For now, we're left alone. Vanessa is piloting the plane, Bucky has my wound patched, and I'm wondering if there are any survivors outside of us. What if we're the only ones left?

Bucky doesn't leave my side, like he's an obedient dog. He sits beside me, and we both sit in silence. But the silence doesn't last long thanks to me.

"I want to know everything that you know about the old me, Buck," I whisper, just out of Vanessa's range. "About...about the Hydra me."

He runs a hand through his hair. "Truthfully, there's not much to you. Like I said, we never worked together, we were just part of the same thing. I could only guess at what you were when there. You joined willingly, that much I could see."

I cringe, already disliking and regretting this.

"You were still new, I could see that too. You were ambitious, striving to learn everything and anything possible Hydra could offer you, even secrets."

"Did you and I ever talk?"

"We didn't meet under normal circumstances. To you, I was only talked about and heard of, never seen by someone so new as you. Curiosity got the better of you one day, and you happened to find me. Nobody was in the room except for me. You were taking a big risk there."

"Why?"

"I've had a past with Hydra, they're the reason I ended up like this." He flexes his bionic arm. "They gave me this and an entirely different mindset. You probably wouldn't know the former name I went by if I told you."

"Try me."

"Around our Hydra days, I was known as the Winter Soldier. To some people, I still am." He frowns slightly. "It's not a title I'm happy about."

"Why?"

"Does 'Winter Soldier' sound good to you?"

I think about it. "No."

"I was their asset, I heard that word many times. I was behind a lot of assassinations, credited with quite a few." His scowl deepens. "For such a powerful asset, they treated me like shit. They didn't treat me like royalty, more like an animal. I assumed when you found me that first day that you would be like the rest of them: if I did something wrong, you'd hurt me.

"But you weren't like them. In fact, I didn't know who you really were until after you kept coming back. I attacked you the first time I met you. That didn't scare you off, it made you even more curious about me. You snuck in whenever I wasn't doing a dirty job. You tried to get me to talk, but I never budged. You and I both never understood why you kept coming back." He looks at me softly. "You were different than them, you didn't treat me like a weapon. You didn't talk down to me like they did, you talked to me. I began to enjoy your company.

"Then, you just stopped all together. It didn't break my heart or anything, but it did get me wondering where you went. I began to think that they did something to you, but then I figured they put you back in your place, because the next time I saw you..."

"The accident," I say.

My head pounds violently. Flickers of the accident come back to me. Gunfire. Building on fire. Smoke. Flames. Voices. Bucky. That was my last day as the old Hydra me before I got the nasty blow to the head.

"You okay?" he asks.

I rub my forehead. "I've been better." I steal a look at my sister, who's one-hundred percent focused on piloting. "I can see why she didn't want to be around earlier. She's known all this time who I was." I lean my head gently against the wall behind me. "I can't imagine what she went through when she found out..." I shake my head. "I'm glad you told me, Buck. Vanessa may have never told me. She would have wanted to keep it from me forever."

"Maybe. I wouldn't blame her. I'd want to forget my baby sister was working for my enemy too." He shrugs. "How's your arm?"

"Not bleeding." I smile thinly. "Thanks."

My head hits the wall harshly as the plane jostles us. Not again. Vanessa screeches in anger from the pilot's seat.

"We're getting there, guys! We'll get there!" she shouts, grunting as she steers the plane to her right.

While Vanessa tries to avoid being shot out of the sky, Bucky and I are dancing around with noodle legs. Vanessa isn't helping with keeping the plane moving like it is. We knock into each other a couple of times, Bucky crushes me against a wall once. I wish we were shackled to the ground.

The plane starts spinning very fast, almost making me vomit. I stumble into Bucky, who suddenly decides to not let me go. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I'm just starting over. I don't want to die young.

"Hang on!" Vanessa yells up front.

I hear her scream, and Bucky and I shoot forward into the cockpit. I hit my head against the copilot seat and my vision shakes. I hear the rough collision of metal on ground, and the plane reaches a jarring halt.

Vanessa gets herself unbuckled long enough to untangle Bucky and I, who can't seem to stay apart for even a minute. I look out the windows to see a patch of open land and a thick abundance of trees.

"Hurry, they'll be coming for us any second," Vanessa says urgently. She rushes around the plane, pulling out weapons left and right. She's armed herself pretty heavily. "We make a run into the forest. I know where we're going."

