Recollection ★ Bucky Barnes

Let's Get This Over With

ONE MONTH LATER: SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

★ ★ ★

"I don't believe I understand why this is necessary, Rumlow," Marlena spoke cautiously as they entered her cell.

Her clothes, her arms, and parts of her face were covered in fake blood (she hoped it was fake blood). Artificial contusions and lacerations had been professionally plastered onto her skin, making it seem as if she had been involved in some sort of deadly encounter. Her skin was pale and sticky, and she had no clue why on earth she looked the way she did. Rumlow had merely drug her away from training—which highly annoyed her—and brought her to a random room where people were waiting to "doll her up."

"This is the first part of your first mission," Rumlow told her, grabbing her by the arm and placing her blood-covered body on the small cot, the camera in hand.

Marlena furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and sat back against the wall, careful not to disturb the makeup on her body. "What does me being covered in blood and cuts have to do with the mission? How is this supposed to lure the Winter Soldier here?"

Rumlow laughed and positioned Marlena where he wanted her on the bed. "Well, long story short, I need him to think you're dead."

Marlena's breath caught in her throat, but she did her best to compose herself. "Why would he care if I was dead or not?"

"That answer is simple, sweetheart: he's head over heels in love with you."

Marlena's reaction to his words was nothing but sincere, and because of the shocking expression her face held Rumlow didn't delve much into the fact that she could very well still have her emotions and memories. He thought it was merely Prodigy reacting to his words rather than Marlena, and he was right to a certain extent.

Marlena could barely begin to process Rumlow's words. She knew Bucky had feelings for her—anyone who knew Bucky knew that he had feelings for her, but Marlena had never thought about them to such an extent before. It made her question the extent of her own feelings towards Bucky, and she fought as hard as she could to keep her emotions regarding the subject at bay.

On the outside, she only looked surprised, maybe even confused. However, on the inside, she felt as if her heart would beat right out of her chest. No one had ever loved Marlena, not in the way that Rumlow had just inferred that Bucky did—not even Dylan had truly loved her. This was her wake-up call, her epiphany; she had not met Bucky Barnes by chance. No, they were meant to meet—meant to be together—and despite how "storybook" it sounded, Marlena knew this to be true.

She loved Bucky with all of her heart. She was in love with him, just as he was in love with her. How had she not realized it? Thinking back on their times together, before she was plucked from her home, from her life, she could picture his face. That was the emotion he had hidden behind those crystal clear, blue eyes of his. She always thought it was simply an admiration for her or a kind of gratitude for everything she had done for him, but no. . .it was so much more than that.

Bucky and Marlena loved each other despite their flaws. Marlena loved him despite the horrible things that the Winter Soldier had done, despite the nightmare that had caused him to hurt her, and even though she would have never been taken from her home by Hydra if she had not met Bucky, she would not be able to bring herself to change the events of the day she met Bucky Barnes if she was even given the chance. That was what she believed in her heart. That was real. Their love was real, and she knew that no matter what it took, she would see him again, and he would hold her again, and everything in the world—their world—would be right again.