Just realized there’s actually way more dead people left on Everest than what’s recorded

It’s not just the people that die trying to summit the mountain

It’s also all the ashes of loved ones scattered at the top by the people that are successful in their climb

I think everyone should see pictures of my dog in a river

Fun pictures

Have my pup splish splashing on the beach

ALT

Chickadee and my albino charizard, Aithusa help the guild master, Everest, rebuild the Recruitment Center! Chickadee is proud of their achievements! ✨

Series Summary: She was done and retired. After Thanos and after the battle of a lifetime, she had called it quits and had distanced herself from the Avenger lifestyle. But word finds her that someone from her past is in danger. What the journey entails was never one she wanted to face nor one she saw becoming her reality again. The rollercoaster that comes with fighting evil odds arrives on her doorstep not leaving much room for a no…

Pairing:Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count:4700+

A/N: By GOLLY it’s been a while. God bless summer cause I’m pretty sure I touched my personal computer maybe 5 times this last 5 months… But we are back. I’ll keep it short and simple and say, I have ideas for the next chapter and hope to get it out this weekend at some point if not sooner. I love you all and I’m so grateful for you patience:)

Chapter 10:

After dinner, Y/N went back to her room with Wanda and Ryker behind her.

She seemed to be doing better after whatever Wanda did once she got here. Magic perhaps, or maybe just a good ol’ fashion friend helping another out of the trenches. 

Even with doing better, Bucky could tell her energy was easily depleted by the change in activity from the last week. It wasn’t going to be a perfect or linear bounce back from everything. There were still pieces of grieving that needed to take place. 

“A funeral?” Tony questioned. Not out of disbelief, but more so in a tone that showed he hadn’t even thought of that. Though, his thoughts had been somewhere else as of lately. 

“I think it would be the best way to get that final piece of acceptance in saying goodbye,” Wanda nodded, arms crossed as she leaned on the wall. 

“No, no. I think it’s a great idea,” Tony waved off, putting one his gadgets down before taking a swig of some green juice and then turning back to the red head. “Only thing is, we don’t have a body.”

“It’s not out of the ordinary to not have a body at a funeral.”

“No, but I feel as though that would make it a more sensitive event having no body… Knowing exactly why we don’t have a body…” Tony replied. 

“It’s going to be sensitive no matter what,” Nat spoke up in the corner after watching the conversation go down. “But I see what he’s getting at.” 

“She needs a proper way of saying goodbye. A place where she can actually let go,” Wanda sighed. “I know it won’t be a normal funeral. But at the end of the day, funerals are where people can say goodbye and put those that are gone, to rest. Whether it be for them or for themselves. In this case, it’s for Y/N to get that final feeling of peace.”

The other two in the room nodded in agreement and then shared a look. 

“Do we let her in on it?” Nat asked. 

“I’ll plan as much of it as possible for her. All she needs to do is show up. But Nat, can you do a favor for me while I’m getting everything together?” Wanda asked. 

“Just let me know, I’ll get it done.”

“Thank you. I’ll text you what I’m thinking. I need to run to the store real fast and then head to my next errand.”

“Need help with anything else?” Tony questioned, tossing a stress ball back and forth between his hands. 

“I’ll send out a group text to everyone and have people do whatever they can, but I have most everything taken care of and planned.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting for my job,” Tony nodded. 

____________________

Like the pro she is, Wanda had everything scheduled and planned out by the evening. Her and Vis had apparently come up with the idea upon hearing of the entire situation. Wanda, knowing Y/N best, understood the best way for her to move on would be to give her a proper place to grieve and find peace for her lost friend.

So she got a plan together on the flight here, and once she felt Y/N was ready to take the next step, though no one was sure when that would truly be, she put the plan into motion. 

She sent Vis and Nat to the flourist knowing that the other red head would know exactly what types of flowers and arrangement would be best. Along with a list she believed fit for Marley as well. 

She had Sam, Steve, and Clint on set up even though it wouldn’t be much to do, as they were keeping it simple. 

Wanda herself went on an out of city errand to grab some things.

Tony was working on something of his own that he guaranteed to make Y/N feel better. With it, he apparently needed Bruce’s help. 

Everyone that was at the compound had a job and everyone else that was close knew when to come. 

Oh and Bucky… Bucky’s job was to keep Y/N company. 

