How can I say goodbye when I've hardly had time to say hello?

"Did it hurt?"

    Bucky glanced down at the still so very small redhead that was tucked in his arms. Their flashlight that was supposed to illuminate their faces was dim and flickering which meant that father and daughter would have to buy new batteries that coming Thursday. The yellow beam was quivering in the surrounding cold night air that made the girl shiver from more than just the fear of her latest nightmare. Svetlana lifted her icy and pale hand and pressed it to her father's metal one, measuring her small fingers to his.

    "When you got your metal arm..." Svet finished softly, staring at their hands as his was practically twice the size.

Bucky shifted her at his side, replying in a voice that sounded heavy with sleepy disuse, "Eto bylo davno, Sveta." It was a long time ago, Sveta.

    "The museum said you fell from a train." Svet kept her other hand to his chest so she could feel the words, "Do you remember the fall?"

    "The man." Her father didn't go on for a moment, "I remember the man."

There was another small pause as Svetlana thought about the last time she saw "the man" and all of the pain that came with remembering such things. Her mind still ached when she tried to think about things from before the wipe. Being so small and so young made the wipe worse, sometimes leaving her dazed or confused about some things in her childhood. Shaking all of that off with a quiet puff of air, Svet intertwined her short fingers with her father's and leaned further into him.

    "I dream that the Superior's found us again."

    Bucky slightly winced and he grit his teeth at the mentioned of the disgusting man.

    "It's so real sometimes. It's as if it's happening. It's as if we are taken back and I am in my cell again. I can smell it, even feel it." Bucky rested his chin atop her red head when her voice grew frail, "I dream about the dancing, about the book..."

    A small crystal tear slid down her cheek and she hurriedly wiped it away, unwilling to let herself be so terribly affected by all of it.

    "Papa?"

    "Yeah?"

"Will you sing for me?"

Bucky looked down at her with a frown.

"I would ask for a story, but I think we both know you are not so good at such things." 

    She looked up at him with a teasing smile as a bitter smirk of his own tugged at the corner of his lips. He gave her a quick jab in her side, making her giggle and eventually scoot closer to him. Svet once again tucked her head under his chin and threw her boney legs over his lap. She closed her sky blue eyes and tried her best to shut out the painful memories, waiting for her father to start.

"Oh! Papa, can you sing that one that my grandmother used to sing?" Bucky's throat grew tight at the mention of his mother as Svet finished softly with, "The song you told me about?"

    With a small huff and a reluctant shake of the head, the man began to sing for her as he always would if she only ever asked.

    "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

    You make me happy when skies are gray.

    You'll never know, Dear, how much I love you."

    By then, Svetlana was fast asleep once more, breathing softly and peacefully against his chest. Bucky set a gentle kiss against her hairline before leaning the back of his head to the wall. Then, he sighed out the final lyric as he too fell asleep.

    "Please, don't take... my sunshine... away."

Svetlana's hands won't stop trembling. She thought that maybe if she just tried to focus on them, then perhaps it could like mind over matter, like Natasha once said to her. It's not working. It's not working. The fifteen year old has always been small, but the big gray truck and the glass cage that surrounds her on four sides and the metal handcuffs that wrap up her arms make her feel like a little tiny ladybug. There are cameras directed on her and the soldiers from before, the ones wearing black tactical gear, sit on either side of her cage with large rifles in their hands. Her bottom lip is raw and red from where she has been gnawing on it and her nose occasionally twitches as she tries to readjust where her cannula rests.

    Bucky sits across from her in a glass cage of his own. His expression is blank and emotionless as his redshirted shoulders are pressed back against the metal chair. He has his head tilted back as he stares up at the ceiling and metal bonds of his own climb up his arms. He has given up on trying to catch Svet's gaze in hope of letting her know that everything is going to be okay. After so many hours of the convict transportation, Svet still won't lift her blue eyes.

    They both know the fate that waits for them now.

Metal bars.

Electrical shocks.

Cold cages.

The father and daughter will be locked in a prison cell for the rest of their lives. They will never see the sun or the blue sky again. Bucky could do it. It would be like going into HYDRA's hold all over again: emotionless and voiceless. He'll find a way to take his life and put himself out of his misery as soon as he has the chance.

