Recollection ★ Bucky Barnes

You Have Superpowers?

Marlena's feet smacked against the pavement as she ran through the streets of Washington. She had been running since 5:30 that morning, and it was now nearing 9:30. To some, running for four hours was absolutely horrendous and was never even to be thought of, but Marlena didn't mind it at all. She had spent a grueling fourteen hours a day training during her three month imprisonment back at Hydra; four hours of running was absolutely nothing to her. It merely served as a way to gather her thoughts and rid herself of the despicable pain that Hydra had so wrongly bestowed upon her, as well as a way to remain in shape.

As she ran the perimeter of the reflection pool for what she believed to be the fifth time, she began sifting aimlessly through her thoughts. In an instant something sparked within her and she grew dangerously angry. For her, the last three months had been filled with nothing but pain and torture, but she had been so focused on trying to get away from Hydra that she hadn't even realized just how much of her life she had missed; it was only now that she was beginning to realize it.

Hydra had taken three months of Marlena's life away from her, and that was three months she would never be able to get back. To most people it wasn't much, but to her it was everything and more. She had missed so many important aspects of her life, and it only pained her to think about it. She missed her brother's thirteenth birthday, she missed registration for her sophomore year of college, she missed the annual tradition of spending Independence Day with her family, she missed watching her brother head off for his first day of eighth grade. Hell, she even missed her own birthday—her twentieth birthday. It wasn't much, but to Marlena it was. Hydra had taken away some of the most important parts of her life, and she would forever despise the organization for it.

The thought of it, though, only made her realize just how important her life was to her, as well as the people in it. Hydra was the reason she had lost three months worth of memory-making with the ones she loved, but she would make new ones, better ones; she refused to let anyone come in between that again, especially Hydra. She would not allow them to continue controlling every aspect of her life, and, instead, she would be the only one controlling it. Her life was worth too much to permit it (once again) to fall into the grasp of some psychotic terrorist organization hellbent on ruling the world and the people living in it.

Marlena let out a sigh and turned around to head back to her house. It was Wednesday, which meant that her brother was most likely at school and her mom was probably at work, but Bucky was home, and she was determined to spend as much time with him as she possibly could before her brother and her mom returned home.

It took Marlena another half hour to get back to her house, and by then she was nearly drenched in sweat and in need of a long shower. She pushed her front door open and stepped inside, and almost immediately she was met with the smell of bacon, maple syrup, and other various breakfast foods. Her eyebrows fell in confusion, mostly because she didn't exactly peg Bucky as someone who cooked or someone who remembered how to cook.

The sound of frantic voices inside the kitchen caught her attention, and she kicked her tennis shoes off before rushing off to see what it was that was going on.

"I don't know where the hell she is," Marlena heard Bucky say as she quietly stepped into the kitchen. "Her phone and everything is still in her room. I swear—I can't lose her again."

Bucky had woken up earlier to find that Marlena was not in bed beside him, but her belongings were still in the same place she had put them the night before. The thought of Marlena being gone again after he had just gotten her back stressed him out and scared him to death.

Marlena was touched by his words, of course, but she couldn't help but scold herself for not leaving a little note telling Bucky where she was. She hadn't been planning on being gone for as long as she had been, but she felt as if a little note wouldn't have done much harm. It would have prevented the little breakdown he was having at the moment.