After talking with Y/N and also seeing Bucky’s worries, Wanda saw it best fit for the two to spend some time together. Besides, Y/N wasn’t the only one who endured that heartbreaking day. Bucky had been there and mourned a part of the situation as well, even if he knew Marley for mere minutes before her sacrifice. 

They were currently out throwing the ball for Ryker together and walking around the compound. 

Today was one of the few moments where Y/N had actually gone out for sunlight since coming home. Wanda had been there for 4 days now. 

The first day was getting Y/N out of her funk, the second was spending time crying and cuddling up to Y/N as they decompressed, and then later tried to avoid the pain by watching old comfort movies together. Then the third, was getting her out of bed long enough to go out and get some Vitamin D and try and get some of her normal routines in. 

Now today, being day four, and Y/N in better spirits from her first day visit, Wanda could tell it was time for the next step in her healing. 

It had been silent the last 10 minutes or so as they tossed the ball and played with the rottweiler. Not that it was awkward or uncomfortable silence. No. It was more of a needed silence before the inevitable conversation came up. 

However, in surprise, Y/N was the first to talk and it wasn’t what he was expecting. 

“How are you?” she asked, picking up the slobbered on tennis ball and casually throwing it close to a block away from where they were standing. 

He furrowed an eyebrow at the question and looked at her from the side. 

“Don’t act shocked that I’m asking you,” she chuckled quietly under her breath, brushing off her hands and still looking forward. 

“I’m ok,” he answered after a few seconds. 

“You do realize I’m a human lie detector,” she laughed, crouching down and deciding to take a seat on the manicured grass. When he didn’t reply or move, she smiled looking down at her hands before him. “Energy shifts… Practically at everything.” Her shoulders raised up and down softly. 

He nodded, taking note once again, and then carefully sat next to her. His knee stays bent and he leans an arm on it before picking at the grass.

“It was worrying…” He mumbled under his breath. 

“What part?” she replied softly, now also finding the small clips of weeds peaking through the surface of the highly taken care of lawn. Funny how even a billionaire’s yard wasn’t perfect.  

He let out a soft breath of air, looking up seeing Ryker running back. 

“All of it,” he said. 

There was a short silence as Ryker dropped the ball and happily danced in his place as he waited for Bucky to throw it this time. 

Bucky chuckled at the dog he had created a bond with these last two weeks. Taking the offer, he gladly chunked the ball as far as he could, giving Ryker a good distance to run. 

“He likes you a lot,” Y/N smiled at her four legged friend who was excited to get out and get some air. “I mean, I may be a little worried he likes you more than me at this point,” she laughed. 

“I highly doubt that.”

“I don’t know. I see the way he looks at you,” Y/N hummed. 

“I really don’t think I can beat you out after maybe a month of knowing him,” Bucky chuckled. 

“He is very particular of people. Much like me,” Y/N shrugged, throwing a weed to the side and going for another one. Bucky watched as her fingers dug into the ground without a care of the dirt getting under her nails. “I can tell. His energy is very trusting and empathetic toward you.”

“He’s a good dog,” was the only way Bucky knew how to take the compliment. He knew what she was saying meant a lot to her and her pet. But he was never great at taking sweet words with grace.

“He’s been through hell and back. So yeah, he’s perfect considering what he could have become.”

Bucky’s forehead crinkled at her comment. He had remembered a while back when Y/N had mentioned going to pick him up when she first got here that he was older, but she had never really gone into his past. 

“How old is he again?” Bucky tried to question casually.

Y/N let out a genuine, yet short, laugh at that. 

“Honestly?” she said, peering up at him through her lashes, getting a nod, and then looking back to where Ryker was prancing to them, shaking the tennis ball back and forth with his head violently. “I don’t know for certain, but he’s at least 50 years old.”

There was silence. No instant reaction. Just silence. 

When she turned to Bucky he was dead staring at her with straight face. 

“No, I’m not joking. Yes, I said 50… The big 5-0,” she nodded already knowing his question to come. 

A few minutes went by and the next time Ryker came up, he rolled into Y/N’s lap, showing his belly and waiting for scratches from his owner. The neon green ball never leaving his mouth. 

As Y/N waited patiently for Bucky to come back to reality, she sat scratching and loving on the black and brown dog as she felt she should have been the last week. 

Eventually he spoke up.

“H-How?” 

“I never told you this story?”  

“I feel like I would have remembered.”

