#a:e

The old man who has Steve’s face glances at him, and Bucky’s right hand tightens around the knife hidden in his jacket pocket. The left already a fist inside the other. 

Bucky has seen a lot of weird things in his extended lifetime. Seeing an older version of his best friend morph into a green alien barely fazes him. 

He’s heard bits and pieces as they recovered from the battle and put Natasha and Tony to rest, and as he was caught up on missing another five years. He’s heard about Skrulls from Fury, not directly but he was around when Steve found out. Last night he and Steve went for a walk around the cabin while everybody else slept, and Steve laid out his plan to go back and replace the stones and pass the shield onto Sam.

And return to Bucky.

They didn’t know how long it would take Steve to do it, but they both knew he’d come back a little older.

Not decades.

Not having lived an entire life without him.

This is not Steve.

“He broke the rules.” The voice that comes from the Skrull isn’t the poor impression of an older Steve, but he sounds experienced. “He was told not to change the timeline.”

“What did he do?” But Bucky already knows. He had already told Steve not to.

“He went back to save you. The Alps. He got to you before Hydra did, but just before they did. The TVA tried to come for him too. It was him against the TVA and Hydra and then…” The Skrull blows out a breath. 

“Is he alive?”

“He used his last Pym particle to send you somewhere. Nobody knows where in time the ‘45 version of you is. Wherever it was, he hid you good.”

“So, he’s in space jail?”

The Skull shakes his head.

“The timeline can’t change. Too many things need to happen for this to happen, for Thanos to be defeated. The timeline needs a Winter Soldier and you weren’t there.”

Panic floods Bucky’s gut. The hold on his knife tightens. 

“Hydra took him and turned him into the Winter Soldier. It took longer, but they still could carry out the major events they needed in order for this timeline to happen.”

“And you?”

“Me? I was sent to live out a life Steve Rogers could have lived. Nobody but Hydra knew he was the Winter Soldier, and no-one would believe it if they saw Captain America out in public for decades, enjoying the glory he should have had if he had survived the war. Nobody would be looking for him under the ice if they saw him on TV shaking hands with the President, would they?”

“So you’ve been around for seventy years pretending to be Steve?”

“No, I lived it better than he ever could. I made him a legacy,” Skrull Steve grins proudly, and Bucky hates him. “I gave him a wife and kids, medals, glory. Passed on the Shield once or twice, and now Sam has it as it should be. He had a good life.”

“You had a good life. Where is he now?”

The Skrull shrugs. “Went down with Project Insight.”

No, no. That can’t be right. There’s no way that Steve — his Steve — who he just saw a half hour ago vanish on that platform, is gone. They’ve always rescued each other. Bucky eyes the platform in the distance. If he could—

“He’s gone, Sergeant. He saved you, for whatever that’s worth. You might already be dead by now too.” In his pocket, the knife taunts Bucky. He hates how this imposter talks about a Steve that wasn’t the one that Bucky knew. Wasn’t the one the world deserved. 

A shot rings out, startling Bucky and killing the Skrull. Thankfully not with Steve’s face but still. Bucky’s eyes dart around the area until he hears soft shuffling a short distance away. Bucky takes the knife from his pocket and holds it ready. 

Then he watches as an older man emerges from a hidden spot, a pistol in his only hand and a haggard face that has lived decades.

His face.

Older. Experienced. Haunted.

This is him from the Alps. The one Steve risked everything to save.

“We don’t have much time, Sergeant. Come with me. I know how we can save our Steve.”