But Svetlana won't do well in a cell again. Now that she's seen what it's like outside, she will crumble underneath the weight of the metal bars and her own oxygen. She'll break, but she won't be able to take her own life. She won't be able to stifle the hope of what lies outside and that will destroy her. She will fade away into oblivion, staring and breathing but not seeing or living. The fifteen year old needs human contact. She needs to be held and kissed on the forehead; she needs to be treated with kindness, not shoved down prison hallways and not backed into corners as fellow cellmates try to slit her throat.

And he won't be there to protect her.

The realization sets upon Bucky like a hurricane. Maybe it should have been obvious. It should have been clear to anyone with a brain, but he just didn't think about it. He didn't even want to consider it.

These next few hours... these are the last minutes he'll see Svetlana ever again. Those who think he did this wouldn't put them in the same cell. They wouldn't likely even put them in the same prison. Bucky is going to lose her. They will take her from his side and there will be nothing he can do but watch and beg. He won't ever again listen to her funny little stories, make her laugh, see her give her single-dimpled smile, and he won't comfort her when she's scared.

It's over.

It's all over.

Svetlana will be all alone in a small gray cell and she'll grow up and he won't be there. Sixty years; that's about how much longer he has in his life and sixty years without seeing her... that will be no life at all. It will be a hellish eternity.

He stifles back the panic in his voice as he calls her name, "Lana."

But she's already come to that realization. She's already figured it out. They're not going to be a family anymore. No more Bucky and Svetka. No more running. No more hiding. No more living. Every good thing has its end. They both should have known the end was coming. They both should have known.

"I know." She doesn't give her father time to finish his thoughts, not being able to handle the truth being spoken just yet.

Bucky's eyes study her for a long moment; his metal and flesh hands curling into fists as they sit on the armrests. He says nothing else before he leans back again, presses his head to the chair, and stares up at the ceiling.

When they take the cages out of the monstrous prison truck, they are shifted through a large bay that stretches up with a seemingly endless ceiling. Men in tactical gear and guns march by, glaring at the father and daughter. Bucky just stares forward as they transfer them across the bay towards a large cement room. Svet gnaws on her still raw bottom lip as she peers outside the glass to where Steve, Sam, and the others exit their own truck. Steve looks back at them across his shoulder with concerned brows, making Svet give a weak smile and Bucky roll his eyes away.

When their small cages are pulled around and slowly pulled back into a much smaller cement room, Svet squeezes her eyes closed and tries to breathe normally. When the captain glances back one last time, Bucky looks at him with a blank expression as large cement doors slowly pull closed around the man and his daughter. The two cages are plugged into the walls and the lights inside briefly turn up before completely shining above their heads, making the two blink and squint a little. Then, when the guards are certain the two are completely locked in, they leave them in the darkness of the room.

They sit in silence for a long while, just staring off into space as they take in these last few minutes of each other's company. Bucky just listens to his small girl breathe as her eyes burn with tears and she clenches her little hands into fists. She didn't even get to say a proper goodbye. She's not ready to say goodbye. She had to say goodbye to her mamula and it was the worst thing that she's ever had to experience, even worse than the wipe. And now to say goodbye to her papa... A tear drips down her cheek, then another, and then another. 

"Papa?" Svetlana finally breaks the silence, her voice sounding frail.

Bucky turns his dark head towards her, waiting for her to speak. She shakes her head quickly, struggling to wipe her wet cheek on her shoulder. It doesn't matter, anyway, though because soon another tear has taken its place.

When she still hasn't spoken for another few moments, Bucky carefully prompts, "Svetlana..."

Svet doesn't take her gaze from his face, trying to burn it into memory. She doesn't want to forget him. After all, Svet doesn't know what these new people might do. She thought maybe Steve would be able to keep them safe, but he seems in enough trouble on his own. And without his or her father's protection, these new people might wipe her again. And then she'll forget all about them, all about him.

"Papa." Her bottom lip trembles and she whispers, "I'm scared."

Bucky gives her a quick and understanding nod, just opening his mouth to try to comfort her somehow when the doors to the containment room suddenly move. He looks over and Svetlana follows his gaze, and the sight of a tall man in glasses and a suit make them both go silent and stiff.