“I guess you’re right,” she shrugged. “I found him on one of my missions in the late 70’s. I infiltrated an experimentation lab. Funny how 50 some odd years later, and they never seem to die off,” she huffed out in annoyance. “Hell, we both know they were around way before the 70’s, but that’s besides the point. The building was set to self destruct, but it was luckily after I got everyone out. But I felt like something was still in there. It wasn’t a human soul, but an animal.”

Bucky watched as she retold the story. The process of distracting her from her present issues seemed to help bring her slowly out of the pit. 

“I went through the building quickly before everything was mere dust. I released some cats, rabbits, snakes, and rats. A weird amount of exotic pets. But there was one room that was closed off and locked down more than the others. I had barely 2 minutes before the place went under, but there was so much fear and terror exuding from that room, I couldn’t leave it. It didn’t take me but 5 seconds to break through the heavy armored doors, but inside was an adolescent pup. Confused, terrified, and alone.” 

When she looked at Ryker, he stopped rolling on the ground and came over to lick her face. In what Bucky believed was to comfort her in knowing he wasn’t in that situation anymore. As long as he was by her side, he wouldn’t have to worry about being put back into that kind of situation again. That’s the amount of love and trust he had for her. 

“Thanks, pal,” Y/N laughed, kissing the top of his head. Bucky knew they communicated silently. The two were more than bonded. “Long story short, I got him out, but not until I got him to believe I was there to help him. It took a second, but we got out of that place just in time.”

“Did you ever figure out why he was there or what the extra protection was for?” Bucky asked. 

“Well, it wasn’t just humans that were being experimented on. And unfortunately, this was when I was somewhat coming back from a long hiatus of working, so I was a little rusty on taking every precaution while on the job…”

“What do you mean?” he dragged out confused. 

“He wasn’t the only animal that came out of there power tapped out. There were some other animals that I had let go that were infected or injected with something. It took SHIELD a while to find everything I had released. There still might be a few teleporting rabbits out there…” 

“How-Why didn’t I- There are teleporting rabbits?” 

“That’s besides the point,” she waved off casually. 

“Is it?” Bucky said, turning his head, but she kept explaining. 

“The reason we know is because after I reported back to SHIELD, I started to investigate why Ryker would have been in there. He seemed totally normal, and I knew because he never left my side after we bonded instantly. Became my little sidekick right off the bat.”

“Was he not one of the experiments?” Bucky asked, bringing up his other leg and wrapping his arms around as he listened in. 

“I was starting to think that after not finding anything on him. No records or anything from a pet so well secured in the building. That is until we were ambushed one night on an evening walk. I was terrified of Ryker getting hurt or triggered…”

“Did he?”

“Triggered? Yes. Hurt? Not even close. And that’s what told me he wasn’t a normal rottweiler puppy…” Y/N ruffled the soft fur on the top of the dog’s head and squeezed his cheek. “We got out of there with zero scratches. Wanna show him how, Ryk?” 

The dog tilted his head to the side in a jerk, like he was asking a silent question. 

“Go on. We got the space,” she gestured to him to go further out in the field. 

Ryker sent one more questioning look before his ears went back in excitement. He pranced about 15 feet out into the field and then looked one more time for confirmation. Y/N laughed before yelling out a foreign word like one she said on the farm. The code word got a bark from Ryker before next thing Bucky knew, the dog’s face was dangling over him. 

And no… Not the normal size face. His head was now ten times the normal size if not more. Bucky had leaned back into the grass as the dog’s body hovered over him after becoming the size of a bus or two. 

“What the-!” Bucky shouted in shock and looked up with bug eyes. 

“Yeah, he gets big,” Y/N smiled up at him. “Oh, and this.” She sat up and walked over to his leg. Again she said something in another language. On command, Ryker brought one of his giant paws up and stomped it showing he received the command. “Come here,” she motioned to Bucky. 

“Why?” he asked nervously. Maybe it wasn’t nerves as much as it was shock from the fact the dog he had been taking care of the last week had superpowers the whole time. 

“Come on. Just trust me,” she waved him on. Even offering him her hand when she saw his hesitance. “He won’t bite. Trust me if he wanted to, he would have already.”

Bucky slowly took her hand and stood up. But she didn’t let it go until they were standing next to Ryker’s leg that was now as tall as a flag pole. 

He looked at the leg but it looked no different other than his size, then he looked back at her. 

“Am I missing something?” he said gently, going to touch the leg even though he was expecting it to possibly spontaneously combust, or something outlandish like that. 

