A/N: Thank you so much for the review! I'm so happy that you guys love this story! I can't wait to write more :) Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
She shifted in her bed as she struggled with a nightmare. She felt like she was still in that damned place and she woke up when she felt the trickling feeling in her neck. Her hand shot up to her neck to find another hand there.
"Sorry to wake you. I just wanted to check your vitals." Wanda tried to focus her eyes to clear her vision. She released her hand immediately as she recognized the face in front of her.
"It's okay, Dr. Cho. I was about to wake up myself." She assured her. After Clint told her about their whereabouts, she couldn't wrap her head around it. Last time she remembered, they were on different team. But now he offered them a safe place? That was so strange, but she decided to play along with it, as long as Steve trusted him.
"Hmm.. Your vitals are good and I can see that you've regain your power, so I guess you can go if you want."
"Really? I can go now?" She nodded. Wanda was excited. Being in that medical room was horrible. She could only smell anesthetic scent and she was alone. Steve still didn't come back after that and despite her promise to him, she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
"I'll have Asha to bring you clean clothes." Dr. Cho said as she stepped out of the room. Wanda didn't get the chance to ask her who Asha was, but she figured that they might be one of T'Challa's servants.
Not longer after that, a woman that might be younger than her came in to the room.
"This is for you, Ma'am" She laid down the clothes at the chair near her bed.
"Please, just call me Wanda."
"Alright, Wanda, I'll leave you to change. If you want anything else, don't hesitate to ask." Asha was about to leave when Wanda realized a crucial question that she had to ask.
"Asha, wait. Err.. could you tell me how to get to my bedroom?" Asha turned to face her with confused look.
"I could walk you there, if you want?"
"No, no. Just tell me the direction and I'll be fine on my own."
"Okay. When you got out, you should go to the right and go straight to the lift. All guests' bedrooms are located on the 3rd floor. Yours is the fifth room on the right. When you're there, you'll find all the information about the palace."
"Thank you, Asha."
"No problem. Is there anything else?"
"No thanks. I'm good now." Asha then left her.
Wanda slowly put her feet on the ground, feeling the coldness at her bare feet. She tried to stand up, but she failed at the first attempt. Her legs felt like a jelly that she kept on falling to the edge of the bed. But at her third attempt, she could finally stand up straight. She walked slowly to where her clothes were and changed out of her hospital dress. She put on black leather legging, a black tank top, a red leather jacket and a black ankle boots. When she checked herself on the mirror, she saw a pale woman stared back at her with red wound around her neck. She quickly zipped her jacket up to cover her neck. She didn't want to be reminded of the second darkest time of her life.
When she settled, she stepped out of the medical room to be face with long white and clean hallway with big windows to show the rainforest outside. She was fascinated by it and stopped for a moment before she began to go over the direction she was given. She was about to reach the lift, when she heard faint noises came in from one of the room near it. She was curious as she listened carefully at what was being said.
"You sure about this?" Steve's voice was heard.
"I can't trust my own mind. So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing. For everybody." When Wanda heard that, she didn't think too much about her next move.
"Wait!" The two men looked at her with surprise as she came in.
"Why are you here? You're supposed to be in the medical room." Steve was concerned.
"Dr. Cho had been checking on my vitals and they were stable, so she released me." She answered him, trying to calm him down.
"You know, I can help you." She fixed her eyes on the soldier. When her eyes met his, the voices were there again. It was nothing like she ever encountered before. Usually, she had to focus her mind to be able to read other's mind, but with him, it was the other way around. She had to work hard to shut his thoughts. Feeling kind of overwhelmed with the voices, she averted her gaze to find his metal arm was gone. What happened in the airport must have been child's play compared to what Steve and the soldier had to face.
"No you can't." His deep voice shook her.
"Nobody can't." He continued as he looked down at the floor.
"You're wrong." Surprised with her tone, he looked up at her, only to be face with a determination in her emerald eyes.
"Steve, can I talk to him alone?" Even when she said that, she didn't leave her gaze from the soldier and neither did him. Steve was startled by her demand, but if it were something that could help him brought back his brother, he would abide willingly.
"Okay, I'll leave you guys alone. Don't do something stupid until I get back, Buck!" That sentence earned Steve a small smile from the soldier.
When Steve stepped out and closed the door behind him, Wanda took a few steps toward the soldier. Both were feeling uneasy at each other's presents. They were staring at each other, not sure how to even begin the conversation. He was curious about her. That was for sure. He thought that she was very young and pure, but when she saved him from Black Panther's wrath, his opinion changed. Now he thought of her as a strong woman. A warrior, probably. Meanwhile, she focused on how to convince this particular stubborn HYDRA's experiment guy. That seemed so much like her.
"I can help you."
"And I'll say again. You can't. I'm a monster." She scoffed at that.
"YOU'RE a monster? Ha! What a joke. If YOU were a monster, then I didn't even know what my brother and I were." Her eyes were burn with emotion as she folded her arms. He was alarmed at her sudden rage and his expression gave her a reminder that he didn't know what they had been through, so she softened her gaze when she took another step forwards and sat beside him.
"You're not a monster." She let out a heavy sigh and looked up at him, to find out that he had been studying her.
