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lillywillow · 3 years

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Cold Heart of the Wild

Summary: For days Bucky has been having dreams about a white wolf and a mysterious woman. What happens when his dreams become reality?

Word Count: 2234

Square Filled: White Wolf

Pairings: Bucky x Female Reader

Warnings: Mentions of hunting and shooting, injuries, minor mentions of death

Written for @star-spangled-bingo

Snow covered the ground in every direction Bucky looked. It crunched under his feet as he moved; where he was going, he didn’t know. Suddenly, a howl filled the air, its mournful sound sending chills down his spine. There was a flash of movement in the bare trees. Bucky followed it, catching a glimpse of a white wolf.

The wolf stopped for him as if expecting something. Did it want him to follow? Bucky looked at it for a moment before it ran off.

“Wait!”

Bucky chased after the wolf, running in between frozen vegetation, trying desperately to keep up with it. He lost sight of the wolf. Feeling lost in this icy landscape, he frantically searched for any more signs of life. That’s when he saw her.

A woman dressed in animal hide clothing. A hunter perhaps?

“Hey!” Bucky shouted, reaching out to her.

The woman began turning...

...

Bucky woke in a cold sweat. He had almost forgotten all about the mission he was going on that morning. As he prepared for it, he reflected on his dream. That was the sixth night in a row he’d been having dreams like that. Could that possibly mean something? There was no time to dwell too much further on the subject. Bucky had to board the jet and get ready to go.

...

Bucky’s plane was shot down somewhere over the Alaskan wilderness. He survived the initial crash relatively unharmed but there were Hydra agents waiting on the ground. He fought and took them out but his side was badly injured. As he collapsed in the snow, he thought for sure this was where he was going to die.

Bucky drifted in and out of consciousness but caught flashes of images.

The sound of gunfire.

A white wolf hovering over him.

Being dragged on some kind of sled.

A woman with a rifle strapped to her back.

Bucky’s eyes opened in a jolt. The images had been so familiar to him; he expected to see the sterile environment of a Hydra lab. To his surprise, he found himself in a quaint wood cabin. There were animal hides on the bed keeping him warm. A fireplace along a wall had a cauldron of something delicious smelling food hanging in its stony walls. A kitchen nook was off to the side of the cabin. The place was rather cosy. Bucky sat up causing pain to shoot through him. He carefully lifted his shirt to see someone had tended to his wound although now blood was seeping through the bandaging. Holding onto his side, Bucky forced himself to his feet and looked out the small window.

Outside, he could see a woman standing in front of two crudely made graves. She was dressed exactly the same as the one that had been haunting his dreams. A sound behind him caught his attention. Slowly turning around, he saw a white wolf. He went to comment but the pain in his side became too much and he fell to his knees. The wolf went out what appeared some kind of doggy door carved through the main one. A few minutes later, the woman came in, quickly shutting the door behind her. She helped Bucky off the floor and back onto the bed. He whimpered and held up his hand which was now bloodied. She made a disapproving sound with a click on her tongue.

“You’ve opened that wound again,” she stated. She carefully lifted his shirt once more, helping him to sit up as she cleaned and redressed the injury.

Once she had finished and washed her hands, she went to get two bowls, filling them with whatever was in the cauldron. She came back, handing him one with a spoon.

“Thanks,” he muttered. She nodded and sat down to eat as well. A silence fell over the pair of them.

As Bucky ate, so many questions filled his mind. Who was this woman? Why did she save him? Why had he been dreaming about her? What did any of this have to do with the wolf? He was still very cautious.

“Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is... is... we need to get out of here!” Bucky stood up but immediately fell back down in pain.

The woman sighed and made sure his wound hadn’t once again reopened.

“You’re safe here. Those Hydra agents won’t be around to bother us. I made sure of it...”

Bucky froze, fear and dread suddenly sunk in.

“H-how do you...” The woman sighed softly.

“I was an agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. much like you. I was sent on a mission and my plane went down...”

It dawned on Bucky why she was so familiar and it had nothing to do with his dreams.

“You’re Y/N L/N! You were one of the best! I read your file. You went missing ten years ago. Presumed dead...”

“And I would have been if it hadn’t been for Agnes...”

“Who’s Agnes?”

Y/N walked over to the window, her eyes ghosting over with memories.

“Agnes was... one of the strongest women I have ever known. She lived here with her husband until he died. Lived here on her own for quite some time.”

“What happened to her?”

“Two years ago, there was a big grizzly bear... it crept up on Agnes and attacked... I did the best I could to help her and she hung in there for as long as she could... I’ve been here on my own ever since.”

The wolf let out a huff.

“Except for James of course,” she smiled. The wolf gave an approving noise.

“James?” Bucky was more than a little surprised.

“Agnes told she found him abandoned as a pup. She raised him to be I guess a sort of pet. I promised her I wouldn’t let anything happen to him until his time comes.”

“What do you mean?”

Y/N once again sighed and tossed James a piece of meat.

“James is getting pretty old in wolf years. Now, if he should die of natural causes I can bury him with some honour but I’ll be damned if I let some hunter take him away from me.”

Bucky went quiet for a few moments.

“How come... you never went back? You could have left at any time...”

Y/N scoffed softly.

“When I went down in that plane, it was winter, just as it is now. Every day I wondered if I was ever getting out of here and with each passing month, that hope left. Maybe they sent a search party and couldn’t find me, maybe they couldn’t be bothered, maybe the stories got to them and scared them away...”