"Hello, Mr. Barnes, Miss Barnes." The man looks between the two of them as they stay so easily blank, "I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you both. Do you mind if I sit?"

Neither Bucky nor Svet reply, the both of them having a silent agreement to say nothing at all. The man pulls back a chair and sits at the table across from their two glass cages, setting his bag to the table beside him. Bucky boredly stares up at the blue-toned ceiling while Svetlana just flatly stares at the glasses-wearing psychiatrist stares back. There is something strange about his composure. He's not nervous. He's not even kind-hearted. He's... set. Svetlana has seen enough of such a composition enough in her life to know it when she sees it. He's on a mission.

"Mr. Barnes, your first name is James? I'm not here to judge either of you." He lets out a sighing breath after he pulls a few items from his leather bag, "I just want to ask you a few questions... Do you know where you are, James?" When he still doesn't respond, the psychiatrist says, "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

The ex-assassin lowers his gaze, slightly nodding his head when he finally speaks, "My name is Bucky."

    Svetlana looks over at her papa quickly, shocked that he's said anything at all, much less his name to someone they don't even know.

    "And you?" The psychiatrist dips his chin at the fifteen year old, "The counterfeit ballerina?"

Svetlana pulls back into her seat, her brows dipping at the man's words.

Counterfeit?

He goes on so terribly smoothly, "What is her name? Plan B, is it?"

Bucky's eyes grow somehow darker, twitching his head into a shake and gravelly saying, "Don't talk to her."

"Does she not know that she's fake, then?"

Fake... She's fake. A thing. Not human. Svet quickly shakes her head, blinking quickly.

His brown eyes dance between the hard-faced father and daughter, "Tell me, Bucky. You both have seen a great deal, haven't you?"

His voice is raspy as he replies, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"You fear that if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop." He glances down at his tablet before his eyes roll up to look at them, "Don't worry. We only need to talk about one."

"Papa...?" Her voice is so soft and careful as her brows bend in, "What? What is he talking about?"

Then every light in the room and in their cages dies away, folding out of itself until there's hardly anything. Svetlana jumps as the room all around her becomes a cold and dark blue and an emergency red light blinks off and on from the wall beside them. Svet looks around quickly as panic jumps up in her throat and her hands begin to tremble more furiously.

"Papa?" Her voice builds with more and more worry.

"Vse budet khorosho, Svetka." Bucky glances away from her back to the man with a dark expression and a raspy voice, "What is this?" It's going to all right, Svetka.

The man doesn't seem to want to answer their questions, saying quickly instead, "Why don't we discuss your home? Not Romania. Certainly not Brooklyn, no." He slowly and meaningfully reaches into his bag and slowly pulls out something red, something almost... familiar. "I mean your real home."

As the man pulls off his dark-rimmed glasses, Svet's eyes fall from his face to his hands that holds an all too familiar red book with a sickening black star stabbed into its front. Bucky's chin slowly lifts and his eyes slightly widen while realization comes over his expression. Svetlana lets out a sharp breath and she sharply tears her gaze from the man to her father.

How could this man have gotten the book?! Oh, dear God on high, not the book! After all this time, all these years... Svetlana's chest bends in as her lungs begin to ache and she tries to pull from her restraints. The man begins to walk towards her father's cage, holding a flashlight against the pages of the red book.

And then the man speaks.

"Zhelaniye." Longing.

Svet feels her throat close as the sound of that word, oh, that despicable, horrible word. It's the one that starts it. It's the one that starts the process that takes her Papa away. Svet pulls in a tight breath and releases it in a puff of air. Bucky's head twitches a little and his eyelashes flutter closed as the memories of it all comes back.

"No." He breathes in disbelief, slamming his head into the back of his seat and staring up at the ceiling.

Svet's eyes sting with tears as she panickedly fumbles with her words, "Wait. Wait, wait!"

"Rjavıy." Rusted.

"Wait." Svet struggles, "J-Just wait!"

Bucky's lips tremble with heavy breath as his eyes squeeze closed, "Stop."

"Semnadtsat'." Seventeen.

As he grits his teeth, Bucky's metal hand begins to tremble and his voice grows more demanding and desperate when he yells, "Stop!"

