Take me down to the river bend [Open]

[tookthewheel]

Who| MCU!Bucky, Elsa and Anna, MCU!Bucky and the Signless, MCU!Bucky and OTA
What| Bucky getting his murder on and also roaming the mall, come say hi
Where| The Marvel store, Centurion Cineplex and other various locations
When| First half of week 3
Warnings/Notes| Violence, death, Bucky's issues

Prompt A: The Marvel Store

The Marvel store has become his home base. Bucky spends every night here, bar something unexpected forcing him to seek shelter elsewhere. He varies his time between resting, pondering over the curious merchandise or taking care of his numerous collection of weaponry, cleaning the knives and gun in a routine that has proven a reliable way to settle his mind, especially in the long inactive hours of the night when sleep often eludes him.

Mostly Bucky chooses to stay in the part of the store dedicated to Captain America though he can be found wandering through other sections. Sometimes, through morbid fascination, he moves to the merchandise dedicated to him, which represents both his past and his current reality. Blue jackets, an old fashioned snipe rifle, stretchy sleeves of ridged silver material emblazoned with a red star and replicas of the black muzzle and goggles he wore as the Winter Soldier can be found here amongst other objects.

Prompt B: Through the mall, specify your own location

Almost every day Bucky leaves the shelter of the Marvel store and ventures out in the mall, patrolling down the levels and then back upwards again. He never does the same route twice and varies the times he visits certain locations, including what part of the day he'll venture into the food court to stuff supplies in a bag to take back upstairs to his allies, in case someone is watching out for him.

He can be encountered anywhere from the locker room on the ground floor to tribute personalised stores on the third. The only place he may avoid is the bookstore, only passing by the outside because even though he and the other Bucky destroyed all their biographies (so he thinks), the place makes him too uncomfortable to venture back inside when he has the choice not to.

Comments

Closed to Elsa/Anna

[tookthewheel]

Some days the Soldier comes out stronger than the emerging shades of Bucky Barnes.

He wakes up to the Mission beating against the inside of his head, a steady pulsing that breaks his normal routine. This is the fourth week of the arena and he has been lax in his duty, in accomplishing that which he is meant to do. It cannot continue.

When the asset opens his eyes he is a hunter slipping out of his headout as soon as the shutters roll up and the lights come on. Knives are hidden everywhere in his clothing, a coiled loop of fishing line sits in one pocket but it is the carbine that is his first weapon of choice to utilise this day. He uses his rope slip down onto the second floor, ghosting towards a good sniping point he had discovered on an earlier venture and concealing himself as well as he could.

Here he has a good vantage point to aim around, below and above him, he only has to wait for a target to make itself known. Being a sniper in both his past and current lives that means he is prepared to wait a very long time indeed.

[rediscover]

It's then that the Arendelle sisters have the misfortune to be moving through the mall. They've been cautious, for the most part; staying close to one another whenever it's deemed necessary that they venture out of their home base, but it's time both of them washed up, and that means a trip to the ladies' room so they can take turns having sink showers while the other watches the door.

Unfortunately, Anna isn't exactly looking up as they pass through the open space, so she doesn't spy the soldier waiting above them, aiming to pick off the next target he finds.

[frozenfractalsallaround]

Elsa always has been the cautious one of the two. She feels like it's her job to protect Anna, as the big sister. She's always trying to make sure nothing harms her, that she's always safe. But she knows the two of them can't just stay cooped up forever, so it's easy to get her to relent to going for a bath. She's starting to feel nasty, so of course it's necessary.

And because she's the more cautious and observant, as they move she's slowly looking all around to make sure they aren't in any danger. When something glints out the corner of her eye, she's quick to look that way. It takes only a second to realize that it's a gun, that someone is holding the gun and- and pointing it not at her, but at her sister.

"Anna!" she shouts, her expression one of horror, before she's slamming into Anna in order to push her out of the way.

[tookthewheel]

Voices. Footsteps.

He settles further into his alcove, making his grip on the carbine more comfortable, human finger poised on the trigger. A carbine is not a gun made for sniping, it's range is limited as is it's accuracy, in hands less skilled than his it would be doubly difficult to do what he intends.