“Punch him,” Y/N said without any sense of apprehension.

“Pardon?” Bucky froze in his spot at her words. 

“Hit him. With your metal arm too,” she restated. 

“I’m not going to- Y/N, why would you want me to-?”

“Ugh, no one ever takes the first shot,” she rolled her eyes before smiling slyly. “Just kidding, that was a test. Thanks for not punching my dog.”

“What if I had?” Bucky asked with a confused and alarmed look. 

“I knew you wouldn’t. Only the people with bad intentions do it without a second thought. I’ve weeded out some bad agents with that one.”

“Y/N-” he was wanting to get to the point of her asking him to punch the dog. Not that he didn’t want to hear about this, but it was concerning she was asking such a thing. 

“If you had, nothing would have happened,” she went over and petted the side of Ryker’s leg. “Watch,” she gestured for him to come closer. He hesitated a little longer this time. “I’m not going to make you do anything ridiculous, I promise. Just come pet him.”

In a slow pace, he walked over to the other side of Ryker’s leg and began to pet him. Nothing crazy happened. 

“Nunc, Ryker,” she said in Latin. 

Just as Bucky’s hand went to pet the fur, all his weight leaned forward as Bucky fell into the weight of Ryker. His foot hadn’t moved from his spot, but Bucky’s body almost fell through where the leg was standing strong. 

“What just-”

“He can change his density,” Y/N summed up immediately. “Like Vision.”

“So did I just,” Bucky examined his hand when he pulled it back. 

“Go through him? Yeah. He made himself thin out his particles. Or something like that. I don’t know. Banner tried to explain it and it got complicated.” She patted him a few more times. “Which is why if you wanted to punch him as hard as you can, it might leave a little scratch on those vibranium knuckles.”

“He’s that strong?” Bucky said impressed. 

“Well, I haven’t voluntarily hit him with Steve’s shield ever, so I’m not hundred percent sure, but from the lab test Bruce has run on him, he’s able to adjust to the density of whatever he’s fighting. It’s an adaptation mutation.”

“I can see that,” he said as he tapped the dog’s leg that was rock solid now. Like tapping the side of a mountain. “Huh. You have a superhero dog.”

“He’s my mutant mutt. That’s what I call him,” she smiles before saying new commands and the giant dog went back to normal size.

Bucky took a step back at the change and looked from the dog to Y/N with giant eyes. 

“Well… I wasn’t expecting that,” he said slowly. 

“No one does. It’s our favorite party trick,” Y/N winked patting Ryker’s head as he leaned on her side. 

There was a moment of silence before Bucky chuckled and then leaned down to pet Ryker’s head. Showing he wasn’t scared, but in fact impressed by the guard dogs talent. 

“Thank you,” Y/N said a moment later. “For taking care of him when I couldn’t. In doing that, you took care of me as well.”

Bucky looked up at Y/N with kind eyes seeing similar ones on him, but also with a hint of seriousness. 

“It’s nothing-” he started. 

“It’s most definitely something,” she cut him off. “No one has to do anything in this world. Everything anyone does is 100% a choice. And you decided to care for a practical stranger’s dog without hesitance, while she mopped around like a dead person waiting to be resurrected… I’m sorry for the dramatics of these last few weeks… I didn’t mean to rope anyone into it with me.”

The last parts were said with a hint of anger at the process of her grieving. 

“Y/N, how a person grieves isn’t about dramatics. It’s unique. Every person has a different way of coping and processing loss. You can’t give it a level of how dramatic a person is when dealing with it,” he said with concern as he stood back up to her height. “And you know for a fact that anyone in that building would drop everything in a heartbeat to pull you out of any kind of pit you find yourself in.”

“Yes, I know, but-” 

“Stop. Don’t even finish that sentence. Just let people take care of you,” he said simply, grabbing both of her shoulders in his hands and stepping only a foot away from her. “It’s something that’s taken me years to allow myself, but it’s served me so much good when I put my guard down and allow people to care for me. You aren’t any different. You deserve that same kind of care.”

She looked up at him and processed his words. It looked as though they had a new meaning to her and it was never something she thought about. Which he wasn’t shocked by. From what he’s heard and seen, she’s selfless and one to look out for others.

Before she could respond however, Nat showed up behind the two. 

“Hate to break up your chat,” she said softly, not wanting to startle the two, but the truth was they both heard her walking up. “But can I borrow you for a minute, Y/N?” 