"Papa!" Svet screams as loud as she can, trying to get his attention as he throws his head back down, "Just listen to me, wait, just listen! Listen to my voice, please!"

"Svet, close your eyes," he growls out as he clenches his shaking metal hand into a tight fist.

He doesn't want her to see this. He promised himself that he would never let her see him like this again.

The psychiatrist stands just inches from the glass, studying her father as if he is some kind of sick experiment while he rolls the words out.

"Rassvet." Daybreak.

"Papa,"

"Close your eyes!" Bucky growls louder before he throws his head back and lets out an agonized yell; his mind beginning to revolt against the rest of him.

Despite the utter terror that shakes her insides, Svetlana looks harshly at the man who slowly creeps closer to the glass separating him and her father, "Stop! Stop it!"

The psychiatrist does not stop. No, he doesn't stop! Svet continues calling for her father, trying to get him to hear her, trying to get him to focus on her. But he can't hear her over the sounds of his own screams as he begins to yank and break at his restraints, tearing his arms from the metal bonds.

"Pech'." Furnace.

Bucky yells once more and he pounds at the thick glass separating him and man who circles around, trying to stop him before it's too late, before he loses himself to the soldier, before Svet sees him become a monster again.

"Devyat'." Nine.

"I'll kill you!" Svet turns a dark glare at this monster, seething with a kind of hatred that HYDRA's influence will never let leave her, "Do you hear me?!" Her eyes are aflame and her teeth are clenched as she yells, "I'll kill you!"

"Dobroserdechnyy." Benign.

"Just stop!" Svet screams along with him, in pain of merely watching him in pain, "Please no! Papa!"

Bucky grunts and yells; each time beating the glass with more force than the last.

"Vozvrashcheniye na Rodinu." Homecoming.

The glass begins to crack as Bucky punches it again and again.

"Odin. Gruzovoy vagon." One. Freight car.

"Papa!"

With one last punch, the door completely flies off its hinges and her father falls to his knees after it. Svet lets out a quiet shriek and she leans as far forward as she can in her chair, trying to see him, praying he's okay, praying he's still him. A bitter and eerie silence follows as tears drip down Svetlana's face and the psychiatrist slowly steps around the corner of the cage. And then a man who is not Bucky Barnes rises to his feet.

Lifeless.

Emotionless.

Cruel.

Dark.

The psychiatrist stands a few inches from the Winter Soldier, "Soldat?"

"YA gotov otvechat'." Ready to comply.

The man spits an order back at him, "Mission report: December 16, 1999."

Svetlana's eyes slowly close and she ducks her head as more tears fall, unable to stand the sight of him like this. The minutes that pass are pure agony before two bodies come into view for the girl that warily peeks up her head. It's Steve's face that Svet sees first as he comes sprinting around the corner. His booted feet slide a little and his eyes are wide with caution and concern.

The girl yanks against the metal locking her arms down and she yells hoarsely, "Steve!"

"Svet!" Steve calls out, looking at the small redhead worriedly, "Are you okay?"

The psychiatrist lays on the floor before their glass cages and quietly pleads, "Help me. Help."

Steve's eyes dart from Svetlana's glaring face to the downed man and his expression grows hard. His head is ducked and his eyes are narrowed as he stalks forward towards the disgusting man.

"Get up!" Steve grabs onto the man and shoves him hard against the wall, demanding, "Who are you? What do you want?"

The man stares at him and then slowly replies in a gravelly voice, "To see an empire fall."

Sam slowly walks into the room after Steve, only flinching back from the oncoming metal fist when Svet yells out in warning, "Sam!"

The man quickly ducks as the Winter Soldier's arm crashes directly into the cement wall, breaking the corner apart and sending cement flying out Sam's head. Sam quickly throws a punch that the Winter Soldier blocks and then reciprocates to before grabbing him around the chin and throwing him across the room. When Sam's body crashes into Svetlana's cage, the fifteen year old winces for him and quickly looks up to see Steve launch for her father. The two men go back and forth as the Winter Soldier has the upperhand, pushing Steve further and further away from the containment room.

