Steve kept walking. He kept looking, kept searching.

He kept searching for his best friend, for his brother, for the one person he could not lose.

Bucky couldn't be dead. Steve refused to believe it.

And he remembered when they'd been staying at a military camp for a few days, and in regular military gear they'd gone to one of the showings of the news reels, had watched Captain America and Bucky and the Howling Commandos on screen.

And one of the soldiers watching had said, "Hey! Hey! Best part! Cap's Partner, Bucky! Now, there's a hero for ya! No fancy indestructible shield! Nothin' but a smile!"

And another soldier had snorted and added, "And a tommy gun."

And the first soldier had persisted, "But what a smile!"

(And Steve couldn't help but agree.)

He kept searching, in part because he couldn't bear to accept the fact that Bucky was gone, but partly also because he knew, he knew that if he'd been the one to fall, Bucky would have searched for him until he found him.

Bucky would never give up on Steve. Bucky had never given up on Steve.

Bucky wasn't just Steve's partner. Bucky was his best friend, the most courageous soldier he ever knew. Without hesitation, Bucky had put his life on the line for America more than anyone ever had (there was so, so much Bucky did for their country that nobody even knew about, that nobody ever would) and he was Steve's best friend and Steve would save him.

He would.

By this time the cold was starting to seep even into the supersoldier's bones, and it was starting to snow harder.

Some part of Steve's mind, the part that was connected to reality and knew the horrors of war better than any man (except perhaps for Bucky) knew he was dreaming, knew he was grasping at false hope as he continued searching for Bucky, but another part of his mind, the part that sounded like a child, the part that had him picking himself off his feet every time he got beaten down and fighting back even though the other part of him knew he couldn't ever win, was screaming that Bucky was still alive that he had to be because Steve was still alive, right?

And Bucky couldn't be dead, because they'd promised that they'd go down together.

They'd promised, the child in Steve screamed.

"I'm with you till the end of the line, pal."

They'd promised. Bucky had promised. Steve had promised.

And dammit Bucky was not allowed to die! He'd promised!

So when Steve saw the drag marks, the red smeared across the snow, his body flooded with adrenalin as his eyes traced the trail and he ran, because there in the distance he saw a couple dark figures and they were—oh God they were dragging something.

Everything was awash with white, blinding vivid pain, as Bucky pried his eyes open to be greeted by yet more white.

His body, burning (agony) as it was (everything except his left arm), he could vaguely tell he was being dragged across the ground, and since his left arm was the only thing that didn't hurt, he tried to move it.

When it didn't move, he managed to turn his head slightly to the left, and the sight that greeted him wasn't an arm, but rather the absence of an arm, and streaks of red blood in the snow.

Dizziness, and the white swam with black that writhed in his vision like electric eels, but he vaguely made out the forms of two people wearing dark parkas, and they were talking but try as he might to hear what they were saying he couldn't understand—

They're speaking Russian, a voice in his mind supplied. You know Russian.

I do? he thought vaguely, as the black eels bled into each other, vacillating like thousands of starlings.

And so he was just being dragged and staring up at the darkening sky, becoming aware of the fact that his mouth tasted of blood, just starting to dimly recall that hadn't he fallen?

That last thing he could remember... Steve's face scrunching up in horror, and the urge to wipe that expression from his friends face and replace it with Steve's sunny smile... falling, falling away from Steve, trying to grab on to something, and then pain and darkness.

And then someone was shouting something—English, his mind supplied—and there was a blur of red, white and blue, and the men who were dragging him by his feet let go and ran.

"Bucky," said a voice, and suddenly Steve's face was in his vision.

"...Steve?" Bucky tried to asked, but all that bubbled from his throat was blood. He tried to keep his eyes open, tried to keep looking at that face, but darkness was tugging on him like ocean waves, like a riptide, dragging him down into a sea of unconsciousness.

"It's okay, Buck, I've got you," were the last words he heard, and the last thing he felt was his body being lifted from the cold, hard ground.

"Get a medical team ready!" Steve's voice suddenly crackled over the radio, causing the Howling Commandos to jump. "I've found Bucky! He's alive!"

They looked at each other.

"You think he's actually alive, or is he just hallucinating? Because I wouldn't put that past him at this point."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"But just in case: get a damn medical team ready!"

Steve ran as fast as he dare while trying to keep his stride even so as not to jostle Buck further. He'd stripped some fabric from Bucky's jacket in order to make a tourniquet for his shoulder, and it was the best he could do for now.

As he ran, he murmured under his breath, "Don't die on me Bucky, please don't die on me. You're not allowed to die, you got it? Live, dammit. That's an order!"

Bucky was unconscious and Steve knew he couldn't hear him, but still he talked, telling Bucky to just hold on, he'd be alright.

"Don't you dare die on me, Buck. Don't you dare. I can't... I can't lose you... not you... I don't... I don't know what I'd do without you, Buck. You hear me? Don't you dare die!"

And once, he thought he heard Bucky mumble something in his arms that sounded like, "Wouldn' dream of it, pal."

But maybe it was just the whispers of the wind.

A few quotes from the comic in there. And yes, I'm leaving this here.

But still, wanted to leave this with a hopeful ending so my heart wouldn't break.

Please review and let me know what you think! Any feelings? :'3