They stayed like that until Celeste finally calmed down, her arms wrapped tightly around Bucky. His shirt was completely soaked with her tears by now, but he didn't mind. She rested her head against his chest, feeling his chin settle gently on top of her head.
"Feeling better?" Bucky asked softly, feeling her nod against him.
"If Muur surfaces again and unleashes the plague," she said quietly, "I need you to stop me. Whatever it takes."
Bucky tensed, his hands moving to her shoulders while still holding her close.
"What?"
"You heard me, Bucky. If I can't control it, "
"No," Bucky said immediately, his voice firm.
Celeste pulled back to look at him. "Bucky, you don't understand, "
"I understand plenty. And I'm not giving up on you that easily."
"What if there's no other way?" she asked, her voice rising with frustration. "This thing is incredibly dangerous. An entire planet could fall to its influence."
"You said it yourself, this planet is different from the others you've been to."
"That doesn't guarantee safety," Celeste countered. "If there's hope, that's wonderful, but we have to consider every possibility."
"Didn't you just tell me this thing has a will of its own? That it's been around for thousands of years?"
"Yes, but, "
"Then destroying the host won't stop it permanently. You said so yourself, it would just find another way."
"Why are you arguing with me about this?" Celeste asked, frustration creeping into her tone. "I just told you how dangerous this could be."
"Because there has to be another way," Bucky said firmly.
"Why?!"
"Because I don't want to lose you!" Bucky's voice was louder now, raw with emotion. "Is it so hard to believe that I care about what happens to you?"
Celeste was taken aback by his outburst. She opened her mouth to respond but found herself speechless.
They stood in silence for a long moment before Bucky spoke again.
"I'm a soldier," he said quietly.
Celeste gave him a questioning look. She'd heard his story before, a World War II veteran from decades past. The fact that he didn't look his age had something to do with the same cryogenic preservation that had kept her alive.
"In 1945, I went with my unit to raid a Hydra train carrying Dr. Arnim Zola, their chief scientist at the time. If we could capture him, we'd be one step closer to taking down their leader, Johann Schmidt. Things went sideways. I got blown off the train and fell into a ravine. Should have died."
"Then how, "
"Earlier in the war, I'd been injected with an experimental version of the super soldier serum. Flawed version, but it was enough to keep me alive in the freezing water." Bucky raised his left arm, staring at the metal limb. "Didn't come out of it unscathed, though."
Celeste looked at the mechanical arm as he continued.
"Don't know how long I was down there, but Hydra and Soviet agents found me. Once they figured out who I was, they decided to get their revenge. Experiments, conditioning, this arm," he flexed the vibranium fingers, "and seventy years as their personal weapon. Wasn't until Steve helped me break free that I could even remember who I used to be."
The Jedi remained silent, listening to her companion's story.
"I know what you're going through, Celeste," Bucky said. "Maybe not exactly the same, but close enough. That feeling of wanting it all to end so you can't hurt anyone else anymore."
He stared at his metal arm, clenching and unclenching the fist.
"But when Steve found me, when I was still the Winter Soldier, he could have ended it right there. Part of me wanted him to." His voice was strained with the memory. "He said no. He still saw me underneath all that programming. He wanted to help me find my way back."
A small smile crossed his face. "Of course, I ran away afterward like an idiot. Took me months of hunting down Hydra cells to piece together who I really was. But during that time, I remembered everything, my whole life before the war, and everything that came after."
Silence settled between them again. Bucky's hands rested on her shoulders while her palm pressed against his chest.
"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" Celeste said, earning a dry chuckle from the Winter Soldier.
"Yeah, well, maybe that's not such a bad thing," Bucky replied. "Two people who understand what it's like to be used as weapons. Maybe we can figure out a better ending to our stories."
Celeste managed a small smile. "And what would that look like?"
"I don't know yet," Bucky admitted. "But I'm willing to find out if you are."
The Jedi looked up at him, seeing something in his expression that reminded her why the Jedi taught that hope could be found even in the darkest places.
"One step at a time?" she asked.
"One step at a time," he agreed.