Preface

At Ease, Soldier
Posted originally on the fanfiction.lol at https://fanfiction.lol/works/500.

Rating:
General Audiences
Archive Warning:
No Archive Warnings Apply
Category:
General (non relationship-focused)
Fandom:
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Character:
Bucky Barnes
Additional Tags:
Character Study
Language:
English
Stats:
Published: 2026-08-12 Words: 208 Chapters: 1/1

At Ease, Soldier

Summary

After decades of fractured identities, Bucky Barnes must confront his troubled past to reclaim himself and discover who he truly is.

At Ease, Soldier

One choice, one largely against your will, was all it took. Our timeline would've been radically altered, for better and for worse. You're inclined to argue it's for the latter.

You have a point. Countless deaths, pointless violence, fractured families, and destruction haunt your wake. They always will. Yet isn't your prolonged life the best part of this? For the more years you stretch behind you, the farther your past gets. Time heals, doesn't it?

Only if you let it.

You've been dropped of all charges. Mandated (and provided) with the help your chaotic mind needs. Granted veteran status and backpay. And still. That throbbing in your skull. The tightness in your throat.

You've been given a chance at life again, and how do you spend it? Solving problems the only way you know how. With your fists and guns. Who can blame you, though? It's what you know best. It's all you know.

The only person who remembers who you were before all this is gone now. You can't keep holding onto fractured versions of yourself.

Sargent Barnes. The Winter Soldier. White Wolf. James. Bucky. Jamie.

So many names, so many selves.

Which one is really you? The sooner you decide, the sooner your life can begin.

Afterword

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