PROLOGUE. 

a love lost in time!

❝ so, before you go / was there something I could've said / to make your heart beat better?❞

⎯ lewis capaldi, before you go

WHEN BUCKY GOT home, he found them. 

Reine was standing by the back door to the fire escape, bag slung over her shoulder, and a man in a red, white and blue suit talking with Marina. She was wearing a pink sweater and jeans, her hair tied up messily. Reine didn't know what was going on, picking up bits and pieces of the strange man's quick words. Her English had improved significantly, but she could still only understand it well when the person spoke slowly. This man had a funny accent with an even funnier appearance, and Reine would have laughed and joked about it had it not been for the serious and cautious look he gave both her and her mother when he walked in.

"He didn't do it." Marina said to the man. "He couldn't. He's been with us for two years."

"I know he didn't." the man that reminded Reine of the superhero comics she read in her free time replied. "But the world... doesn't... leave."

"We're not going without him." Marina had said. "He's innocent. I know the dangers, I've been living with the Winter Soldier —sleeping with the Winter Soldier—" the man made an awkward face, and Reine followed suit, but Marina knew who she was, and what she was doing. She wasn't ashamed. The kind of love she held for James was one that couldn't break, no matter how hard the world tried to pull them apart.

"—For two years." Marina finished coldly. "We're not leaving, Mr. Rogers."

"Ms. Castell." The man named Rogers had said carefully, and this time Reine could understand him fully. "German Special forces are on their way now, you and your daughter need to leave. I promise Bucky will be safe."

"But you can't promise that." Marina cut in. "I'm sorry, but you can't." she'd crossed her arms and looked back into the middle of the room. "We're staying with you, mi amor." they'd all turned as Marina spoke to the other person now standing in the room. Reine squealed in delight, a happy twelve year old girl growing fast. Bucky grunted as she launched herself into his arms.

"Bucky!" she said. Bucky kissed her forehead and quickly set her down, his arms straining at her metal grip on his arms. Her strength had grown as well, somehow. When Bucky and her play-wrestled now, she was able to take him down, and keep him down. Marina said she got it from her mother (obviously), and when this happened, Bucky would go up to her and bring her lips to his, replying "of course". Reine would gag and promptly run out of the room.

Marina ran towards him, held his hand, and the mismatched family turned back to Steve Rogers. The little girl, a ball of fire. The woman, ray of pastel light. The man,  so long conflicted with his own mind —sometimes still wanting to distance himself from the people he loved—, no longer a soldier.

That all changed when his past caught up to him in the apartment in Bucharest, a bag of plums still left sitting on the floor.

"Do you know me?" the man asked Bucky.

"You're Steve." he replied calmly, without any hesitation. "I read about you in a museum." Marina held onto his hand harder, feeling the shaking in his fingertips. "Why are you here?"

"I know you're nervous." Steve didn't answer his question. Marina held Reine back from launching herself at the man. "And you have plenty of reason to be. But I know you're lying." Marina let out a soft breath.

"I wasn't in Vienna." Bucky called out. "I don't do that anymore." Reine had frowned, confused at these people's words.

"What was in Vienna?" she'd piped up, and Steve had jerked backwards, seemingly forgetting there was a rambunctious child in the room. Marina had gripped her hand tightly.

"Not now, Reine." her mother had said, and the girl unwillingly fell silent. Steve suddenly grew much more agitated, looking around the room.

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now." he said forcefully. "They're not planning on taking you alive." Marina's eyes had widened. "You need to get these two out. Now." Reine didn't remember exactly what happened next. The world seemed to erupt into chaos the moment Bucky slipped off his glove, metal arm glinting in the darkness, and her mother pulled her towards the fire exit.

There was a loud bang, and next thing the girl knew she was falling, crying out as her little body hit the rough cement ground. Her mother came after her, scrapes lining her elbows as she picked her daughter up, carrying her away from the gunfire. Marina had wanted to go back, needing to see if her love was still alive, but he'd told her to run, told her to keep Reine safe. He'd promised he'd be back, and she believed him.

So they ran.

Marina and Reine weaved their way through the streets of Bucharest, the girl crying out for Bucky while her mother tried to stay strong. She wasn't a fighter, never had been. Marina Castell was a healer, a woman that mended broken minds and tainted souls. She'd never tried to become a soldier, a hero, but when the smooth black car had swerved in front of them, guns within the vehicle pointed straight at them, she'd wished she was.

The soldiers had filed out one by one, their rifles trained on Marina and Reine, who stood in the middle of the street. Reine had tears staining her cheeks, and Marina pushed her daughter behind her. If they were to shoot, she would keep her precious daughter safe, no matter what happened to herself.

Because that was who Marina was. Putting everyone above herself, keeping everyone she loved from harm. She'd found solace again, when she thought she'd never love again, and now she was going to fight for it, if not with fists, then with passion.

"Mama!" Reine had cried.

"I know, hermosa." Marina called her daughter by the nickname she'd had since Reine was a small baby. "I know."

A man in a black suit exited the vehicle, his hands up to show he wasn't a threat. Marina stepped back, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Ms. Castell." Marina took another step back as the man's warning tone washed over her and her daughter. Alarms blared inside her head, arms shaking as she watched the man that seemed to be threatening everything she loved. She didn't know where Bucky was, didn't even know if he was still alive. All she could do now was protect Reine, protect the one thing they both loved more than anything besides each other.

"Ms. Castell." the man repeated her name as if it were bile on his tongue. "You need to come with us." Marina did not move. She held onto Reine's hand tighter and kept her head high, chestnut locks falling against her neck.

