Not a Pet - 9 - Meeting A Goddess

BUCKY POV

His throat was already burning by the time he reached the clearing where she was standing her eyes challenging his every move. They urged him on, challenging him to either give chase or give up. However, giving up was not in him. Gritting his teeth, he stands up tall and forces himself to accept her challenge. With what looked like a smirk she turned and ran from him again. Taking a deep breath, he quickly gave chase behind her.

His mind was racing. What was he to do when he actually caught up with her? She wasn’t herself, she was blinded by primal instinct. As she ran ahead of him he heard the sound of water and his eyes drift from her to the sight of the waterfall a few hundred feet in front of her. The scenery itself was breathtaking. If the circumstances had been different he would have stopped to enjoy the scenery, but now was not the time.

His eyes refocus on the beautiful creature in front of him as she slides to a stop to stare at the water. He stops a few feet behind her curious as to why she had stopped. “Kitty?” He says making her eyes snap to him. They narrow as if to judge him before she turns toward him and placing a hand on her hip says, “ỉr ntk nefer n mr mj dpt?”

“I don’t understand?” Bucky replies unaware of what language she was speaking. Kitty sighs and furrows her brows as she replies, “Do you wish to love this vessel?”

“Love?” He says in shock unsure of how to respond.

“You humans are so indecisive.” She scoffs and Bucky narrows his eyes at her.

“Who are you?” He asks even though he has an inclination as to who it is.

“You mortals once called me ‘Baast’ I am the goddess of warfare, Goddess of cats, protection, joy, dance, music, family, and love.” She pauses as she closes the distance between the two of them. When she is a few inches from him her eyes look him up and down before staring angrily into his eyes. “You are known to this vessel as The Winter Soldier, or Bucky, as she remembers.”

“My name is James Buchannan Barnes, but yes; I used to be the assassin known to the world as The Winter Soldier. My friends call me Bucky.”

“Hmm,” She cocks an eyebrow as she walks around him her eyes looking him up and down sizing him up. “I have three questions I ask all the attempted suitors of my vessels. Three simple questions that will decide whether I allow you to be her mate or not. If you fail to answer even one correctly, you will lose her forever.” Baast says as she comes to stand in front of him. He gulps down a breath of air.

Could he live without Kitty? If he answered even one question wrong, he would never be able to see her again. The more he thought about it, the more the idea tore at his heart. He cared dearly about Kitty; but was it love? Love or not he knew he couldn’t live without knowing she was safe. The sudden thought of her with another man made his blood run hot. Was he jealous of something that hadn’t even happened yet?

Taking a deep breath, he rolls his shoulders as he says, “I don’t know if I am even worthy to stay by her side, but I know that I want too.”

“I take it you wish to answer my questions then?” She asks and he nods. “Very well then, let us begin. I hope you know that I will be able to tell if you are being truthful or if you are just telling me what I wish to hear. My first question is simple; why do you wish to remain by her side?”

“Kitty, knows all I have ever done. All the death and destruction I have brought to this world and all that I would have if not for her and my friends. She cares for me more than I do myself. I may not know what my feelings exactly are for her but all I do know is that I don’t want to lose her. I need her.” He answers his eyes turnings soft at the thought of being with her forever.

“Interesting,” She says as she cocks an eyebrow at him.

“What’s interesting?” He asks his eyes refocusing on her.

“I think this vessel’s destiny may differ slightly from the others.” She says her eyes sparkling. Before he has a chance to question her further they snap back to him. “On to our next question,” She says as she suddenly closes the distance between them and placing a hand on his cheek smiles deviously. His head starts to spin as the world goes dark, a black fog surrounding him leaving nothing but her devious smile until his eyes close.

“Soldier…” he hears Kitty’s voice call softly making his eyes slowly open to see her (E/C) eyes looking down into his.

“Kitty,” He replies his eyes starting to gain focus. They snap open when he realizes he’s staring into the eyes of Kitty’s child body. Hid body moves on its own as he bolts upright and moves away from her his eyes looking around to see the familiar scenery of the old cell they had shared together. “What’s… what’s going on?”

“You okay?” She asks as she slowly moves away from him to the other side of the room fear in her eyes.

“Kitty?” He asks his breathing ragged his body sore and painful to the touch. What was this? Was it a dream? That’s the only thing that made sense in his mind.

“They brought here, you hurt?” She asks as she points to his chest making him looks down to see the scars and bandages covering his body. He lets out a heavy sigh as he forces a smile and clearing his throat holds his hand out to her.

“I’m okay Kitty. It’s okay.” He says as he motions for her to come to him. At first, she cautiously looks him up and down her eyes full of distrust and he didn’t blame her. With the history she had. He cringes at the memory. She slowly moves over and slowly reaches out to take his hand. When her hand touches his he pulls her into his arms and holds her tight as he says, “I’m sorry.” She tenses for a moment before she gently reaches up and pets his head.

