Bucky woke up, face down on the ground. Raising himself up he checked himself for injuries. No blood, and no residual aches from a head wound. There was no reason for him to have gone down. He had a dim memory of the Thanos' hard punch, of falling, but that didn't cause this. He readied himself to rejoin the fight, but after standing up and preparing to throw himself back into the fray, something stopped him harder than a bullet. The surrounding area was empty. No sound of battle, nothing except the rustling of the leaves in the wind and birds calling out to one another.

"Steve?" He called. "Steve?"

Silence. He was alone. Clear sunshine broke through the trees, its rays playing on the ground in front of him. Apart from the emptiness, something else about this wasn't right. The area was different. It took a few moments for him to realize what had changed but it made no sense. He had an eidetic memory, but it was failing him. The trees and plants were different, almost as if time had passed, but that was impossible. Behind him, he heard a noise. Turning around, he discovered he wasn't alone. The Tree alien was still here. It stood up, its face as angry as something made of wood could get.

"I am Groot!" it said. Bucky had seen some weird shit while he was with Hydra, but nothing like this. There had to be some way of communicating with… it. Just then, another noise distracted him.

"Rhodey!" A familiar voice called from out of the small forest. Sam came crashing through the trees, stopping short when he saw the emptiness of what had been a battlefield just a few moments before. He had Bucky exchanged a hard stare.

"Before you ask, I don't know what happened," Bucky said, breaking the ice between them.

"Where did they go? Steve wouldn't just leave us," Sam said. "Where's Rhodey? I passed out, something had knocked me down, but I'm not hurt. You ok?"

"I'm okay. I don't know where they are… I think I passed out too, here on the ground, Steve was here, Thanos was here, all of them…"

"I am Groot!" The alien said, this time stamping its foot on the ground for effect.

"He's probably missing his raccoon buddy. Look, we don't know what happened either," Sam said to the alien. It seemed to understand. It crossed its arms but the angry expression stayed.

Another sound of someone running through the woods. Both the men and the alien went into defensive stances but they relaxed when the newcomer came into view.

"White Wolf! Sam Wilson," T'Challa said, stopping short right in front of them. He was still wearing his protective outfit, his mask down. "Are you injured?"

"No wounds," Sam said. "And our little buddy here seems to be ok."

"I cannot find Okoye. I remember seeing her before I passed out. Half of my warriors are missing. It was as if someone came and took them all away."

"Oh damn. He did it," Sam said. "You know, Thanos said he would destroy half of all life. What if he did, and we're what's left?"

A dull ache started inside Bucky as he contemplated his life without Steve. There was no one here to blame, so he walked to the nearest tree and punched it as hard as he could. The tree. He stared at it, and all the surrounding plant life.

"Something is different," he announced. "This place has changed. The plants, the trees, it's all rearranged."

"You can remember all that?" Sam asked, the familiar skepticism heavy in his voice.

"Yes," T'Challa answered. "He can."

A loud wail pierced interrupted their conversation. Without hesitating, the three men and their alien companion hurried to the source. Not far away, they found Wanda kneeling over Vision, but not the Vision they knew. There was a gaping hole in his head, and what lay before them was just a machine, a shell.

"I tried!" she said. "We all tried, but Thanos had the time stone and he reversed everything…" she collapsed onto Vision. Sam knelt down beside her and raised her up, keeping an arm around her. She buried her face in his shoulder and continued to sob. The rest of them said nothing, as the wind played around them, mocking them. It wasn't right that they were here, to enjoy the sunshine and the trees, and have everyone else gone. Bucky switched the safety on his gun and lowered it to a safe position.

T'Challa knelt beside them. "Perhaps we can help him," his voice low but Bucky could hear him. "My sister…" T'Challa's brow knit together as the weight of his words hit him. No one dared ask the question. Who else wasn't here?

Wanda looked up at him and nodded, her eyes red, the tears spilling down her cheeks. "I know she'll do what she can, but he won't be the same…"

"What do we do now?" Sam asked. They all looked toward T'Challa.

"I admit there is a part of me that hesitates to go further, out of fear of discovering who else has left us, but we must move past that. We need to gather information, find out who is here, and who is not and then…" he began but stopped short, his eyes focusing on something in front of him. He stood up and his mask covered his face.

A small golden speck of light, not part of the sun's rays, settled into the middle of their conversation and before their eyes grew larger.

"What now?" Sam asked. Bucky went back into warrior mode and prepared his rifle to fire. Wanda's eyes turned red, her hands went up. Sam stood up, his wings unfurled. The alien knelt on the ground, readying his branch-like hands for battle.

The circle became as bright as the sun, and a man dressed in colorful robes stepped out.

"Are you one of Thanos' goons, ready to finish the job?" Sam asked.

"My name is Doctor Steven Strange. I'm a friend." Bucky felt his firearm lowered against his will as an opaque shield formed around their visitor. "I don't have time to explain everything, but let's just say, you've been asleep for five years. Your friends have worked hard, against the odds, to reverse what Thanos has done, but they are in danger and they all need your help. Gather your armies, all your friends willing to help, and bring them here. I will take you to them."

"How do we know you are telling the truth?" T'Challa asked. In response, Strange stepped aside so they could see through the portal, revealing a broken building and they saw them, Steve, Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit and Thor. They looked to be in distress. Thanos dominated the scene, sitting on the edge of the rubble. Bucky glanced over to Wanda and her already glowing red eyes flamed brighter. The tears were still on her cheeks, but now grief had given over to anger.

"That's the Avenger's Compound," Sam said. "We've been in limbo this whole time? We were the ones snapped?"

"That's why everything looks so different. Five years worth of changes. They're in trouble! We need to get to them, now!" Bucky said and started to rush forward but an invisible barrier held him back.

"You will, but the timing has to be just right. I know I'm asking a lot, but please trust me. Events must play out as they should in order for us to defeat him. Gather everyone here as quickly as you can, return here and wait for my signal. You won't be alone, I'm off to gather more armies. Good luck."

He stepped back through the portal, the golden light disappearing with him. The group stood silent for a moment.

"Do you believe him?" Sam asked. "It sounds too incredible."

"I hate to agree with you, but it does," Bucky said. "But the world has changed. I can see it. That much is true, and without putting too fine a point on it, this has happened to me before, going to sleep and waking up years later. It's not all that strange."

"I am Groot!" Groot once again stamped his feet.

"We have seen many incredible things, our friend here among them. I say we take the chance and do as he says," T'Challa said, his mask coming down. "We cannot afford not to. Come with me! We must bring back as many as we can." He ran through the forest, at top speed. Wanda levitated herself upward. Bucky and Sam nodded to each other. Sam rose up to join her and Bucky sped after T'Challa and as he rushed through the trees, he could hear Groot's heavy feet pounding on the ground behind him.