"Who are you?" she asked loudly. The men did not move their rifles from pointing straight at her. The man took a step closer. She took a step back. Marina was aware of the dangerous game they were playing. The dance of life and death. This man was a master, and Marina was only just learning how to keep her footing. One wrong move and she would be the death of her daughter, perhaps even Bucky.

"Ms. Castell," the man called again. "We are not here to hurt you."

"Then what are you here for?" she replied. "And why are you pointing your guns at me and my daughter!?" the man paused, then raised a hand, and the weapons were lowered. Reine whimpered at her side, shaking violently, while Marina bit the inside of her cheek.

"Ms. Castell." the man said softly. "We are aware that you were harboring the fugitive known as James Buchanan Barnes, or the Winter Soldier." Marina froze. "We now have your... ward, in custody, and unless you do not cooperate with us, we will place you under arrest." He gave her an awkward smile. "We need both you and your daughter to come with us."

While the prospect of seeing James again made Marina's chest ache, she paused, knowing better than to trust this man right away. "If we don't?"

The man sighed deeply, looking as if he actually felt sorry for them. "We will use force." Reine gasped from behind Marina. "On you and your daughter. Ms. Castell, you were harboring a criminal that blew up the UN, which means you should be placed in a cell along with Barnes."

"What are going to do to him?!" Reine's harsh voice called out. Some of the men raised their weapons again as the little girl stepped in front of her mother, the frown on her face like a match lit in darkness. Marina held Reine back, but she could hardly ever keep her daughter contained for long.

The man smiled sweetly down at the little girl, not knowing she wouldn't hesitate to break his neck if he made any move, and said. "Nothing to hurt him, I can promise you that."

It wasn't enough for either of them, knowing full well Bucky was already hurting, and this would only make it worse. But, Marina reasoned, if she and Reine were there for him, if they could support him through this, things might turn out better. It was a small sliver of hope, a tiny shred of happiness, and she clung to it with all she had.

They got into the car together, speeding off with a cage around them, a heavy burden on their hearts.

Inside the facility the men drove them to, Marina and Reine were held back as Bucky was escorted through the hall, encased in a pen of bullet-proof glass, hands bound in steel. Marina and Reine both cried out, a guard holding the woman back as she tried to reach the man she loved.

It was harder to keep the girl contained. Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson took shocked steps forward as the little 12-year-old pushed back the guards trying to make sure she didn't reach Bucky. The blonde soldier stepped forward, while King T'Challa shot daggers into the struggling woman's head. He'd come to understand his father's killer was with this woman, living and sleeping with her. His thirst for revenge was overpowering, and some of it even directed itself towards the thrashing girl banging against the glass.

Bucky tried not to look at them. Inside the glass, his hands were shaking, his need to take them in his arms potent enough to hurt. His head ached, his mind screaming inside his skull. It took his whole being not to break out of the chains, smash the glass and wrap his arms around the girl pounding on the door. He wanted to tangle his hands in the hair of the woman calling his name. He wanted to keep the people he loved close to him, tell them it was going to be alright, that nothing was going to happen to them. The only problem was that he didn't know any of that. He didn't know what was going to happen, what they would do to him. What they would do to Marina and Reine. It made him sick to the stomach.

"Bucky! Bucky!" Reine called out. "Por qué estás ahí?" she cried out. Why are you in there? 

Bucky locked his jaw, his head turning to look over the crying Reine's head, staring into the eyes of the woman he loved. She was being held back by two guards dressed all in black, but wasn't resisting. She seemed to melt when their gazes touched. Tears brimmed her eyelids, but she held her head high. He almost wanted to smile at her bravery, at her faultless courage to hold onto hope even now. He loved her for it, for how she never seemed to falter.

Marina looked at Bucky like he was the only thing in the world, forgetting the men holding her back, forgetting the soldiers and heroes staring at her. She didn't care about them. She didn't care whether they lived or died, killed her or let her go. The only people she did care about were in front of her; One back in a cage, the other trying to break him free.

After conversing with Secretary Ross and Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers turned back, seeing that the girl was still banging her fists on the containment cell. No one dared move closer to her. Marina was still struggling against the bonds of her own captors, not strong enough to worm her way out of their grasp. The man who'd tried to help them strode towards the little girl, forcing himself not to look at his old friend.

He knelt beside the girl, and stopped her from banging on the glass again. Reine screamed and turned to him, hitting his shoulder harshly. Steve grunted, already feeling a bruise sprouting across his flesh. His eyes widened in surprise. This girl was strong, stronger than any other kid he'd met. Reine thrashed, trying to reach Bucky again, but the cage started moving away, and Steve kept Reine from going after it.

"Hey, hey." he told her. "It's okay, Bucky's going to be okay." But Reine didn't believe him. She knew she could trust this man, he'd been right about leaving when he'd shown up at their apartment hours earlier, but it still hurt when he kept her from running after Bucky. Marina cried for Reine, Reine cried for Bucky, and Bucky tried to keep calm.

The last thing he saw before the doors closed him in was Marina, outlined in the moving doors, her eyes filled with tears, her hair falling across her heaving shoulders. Their eyes met, perhaps for the last time, and in one final act of bravery, of consolation, Marina nodded her head towards him.

It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay.

But it wasn't okay. It was never okay.

The next hours passed by in a blur. Marina and Reine were hurried into a sterile room of pure concrete. There they were interrogated, for hours the police and detectives asked them questions, trying to pierce their minds, twisting the story Marina gave them into something unrecognizable.