Soon, Steve has his back to the metal elevator's double doors and the Winter Soldier's metal fist pressed to his chest. The captain grits his teeth as as he pushes against the fist only for the Winter Soldier to finally snap him back and then throw him through the doors. Svet shouts as her uncle crashes out of her sight and down the elevator shaft. Her father lingers there for a moment longer before turning back to look at her.

"Come on, Papa, come back to me." The girl whispers, her hands clenching in and out of fists, "Come back, come on."

The Winter Soldier turns and stalks away into the darkness. Svet hisses in irritation before looking back to the psychiatrist who moves from his spot by the wall and stops to look down at the where the captain lies unmoving.

"Sam, wake up! Please Sam! Come on," the fifteen year old bounces as she glares at the psychiatrist.

The man on the ground moans slightly as he comes to, shaking his head and opening his eyes. His eyes narrow as he stares after the psychiatrist just as Svet does, calling out to him. The monster of a man glances back at them before he runs off. Sam grunts a little as he rolls to his feet, jogging to the doorway to chase after him. Svetlana's eyes widen as she realizes that very essential fact that they are all out there and she is still, well, in a cage.

"Wait, wait! Sam!" The girl yells loudly after him, "Don't leave me here!"

"Kid, I promise you, you'll be safer here!" He points his hand back at her, backpedalling towards the exit, "We'll come back for you."

With that, the man breaks into a sprint down the hall, giving chase to the monster who destroyed her father.

"Come back! Sam!" Svetlana's screaming voice falls upon no one's ears as she yanks at her metal restraints, "Sam!" She angrily kicks her foot to the glass, yelling in frustration before slamming her head back into the chair.

♛♛♛

Sharon Carter and Natasha Romanoff sprint forward into the fight as the former sends a hard kick into the Winter Soldier's abdomen. Agent Thirteen grunts grunts as she kicks him again and then dodges a punch. Natasha takes a deep breath and dives right in, bringing her arm and knee up to collide harshly into his chest. The assassin grunts before the redheaded woman ducks low and punche shim again, allowing for Sharon to spin around and kick him in the face. As she tries to take the man down again, the Winter Soldier catches onto her leg when it curls around his shoulder and then he harshly flips her down away from him.

Gritting her teeth, Natasha leaps up onto his back and, wIth a grunt, she curls her body up around his neck. As he holds onto her, she brings her elbow down onto his head again and again and again, praying for it to knock him to his senses. Cognitive rehabilitation worked with Clint, it has to work with him. It has to. But it doesn't. Taking each blow, he backs her up farther and farther until he throws her down onto a nearby table. Her back cracks as it collides with the wood and she lets out a loud cry. His eyes show nothing but darkness as he harshly reaches for and wraps his metal hand tightly around her throat. She gags and chokes, keeping her legs locked onto his shoulders in hopes of giving herself some kind of leverage. But he just squeezes tighter as his eyes narrow.

Natasha Romanoff chokes and her eyes are a burning red as she wraps her hands around his metal one, "You could at least recognize me."

His body is suddenly torn from hers when the prince of Wakanda suddenly jumps in, kicking the assassin away from her. She lets out a strangled gasp as the two men fight a few feet from her.

Her hand pulls from her red and likely already bruising throat. She rolls to her side while she tries to pull in air, watching as the Black Panther and the Winter Soldier battle until the latter completely disappears from their view. As she raspily breathes and turns her red-tinged green eyes up to the ceiling, Natasha Romanoff's mind can only think about one thing, or rather, one person.

Svetlana.

Where is her daughter?

She has to find Svet.

♛♕♛

The fifteen year old redhead is still sitting inside a cage in the containment room, grumbling to herself as she repeatedly kicks at the glass wall. Two booted feet carry a body down the still dim hallways and the clipped pace only pauses when she stops at the broken down doorways. She ducks down to the monitors that lay outside the containment room and the screens blink and flash as they obey her commands. Suddenly, the metal restraints locked around Svetlana's wrist whoosh and release, making her eyes widen. She slowly raises her sky blue eyes towards the doorway to see the very same woman slowly stepping over the bodies that her father scattered everywhere.