The Soldier is above and beyond an expert and he sets his sights on the first woman to come into view, the redheaded one and shifts the barrel, wanting a clear headshot. A slow deep breath...

He pulls the trigger, just as the blonde woman spots his presence an cries out in alarm, pushing the intended target out of the way. A clean headshot was meant for the first woman, for the second pushing her out of the way the changed angle and position (and a difference in height) likely meant the bullet would not hit so perfectly.

[rediscover]

Anna remains oblivious to the gunman above until the moment Elsa cries out. It's just one word--her name, and yet her blood turns cold with the sound of it, because in the same moment that Elsa's shoving her out of the way, she hears the crack of a gunshot. Anna cries out wordlessly, eyes wide and fearful, because now she's looking up, and she sees him up there--holding a gun. And Elsa--

"No," she gasps, "no, no, no, Elsa." The younger sister sinks to her knees, covering her mouth in horror as she realizes what's happened.

[frozenfractalsallaround]

It's all such a blur. One second, she's pushing Anna out of the way, still on her feet. The next? She's on the ground. It's funny how it takes you a moment to realize you're in pain. For the longest moment, only confusion registers. Why is she on the ground? Why can't she move her legs, to stand up? All she can hear is Anna's voice, gasping and saying no over and over, but she doesn't really understand why-

Until the pain registers, and she realizes that she hadn't just pushed Anna out of the way. She'd taken the bullet intended for her. There's an intense, mind-numbing pain where the bullet entered her back, and her face contorts in pain.

At least Anna is safe. That's one thought that rings loudly in her mind. But then she realizes that he's probably still up there, and with a great effort Elsa pushes herself up on her elbows, crying out in pain as she does so.

"A-Anna- run..." Her voice is a pained, desperate whisper. "Please."

[tookthewheel]

The Soldier feels a flash of irritation as his shot goes wild, the Target thrown away by the secondary priority. It's not an immediate kill shot, he can tell just by looking at the bloom of red blood spreading over the blonde woman's clothing (something buzzes in his head, like he should know her, that he's seen her before...) and with medical attention she could live -- however medical support is limited here, he is content she while die soon enough.

His gaze flashes to the initial Target again but there is now a limited timeframe to work with. No silencer was available to him, meaning his single shot will have been heard through the mall. It's reasonable to assess that other tributes will come to investigate what happened in short time.

He needs to move.

Springing up from his hiding place the Soldier fires again at the two and doesn't wait to see if the shot injures, kills or misses completely as he takes off across the upper floor, in seconds out of sight of the two women.

[rediscover]

Anna stares in horror, reeling as she sees red bloom over Elsa's side, running her hands over Elsa's face, trying to keep her close. To protect her, even if it's far too late for that. The younger sister flinches when Elsa urges her to run, shaking her head--but any thought of staying flees her mind when she hears the gun go off a second time, and then there's a searing pain in her right arm. She doesn't even stop to look at it; the pain echoes through her whole arm, but her head is surprisingly clear. Adrenaline. There's a wet seeping through the sleeve of her shirt, but no time for that. She has to get Elsa to safety.

"Come on," she whimpers, hitching her arms under Elsa's and ignoring the red hot pain in her arm. And she starts to drag her toward the Arendelle shop, inch by agonizing inch.

[frozenfractalsallaround]

Elsa's stomach drops when she hears that second gunshot and when she gets a good look at her sister through the blur of pain, she feels horrified. She's been hit- not as bad as herself, but it's still happened and Elsa feels like a complete and utter failure. She hadn't saved her- she's hurt and he could pick her off easily, and here she is trying to save Elsa.

"N-No," she whimpers, half through pain and half in desperation, but there's nothing she can do as Anna hitches under her arms and starts dragging her. "Ahhh-!" she cries out, the pain in her back exploding as she feels the wound drag across the floor. A trail of blood is slick on the ground, growing longer the more Anna pulls her. "Please," she begs, and whether it's for Anna to leave or the pain to stop is unclear.

[rediscover]

There's no way on Earth you could convince Anna to leave her sister behind. She feels guilty enough as it is; this would never had happened if she hadn't insisted on them cleaning themselves up. So she grits her teeth and carries on dragging Elsa toward their storefront. Elsa's cries of pain, her begging, feel like a stab wound to Anna's chest, and she cringes, pausing for a moment.