No matter what she said, no matter what she did, it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for them to realize who Bucky Barnes was now. No longer the Winter Soldier, but simply a man trying to heal. A man trying to rid himself of the past still haunting his mind. Marina understood, she'd come to understand him better than anyone, and she told them. She told them who he was, told them what had happened.

She told them that Bucky loved her. She told them that he had never tried to hurt her or Reine. She told them he would play with her daughter, ever so gentle, taking care of her when Marina had to work. She told them everything.

But still, it didn't work. They did not believe her.

The agents told her he had twisted Marina, seducing her to become his little puppet, his means of survival. They told her Bucky was a danger to her and to her daughter. They made up lies about why Bucky was so gentle with Reine. They made Marina wait outside the room while Reine was examined and evaluated, looked over for any signs of bruises of past injuries. Marina tried to break in when she heard her daughter screaming for them to stop, calling for her mother, telling them she was fine.

They didn't believe her.

After both her and her daughter were inspected and deemed healthy, Marina and Reine were escorted into a glass enclosed office building with Mr. Rogers, Sam Wilson, and the woman which came in with them. Steve didn't turn around, but Marina knew he was sorry by the way his shoulders sagged. The sounds of Reine's stifled sobs filled the room. Sam, who was an expert in trauma, knew several exercises he could use to help her, but then Sharon Carter turned on the TV inside the office, and Bucky Barens filled the screen.

Reine and Marina stood up, moving forwards, while Steve nodded in thanks.

They watched with fervent expressions as the evaluator sat down and began to talk to Bucky. Reine gripped Marina tightly, tears drying on her face. Her mother was frozen in place, eyeing the therapist wearily. Her heart clenched, chest seething. The hours of fervent interrogation had taken a toll on both of them, and exhaustion pulled at the duo's limbs. Reine could still feel the doctor's hands on her bare back, searching for signs that Bucky had abused her. She didn't understand why they thought Bucky would hurt her. Usually she was the one doing the injuring, underestimating her strength when they wrestled. He was the one that had bruises sprouting along his arms from their play  fighting, not her, but the men hadn't examined him. They'd locked him up without even checking to see if he was hurt.

The evaluator was a strange man with a strange voice. Reine didn't know why he kept asking Bucky all those weird questions. Having had a very sheltered life, the young girl wasn't used to so many odd and frightening people. Her mother was as soft as flowers, and Bucky was as damaged as broken glass. For a long time, Reine thought all people were like them. The only time she saw anything different was when they went out for dinner sometimes, and even then, it was more of the same friendly faces.

This was different. Everything was different. There were computer screens everywhere, more than she'd seen in her entire life, and everyone kept looking at them like they were a spider crawling on a ceiling.

Reine didn't have long to think about why, because a couple minutes later, everything went dark.

All the lights in the building went off, the emergency lights flickering dimly. Marina looked to Steve, confused, while Sharon Carter told the man where to find Bucky. Reine gazed around at the shadows of people moving about the room. There was an air of panic flitting through the space, which made her stomach clench.

"Mama!" Reine called out as Steve and Sam moved with her mother out the door. Marina kept a close hold on her daughter's hand. "What's going on?" They left the room and clambered down the stairs towards the area Bucky was being held. Marina's breaths were shallow, her chest aching.

"I don't know, Reine." the woman replied honestly as they entered the wide hall. "I don't know."

Across the way, trapped in a cage he could not escape from,. Bucky Barnes tried to fight for control of his mind.

"Stop." he called to the man who was not who he said he was. The treacherous red book was held in the man's hands, and the words he spoke out in Russian made Bucky want to die. His head was split in two, as was his soul, as word after word tried to make him into something he'd tried to forget.

In Russian the man spoke eloquently. "Longing." Bucky gritted his teeth, his heart chipped away. His bottom lip began to shake, head hitting the metal behind him. His eyes widened, the realization of it all come crashing down around him.

"Rusted."

Bucky shook his head again, closing his eyes. Images of the past came up to him, and his body was made of glass, shattering as the Winter Soldier tried to break free. No, he thought, please not here, because he knew they were still in the building. Somewhere, his love and her daughter were sitting in a room, having no idea what was happening to him. He would hurt them. He might even kill them. And if that happened, Bucky would rather die than carry on in life.

"Seventeen."

His hands shook, arms seething with untamed power as the urge to fight grew steadily worse. If he broke out, he would kill them. He would kill them all. He would murder her, he would murder the woman he'd given himself to. He'd murder the child who made his life seem like a burning sun. He'd kill them, and he would give them no mercy.

"Daybreak."

Bucky screamed. His shrieks echoed throughout the room, voice piercing the very fabric of the universe as the pain grew in the back of his head. No, he thought, I cannot do this to them. He grunted as the chains broke loose with the might of his strength, and Bucky slammed his body against the front glass.

"Furnace."

I will not hurt them, Bucky thought. He started to punch at the glass, strength returning to his limbs ten-fold. I will not hurt them, I cannot hurt them. Those four words were the only thing that kept him from destroying the world. The thought of losing them was the only thing that kept him sane. He needed Marina and Reine more than anything in the world. I will not hurt them.

"Nine."

He punched. He slammed his fists on the glass, cracks beginning to show in the clear cage.

"Benign."

Bucky yelled out, fists pounding on the glass with a might that couldn't be matched. A fire burned within him, a longing for the recapture to stop, for this man to stop, for his thirst to kill to stop. He wanted it all to stop, and so he fought harder.