“It’s alright.” She replies making him grip tighter to her.

“No, it’s not, I should’ve protected you; but I-”

“Did what a soldier does.” She says finishing his sentence making him look up unto her eyes.

“That shouldn’t have mattered.”

“And yet you wouldn’t have been able to save her anyway.” A familiar male voice says from the other side of the room making Bucky reach out and gripping tightly to Kitty hold her close to his chest ready to defend her to his last breath.

“Pierce.” Bucky states as the figure steps into the light revealing his face.

“Nice to see you again Soldier. The last time we met, well, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.”

“You can’t have her.” Bucky says as he grips tighter to kitty’s form making her wince in pain.

“Oh, but already had her Barnes.” Pierce says as he starts to close the distance between the two of them. “You forget I raised her.”

“That’s some real shitty parenting.” Bucky says as he takes a few steps back away from Pierce.

“It’s a shame I didn’t get to her before the trials though. It would have been nice to keep her innocent. Strucker had other plans though. Something about using her DNA to make more females but it never worked out. Guess the legends about there only being one a generation was true.” Pierce looks at Kitty before he continues, “It’s surprising how strong she grew to be from this.”

“You should’ve let me protect her.”

“You tried, remember?” Pierce says causing a painful memory fill Bucky’s mind. “I remember you suffered great pain to try to help her.”

“I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“Would you?” Pierce asks making Bucky’s eyes shoot toward the door as a group of agents with stun batons rush through the door and try to pull Kitty from his arms. A switch is flipped inside him causing him to see red. He gripped tightly to Kitty with his right hand as he defended her with his metal one. As he holds them off the agents shove their stun batons into his skin sending volts of electricity through his body causing him to cry out in agony but keep his grip tight on Kitty. There was no way he was letting her go this time.

He glances up right as Rumlow walks through the door an angry grin on his face. Why is he here? Bucky thinks to himself as he remembers how Rumlow wasn’t even a rookie agent yet. “NO! I won’t go!” Kitty cries out as she grips tighter to Bucky’s chest.

“It’s not too late Soldier, you can end this suffering.” Rumlow says as he cracks his knuckles. “All you gotta do is hand over the cat.”

“Not gonna happen.” Bucky growls as he holds Kitty close to his chest.

“Then I guess I have no choice.” Rumlow says before he instantly surges forward and swings a hard right his fist colliding with Bucky’s cheek. Bucky stumbles backwards but doesn’t loosen his hold on Kitty. Before he has a chance to think he all the agents converge on him swinging their fists, kicking with their legs, and jabbing him with the batons. His mind screams at him to put Kitty down and retaliate but he finds he can’t. The moment he puts her down he’d lose her. They’d take her from him.

A wave of anger surges through his body at the thought of losing her again and in order to protect her he forces himself to the ground. He places her beneath him his arms on either side of her completely shielding her from the Hydra agents assault. As her soft cries fill his ears he smiles softly as he gets her attention and says, “It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.”

“How you say that?” She says the tears falling from her eyes. “They hurt you.”

“But they’re not hurting you.” He says pausing for a moment to wince at the pain. “If you are safe, I feel no pain.” A glimmer of happiness fills her eyes as a soft smile fills her lips making him look down at her in confusion. “Kitty?”

“You are full of surprises.” She replies her small visage melting away to leave her adult form lying sprawled out beneath him.

“What is this?” He asks furrowing his brow.

“It seems that you just passed question two.” She replies cocking an eyebrow at him. Shaking his head, he pulls away from her and sits straight before her.

“That was one of the questions; but it felt so real.” He replies rubbing his hand across his forehead.

“That’s the point handsome.” She replies as she stands up and pats the dirt from the cell floor off her legs.

“And it gave me the perfect idea for our third question, although, I don’t think you’ll like it.” She says running a hand through her hair.

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that.” He replies as he follows suit and stands up next to her.

“Oh, I have a feeling you’re gonna hate it; but it’s a question that must be asked and answered correctly. If not,” She pauses a sadness filling her eyes. Remembering herself she clears her throat and tries to shake off the sad feeling.

“Something’s been bothering me since I read her file,” Bucky starts making her turn toward him a look of intrigue in her eyes. “Why would her brother, well, all your past incarnations brothers, why would they kill her?”

“That’s my fault,” She says her arms wrapping around her stomach.

“What do you mean?” He asks in confusion.

“I’ll tell you,” she pauses for a moment her eyes filling with a distant stare. “If you answer my finally question correctly.”

“But,” He starts but is instantly cut off by her holding up her hand.

“My third and final question is this,” She looks up into his eyes as she narrows her own, “Choose, Steve or Kitty.”

“Wait what?” Bucky asks a knot filling his stomach.

“If you could only save one, who would you pick? Your childhood friend, who’s like a brother to you and has saved your life many a time; or the girl you vowed to protect and failed?”

