[II]

[onlyforthedream]

There are, immediately, the smells of motor oil; mortar; gunsmoke and the sea. Not the warm, fragrant azure waters that surround the island of Tabula Rasa, but those colder, sharper, stormier waters of the North Atlantic. I know where I am just from breathing in the air, though it shouldn’t be possible. My hands are gripping the handlebars of the DKW NZ350 bike I’m riding, was just riding, have ridden before. A ‘43.

It’s happening again. It’s happening again. No. God damn it, no, I refuse. Bucky’s arms are tight around my waist, but any second he’s going to let go to make a jump for the experimental drone plane we’re chasing after. The sharp drop off of the cliff, the end of the runway, the rocks and cold water below, the explosion waiting for us above-

No.

I drop my foot and dig my heel into the ground as I twist the bike to the side. No more. It drags another ten feet before I let go of it and roll, the unevenly hewn stone scraping hard against my elbows, shoulders, jaw. The plane is gone, up and off into the sky as I’m picking myself up, reorienting myself as quickly as I can.

Bucky is a few feet behind me, the plane far too far out of reach already, the bike teetering over the edge of the runway and then it’s out of sight, and for a moment I can’t believe it. I can’t believe what I’ve done.

Comments

[onlyapassenger]

It's sudden, the change, like the world around him is making up for slowing down. The ground comes up too hard and too fast, biting at his shoulder when he first makes impact before tossing him back up in the air. He tumbles over the pitted stone, repeating the process twice more until, finally, he comes to a stop, face pressing into the dirt.

Blood trickles out from the corner of his mouth, and with a groan, Bucky draws himself up to kneeling, disoriented and winded, his mind scrambling from implications he can't fully comprehend. His mouth, however, doesn't suffer the same confusion, and the moment his eyes land on Steve, Bucky says, "What the hell did you just do?!"