"Homecoming."

The tug on his mind strengthened, HYDRA taking control.

"One."

NO! Bucky's mind screamed, I will not hurt them! The glass cracked again. And again. And again. The last word was the one that would finish him, the one that would end the triggering, and turn Bucky back into a man he'd wanted to kill. One last word, and he would hurt them. He'd hurt all of them.

So close, he was so close to breaking the glass. He could feel the hinges loosening, the door creaking to fall. He thought of only her, with her pink lips and sunshine smiles, her kind eyes and glorious cheeks. He thought of their first kiss, where he was awkward and fumbling, not having engaged with another woman since the 1940s.

He thought of holding her close to him in the middle of the night when the man spoke for the last time.

"Freight Car."

The door broke completely. It flew across the room, and Bucky fell out onto his knees. Hands thudding against the concrete floor, his mind shattered, like a fragile ornament being crushed in a hand, letting itself cut deep, making the flesh bleed. He took deep breaths, and everything he'd built for himself came crumbling down. Memories of her and the little girl were pushed to the farthest corners of his mind, and all that remained was red.

Bucky stood slowly, eyes narrowing. His heart was gone, a gaping hole of putrid black. His mind was broken, blank. He was nothing. No one. He was not in love. He did not have a girl he saw like a daughter. He had no one to remember.

He was the Winter Soldier once more.

"Ready to Comply."

The Castell family would rather forget what happened when they saw Bucky Barnes again.

They would rather forget the way the man saw them with a blank stare, barely a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Dark hair fallen past his shoulders, dripping with sweat, blood staining his shirt.

They would rather forget the way he'd done nothing as Marina took a step forward, shielding Reine's body with her own, other hand moving up. Bucky had flinched as her dainty skin reached out to his own hands, covered in blood that was not his own.

In the hall of the security building, made of white concrete and clear glass, the woman and child stepped closer to the wrathful soldier. They'd been told to evacuate the building with the others, but before they could leave, Bucky had crashed into the hall, fighting off Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and Sharon Carter. It was then, when he had his back turned, for a split second of peace, that Marina called out his name.

He'd turned immediately, and when he saw them in the middle of the commotion, the soldier had paused. His eyes flitted between the beautiful woman's face to the hard-edged little girl. She glared at him, and he noticed tears drying on her round cheeks. The woman with eyes like the sun shook softly, and her lips quivered. Bucky frowned.

There was something familiar about those lips.

"Bucky." the woman called out, and he took a step back. "Soy yo mi amor" It's me, my love. "Marina." The name caused the man to jerk forward, eyes burning, heart seizing in his chest. Marina took another step, and Reine obediently followed, tugging on her mother's other hand.

"Bucky." Marina said again. "Vuelve a nosotros." Come back to us.

Only in that moment, when Bucky was bent over, chest heaving from the name, the wretched name that tasted like everything sweet on his tongue, the other man leapt over the two and kicked him in the chest.

Bucky flew back slightly, looking up to see the man with dark skin and a strange necklace hung around his neck getting up from the ground. Marina and Reine ran to the side, the little girl wanting to join the fight, the woman doing everything in her power to keep the world safe.

Bucky whirled on them, seeing the two trying to escape, and lunged.

He would regret it for the rest of his life.

He would regret curling his metal hand around the woman's neck, and gripping the little girl by the hair. He would regret throwing them back against the wall hard enough for the little girl to fall unconscious and the women's arm to shatter.

For months, years even, after he did those things to the ones he love, Bucky had thought the government was right. They were right to examine Reine for signs of abuse. They were right to keep Marina and her daughter away from him. He was dangerous, a killer, not to be trusted. After all, he couldn't even trust himself.

The unlikely family of Barnes and Castell would never forget the catastrophe of events that followed the faithful day.

Not for as long as they lived.

Following the attack on the SHIELD building, Sam Wilson offered to let Marina and Reine stay at his house until things died down.

Reine hated the idea, fighting and punching at Sam and her mother until they had bruises on their arms. It took the Falcon everything in his power to keep her under control as they walked to the car, leaving the ruins of a broken establishment behind.

With broken hearts and damaged souls, the mother and daughter drove out to where they would hopefully be safe.

When they walked into the neatly styled house, Reine immediately went into the bedroom and slammed the door shut, closing herself away. Her head still hurt from where Bucky had hit her, and her quaking sobs for him to come back was enough to shake the whole house.

Marina stood outside the door the entire night, saying nothing, only slumping against the wood, letting her daughter know she was there for her, no matter what.

The next day, when Reine finally agreed to come out and eat breakfast, they got the text from Sam. The two practically jumped for joy when he said that Bucky was alive, and seemed to have returned to his normal self.

Marina had called Sam and asked to go see him, but the man replied that it wasn't safe yet. He said Bucky didn't want them getting into any more danger, which was what life would be like from then on. Reine had screamed for Bucky into the cell-phone, and they'd both known he was listening, but nothing worked.

Sam and then Steve told them to stay put, to keep themselves hidden until the fight died down, then they would come for them.

Marina had agreed, but only when after Reine had stormed off, and the man they'd wanted to see had taken the phone.

"Stay there." he'd told her. "I will come to you when this is over. When I can trust myself again."

"I trust you now, mi amor." she'd replied.

On the other end, Bucky was holding back tears. "I know you do, but please, do this for me." there was a pause. "Do this for Reine. I can't hurt you or her again."

Marina had wiped her eyes, sniffling, trying to keep her voice down so Reine wouldn't come barging in and demand Bucky return to them right away.

