𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘

Little Lion Girl

AEI: Feeling better today, and I (for once) really like the way I wrote this chapter!! Besides, I only have two more days of school left now, and on one of them, I'm going ice skating?? Idk why considering it's literally JULY but I'll take it over another maths lesson. 

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A LOVELY DAY TO MATCH YOUR LOVELY SELVES!!! I DON'T SAY THIS ENOUGH BUT ILY GUYS SM AND YOUR COMMENTS ALWAYS MAKE ME SMILE SM!!!

Isabell trails down the narrow streets of Riga, Latvia and tries desperately to undo the knot on the sling that James has tied her broken wrist into. She's insisted over and over that she doesn't need it, that it is pathetic and only weak people are incapable of healing normally, but he just stares at her with strange eyes and shakes his head.

He's been looking at her differently since she woke up. Like he's afraid to touch her or something, but that can't be true. When Isabell went to the bathroom this morning, she discovered that the tangles of her hair had been twisted into a tidy plait, smooth and shiny down her back.

It made her freeze for a moment. She had a sudden urge to pull it out, go back out there and scream at James for doing that in her sleep, but something stopped her.

Now, driven crazy by the intricate knot of her sling, she reaches back to tug on her braid. In some strange way, it's comforting.

Isabell looks over at James.

He's walking as far away from her as possible, gaze fixed on the floor, but whenever she inhales a little too deeply, his head snaps back up again. He's focused on her, but he's pretending not to be. Her stomach churns.

Beside her, Sam is keeping his eye on the road ahead. He's nervous – they all are when it comes to trusting Zemo – but he insists he has some sort of safe house here in Latvia. Little things to enforce the bargain. Clean clothes for Isabell, hot showers, food, somewhere where they won't get shot at.

They all caved fairly quickly.

It's not like they have anywhere else to go.

They arrive at Zemo's apartment fairly quickly; the doors wide and beautifully painted, but just as they're about to step inside, James pauses.

He glances at Sam.

"I'm gonna go on a walk."

"You good?" Sam frowns. He nods a little, but Isabell feels strangely unsatisfied. She blinks at him.

"Can I come?"

"No."

That was a little too quick. "Why not?" She scowls. James outright scoffs at her, though regret settles immediate and deep behind his eyes.

"Well, Isabell, you look like a crime scene, and you can't even be trusted to let your broken wrist heal properly. You're gonna be a nuisance. You want another reason, or can I leave it at that?"

Isabell's lower lip wobbles, achingly childish, and Sam's eyes dart between her and James. His eyebrows draw together.

"Hey, Bucky–"

"I'll be back soon."

And James storms away without another word.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Once inside Zemo's apartment, Isabell showers first, and is then handed a pile of generic-looking clothes. They are warm, clean beneath her calloused fingertips, but there's an air of sadness to them. Like they belong to somebody gone.