"Elsa, I'm so sorry," she whimpers. "I need to get you somewhere safe. Please don't hate me."

[frozenfractalsallaround]

This hurts more than Elsa ever could have imagined. It's disgustingly apparent just how quick her deaths in this arena have been in the past. Beheaded so quickly, she never felt it, though it helps that the pain of her broken heart upon watching Anna die had numbed her to just about everything. Then there was Initiate killing her in the arena before this one, quick and almost...dignified. He had respected her enough to make it as painless as possible.

But this? This is excruciating and mind-numbingly painful. There's a certain panic behind it all in not being able to feel her legs, knowing something in her is damaged so thoroughly so as to not work anymore just leaves her deeply unsettled and afraid.

Her concern for Anna, however, is a distraction from that. Despite the pain she feels as Anna drags her across the ground, despite the fact that it feels like it's never going to end and she's going to be stuck in a state of agony forever, Anna's words cause her to laugh. It's a breathy, pained laugh that ends with her coughing.

"Hate you?" she asks, and she finds it in herself to lift her hand, reaching up to grip hold of Anna's wrist. The idea of ever hating her sister is so completely unfathomable- laughably so. "I-I've only ever- agh-" she cuts off as a particularly nasty burst of pain shoots through her, her eyes squeezing shut as it does so. The trail of blood is growing longer and longer as Anna drags her across the floor towards their intended destination. "-l-lived... to p-protect you. K-keep you safe. I-I could never hate you. E-ever."

[rediscover]

Anna feels a fresh wave of tears sting her eyes, falling to her knees once more as Elsa struggles to speak. This has all gone so horrible awry, and even though she's glad that Elsa isn't alone, she's consumed in guilt. When Elsa finishes what she's trying to say, Anna finds herself blinded by tears, giving her sister a weak smile.

"Elsa," she sobs, "I love you so much. Please don't--don't die. Please." Her poor heart can't take it. "I can't lose you. Not again."

[frozenfractalsallaround]

She hadn't meant to make Anna cry with her words, they're just simply the truth. Ever since they were little girls and realized how much she could hurt Anna if she wasn't careful, that's all she wanted to do, was to protect her. Of course it was fueled by fear, but also a burning desire to make sure no harm ever came to Anna. And she's failed that, which makes this all the harder to handle.

"Shhh... Anna," she says quietly, shaking her head and trying not to gasp out in pain again. The truth is, she knows she's probably not going to make it. Something is seriously wrong with her and the pain is blinding. "Just- just remember, wh-whatever happens, I'll always b-be there for you."

Even if just in spirit.

Maybe it's because she knows that she's going to die and that there's always that possibility she won't be brought back, that the Capitol will grow bored of her, but she can't help it when she says the next part. "Y-you can just... build a snowman," she whispers. "And think of me."

[rediscover]

Anna paws at her tears, shaking her head at what Elsa has to say. She needs to not have an emotional breakdown right now; she needs to get them somewhere safe. But she can't help it. Elsa's saying such sad things, and she only cries harder when she mentions the snowman.

"Elsa, no," she sobs. "I'll s-see you back in the Capitol. But you're--you're gonna be fine," she lies. They both know that's probably not true. But she has to put on a brave face. "Come on, Els, we gotta get back to the Arendelle shop. We're--we're almost there."

[frozenfractalsallaround]

Elsa feels awful for making Anna feel bad, but she's honestly just trying to... to get Anna to see that they never really know how much time they're going to have together. Maybe if things weren't so grim right now, she would be a little more distraught about it- more maybe... it's because it's herself with the fatal wound, and she feels like Anna can survive without her, whereas if it were the other way around Elsa doesn't know if she would be able to cope. Anna has always been the stronger one, the fighter, after all.

She falls silent with a nod, deciding to save her energy instead of arguing with Anna or trying to make her see differently. Elsa allows her sister to continue dragging her to the store, holding onto the fact that Anna told her they were nearly there. She doesn't think she has it in her to be pulled too much farther. She tries not to make too much noise, hoping to avoid making Anna feel any worse.

When they do finally make it, it's an extreme relief.