"Alright." she'd finally amended. "Just come back to us. You promise?"

Bucky had smiled softly, his eyes holding a newfound spark of heartache. "Promise."

And so they waited. For what felt like eternity they waited.

The world felt different without him. The routine they'd developed was broken, and they couldn't find a way to go back to normal. It was as if the two had been shot, a bullet hole wedged in their hearts, a vacant spot where a man with soft touches and a laugh of steel would normally be.

The days swam by, and the two did not get any more comfortable. Reine would wake up screaming each night, used to having Bucky's strong arms to hold her when the nightmares were too much. Marina couldn't sleep either, with the side of the bed empty, just like her heart. She would walk around the house at 3 am, remembering when she'd have someone to kiss and embrace, someone that made her feel like she was the whole world.

The hours felt like weeks, the days like months, as the two anxiously awaited any news that the third part of their small family was still alive. Marina's broken arm throbbed, aching viciously as recovery would take more than just a few days, while Reine's mild concussion healed rapidly. The first day they stayed at Sam's house, the girl had headaches all day, an ice-pack pressed to her head, and pain-filled cries on her lips.

Used to being able to scream and jump around as much as she wanted, Reine did not take kindly to her mother keeping her in bed, and not allowed to do any physical activity.

However, the next day, after the call with Sam, Reine got up from her spot and ran out into the backyard, doing cartwheels and shrieking into oblivion, spewing out every curse word (English and Spanish) into the sky.

Marina was astounded, because when she checked, Reine's concussion was gone. No lasting pain, no winces or hidden frowns. Her daughter was completely fine, after one day of rest.

Reine couldn't tell the difference, but Marina saw it clear and plain. Her daughter had always been strong, with a heart of gold and limbs like stone, Reine was as tough as diamonds. Marina had never met someone so brave, so strong and temperamental. And she loved Reine for it, loved her like there was nothing else in the world.

For those three days of pure agony, she was the only thing in the world. Marina, paranoid after everything that had happened in such a short amount of time, made it her priority to keep her daughter safe, because she couldn't lose anyone else. Perhaps it was selfish, Marina had thought more than once, that she should try to protect them all, that she should want to keep them for herself. But no, she'd decided. It wasn't selfishness or greed. She wasn't doing this because she wanted them for herself.

It was love. Pure, undying love. And she would fight for it till the end.

Finally, after days of anxiety brought up in their hearts, the phone rang again. Marina's arm was still healing, but Reine was perfectly healthy, and she rushed to the phone, picking it up before Marina could even get into the kitchen.

It was Sam again, and he wasn't alone. A man with an accent Reine had only heard once before also came on. Once Marina forced Reine to put in on speaker, the man told them everything.

He said that Bucky and Steve Rogers were now in Wakanda, his own country, and that they would be sending a plane to pick them up and bring them to the city. Reine was ecstatic, and Marina fought back tears as she sent her daughter to pack her things.

She didn't remember how many times she thanked the strong warrior women that carried their things onto the sleek jet, thanking them for taking her and her daughter to Bucky, for letting them stay in Wakanda, for even coming for them. The women never responded, but several returned soft smiles that told Marina all she needed to know.

You're welcome.

The landing in Wakanda was a blur, and for years afterward, neither Marina nor Reine could quite figure out what happened when they entered the country, when they walked through the halls of the incredible palace, down the streets of the vibrant city, into a building near the edge. 

All they remembered was what happened the moment the doors to the building opened, silent and swift, and the man came into view. Both Marina and Reine cried out in joy. They forgot all about their surroundings, not noticing the doctors in white lab coats moving about the space. They didn't see the blonde-haired man off to the side.

They saw nothing except the man with one arm, dark hair spilling past his shoulders, a sad smile on his face.

Bucky had been told to stay still by the doctors, but he couldn't resist moving up when he saw the woman he loved and her daughter barreling towards him. He sprung from the table and knelt down as the little girl ran into him, wrapping her small arms around his neck and pushing her face into his shoulder. His eyes swam with tears as he stood, Reine still clinging onto him, and turned to the woman with her hands over her mouth, a single tears springing down her cheek.

He rushed to her, and together, the family separated was reunited once more. Marina put both her hands on either side of his face.

"I thought I lost you." she whispered.

"I know." Bucky said back, his voice hoarse. "I know." He put Reine down, and she clung to both of them as Bucky kissed Marina, lips colliding with a passion untamed. A fire burning their veins, lust coating their tongues.

Both Reine and Steve made disgusted faces, and Bucky ruffled her hair when the girl started making disgusted noises. They all laughed, reunited once more, and for several blissful moments, there was peaceful silence.

Then Steve had to clear his throat.

Bucky looked over to him, and the smile fell off his lips, replaced with a sad frown. Marina pulled away, looking between the two men. Reine sensed it too, the sudden shift in the air. Bucky stepped back and looked down at his feet.

It was then Marina finally took a look around her. The men and women in white coats with clipboards and sitting at computers. Screens were set up about the room, and on the end, a tall tube-like chamber stood. Reine looked confusedly at the strange cylinder, not knowing what it meant.

But Marina did. Bucky and her had first talked about the cryogenic chamber four months into his stay with them. He'd told her about his time in the ice, just like Captain America, and how it had helped his mind go numb again.

"No," she said now. "No, Bucky." But Bucky had turned away, and he sat back on the bed. His ripped off arm was covered in a black gauze, and Reine poked at it absent mindedly as Marina came closer.

"Marina, I have to."