Lisa Stark pauses ten feet from the glass cage, the two girls staring at each other in reservation. The older of the two finally takes in a small sigh and then quickly steps over towards the wall of the cage. Svetlana cringes and struggles out of the chair quickly, trying to get ready before the Stark can open the cage. Lisa watches the girl struggle with a broken expression; her eyes blinking guiltily as she takes in a sharp breath. She shakes her head and then raises a hand, blasting away at the many complicated locks sealing the glass and metal cage closed.

Svet winces a little as broken metal and sparks fly in her face before angrily morphing her face into an expression of surprise. The door falls away, making a loud clang that the younger of the two can't hear. Lisa suddenly turns away then, moving for the doorway as Svet fumbles out of her busted cage.

"Wait!" Svetlana yells after her before worriedly dropping her voice to a harsh whisper, "What are you doing?!"

Lisa pauses in the doorway and looks back sharply, "I'm getting you out. Come on."

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to." Lisa snaps back, "You want to see your family again?" The fifteen year old glances down in agreement. "Then follow me."

Svetlana jogs after Lisa as they leave the containment room and then down the dark halls that only show light when the alarms go off. They duck behind corners and stay utterly silent when Everett Ross' men rush by.

It's been nearly five minutes of this silent running before Svet whispers, "Where is my father?" When Lisa doesn't respond, Svet grabs onto her arm and forces the woman to a stop, "Tell me where my father is!"

Lisa quickly yanks her arm from the fifteen year old's grip. The older of the two gives Svet a hard scowl before she glances around the corner for anyone close by. When she's certain the coast is clear, Lisa looks back over at Svet with that same hard expression.

"From what I'm hearing, your father escaped with Steve. They fell from the helipad." The fifteen year old's eyes widen worriedly and Lisa goes on before she can ask any questions, "I don't know if they're okay. The point is, someone's waiting for you and I'm trying to get you to them."

Svetlana stares at her for a moment longer, and her defensive position drops and she gives a small nod. Lisa nods in approval before she quickly ducks down along the hall and then stops by a door that has a large EXIT sign above it and a large red level at its side.

Lisa's hands circle around the level and she looks quickly back at Svetlana, "Once you're out, get as far away from this as you can. Run. Don't stop for anybody."

Svet frowns and shakes her head, "I'm not leaving my father."

"He's going to get you killed!"

"Would you leave your father behind?" Svetlana's voice is surprisingly hard for someone so young, "Would you?"

Lisa stares at her for a moment longer; her eyes dark and her jaw clenched. With a small grunt, she yanks the lever down and then the large door gives way. Svetlana squints at the sunlight that pours in, but her eyes immediately widen when she sees none other than Sam Wilson standing cautiously on the other side. He turns at the sound and he looks relieved as he jogs closer to the two girls. The redhead hurriedly wraps her arms around the man in an embrace before she pulls away and then swiftly punches him in the arm.

"Ow!" The man whispers harshly and he scowls at the girl, "Why?!"

"Because you left me behind!" Svet scowls at him before she quickly hugs him again, "But I am glad you did come back."

Sam huffs and hugs her back, "You punch like your father."

The two pull back from each other and then turn to the young woman who still stands in the doorway. Lisa straightens at the attention and then gives the two a tight nod before moving to go back inside.

"Lisa." Sam's voice calls her to a stop. "You sure you know what you're doing here, Kid? You know you're going to get into trouble for this... I'm not sure anyone's going to forgive you after doing this."

Svetlana looks at the older girl with wide eyes.

"Don't worry about me." Lisa lets out a sighing breath and her eyes drop, "Get out of here before someone sees." The two hesitate for a moment longer, staring at the Stark in uncertainty before she barks, "Just get out of here, Sam!"

The man takes hold of Svet's hand and they begin to quickly backpedal before the two turn and sprint away. Lisa stares after them for a moment longer before her jaw clenches, she glances over her shoulder, and quickly disappears back into the darkness.

Oh my gosh, Wattpad sucks and I hate it. After numerous battles with the text disappearing and having to re-update, here we are! So SO sorry and hopefully you got to actually read the chapter this time, fixed and everything! I'll add in gifs later, this thing has made my patience run out. Thanks for your understanding and please, do tell me what you thought of this chapter! Now that Svet has punched Sam, I can finally start using his nickname for her: Slugger!

Uncle STEEB next chapter, yay! He's super cute in it! I hope you're excited like I am!

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