Remember Me

The ride on the jet is quiet, the air charged with anxiety. Natasha holds Steve’s hand from her seat beside him, running her thumb carefully along his knuckles. He stares out the window, occasionally turning his attention to me, meeting my gaze for a moment before his eyes return to the passing clouds.

He’s just as anxious as I am.

I tap my fingers along my thigh, measuring the length of each breath to the cadence of the tapping as we get closer and closer to the landing zone. My stomach lurches into my throat as we start the steady decent towards the ground, and my eyes lock onto Steve’s.

“We’re landing a few miles away, it’ll be a bit of a walk.” He says quietly, and I only nod.

We all stand, securing weapons into our belts as the plane lands smoothly. Natasha hands me an earpiece, and I slide it into my ear as I follow her and Steve to the exit. It’s still light out as we step out into a forest, the dirt crunching under our boots as we walk through the trees. Natasha holds a tablet with a map and GPS, guiding the way as we weave through the terrain.

My heart beats faster as the shed comes into view. We each pull out our weapons, Natasha and I choosing guns while Steve pulls a shield from his back. I slide my mask onto the lower half of my face, glad to have remembered to shove it into my pocket. We inch towards the door, staying close behind Natasha as she hacks into the security panel with her tablet.

I hold my breath as the door slides open, granting us access to Hydra’s top-secret facility. We move quicker now, sticking close together as we navigate through the dark halls, searching for any sign of Bucky as we swiftly silence any Hydra officers who dare to cross our path.

We keep going deeper and deeper into the heart of the base, until finally we find a room with a sign on the door labeled “Winter Soldier.”

The room is significantly colder as we enter, our breath showing in puffs as we look around through the fog. In the center of the room, Bucky is strapped to a table, shirtless and maskless, seemingly unconscious.

Immediately, I run towards him, looking at the panel of buttons and switches beside it. I press the red, flashing one, assuming that’ll turn off whatever is keeping him asleep. His eyes snap open as the light goes off, scanning the room in a predatorial way before falling on me.

I hesitate for a moment, and that’s all it takes for him to rip through the restraints and grab for me. I duck, rolling out of the way as Steve’s voice fills my head through the earpiece.

Keep him distracted, backup is coming in, me and Nat will take care of it.

Distracted. Right.

“Bucky!” I call, and his eyes lock back onto me as I stand up. “Come on, you can do better than that.”

His face contorts into a strained grimace as he looks at me, his eyes burning as he runs after me. I duck behind the metal table, pulling out a knife and holstering my gun, knowing he’s unarmed.

He jumps over the table, landing behind me. I spin on my heels, turning to face him with wide eyes.

“Bucky, it’s me.” I say, my voice lower now, holding my hands up in a surrender to him. “We can talk.”

His bare chest rises and falls rapidly as he looks at me.

“Don’t call me that.” He growls, his voice low and controlled.

I take a step towards him, keeping my hands up.

“That’s your name.” I tell him quietly. “Bucky Barnes.”

He pushes his leg out, kicking me in the stomach and knocking me to the ground. The knife clatters out of my hand, sliding across the ground as I crumple over, heaving for a breath. He kicks me again while I’m down, the metal in his boot causing something to crack as it makes impact, flipping me onto my back.

I stare up at him with wide eyes as he hovers over me, straddling my body with his legs before lowering himself down to get closer to my face.

“I said not to call me that.” He says, his voice still low, but less controlled than before.

He raises his hand, revealing the knife before he pushes it closer to me, pressing the blade against my throat.

“Let’s see what’s under the mask.” He mutters, using the tip of the knife to slide the mask away from my face, cutting my skin as he does.

“James!” I say as the mask falls to my neck, and his eyes widen slightly. “Your name is James Buchanan Barnes.”

He doesn’t move, his entire body freezing like a statue.

“James.” I breathe, almost pleading with him, my chest rising and falling just as quickly as his as we stare at each other.

I flinch as he drops the knife beside my head, the metal clanging against the floor. He uses the same hand the knife was in to gently trace the cut he made, smearing blood along the gash as he does.

“Lizzie?” He asks, blinking rapidly as he looks down at me, as though a fog cleared from his head.

I nod, not daring to move anything else as he looks down at me with his wide, blue eyes. His hand still rests on my cheek, his thumb sitting at where I assume the end of the cut is.

“Lizzie how are you—?” He breathes, his body still tense as gunfire rings out from across the room.

I just shake my head, slowly reaching up and covering his hand with my own. He flinches at the touch, and I pull back, only to set my hand down on his again. He doesn’t flinch the second time, only shifts his gaze to my hand on his.

The room blurs around us as I look up at Bucky, his long, brown hair falling wildly around his cheeks as his eyes frantically scan my face over and over again. His breathing is uneven, each breath shaky and jagged as he looks at me. Neither of us say a word.

The gunfire finally stops, and footsteps run towards us after a moment. Bucky’s eyes flit upwards, his jaw going slightly slack as Steve steps into view.

“Steve?” He asks, his voice wavering as he does.

Steve just nods, his face stoic as he comes closer.

“Come on.” He says, reaching his hand down. “We have to get out of here.”

Bucky doesn’t move at first, just looking between me and Steve. His hand trembles slightly against my cheek.

“Buck, we don’t have much time.” Steve says quietly, bending down even lower.

He nods then, pulling his hand away from mine and my face as he reaches for Steve’s. Steve pulls him up, wrapping one arm around his waist to stabilize him as Natasha comes beside him to help me up.

I groan as she pulls on my arm, my entire torso protesting in pain as she helps me stand. She also loops an arm around my waist, practically dragging me out of the room as we start the agonizing ascent back to the entrance of the base.

No new guards come in, and we move as quickly as we can to avoid getting stuck in another fight. Finally, we make it to the doors, stepping out into the now pitch-black forest.

“Can you make it to the jet?” Steve asks me, turning to look at me with a concerned expression.

I grit my teeth, forcing a nod as I feel the bones beginning to knit themselves back together. The cut on my face is already a scab, the edges pink with scarring as it heals. We struggle through the forest, moving slower than when we came in.

I feel Bucky’s eyes trained on my back as we walk, but I don’t dare turn to face him. Not yet.

Finally, the jet comes into view, and Natasha helps me up the ramp as Steve and Bucky follow close behind. I flop into a chair, exhaling a sigh of relief as she sets the remote piloting system to take us back to the compound.

Steve and Bucky come in, sitting across from me as the engines power up. I risk a glance at Bucky, finding his blue eyes locked on me.

“How the hell are you two here?” He asks as the jet begins to move.

Steve sighs, resting his hand on Bucky’s shoulder gently. We all pretend we don’t notice the way he flinches at the touch.

“We have a lot to catch up on, Buck.” He says quietly.

I nod, pulling the pouch out from my pocket and removing the picture carefully. I hand it to him, my fingers trembling as his metallic hand takes it from me.

            He drags his eyes from mine for a moment to study the picture before looking back up at me.

            “Tell me everything.” He says quietly, and Steve begins the long explanation of it all as Natasha re-enters the room.