"What are you talking about?" Reine piped up, hoisting herself onto the table and resting her head on Bucky's metal shoulder, fiddling with her hands. Marina started shaking, her head weaving from side to side.

Bucky didn't answer Reine's question. "I can't trust my own mind."

"You can." Marina cut in. "I can." 

"What's happening?" Reine said louder this time. Bucky and Marina turned to her sharply, and Reine could see the tears clearly in her mother's eyes, while Bucky shook softly. Her eyes widened slowly, looking between the two, the dots connecting.

Then she hit Bucky. 

The man grunted as the girl punched him in his side, hitting him hard enough to sport a bruise right away. She tried to hit him again, but Marina pulled her daughter away, hugging her close.

"No!" Reine cried. "No! You can't leave us."

"Shhh, hermosa." Marina said into her ear. "It'll be alright, mija."

"No!" Reine called. "No!" Bucky forced himself to move to the floor, taking his hand and placing it on Reine's cheek. Her tears stained his skin, and it was like daggers poking into his flesh. Reine whimpered and moved into his palm. Marina knelt down as well, and her and Bucky's eyes met. Pain flashed across both pupils, but they kept it inside, trying to stay strong.

"I'll come back." Bucky whispered. "I will come back, and I will be better."

"But you're fine now!" Reine complained.

"No, Reine." Bucky said, his voice cracking. "I'm not. I've done things... I've hurt people. I've hurt you... and I'v e hurt your mother." Reine shook her head. "I need to do this. To help you."

Reine said nothing, sniffling and rubbing her sleeve over her eyes. Marina grabbed onto Bucky's hand, and they watched each other carefully. Bucky was trying to show her it was alright, and Marina was trying to believe him.

"Come back to us." Marina whispered as they stood and emrbaced one final time, the young girl squished between the two lovers, their tears falling against the other's cheeks.

When Bucky pulled back, the last time he would clasp them in his arms for a long while, he smiled. A genuine, complete grin at the two which had changed his life.

"Promise." he said, and he meant it. He meant it with all his heart.

Reine and Marina watched with heavy hearts as the one they loved was pulled from them again, turning pale and frozen, encased in ice as the cryo freeze took over once more.

But in that saddened moment, both Reine and Marina Castell made a promise.

They would wait. They would wait for him. No matter how long it took, no matter how many joyless years they spent with only each other.

They would wait for Bucky Barnes, until the end of time itself, they would wait.

✧

"It is time." Ayo had called out from beside the fire.

Reine and Marina were sitting beside a man shaking violently. The woman was holding his hand, and the young girl had her head resting on his arm-less shoulder. The now thirteen-year-old had grown significantly in the year they had waited for Bucky to wake up.

The now King T'Challa was kind enough to let the two stay in Wakanda, in a little hut on the water, until Bucky was stable enough to awake again. Just a couple weeks after the Avengers broke apart and Steve left Wakanda to go under the radar, T'Challa was faced with his own distressing predicament. Marina and Reine were caught in the game of politics between T'Challa's cousin and the right to the Wakandan throne. Reine and Marina, who'd been learning the art of combat from some of the gracious citizens, helped aide T'challa in the battle for Wakanda, and stood with him as he announced Wakanda's true resources to the world.

In the time spent in the beautiful and wondrous country, both Marina and Reine had settled in. The weight on their hearts was no longer a drop of lead, but merely a pull at the back of their minds. They'd spent the year learning the culture of the Wakandan people, finding a home with the people they were forever indebted to.

Reine had taken up combat more than Marina, who preferred to work with Princess Shuri and the other doctors in the medical labs, helping any of the injured in need of healing. Marina and Shuri had quickly become fast friends, and Reine admired the young girl just a few years older than her, seeing Shuri like a sister. T'Challa, Okoye, and Nakia were also like family now, allowing Marina and Reine into their home without asking for anything in return.

T'Challa especially became a figure in Reine's life, taking time out of his busy days to teach Reine hand-to-hand combat. He taught her how to be light on her feet, where the weakest points on the body were, and how each battle would require a different amount of strength. Reine, who'd become able to lift weights even the Wakandan king could not, had always struggled with knowing when to hold back and when to lose control. T'Challa was able to help her, able to help her repress the fire built inside her heart.

It took a while, however, as Reine seemed prone to go too far. She didn't seem to know when to stop, and sometimes, the Dora Milaje watching would need to get involved, the only soldiers there able to quell Reine from accidently breaking someone's neck.

Marina didn't know how many times she and her daughter apologized to those who had cuts and scrapes on their body's after helping Reine learn. They always said it was fine, that getting a little injured was part of the process, but neither of them believed it.

Reine didn't know why she couldn't keep her flurry of emotions at bay. It seemed every time the wrestling of combat got good, where she was able to parry and block, and her opponent the same, she seemed to go blind, enraged she was losing and something inside her would snap.

T'Challa said it was natural. The rage come from fighting was something every soldier and hero needed to learn to hold back. T'Challa would tell her about his quest for vengeance on Bucky, and how he'd been so filled with rage that all he wanted to do was kill the man.

But he had learned. He had learned vengeance was not the way, and now he was a benevolent King, teaching others what he had realized.

After a while, T'challa's words were able to get through to Reine, but it was still difficult, and even as she'd grown and fixed her naive ways, every once in a while all Reine Castell wanted to do was punch something.

Almost a year after Wakanda named it's King and shared it's secret of vibranium with the world, Princess Shuri came running down to the river, where Marina and Reine were reading and playing in the field beside the water.