“Stories?” Bucky asked.

“You see, Alaska has a sort of... Bermuda Triangle area. Planes, ships and people go missing, strange lights in the sky, strange creatures spotted... I never believed the stories but... Perhaps I’ve been without human interaction for too long,” she shrugged. “Anyway, you should get some rest. I’m going to go and hunt something for dinner. If you need anything before I go, tell me now.”

Bucky shook his head and Y/N made him comfortable before she left with James following behind her. He had been given so much information in such a short amount of time yet he still had questions but for now he would just take some time to allow his body to heal itself.

...

When night fell, Y/N had boarded up any areas that cold might creep in. She made another stew out of the game she hunted in the afternoon and made herself comfortable next to Bucky.

“Wh-what are you doing?” His face flushed at their close proximity.

“It’s below freezing outside. If you want to survive, you’ll need my body heat.”

Bucky nodded and slowly allowed himself to relax before realising something.

“Wait! James isn’t here! Shouldn’t he be inside with us?”

Y/N couldn’t help but smile at his thoughtfulness toward the animal.

“James will be fine. Wolves have adapted to centuries of this kind of weather. He has his own little spot to sleep in nearby and he can do whatever he wants to do.”

Bucky was a little relieved to hear that.

“Tell me more about your life here,” he prompted.

“What’s there to know? It’s life in the Alaskan wilderness. I hunt, I stock up on supplies, and I sleep at night...”

“Well then tell me about Agnes. I’m sure you must some stories about her...”

Y/N regarded him carefully for a moment.

“Alright... but only if you tell me about you in return. You read my file back at... wherever you came from, so you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t even know your name.”

“James Buchannan Barnes but everyone calls me Bucky.”

Y/N let out a soft laugh, unable to believe the coincidence.

“James and James... I guess I will have to call you Bucky to avoid confusion,” she smiled.

The pair of them spent the night swapping stories and getting to know each other better until they eventually fell asleep. That night for the first time in a long time, Bucky had a dreamless sleep.

...

Time went by and eventually a month had passed. Bucky and Y/N had formed a strong bond with each other in what was beginning to feel like love. Y/N wondered if this is how Agnes had felt with her husband.

Then one day, it happened. Y/N was in her storage shed when she heard James snarling and barking. She ran out to see a helicopter appear a moment later, landing in a small clearing nearby. Bucky hobbled out of the house at the commotion. Although his injury was healing nicely, he still had some more to do.

A few men exited the chopper and headed over to the two of you. You called James to your side to keep him from attacking the strangers but he was still on edge.

“Buck... good to see you,” one of the men wearing a uniform went to Bucky and hugged him. Bucky hugged back.

“Good to see you too, Steve. How’d you find me?”

“We tracked where your jet went down. I’ve been searching for as long as I could ever since. Finally caught a break today when we saw the smoke from the chimney,” Steve replied, nodding over to the house. “Who’s this?”

“Steve, this is Y/N. She saved my life...”

Steve looked at her for a moment.

“The same Y/N who went missing a decade ago?”

“The very same...”

“Buck, can I talk to you for a minute?”

The pair of them went out of Y/N’s earshot but whatever they were saying, it was argumentative. After a few moments the pair walked back to her.

“Y/N, how would you like to come back with us?” Steve reluctantly offered.

“I... I can’t...”

Bucky looked at her sadly.

“I have James to think of.”

“James is... a wolf?” Steve asked.

“He’s not just a wolf. James is too used to humans. He’s vulnerable and a prize for hunters around here. I can’t just leave him.”

“I see...”

“Steve, can we have a moment alone?” Steve nodded and left the two them to have a little privacy.

“You could stay...” Y/N said softly.

“I wish I could but I can’t. That punk needs me... like James needs you.” His eyes filled with tears as did hers.

“I... I really hope I’ll see you again.”

“I do too, doll.”

Bucky wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Y/N kissed back, holding him as close as she could. Eventually air was needed and they pulled away. Bucky gave her a communicator to keep in touch, telling her to call him if anything happened. Only after the helicopter disappeared out of sight did Y/N allow herself to cry.

...

Six months later, Bucky finally heard back from her.

“Hello? Bucky?”

“Y/N! Is it really you?”

“Y-yeah...”

“Is everything okay? You sound upset...”

“Um... James... passed away...”

“Oh, Y/N. I’m so sorry...”

“I... I had been expecting it for a while... he hasn’t been well for days. I found him this morning. Can you... can you come and take me away? I don’t... I don’t want to die alone out here...”

“Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

...

It took a lot of convincing but Bucky was allowed to go and collect Y/N. He had marked the coordinates of her cabin on a map and went there as fast as he could.

The moment she saw him, Y/N threw herself into Bucky’s arms and sobbed. Bucky held her close and rubbed her back.

“It’s okay, doll. I’m here now. I’ve got you. You’ve done your duty to Agnes and laid James to rest...”

The pair stood there for a while until Y/N had calmed down enough before heading to the transport. As they flew over the Alaska wilderness, Y/N took one last look at the place for ten years she called home. She held Bucky’s hand, ready to start a new chapter of her life.

#ssb2021 #White Wolf #Cold Heart of the Wild #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #Alaska #tough girl #tough women #marvel fanfiction #marvelfanfiction #marvel one shot #injuries #love #survival #James

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