“I… I can’t pick just one.” Bucky says his mind whirling.

“The rule is you can only save one, now, who would you pick?” She asks making his heart clench.

Bucky’s mind starts to whirl as he thinks about it. Usually Steve would be his first choice, he always was. Bucky, felt he owed Steve his life for helping free him from Hydra but then there was kitty. He first met her as a young girl, alone and frightened. Someone he had instantly felt the urge to protect and keep safe just like he had with Steve when he was younger. He thought back to then and felt his heart clench at the thought of how he had failed her then.

This question felt like a trap, one he knew would result in the loss of his best friend or a girl he wasn’t sure how he felt about. If he saved Steve, he would still have his best friend, but he would lose Kitty. He and Steve would regret it for the rest of their lives. If he chose Kitty Steve would understand, hell Steve would tell him to save Kitty instead of him but then he would lose Steve. Someone he had promised to be with till the end of the line.

He also knew Kitty would hate to be chosen out of guilt. She would have insisted he save Steve in that case. What it all came down to was what Bucky wanted, and even he didn’t really know that. Taking a deep breath, he looks Baast in the eyes and says, “I’m not going to choose.”

“Oh?” She asks intrigue filling her eyes. “And why not?”

“Because either way I go about it I lose someone important to me, neither of them would be happy if I picked one and sacrificed the other. They would secretly blame thierselves and I can’t do that to them.”

“Even if it meant losing both or even your own life?” She asks making his brow furrow.

“I only have Steve and Kitty,” Bucky says a sad look filling his eyes. “But they both have others who love them and want them to be safe and happy. I couldn’t be the one to take them away from them.”

“You know, I’m not fond of this self-sacrificing attitude you have. You really think there is no one who would mourn your death?” She asks an angry look filling her eyes.

“Steve has already mourned me once, he’s a strong guy and he’ll understand why I chose the way I did.”

“And (Name)?”

“She’ll be mad at me, but in the end, she will also understand.” Bucky says his eyes narrowing slightly.

“Well,” She starts as she scratches the back of her neck, “That’s not the answer I wanted to hear.” Fear fills Bucky’s body as he starts to think about the consequences of failing one of her questions. “However, it’s the first time someone has chosen that way. It’s very peculiar.” She lets out a sigh making the scenery turn back to the waterfall from before his mind went black. “I believe I owe you an answer to your question.”

“Wait, you’re saying I answered correctly?” He asks confusion filling his voice.

“You did, well in your own way.” She replies making him fall to his knees a sigh of relief leaving his lips. “So to answer your question,” Bucky listens in disbelief as she explains everything to him in detail. He didn’t know what to say. “Now you know, I hope you can save her. If any of my incarnations deserve it, it’s her.” She says before giving him a sorrowful smile. “I’ll return her to you now, and please Bucky, take care of her.” Then without so much as another word Kitty’s eyes slowly turn from their cat like ones to her normal (E/C) ones.

“Kitty?” He asks as she slowly slumps into his arms her skin burning and her breathing ragged.

“What’s this feeling?” She asks as she burrows into his chest her eyes filling with a lustful haze as they meet his making his jaw clench.

“Maybe we should get you back home.” Bucky says as he tries to stand making a moan unconsciously leave her lips. Hearing the noise, they both freeze in place their faces turning red with embarrassment.

“Bucky, I don’t think I can make it back home.” She says as she reaches up to touch his face gently her hand trembling.

“Kitty, you don’t want this.” Bucky says trying to keep his composure.

“I do,” she says nuzzling his chin with her forehead.

“This is just a side effect of your,” He pauses as her hand slowly moves from his face down to his lap. “Kitty stop,” He says firmly grabbing her wrist.

“Do you not want me?” She asks a fearful look filling her eyes.

“That’s not it,” He replies holding her tightly.

“Then what is it; cause either you do this with me or I have to find someone who will.” She replies exasperated making his eyes go wide with anger. There was no way he was gonna let some other guy touch her let alone see her like this. “I need you Bucky.” She says causing his last inch of self-restraint disappear completely.

Leaning forward his lips crash against hers sending a wave of passion and heat throughout both their bodies. She moans into his lips as her arms shoot around his neck and pull him in closer. Bucky loses himself in the feel of her, his hands gently caressing her soft skin as he slips them under her shirt. He pulls away momentarily to look down into her enchanting (E/C) eyes looking for any trace that this might not be what she really wanted; but he found none. She wanted him. That revelation sent a familiar feeling through his body causing him to grip tighter to her as he pulls her up to straddle his lap.

Pulling away from her lips momentarily he looks up into her eyes as the revelation that he in fact loved this woman filled his body. He didn’t know when it had started but all he knew was that he would do anything for her. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this way. How he felt about Steve came a close second. He smiles happily as the words, ‘I love you’ escape his lips making her eyes widen slightly before they fill with happy tears. “I love you too Bucky.”