands apart and the roots of the trees came alive and pulled everyone attacking you into the earth, buried alive.

"I'm going in!" you shouted, running behind Steve as he shielded the both of you.

"Be careful!" Bucky yelled, staying by Natasha's side as the two assassins fought with terrifying speed.

You pulled your knives from your belt as you followed Steve. It was a good thing you were equally good at throwing from your left hand, good enough to take a significant amount of troops down.

You and Steve found the Tesseract weapons, set explosives under the crates with a second's hesitation, and ran straight out. Outside the facility, it was like a full on war. Gunfire everywhere, blood matting the snow.

And then you saw something that made your heart stop.

It was Bucky, fighting a HYDRA agent.

And behind him, there another hostile, that he couldn't see.

So you did the only thing that made sense to you.

You ran in front of him, just as the bullet fired.

"Y/N!" Bucky yelled, turning around.

The bullet imbeds in your arm, and an explosion of pain sent you to the ground.

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