"He's awake." was all the princess had said, and it was enough to make both Reine and Marina sink to their knees, laughing to the heavens.

Now they sat by the fire away from the city, the final test of Bucky's liberated mind about to commence. Reine and Marina had been adamant they were to be with him when the final test occurred, and though Bucky tried everything to change their minds, nothing did. Nothing ever did.

"Please stand back." Ayo said. Ayo was one of Marina and Reine's closest friends in the Dora Milaje. The woman held a spear in one hand, and her eyes were soft as Marina pried Reine away from Bucky to come and stand beside the warrior woman.

"You sure about this?" Bucky said, his voice loud and broken. After waking up from the frozen tomb, he'd slowly gained back his senses, and the first thing that popped into his mind was an image, an image of two women lying on the ground, one as beautiful as the sun, and the other as tempered as a forest fire. The woman's arm was broken, and blood seeped from the young girl's head. The first thing he'd thought was it hadn't worked.

Fear laced his heart as they readied to find out for sure.

"I won't let you hurt anyone." Ayo said kindly, then nodded to Marina and Reine. "Especially them." Reine smiled at Bucky, and he softened at the young girl with tears in her eyes. The girl he'd danced with all night in the small room of the apartment in Madrid. The girl he'd sat down and forced to do homework. The girl he'd first seen when waking up from the fight, bouncing on his chest and poking his metal arm.

Marina, his sweet and beautiful Marina, spoke next. "You could never hurt us, mi amor."

And so with that, Ayo began the test and spoke in Russian. "Longing." Marina gripped Reine's hand so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Rusted." Bucky narrowed his eyes, jaw clenching, and stared deep into the fire, unable to look at his family standing above it.

"Seventeen." Bucky's hands shook, sweat lining his brow and memories, like shards of glass, punctured his tired mind.

"It's not gonna work." he called out, voice fractured.

Marina let out a breath, trying to stay strong. "Have faith, querido." Then Bucky did look up. He looked up and into her eyes, both tear-filled and wide. He grazed over her face, taking in her high cheekbones and soft lips. The lips he couldn't let himself kiss until he was sure he was no longer a pawn in HYDRA's game. It was those eyes and that face that made a tear slip down his cheek.

They did not break their stares. They held onto each other from several feet away, a rope pulling taut between them.

"Daybreak." Bucky's lips quivered. "Furnace." his past swam through his head, and through all the bloodshed and horror, her face kept coming back. "Nine." Her face, laughing in bed every morning. Her face, panicked as he threw her daughter against a wall. Her face, her face, her face.

"Benign." He tightened his jaw, head aching, vein popping in his forehead from the strain. "Homecoming. One." the tears were ice on his cheeks, despite the warmth of the fire. One more, one more word, and they would see for good. They would see if he really was free, or if the soldier in him would never leave.

Marina and Reine held their breath, peering at him, hope glistening in their eyes.

"Freight Car."

And that was it. Bucky broke into tears, silent sobs falling from his lips as the images stopped. The pain ceased. Ayo smiled, and suddenly two pairs of arm were wrapping around Bucky. Marina held her love in her arms, and Reine held her father in hers. Bucky's mouth was still open, still frozen in shock, the tears wet on his cheeks.

"You are free." Ayo said happily, and that was when Bucky broke,. He brought his face to Marina's lips colliding in a lust-filled trance, everything he'd worked for finally coming loose. The woman he'd loved for years was finally by his side again, and there was no more carnage keeping him from loving her fully.

He moved to Reine and kissed the top of her head, and then turned back to Marina.

"Marry me." he said softly, and Reine gasped. Marina pulled back, her smile growing wide. "Marry me." he said again, and now it was her turn to break down.

"Sí," she answered breathlessly. "Yes, I will marry you."

And Bucky Barnes had never felt more at peace. More loved. 

More free.

Marina Castell and James Buchanan Barnes were married one week later, in a small ceremony held in the traditional Wakandan way. There was dancing and a large feast, with T'Challa and Shuri making sure Bucky and Marina were given the wedding they deserved.

Reine stole Bucky away from her mother, forcing him to dance with her as much as he could with only one arm. When Marina finally scolded Reine for stealing her man, Reine danced with Shuri and T'Challa, more so stepping on their toes than actually showing off her moves. The smiles and kind words shared at the wedding was as bright as the stars twinkling above them.

After the ceremony, Reine was taken to the palace, not allowed to go back to the hut where Bucky and Marina would stay. Unable to sleep because of all the excitement, Shuri and Reine stayed up all night watching secret videos Shuri had made of her brother while training. In some, Reine appeared, kicking Shuri's brother's "ass", as Shuri had said affectionately, while Reine just gasped and smiled.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Bucky Barnes and Marina Castell hardly slept, their love shared deep and pure.

It was a night no one would forget, a night where nothing could ever go wrong. Nothing could ever hurt the small family. Nothing.

For many blissful months, life was perfect. Reine and Marina Castell lived with Bucky Barnes in their small hut on the lake, spending their time lounging in the sun and running in the fields. Picnics and dance parties became a daily routine, and while Reine finished her studies with the other children at the school in the city, Marina and Bucky stayed at the house, helping with the farm. Marina would sometimes go into the city as well, volunteering at the clinics and hospital.

Bucky was able to rest. He slept and moved hay and learned to live in peace with his healing mind and destroyed arm. He spent his time carelessly, lazily, and filled with hope. Hope for the future. Hope for his family. Hope for his wife and step-daughter.

Hope for the world.