They didn’t break eye contact for a minute then Bucky took a step back and motioned gently for her to lead the way. 

Y/N smiled and sent a nod showing she did understand what he was getting at even though she didn’t have time to say. 

“Yeah, yeah. What do you need, Nat?” she said with a small smile as she walked toward her. 

Ryker looked up to Bucky and nudged his nose on his pants before running to catch up with Y/N. 

______________________

“You need me to do what?” she asked as Nat pulled her into the bathroom with one hand behind her back and the other on her forearm guiding her. 

“Just take a shower. You don’t have to wash your hair if you don’t want to, I can style it later. I laid out a dress for you when you get out. You choose if you want makeup or not. Then we are meeting the team downstairs for something and-”

“Nat, slow down. What’s going on?” she stopped once she reached the shower door. 

Nat sighed and let her go before moving to the door. “Just trust me, please. That’s all I ask,” she replied with a genuine smile. “I put my sugar scrub that you made and sent to me a while back on the shelf. Use that if you want.”

After that, she shut the door and left Y/N to herself. 

_______________________

“Wanda, is there anything else you need help with?” Clint asked just as she was about the door to Y/N’s room. 

“Is everyone ready at the location?” she asked him, pulling her hand from the knob. 

“We’re the last one’s to go. I have the car downstairs ready for us,” he nodded. 

“Then you’ve done enough. Thank you again, Clint,” she smiled. 

“Anything for you girls. I’ll be downstairs when she’s ready,” he winked and turned back to the foyer. 

Quietly coming in, Nat was sitting on her phone on the bed and the light under the doorway showed Y/N was likely in the bathroom doing last touches. 

“Does she know?” Wanda whispered. 

“I feel like with her intuition and the dress I picked out, she’ll figure it out pretty quickly,” Nat shrugged. “But I couldn’t tell you. She hasn’t come out yet.”

Wanda took in a breath and nodded, slowly walking up to the door. She channeled in some and could feel Y/N’s sadness. It was strong, but still not as strong as the first day she came. It showed she was grieving and coming back slowly, but this wasn’t going to be a quick bounce back. 

“Y/N?” she gently knocked on the door with the tips of her knuckles. She looked back worriedly to Nat, who was biting her lip waiting for the outcome herself. “Can I come in?”

There was a pause and right before Wanda was going to turn the knob, it slowly creaked open and Y/N was in the doorway. 

Her face was the slightest bit red from fresh tears being shed, though there were no water marks along her face. She must have cleaned them up before the girls saw. 

“Hey,” Wanda said with a reassuring smile. Then she could tell. Y/N’s look and energy alone told that she knew what was going on. No need to look in her head. “Are you ready?” she asked in a tender tone. 

Y/N slowly bit her lip, an attempt to keep the new tears from escaping too soon. Then she took a deep breath and nodded. 

Wanda offered her hand and she took it with a thankful smile. As they started walking to the door, Nat opened it and lent her arm to Y/N. 

The two flanking her side like the pillars they were for her. Both there for moral support and emotional support. As well as every other type of support a person can lend and then some. 

Saying goodbye is never easy, but when you have friends like this, it makes it seem somewhat possible.

TAGS:

Everest Tags: (if I missed you in tags, comment on this chapter to let me know:)

@ginger-swag-rapunzel​​​@annazierden​​​

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx@death-unbecomes-you@mythos-writes @srrymydood​@xa-dia@redhairedfeistynerd@morganclaire4@connie326@captain-asguard​@mollygetssherlockcoffee​@teenagedreams-bucky​@shower-me-with-roses​@livstilinski​@basicallylool​@starryeyeseunbyul​

My Lovelies forever:

@natura1phenomenon@lauravicente@kakakatey@traceyaudette@notyourtypicalrose @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce@sandlee44@thorne93@thefaithfulwriter1@essie1876@greyeyedsmile14@capsiclehan @xostephanie@averyrogers83@awesomenursingstudent​@gh0stgurl@cs-please@jjlevin@rainbowkisses31@deannotmoose​@their-bibliophile​@kitkatd7​@willowbleedsonpaper​@mariaenchanted​@snffbeebee​@couldabeenamermaid​@rebekahdawkins​@alyispunk​

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@chloe-skywalker​​​​@charmedbysarge​​​​@jbarness​​​​@bellamy-barnes​​​​@katiaw2​​​​@aikeia​​​​@stopjustlovethemcu​​​​@enchantedbarnes​