𝙼𝚢 𝙴𝚞𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚊 ✰ 𝙱𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢𝚡𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter 27

"Y/n! Captain Rogers!"

"Hi Shuri." Y/n forced a weak smile and pulled her in for a hug. "It's nice to see you."

"I just wish it was under better circumstances." Shuri sighed as her lips tightened into a frown, walking into the room where Bucky was being scanned by one of the countless vibranium-made machinery that seemed to work like magic itself. Shuri and a few other workers discussed quietly in front of one of the massive screens while Bucky laid in a drowsy state behind them.

"It's weird, being back here." Steve appeared behind Y/n as she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip anxiously. It took her a moment to realize what he meant, how the last time he had been here, she had been the one in the med room. "It's weird for me too."

"Worse, I'd imagine." Steve offered a sympathetic smile, which Y/n couldn't help but return, appreciating the effort of optimism.

She would never hold any animosity towards the breathtaking city, not when it had been the first place that welcomed a sense of freedom. But upon first arriving all those months ago, it had been the feeling of vulnerability. Unsure just where she would belong after everything she'd done. That was just what HYDRA wanted.

"You cannot possibly run away. Where else would you be accepted as the killer you are? Here, HYDRA is your one and only place of belonging."

She glanced towards a window to her left. "I know he isn't dying... but it's just exhausting, you know? Not just for him, but for me too. Running away from something you want to leave in the past, and having to throw yourself into one fight after the other."

Steve could only nod in response. To answer her question, he didn't know. He would never know. It pained him each and every day that his best friend had been tortured and caged for 70 years, brainwashed into murder that he would never stop blaming himself for. Burdened with relentless and endless nightmares that caused Steve to have a trained ear when his troubled friend needed him most. His heart ached at the idea of Y/n going through a similar ordeal, and he couldn't help but feel guilty of that fact that he could never provide the same ounce of friendship and comfort to her as he could to Bucky.

"Steve?" Y/n's soft voice brought Steve back to reality and he blinked. Fury had shown him the photos from Y/n's file against Nat's wishes, and since then Steve tensed every time he met her softened gaze.

"Yeah, sorry. Do you mind keeping an eye on him? I'm gonna grab a coffee."

Y/n smiled and nodded, turning as he left her alone at the corner of the med room. She only wished Shuri had figured out how to erase the effects of the trigger words after nearly two years, yet Shuri's expression determined the answer to be a simple "not yet." Y/n was grateful nonetheless, that Shuri and the other Wakandan doctors remained true to their promise of not giving up.

One of the Dora Milaje, Ayo, had approached Y/n a few days after first being rescued by Nat. Y/n had once watched from her bedroom window as her and Okoye led the rest of the Doras, training outside in the blazing heat. She'd been in pure awe at their precision and fierceness that she had never seen in any other army or military before. Ayo's stoic demeanor had softened however, when she first introduced herself to Y/n as someone who'd been working to help Bucky heal from HYDRA's influence.

"I know your day will surely arrive." She had told Y/n with a gentle smile. Y/n replayed that moment every so often as a reminder that she now had a ounce of hope.

And that she wasn't alone.

She made her way to the small kitchen located on the same floor of the building and brewed a simple cup of coffee using the home grown coffee beans Shuri always raved about.