For almost an entire year, the Castell-Barnes (Reine refused to call them anything else, and she insisted on having Castell go first) was happy.

They should have known it wouldn't last. They should not have taken it for granted, living in honey-tinted paradise without a care in the world. They should have known the combat would come into use. 

They should have known the universe was done tossing the coin of good and evil, landing on dust and blood. 

They should have known.

Reine was the first to see them. She was playing out in the fields, practicing her punches into the air, when the men and women in dark crimson armour appeared over the hill. She'd seen T'Challa next, and then Okoye. Bucky and Marina emerged from inside the house when Reine squealed loudly in delight at seeing her "Uncle".

Marina and Bucky walked up to the case laid open in front of them. Reine followed after, and when they saw the metal arm of pure vibranium, glistening in the dim sun of afternoon, all three knew what it meant.

Marina pursed her lips, immediately reaching down to hold his hand, while Reine stepped closer to run her fingers along the cold metal.

Bucky was the one to break the silence, voicing what they were all thinking. "Where's the fight?" he sounded so broken. So shattered. Beyond recognition. And yet, there was a sense of familiarity, an air that told T'Challa Bucky and Marina had known something like this would happen again, no matter how hard they tried to ignore it.

"On its way." the King responded. 

Bucky sighed and Marina looked down to her shoes, while Reine put on a hardened expression. No longer amazed by the wonders of the world, she knew now how Earth worked, and was no longer the naive little child she'd been the first time a battle came to their doorstep.

Bucky left Marina and Reine out of the city, at one of the shelters on the outskirts of the tribal land, an underground bunker made to withstand nuclear war becoming the home of thousands.

He kissed his wife and embraced Reine, who was disappointed she couldn't join in.

"I can fight!" she wailed outside in the fields. "Let me come with you! I can fight."

"I know you can, hermosa." Bucky said, calling Reine by Marina's nickname for her. "But this a fight where you might not come back if you come."

"But then at least we won't come back together!" Reine had cried. Bucky sighed and cupped her cheeks in his hand, new arm fastened to his shoulder, more agile and lean than his previous one.

"You need to stay with mama," Bucky whispered. "Keep her safe, and when I come back, we will be together again."

"You promise?" Marina's quiet voice had risen above the chatter, and Bucky stood to face his wife.

He took her hand in his and planted one final kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, it was torture, almost unbearable.

"I promise."

And then he'd walked away. Gone. Onto the plane to a battle they would not win. But how was Marina and Reine supposed to know that?

They sat in the bunker for hours, holding onto each other as the world rocked on it's hinges, fate and inevitability playing a role in tearing families apart. Reine, normally so strong, was broken into a mess of tears. Marina, one of the bravest women in the world, was reduced to a smoldering fire of little hope. She'd heard the terror in her husband's voice. She'd seen the guilty looks on King T'Challa and General Okoye's faces. This fight wasn't like the others. This fight was worse.

So much worse.

Marina and Reine didn't hear it.

They didn't hear the terrifying simplicity of a simple snap. They didn't hear the deafening silence that followed. They didn't hear the cries of the world being snuffed out.

But they felt it. Or, to be more clear, Reine felt it.

"Mama." she said softly. Marina's eyes were closed, and she did not open them now as her daughter called her name. Reine's eyes were wide, looking about the room, seeing half the people in the bunker slowly disappear, crying out as they slipped away from their families.

"Mama." she said again, and her voice was as soft as a feather. Marina forced her eyes open and looked down to her daughter.

But all she saw was dust.

"Reine?" Marina called out. "Reine? where are you?" she looked up and stood, turning in a slow circle. Other mothers did the same, the dust falling from their hands to ground. Crying for their children and grand-children, their mothers and fathers. The room erupted into chaos.

Marina looked down, and saw a pile of that same choking, biting, blistering dust.

"REINE!" she called again, and fell to her knees.

That was the day Marina Castell lost everything. When the smoke cleared in the wake of the battle with Thanos, she found she'd lost it all. Her daughter was gone. Her husband was gone. Her whole world was just... gone.

Because of a single snap. Because the Avengers lost.

They had all lost.

Marina stumbled through the world, heartbroken and unable to get over her grief.

She went from country to country, drinking herself to the point of misery, sleeping for however long she wanted, wasting away until she was no better than her dead family.

And it did not take long for the dead to catch up with her.

A hand to the throat. A hiss of breath. A choking scream. That was all that could be heard on the docks in a foreign country. All that could be heard when Marina Castell's life ended for good.

She was gone, and when her family came back from the dust, they saw nothing blood and ash, the young woman nowhere to be found.

Gone. 

a/n: well guys, I said this whole chapter was gonna be pain, and I really meant it. I swear I did not mean for these two parts be as long as they were, and I promise the actual chapters of this book will be a lot shorter, but I needed to establish the relationships and show Marina and Bucky's love story before she died. 

originally, I was going to write post-endgame (when Bucky and Reine return from the blip), but it would have been too long, so there are going be flashbacks to Reine and Bucky first finding out Marina is dead in the actual chapters of the book, which are coming soon! 

ALSO REINE AND T'CHALLA BROTP, they are iconic, I love them sm. Rest in Power to the incredible Chadwick Boseman, you changed so many lives in your time on this earth. 

I hope you enjoyed this prologue! I had a lot of fun writing it, and while it took a while to post, it needed to be done in order to make it the best it could be. ANYWAYS, what did you guys think of this chapter? What are your thoughts, theories, and opinions? I would love to know! As always, don't be afraid to comment, vote, and follow me(?). 

I'll see you next time! <3