"I know your story. You were forced to be HYDRA's fist. They made you into something you were not. You didn't have any choice back then. But my brother and I.." Her voice trailed off. Even after two years, she was still hurt from talking about their stupid decision.
"We were volunteering to be in HYDRA's experimentation. We chose to be their weapon. So, no, compared to us, you're not a monster." They had a long pause before one of them could speak again.
"I'm sorry." He said it after processing the new information he had. He didn't want to believe that there was other people that had been undergo something worse than him. But seeing her eyes, he didn't see any lies. Seeing her eyes, he didn't want to judge her action, because all he could see was pain and regret.
"I'm sorry too. Listen, I know how you feel. You feel like there's no place for someone like you. That there would be no forgiving about what you've done. There would never be anyone that would stand beside you to go on with this life, but you're wrong. I felt that once."
"What changed?" He wanted to know the reason so bad, because what she said was the same as what he felt at the time. He didn't know that there would be someone that could understand his feeling.
"Avengers. And accepting everything that happened as your past that you can't change but what you choose for your future is all that matters. If you want to redeem yourself, then be a better person than you were before. Before today, before HYDRA, even before you were enlisted. Also, remember that you have Steve. When he said that he's with you to the end of the line, then he will be. I think you know that." He smiled lightly as an affirmation.
"Maybe you think that Steve's your only family right now, but believe me, it's not going to stay the same for so long. There are going to be other people that you'll consider family. Been there done that. You could even consider me as one, you know since we were both HYDRA's bitch." He chuckled. His laughter was light and crisp that she couldn't help but laughing with him for a moment.
"Just think about what I said. And when you've decided, you know where to find me." She got up and looked at him for a second before walking toward the door.
"Wait, why do you want to help me?" His words stopped her and she turned to look at him.
"Because I choose to put my power into something good. Beside, when I see you and Steve, what you guys have are the same as what my brother and I had. I don't want either of you to loose it."
"Had?" He was confused.
"That story's for another time, soldier." She half smiled at him before turning her back once again at him and stepped out of there.
Later that day, she found herself looking far into the ceiling as she opened her eyes. She remembered that after her chat with the soldier, she went into her bedroom and just straight to sleep. Clearly, the medication still had an effect on her. She slowly sat up to look around her bedroom. The bedroom she had now was not too different from what she had at the compound. She even spotted a guitar leaning toward her dresser. Steve must have told T'Challa that she liked to play guitar, so that T'Challa put one in her bedroom. She got up to get her guitar and then sat back down into her bed. She played random keys for a moment and then she started to play it and sing a song.
"Sunce počinje da postavlja
(The sun is beginning to set)
Ovde sam iščekivana
(I'm right here waiting for you)
Dori dragi mi drži ruku
(Come on darling hold my hand)
Tako da možemo da plešemo u zapadnom horizontu
(So we can dance in the western horizon)
Gdje smo zaglavljeni u snovnom svetu
(Where we are lulled into the dream world)"
"Beautiful." She was surprised at the voice. She was lost in her song that she didn't notice that The Winter Soldier was already leaned upon the doorframe.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I mean, the song, it's beautiful." He seemed flustered and shrugged as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Thank you. I didn't know you speak Sokovian."
"I'm an assassin, so speaking in many languages were on our first training."
"Were." He looked at her quizzically.
"You were an assassin. You're not one since you've helped Steve." He nodded slightly. Part of him wanted to believe that it was true, but another part of him kept him from it.
"I guess it's a lullaby?"
"Yeah, my mom used to sing to my brother and I when we were young."
"You still don't want to talk about it?"
"No, I don't." They exchanged an understanding smile.
"If you want.. You can come in here rather than standing there uncomfortably." Wanda motioned to him to the ottoman near her bed. He was self conscious to go in but then obliged.
"You know what I came here for." He said softly as he took a sit. Even when they were on the same eye level, he avoided her gaze. He just looked into her bed sheet.
"Yeah well, I told you to find me after all. So?" He smiled, still avoiding her gaze. Other than Steve, it was only her that could make him smile and feel comfortable enough to have a longer conversation. He was smiling so much from before, that his cheek was hurting, since he never used the muscles when he was The Winter Soldier.
"So.. I guess.. I'll take you up on the offer." He said slowly as if he wasn't fully sure about his own decision.
"Great! We can start tomorrow morning at 7 in the training room." She was so eager at this that made him much more certain about it and finally looked up at her.
"Okay, I'll be there." As he said that, Wanda offered her hand at him.
"I'm Wanda. Well, funny enough we didn't get to introduce ourselves properly." They both smiled at each other but he took a moment to slowly shake her hand. When his hand grasped hers, he felt weird, since he didn't get to have proper human contact for so long. But, taking in her small yet delicate hand against his calluses one, the feeling was becoming more familiar.
"I'm.." He stopped mid-sentence because he wasn't sure what he wanted to be called. Bucky didn't sound right at this time, since he didn't quite fully become the old Bucky. He was still figuring things out about him. And Barnes just sounded too formal and criminal like. It only left him with one name that he didn't get to hear often, after his parents died.
"James. I want to call you James, if it's okay with you." He let out a sigh of relieved that she wanted to call him that. It sounded odd, coming from anyone that wasn't his parents. But, he liked the way his name sounded with her thick Sokovian accent.
"I was about to say that." He smiled once more.