"Do the others know about this place?" I ask breathlessly.

"Yes. How many will be there, we won't know until we get there. Come on." She loads one of the guns.

The hatch is lowered, and we all wait. Vanessa is out in front. While she and Bucky focus on fighting back, I'm consumed by my thoughts. Who's dead? Alive? Captured? Forced to join Hydra or die? Where's this safe base in the woods? Why is Hydra striking now?

I can't think straight, the chaos muddles my mind too much.

My head is spinning spontaneously, making me want to vomit. My arm is faintly throbbing but not bleeding thanks to Bucky's patchwork. We're grounded with only one way out.

We know they'll be waiting outside to take us prisoner. Whether or not we'll see them when we emerge, they'll be there. They won't let us escape. There's no way they'll think we're dead since we were shot down. Hydra can't be that stupid.

We make it to our exit, I nearly tumble down the ramp. Bucky is the only thing keeping me upright. I'm surprised that Hydra agents haven't surrounded us yet and forced us to surrender. Yet is the key word.

Vanessa sees something on her right, she halts abruptly. Bucky and I stop behind her.

"Take her and go, Barnes," Vanessa says calmly. "Don't let her look. Don't look back."

"What?" I sputter.

"Go, now!"

Before I can get a word in, Bucky pulls me away from Vanessa as she goes to face our greeting party. He won't even let me look back, won't let me try and pull my sister along with us. We head for the trees, hoping to lose them.

We're just at the border when I hear it: the loud bang that breaks my gait, breaks me out of Bucky's grasp so I can turn and look.

I watch the latter part of the body falling to the ground. I'm floored, screaming loudly inside my head. I can't see the stranger too well due to the distance, but I see my sister's body in the ground eerily clearly.

Without a second thought, I run for Vanessa. I don't really acknowledge her shooter. They aren't firing at me, which is surprising.

A startled cry comes out when I see her, the thin stream of blood down her forehead, the bright red hole in it. I look up to see the shooter walking away with a bit of swagger in her step—it's got to be a her from the long brunette hair. My jaw sets, and I grab the gun out of Vanessa's hand. You're not getting away scot-free, bitch.

I fire.

I get a precise hit, right in the back of her leg. She goes to the ground but recovers quickly. Her pace increases after I fire a second shot, and before I can pursue her, she disappears into the brush. I'm breathing heavy, turning back to Vanessa. There's a horrid odor in the air between sweat, smoke, and blood.

I fall to my knees before Vanessa's body, shaking violently. I dispose the gun at my side, covering my mouth with my hands. The hysteric sobs begin. The worst part about this is that her green eyes are staring into space.

I release my frustration, throw my head back to the skies and scream to a point where I'm sure I'll be very hoarse. My screams subdue to hiccupping sobs.

Vanessa Finley, my sister, is gone.

I sense Bucky is nearby. I'm transfixed on Vanessa, definitely in denial. This isn't fair. This isn't right. She's the only family I had close by to help me. Now she's gone. What else am I going to be tortured with?

"No, no!" I screech when Bucky slips his arms under me and begins to pull me to my feet. "Let me be with her!"

"She's gone, Danielle."

"I don't care!" I wiggle desperately. "I can't leave her!"

"There's nothing you can do."

"I'm not leaving her."

"Stay here and they'll find you."

"I don't care, I'll take them. I'll fight."

"Oh no, no, no. I'm not allowing that." He begins to pull me farther away from my sister.

"I don't want to just leave her here! Who knows what they'll do with her body?" I say sharply. "I want her to be in the right hands."

We stop, I still continue to fight his hold.

He sighs loudly. "We've got to hurry. Stay right here."

The shock settles in, allowing Bucky to quickly gather Vanessa into his arms. She looks like nothing to him, the way he grabs her. He tosses her gun at me, I barely manage to grab it without setting it off. I fight off the tears as I wait for Bucky to pass me with her body. I scout behind us before I follow him.

"You know the way?" I ask. We're now inside the woods, with trees to protect us.

"I wouldn't be going this way if I didn't," he says neutrally.

With heavy hearts, Bucky leads our trio—duo if you want to be technical—to our hidden safe place.

It better be safe, for our sakes.

**Be honest: who saw it coming?

And before anyone asks, no, she will not pull a Coulson. Sorry, guys :(

One thing left to say: R.I.P. Vanessa Finley <3**