I wake up, dazed, my face pressed against a cold surface. I realise it to be polished concrete because of the sleek feel. I jolt up. I'm not supposed to be here. I realise. I scramble to my feet, taking in the surroundings around me. Polished concrete and whitewashed walls. There's a door, across the rectangular room and a strip of fluorescents lighting the place. The room has a foreboding cleanliness to it, the kind that evil scientists experimenting on humans have.

On one wall, there's a dark, reflective surface. I note it from the movies, it's one of those one-way mirrors that the protagonist or antagonist stand behind and assess their enemy from.

I hear a shuffle of fabric and a slight groan and turn to see Bucky in a torture-looking chair. His head and limbs are strapped down with metal clamps. He looks like he's in pain and I falter.

"So this is the infamous Olyiva that's been harbouring our Winter Soldier." An accented voice purrs, I whirl around to be looking at the mirror, now I can see through. A man with shortly-cropped brunette hair and glasses sits at the microphone. Two familiar figures stand behind him; Ryder and Jayden.

"Jayden? Ryder?" I almost gasp, trying to keep the shock from showing, I'm not doing a very good job at it. Ryder smirks, Jayden's eyes flicker downwards.

"I'm sorry Olyvia." Jayden lowers his head while Ryder grins.

"Hello Livvy, seems we meet again? Not the circumstances you though, perhaps? Maybe you were thinking something along the lines of the rumours you thought you could bargain with." I wince. Ah yes, Ryder's big secret. Ryder's voice has a deep, sinister texture to it that sends fear shooting down my spine. "Perhaps in bed maybe? Just like those girls who came running to you for help? You didn't of course, why would you? You were still battling your own, inner demons."

"Stop." I mumble. Hands grabbing at my forearms, the images invading my brain. I'd been too shocked to pull away. If I'd been a second sooner I wouldn't have relived the horror. Someone else's horror.

"Then they mysteriously began to disappear and you began to wonder if it was all true." His words began to wash over me, taking me back to a place where I didn't want to be.

"No." I winced, suppressing my tears.

"Please help us!" She screamed. "He's going to come for us again! H-He's going to kill us, or worse."

"No!" I shook them off, clenching at my jacket. My world felt wrong, the lasting sensation of hands grasping at my body in places that I didn't want them to be. I tried to convince myself that it hadn't happened, that it was someone else's memory, it was so, vivid. "No! Leave me alone."

"They were gone, you thought that maybe they'd found a route out, that they'd escaped on their own. But then the pieces fell into place and you realised you were responsible for the deaths of more people. They had lives ahead of them Liv! They were going to become doctors and teachers and truthful politicians! Not anymore, no, it was because of you they aren't living today."

I was crying now, on my knees, on the verge of screaming. Running my hands through my hair, catching on the knots. My body wracking with hurt and pain. Does everything I do end in horror? Is this what I am? A curse?

"Livvy." His voice cuts through the pain and the confusion. I stop. Breathing heavily. "Livvy listen to me. You can get through this. Remember who you are."

Broken.

I look up, Bucky is gritting his teeth but I can tell that he was the one who gasped out the words. He manages a smile, I nod firmly, all my hurt and confusion gone.

"So this is what you did?" I ask, turning accusingly on Ryder. "Feed me to American dogs?"

"We are not Americans, quite the opposite." The man said simply, the lilt in his voice coming through.

"Jayden gave me an opportunity and I took it. Draw out your friends and this rumour and suspicion would be gone. Honestly, I didn't think you'd be harbouring criminals but I guess I was wrong." Ryder shrugged, and I stared at him with disbelief.

"They're not criminals." I ground out.

"They are!" Ryder shouted and I suck in a breath. "They are Liv! I thought that you were the only one that could see that but apparently not."

"I realised who the real enemy is." I scowled. "I didn't get held back by the shit I've caused."

Ryder's face is cold, his eyes take on a malicious glint and his head tilts slightly. "You were going to kill yourself that day? Weren't you?" Ryder grins and I shrivel back. "I used to watch you. Every day, like clockwork, after Emma left you'd wander into the restricted zone to the cathedral. Sometimes, when you had the courage, you'd climb upwards, hoping that you'd slip and hit the ground and it'd be done and finished. Sometimes you'd just linger at the bottom and hope that the high doses of radiation that you subjected yourself to every day would kill you. Until they came." I was silent, biting the inside of my cheek.

I looked down. I was going to kill myself that day, I'd finally gathered enough courage to do so. I was many things; a shitty friend, a survivor, murderess, broken but I was also a coward.

"You should've killed yourself, because now, I'm going to make your death much, much, more painful." The other voice said. "I am Baron Zemo, new representative of Hydra, you have taken one of our most prized possessions and seemingly tinkered with him a little bit. He's a killer, that's undeniable, and to start off with our experiment, he'll kill you."

"You speak too much." I growl, my eyes slitting.

"Livvy!" Bucky groaned as the glass between us disappeared, I rushed to his side. "Livvy, you, you need to get out of here."

"No, I need to find out a way to help you." I frowned, looking over his restraints. "You know, in any other situation I would've made a joke about the current predicament you're in but right now's not the time." I managed a little laugh, Bucky sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Olyvia, I need you to get away, now, it's not safe, I'm not safe." Bucky pleaded, his brown eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Behind us the man starts speaking words, commands. I look back to Bucky, trying to figure out the meaning behind it.

Bucky's face is pure, sheer, terror. His eyes are wide and he appears to be on the verge of screaming. I recognise that look, I've seen it a couple times, sheer, undaunted terror, in the face of one's worst nightmare. He begins to breathe quickly, short, taught gasps, tugging and writhing against his restraints.

He begins to scream, a sound the curdles in the air and brings tears to my eyes. A stab of pain hits me in the chest and my tears spill over. "Stop it!" I cry at the Zemo guy. "Your torturing him. Stop it!" The last bit, I scream, trying to send forth whatever it is that I have, this ability that's a pain in the ass and only fucking useful when it wants to be.

Unfortunately, whatever I send flying at him, hits a wall and completely dissipates. I'm left with little to no energy and awkwardly stumble to stand.

Bucky's cries have stopped in my ears and I turn to see if he's okay. I assume that he's okay when I see him stand, my frazzled and drained state doesn't take in his quivering body or the look of absolute hatred in his eyes, nor does it take in the mangled restraints behind him.

"Bucky." I smile, relaxing slightly, swaying on my feet. He doesn't look to me, just to the man who'd been calling the commands. Zemo.

"Your first mission, soldier, is to kill the girl." Zemo speaks, a slow smile etched across his face and a slice of light maliciously reflecting off of his glasses.

I'm too shocked to move, to horrified. Bucky wouldn't- however, I think what hit me the hardest was that when Bucky turned to me, he had the same malicious look Zemo had in his eyes. He was ready to kill me.

"Bu-" I try to say before he backhands me, not across the face but across the stomach, sending me spinning across the room into the other wall. I saw a moment where he was going for my face, not my chest. That gave me hope so with renewed vigour, I stumbled to stand, my world still spinning. He's already coming for me and I have barely enough time to slide out my father's knife and position myself in a meek defence stance before he's on top of me.

I swipe out first, swinging wildly, aiming for his face. Instead of grabbing my hand and twisting the knife out of my grasp, he dodges backwards, and keeps doing so as I swipe back and forth. On the forth time, I lunge. It sends both of us sprawling to the ground. I land on top, shoving my knife under his slightly prickly neck.

I look at him in the eyes, he's fighting, he's fighting whatever this is but he needs your help.

I need your help, Bucky eyes screamed. I need you to end this, end me.

"No," I whisper, "there's gotta be another way."

The moment's gone as he throws me off of him. I slide across the floor and Bucky's on top of me, my knife in his hand, it's at my throat and I relax. "Do it." I whisper, tears drying on my cheeks, I have no tears left. I've cried, hurt too many times. "I thought I had something to live for, but apparently not."

Bucky pauses, the darkness in his eyes recedes for a second or two. They're brown, a confused brown nonetheless. I reach up, pressing my hand to his cheek.

"I'm not gonna bite, I promise" "please, we need your help" "It's a very important part of you" "Bucky wake up!" "It's going to be okay. You're safe, Steve's here. They're not after you anymore, I promise." "Y-You promise?" "I promise."

"Бережёного Бог бережёт." Bucky mutters and I cock my head to the side, questioning. He looks up and sees my expression, "the Lord helps those who helps themselves... For me, it was you."

I gave him a small smile, he was back to me, those brown eyes weren't filled with anger or agitation or malice, they were filled with love.

"Have I ever told you I love you?" Bucky murmured, pressing his forehead to mine.

I laughed, grinning like an idiot, my head ringing, vision spinning. "It's a bit late for that."

My vision blurred and the world turned black. Bucky's urgent voice being the last thing I could hear, with the sensation that I was endlessly falling into a bottomless pit of nothing.